Mission Mission

Unlike most, who bought Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread book as a last-minute Christmas gift for a “foodie” friend who probably hasn’t opened it since, Mr. Eric Sir actually tried baking the country sourdough recipe in his undoubtably tiny Mission kitchen, with some degree of success.

Here’s a snip:

For those not in the know, Tartine’s bread recipe is old-fashioned naturally leavened bread. That means you basically put some flour and water out on the shelf and let it go “bad,” and that’s your yeast. That’s right, no little packet of yeast; it just comes magically from the air. (Cool, huh?) So the only ingredients you need to buy are flour, water, and salt.

Flour, water, and salt? Sounds easy! Not so much. Apparently it takes an all day to do the prep and baking work, which is only slightly faster than actually waiting in line for the real thing. He’s on his 3rd try and still working it out.

Read on and follow his progress over at Mr. Eric Sir.

Enter all the items your party wants in a spreadsheet on your iPhone one by one. This way nobody has to keep everything in their head and waste time trying to remember what that one last item was. Plus, you don’t run such a risk of ordering too little or too much since you can all double check and mull your order over thoughtfully before actually placing it.

Makes the waitstaff’s job easier too:

You know how people always make fun of rednecks living in the South who insist on keeping their broken down automobiles parked on their front lawn despite the fact that these vehicles have no hope of functioning ever again?

Well, in that case, a broken down scooter that’s been parked on the sidewalk in front of your shared flat in the Mission for so long that plants are growing through it definitely qualifies as the hipster equivalent.

Which means . . . I’m living down the street from hipster rednecks.

Two Rivers Cider Company, makers of that fine pomegranate cider you see on tap everywhere, held their 15th anniversary party at Pi Bar last week. To mark the occasion, they brought along some special barrel-aged ciders, and some of them might still be available this week. Last night, we tried this saison-style cider and it was as tasty as it was photogenic. Today, there’s supposed to be something that was aged in tequila barrels!

[via Corntard]

And it looks not half bad! Bernalwood was able to sneak a peek:

Though from the outside it looks pretty much the same as it has since it closed in 2009, there’s lots happening behind the sheets of brown paper that cover the windows of the venerable Palace Steak House at the corner of Mission and Cesar Chavez. Four decades worth of accumulated kitch and grunge have been removed, and based on these exclusive photographs captured by the Bernalwood Spybot, it seems the interior of the Palace Steak House has been throughly remodeled to look retro-shabby-chic.

Read on for more reportage and more photos and the Palace Family Steakhouse theme song.

Leed’s! Isn’t that where the Who played that one time?

[via BlowJoe]

The other day we were lamenting how all our friends always move away, and somebody said something about how the reason for this is that it’s so hard to “settle in financially” in San Francisco. Our buddy Sweet T (not pictured) took issue with this, and explains why in the happy little play below. Perhaps you’ll see yourself in one of its protagonists:

The median income of SF households is $81k. SF households; not residents. Which means that if you and your roommate together make around $40k, you’re at the median. Any ambitious, hip young thing out there with a four-year degree and a little ambition can find a “real job” with promotion potential that brings in at least $40k per year. Unfortunately, here’s how it typically plays out:

We open on the El Rio patio, 4:30pm on a Tuesday.

Hip Young Thing: Man, this freelancing gig for the Guardian doesn’t pay shit. I need to make some more money if I’m gonna’ be able to pay me rent.

Less Hip, But Gainfully Employed Young Thing: You have a degree, right? There’s gotta’ be something else out there.

HYT: Naw, there’s nothing in this economy.

LH,BGEYT: Well have you looked?

HYT: No I haven’t looked. There aren’t any jobs to look for.

LH,BGEYT: There are literally thousands of employers in the Bay Area.

HYT: I’m not a computer programmer or whatever. It’s all techster shit.

LH,BGEYT: Not every job at a tech company is filled by an engineer, you know. Places like Zynga or whatever need copywriters and human resources people and all that, too.

HYT: That’s corporate bullshit. I don’t want to work for the man.

LH,BGEYT: Well, what about the state or the city?

HYT: I said I don’t want to work for the man.

LH,BGEYT: I thought corporations were ‘the man.’

HYT: They’re all the same man, man.

LH,BGEYT: I see. What about a non-profit?

HYT: There’s too much competition in this city for that type of work.

LH,BGEYT: Well have you applied to anything?

HYT: No.

LH,BGEYT: What did you do this morning?

HYT: I woke up a little after noon…

LH,BGEYT: …What time?

HYT: Like, 1:30. And then I went and had breakfast with some friends, and bought some new sunglasses. After that, I went home and wrote on my blog for a bit, and then I met you here for a drink.

LH,BGEYT: So, you didn’t spend any time looking for a job that will pay you enough to make your rent?

HYT: There aren’t any fucking jobs that don’t suck.  I just need to move to New York. It’s too expensive here.

LH,BGEYT: Yeah. It definitely is.

…AND SCENE…

["New sunglasses" pic by C'mon Pony]

“A party celebrating all things Mission” Mission United is called. It’s at Public Works this Friday and here are all the details:

The Deals:
- $5 admission between 8-10:30pm with Facebook Event RSVP.
- FREE food samples and drink specials between 8-10pm
- FREE Tequila tasters while they last and $2 shots
- DRINK SPECIALS: $3 special cocktail (till 11pm) and $3 beer (till midnight)

Public Works presents its second 8 hour event celebrating our melting-pot neighborhood, San Francisco’s Mission district. Cherry-picking some of the best in music, performance, art, fashion and food. Mission United brings the sights and sounds of our favorite hood under one roof.

In the main room curated by HARD FRENCH:
- Hard French DJs (Carnita & Brown Amy)
- Afrolicious with live percussionists
- 2 Men Will Move You (Primo & Jordan)
- Tres Lingerie [Live PA]
- Qumbia Qrew playing Queer Qumbia!

In the OddJob Room:
- Lights Down Low DJ’s Sleazemore and Eli Glad
- Marco de la Vega (120 minutes)
- Shovelman
- Jonah and Christa Larrama

Trunk Show & Fashion Installation curated by Archetype Boutique
- Camile Bemer of Kucoon Designs
- Major Babe Alert: a Stay Gold Pop Up Shop
- Dear Mina
- Josie Adele
- Love and Keep
- Mission Statement Sf
- Sea Pony Couture
- Stone Pony Vintage
- Wood Thumb
- Venus Superstar

Tasty Food Selections from:
- Chile Lindo Empanadas
- Good Food Catering
- Taza

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT MISSION NON-PROFITS:
- SFSmiles & the Homeless Prenantal Program
- Dolores Street Community Services

RSVP and invite your friends here. And if you’d like to win a pair of tickets, in the comments below link us to a picture of you and a buddy in your best “unity”-themed pose. Two winners will be picked based on merit and notified by Thursday at 5PM.

FYI, Primo and Jordan of 2 Men Will Move You have the 1AM-3AM slot, so no matter what you do on Saturday night, you can probably end up here and shut the place down.

Great. First parklets, now hammerhead sharks. I, motorist, am never going to be able to find a parking spot anymore.

(But seriously, sooo much more tuff than those tame little koi.)

[via Marcus]

UPDATE: Timbo in the comments points out that this is just some corporate bullshit. Sorry, everybody. (What? I don’t watch TV, how was I supposed to know?)

How else to explain this targeted arboreal sabotage of the bike lane?  Notice how the street is clear everywhere except where you are supposed to ride your bicycle.  All this kumbaya shit about saving the Earth together be damned–the trees have just been fucking with us this whole time!

Let’s go deforest some Amazon, Critical Mass.