San Francisco

One area of serious deficiency in Yountville is variety…its proximity to the city is sometimes the only thing that makes the Valley bearable. It may be only 7x7 miles, but San Francisco has everything I need to refresh my mind, intellect…and palate. This morning my roommates and I set off through Sonoma Valley for the Golden Gate. We stopped at Corner Stone, www.cornerstonegardens.com —the best breakfast choice was Heidi’s season-inspired fruit cup with cinnamon granola. Our next stop was the de Young museum to see the Gee’s Bend Quilts exhibit. We felt incredibly lucky to learn that the quilters were present to promote the show, and the highlight of our visit was meeting them and having them sign our posters. Heidi mentioned that the de Young café was owned by the Bon Appétit Management Co. so we walked through to check out the menu before leaving…a good one for museum food—very reflective of North Bay cuisine—organic produce, Niman Ranch proteins (www.nimanranch.com), etc. Afterwards we headed next door to have tea at the Japanese Tea Garden. I decided that the experience is much more magical when you’re eleven years of age, but still it was fun to sit down for a while and enjoy each other’s company over carelessly-prepared Jasmine tea and Chinese fortune cookies. Our next stop was the Mission District, where we checked out the produce at La Loma Mexican Market and then walked across the street to La Taqueria. I was successful at getting Summer to try my burrito de lengua, but unsuccessful at persuading her to enjoy it. La Taqueria is on 24th & Mission and must make your hit list for the next time you pass through the area…their food is delicioso, not to mention barato. We walked up Mission to Old Jerusalem (Heidi’s favorite Isralean food) for some falafel and hummus—the best I’ve ever had—and then decided that we still had room for dessert... www.tartinebakery.com is my favorite bakery on earth. The three of us shared a chocolate éclair, coconut tart and latté. On our way back to the car we stopped at www.biritemarket.com for samples of blood oranges and pink lady apples…another amazing day in the city!

Runcible Spoon

This evening I had a moment of curiosity come over me about something that I haven’t thought about in at least two decades—what is a runcible spoon? The infamous spoon is featured in what was my favorite book as a child, The Owl and the Pussycat (there are many versions, but the one you must borrow during your next Library visit is the version illustrated by Hilary Knight.) Originally a poem published in the 1800’s, the story is about an owl and a cat who fall in love and sail off to the land where the bong tree grows to wed. The best part of the story is when “they dine on mince and slices of quince” which they eat with a “runcible spoon.” Some quick internet research determined that such a spoon is nothing more than a “fictitious utensil that appears in the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear.” Unwilling to be left disappointed, I further searched to uncover that a runcible spoon is generally defined as a fork with three prongs (similar to a pickle fork), is curved like a spoon and also has a cutting edge. So my question is…has anyone seen such a thing? And if you’ve been so fortunate to have used one, I’ll exchange you a dramatic citation of said poem to hear your story!