Foodie Librarian

Blogging Software

2004-03-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

We're testing a blogging software at work and posting a link is a little cumbersome. Here's a link to remind me of how easy Blogger is for me to use.

Take a look at the job postings at the SJSU-SLIS Jobseeker's Resource Site.

2004-02-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! Karen Schneider of LII, Blue Highways, Free Range Librarian, and other arenas of fame, has just announced California and Washington wine as the LII's new theme collection of links! My husband and I are heading up to Seattle next week for the PLA Conference. I will peruse and imbibe from the wineries of Washington state.

US OLYMPIC DRINKING TEAM, FINE WINE DIVISION

2004-02-16T12:45:00.000-08:00

You'll have to excuse this posting folks. My friend is a Clevelander and as was pointed out to him in an elbow rub for Martin Gomez at the PLA Conference in Kansas City by two charming gents, definitely "not a librarian."

Hey there, lyberrie foodies, it's Susan's friend signing in again! Gonna be hard to remember much after drinkin' 'bout 8 bottles last night with 5 hollow-legged lybrotechies, but here's mud in yer eye...

The low debauchery began on a very high note with Silver Oak's '96 vintage of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I asked our host twice if she really wanted me to pop the top on the precious fluid. After all, Susan & I had dropped $100 last year on a '97 S.O. Napa Cab, then couldn't afford the cab fare home. Was it worth it? Well, Susan just said she liked last night's '96 better.

Seeing as the generous hosts have a collection of at least 100 bottles of Zinfandel, Cab, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Syrah, Port, Grappa, good beer, and 1000 comic books, my request was heartily honored.

Our world class team concluded that it was immediately drinkable, seconds out of the bottle. A balanced blend of medium coco, softened dark berry
fruit, smooth velvet & a hint of pepper spice finished with mint in the tip of your nose. Paired nicely with a hours dee oow vrays of cubed blue cheese marinated with juniper berries.

Next came the Merlot speed trials. My ? was, how fast will I spit this out? My answer was "Slow down baby, this is the best Merlot I've ever had!". Soquel 2000 (or was it '01?) drank like a ready to drink jammy Zinfandel that had been softened. And the finish wasn't too speedy, either. Our host waxed poetic about good, big, Merlots. Score another one for host.

Willamette Pinot was #3. Good, but for the Burgundio"File" lyberrie & her constantly-running-to-the-bathroom-dog "friend" (moi), BFD.

I liked the fact that the Pinot Noir was darker than the Merlot, but that the Merlot was richer than the Pinot. We left our honorable host with a '99 Clos des Mouches Premier Cru in respectful gratitude, true to our phy-ulls.

What else can I remember? 2 Zins, Ridge 2000 CA appellation and a Tulocay, a Petite Syrah w/ a spearmint nose, a smooth carmel-like Grappa & too drunk to describe the Zin Port.

By this time my head was bouncing around the room, the comic book collector was passed out with a burn mark on his foot from spilt hot tea, the other host won the boisterousness award & politics & pinkoism were rearing their heads. We get the GOLD, Man!!

Silly Billy

2004-02-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent learning Fireworks MX 2004 at Learnit. Silly Billy, my teacher, kept the class entertained as he covered bit maps and vectors.

I'm finding no shortage of things I want to learn, technology-wise. I also want to keep up on reading. I've just started Ian McEwan's Atonement. Reading has become a big thing to push at libraries now that we've summed up that people aren't coming to us for our information expertise. Public Libraries magazine is featuring reading and Joan Frye Williams, the consultant and library futurist, tells our system that this will be our number one focus.

Six notes on a nose!

2004-02-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

My friend would like to do some guest blogging today.

Had the corriander & cumin encrusted pork chop at Zax's on Telegraph in Berkeley on 1-31-04: wonderful aromas that blended nicely with the cedar/cherry/green olive nose of my 2000 Napa Clos Du Val cabernet by-the-glass for $12.

This cab is medium weight, brightly fruited, with a medium finish - my waiter described is as "a fun cab" and I agree. I emphasize the nose as the highlight because the fruit of the taste canceled out the succulent pork spicing - before the fruit finish died in under 30 seconds.

All in all I recommend this as a memorable pairing for the cumin and wood lover in us all!

RSS and E-Books

2004-01-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

I'm playing around with RSS, submitting my feeds into Bloglines, etc. I'm not the most technically proficient electronic resources librarian, but I'm learning more and more and probably don't give myself enough credit for what I do understand. I don't intend to make this a huge effort or have an audience, but you know what they say about good intentions.

Had an E-Book Meeting at the new San Jose Public Library this week. Will need to take a trip back down there and check it out as I didn't have time for the tour. There's 8 floors for goodness sake. I did have time to get a library card and will check out there digital library program where you can download books to your handheld of which I plan to buy this weekend. So, I'm not an early adopter but better late than never.

Rutherford Dust

2004-01-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

Shared a glass of the Coppola Estate Cabernet 1998 at his winery in Rutherford. The taste lingered throughout the drive home. Since we didn't pick up a bottle at $83 a pop, I'll just have to look for it closer to home at his cafe in North Beach or find some other label from a winery that has the same Rutherford Dust.

I saw that the LII had a bunch of food and wine links added to their site and started looking at Dan Berger On Wine at the NapaNews site. I came across the Rutherford Dust Society, which is an association of growers and vintners located in my new favorite California viticultural appellation. I think I'm going to try the Frog's Leap Rutherford.

Also checked out a new winery near the beginning of the Silverado Trail, Luna Vineyards. Bought some Sangiovese, including one blended with Syrah, Pinot Grigio, and I think a Canto.

Dopo

2004-01-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Decided that I'd rather concentrate on the food portion of my life in this blog than the librarian part. I see librarians starting new blogs and think, who really needs another librarian blog about technology? Don't we have enough of them already to keep up with? Speaking of which, I need to check out my aggregator at Bloglines.

Stopped in at the new hole in the wall gourmet restaurant on Piedmont Avenue last night, Dopo, which means "after" or "later." It's good we got there sooner than later as it starts to get a line out the door rather quickly. The place holds about 8 tables, we sat at the knotty pine counter.

It's run by people who trained at Oliveto. I had tortolloni of oyster with chervil and butter sauce, my husband had the artisan style pizza with spicy broccoli and anchovy. The grapefruit granita with a splash of Campari was refreshing. Appetizers weren't much, I had salad, my husband had a bread soup.

Pommard

2004-01-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a course at Learn It! This place was recommended by another librarian as a good way to keep up with learning new technology. As I now have Dreamweaver and Fireworks MX 2004, I want to go into more depth with these tools than I'm able to teach myself at work.

Not a huge foodie weekend. Had loads of wines over the New Year's holiday. We cracked open the Pommard we picked up in Burgundy. It wasn't until the last drops that I really appreciated the iron quality which is understandable given the redness of the soil. While I think a Rosenblum Zinfandel is delicious and easy to drink, I appreciate the working a little harder and looking further into appreciating what a wine has to offer. The Pommard was great with the Epoisse.

Where Have I Been?

2003-12-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

I've certainly been eating out more and enjoying it. Steak frites at Cafe Rouge, High tea at the Fairmont, noodles at Mifune in Japantown, etc.

Went to the Internet Librarian Conference in Monterey and attended an all day workshop on blogging! Saw lots of great examples and heard excellent presentations. All of the links can be found on the Information Today site.

I absolutely love Stephen Abram! He covers such breadth and knowledge in a damn entertaining way. Here's his open url presentation.

Cold Day Restaurant

2003-10-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday brought us into "The City" and a visit to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, my raison d'être. I begin with visiting Lulu Petite and grabbing a Greek Yoghurt with fruit and some kind of granola-type mixture and then I sit down and listen to an interview with one of the farmers. After that, it's seeing who the "Shop with the Chef" presenter is and then a visit to the Nut Lady. I have pet names for the vendors: The Bodega Bay goat cheese guy, the sprout man, the avocado boys, the apple man, etc. When I was a waitress I had my favorite customers: cheesecake, Monsieur Le Shrimp (he was a tiny dignified French musician).

We made our purchases and then headed over to SFMOMA where we hoped to see the Chagall exhibit, but since the lines are so long, I reserved online and will check it out next Friday after work. We ate lunch at The Tadich Grill, old tourist place that's been operating since the Gold Rush Days. Had the Hangtown Fry, I like the name and I love oysters. Doug wasn't so hot on the place, he had sea bass and a glass of Chablis which came in a juice glass and wasn't very good.

Langueduck

2003-10-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

My husband and I had dinner at a little French-inspired restaurant in Rockridge on Friday evening called À CÔTÉ. In general, I really don't care for this place-way too overpriced in some offerings (a flight of Languedoc tastings only gave 3 glasses and it was something like $25) and the food isn't all that great. The bar has good selections and amiable bartenders, so I prefer to sit there, then wait for a table. The place is a mob scene which I don't understand as it's very loud too. We had
Chicken Tortelliniin Brodo (brodo too salty)
Romaine and Radicchio with a creamy caper dressing (ok)
Warm Spinach Salad with Chanterelles and Pancetta vinaigrette (this was very delicious)
Duck Breast with Spaghetti Squash and Apple Gastrique (went so well with the wine we tasted (see below) that we ordered another of these and a full glass of the wine).
Wine Flight: Les Vins De Corbieres du Boncaillou. From the Languedoc region of France. The best was the blend of carignane, grenache, and syrah.

Purpose

2003-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'm the Electronic Resources Specialist for a large county library system in California. I've been thinking of having a library-oriented blog since attending the Internet Librarian Conference 2002 and now that I have a supervisor who is supportive of innovative technologies, I can begin blogging for my library.

On the other hand, I enjoy writing and I need to do something with my increasing passion for food and wine. I was a waitress for about 16 years before getting a professional librarian position. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I want to share knowledge and experiences with the sensual bounty that I often come across. We'll see where it goes...

Here's an article (pdf format) featuring my interests and work that was recently published in the Search Newsletter: A Publication of the Peninsula Library System & the Silicon Valley Library System & the Bay Area Library and Information System. I'm on page 11.