Day 33

7) Visit the SF Academy of Science 5/5/07

Serena and I visited the awkwardly re-located Academy of Science this Saturday. It's a year away from being opened again in Golden Gate Park, bigger and better than ever. My favorite part of the old version was the stuffed animal habitats. But at the moment the stuffed animals are in glass cabinets looking really dead, particularly the birds (it's really disturbing). The rest of the place is made up of tons of fish, some reptiles, and a group of penguins. Did you know all the SF penguins are from Africa? We didn't. I also learned later that the new Academy is going to be entirely Green, with trees on the roof even!

10) Master 10 dinner recipes (0/10) Baked Chicken Breast with Honey Mustard Sauce, Fennel Green Beans, and Super Carrot Raisin Salad

Last night plans were cancelled due to a rash on Lucy's(my niece) inner thigh (she's reportedly okay, they just need to keep an eye on it). So I decided to try one of my dinner recipes but I didn't leave myself enough prep time to do all of it, plus I was missing fennel. One can hardly call a thing Fennel Green Beans without the fennel. Hence I had just regular green beans with lemon, salt and pepper and I skipped the salad all together for lack of a food processor. I did complete the chicken recipe though, my only fault being I forgot to cook the sauce on high for it's last five minutes so it wasn't as thick and flavorful as it should have been. It still tasted yummy though, and that's the whole point of mastery.

11) Master 10 breakfast recipes (0/10) Tropical Breakfast Risotto

I made this Saturday morning and I feel I achieved the creamy/not runny texture described. It's awfully tasty, and rather exotic. I shared some with Roger, mom, and Serena later in the day, and they enjoyed it. I will say that though you can serve it both hot and cold, I prefer it hot. Eating it cold was nice in combination with the heat wave though.


13) Either read or donate all the unread books you own 5/6/07 sold $17 worth and donated two bags to library

Sun I found out people evaluating books at book stores are just as snobby as ones evaluating clothes at clothes stores. I brought in 2.5 bags and she only took half of the half full bag, leaving me to carry the 2.25 bags back to my car (2 blocks away). She did tip me that the library takes donations and they were open to everything but encyclopedias.
The lady looked me dead in the eye, "They're not encyclopedias are they?" I, a little confused, replied, "No, mainly Stephen King, Micheal Crichton, and cats, lots and lots on cats."

77) Walk on the beach 2 times a week for a month (1/8) 5/6/07

I said to myself, after donating to the library, that now is the time to start walking on the beach as it's incredibly beautiful out these days. I ran into a guy who works in a coffee shop by my work as I was entering the beach and he was heading to the bathroom. He said he'd flag me down if he saw me (he was with a big group of friends) but that didn't happen. Instead I took off my shoes and splashed about in the tide, people watching, and enjoying the nostalgic smells and sounds.