Breakfast in Sacramento?

I'd spent a little time sorting through options for how to spend my Sunday in Sacramento until my journey home. Flea Markets, Earth Day celebrations...
When I woke up this morning I was greeted by the rain. Rain rain rain. They don't have rain days in Sacramento because it rains that little. What to do?
Go local! Need a quick breakfast while in Sacramento? I can recommend for you to check out R15 Cafe Bernardo.
Just look at the breakfast burrito I enjoyed (and yes, it beat me! It's HUGE!)

From my bar stool and my knitting I struck on conversations with locals and decided there was but one choice now that I'd checked out of the hotel. The movies! Even Better --- A DOUBLE FEATURE at the historical Tower Theatre!

First up? Greenberg. I'm really glad that I saw this one first. It earned a meager 2.5 out o

f 5 stars in my book. It draggggged. Ben Stiller was fine. It did bring up emotion and frustrations and was painful to watch. I was glad when it was over, picked up my things and dashed to the other theatre for the 4pm of the The Ghost Writer. As I sat I peeked at my phone and see that my two friends that i enjoyed dinner with last night will be joining me and to save seats! How fun!

The theatres at the Tower theatre are long and thin, showing their age. I love theatres like this. They remind me of my childhood when going to see a movie was still an event. Let's talk about The Ghost Writer. I'm going to jump to the end or Roman Polanski's latest first. Thank you. Thank you for NOT putting the typical Hollywood ending. I won't say more about that. I enjoyed the plot and liked the character development. Thank you. I'd give 4 star (out of 5) to The Ghost Writer. A great way to spend a Sunday pouring rain afternoon!

After a quick dinner with my friends I headed to the airport for my 11:59pm flight, with plenty of time to spare. A nice ending to a lovely weekend. Thanks all in Sacramento!

Still learning about TV...

Here is Saturday's Good Day Sacramento TV spot.

**sigh**

I now know that this dress does NOT look nearly as good on TV as in person. It must be the print?

I digress... Today day began wonderfully. The team at the CW31 were great as always. Nice, witty and kind. Upon arrival the woman who greeted me suggested we should do a fashion show with the production assistants and one of the anchors as models.

After a short wait in the Green Room, I was given my wireless mic (always wear a belt on your dress so they have something to hang the mic pack from unless you want to hang it from your bra inside your dress -- that works too) and shortly led into the studio to shoot a teaser. The anchor man wore a hat during part of the broadcast (prior to the one he wears in the clip.)

In a blink of an eye it's done! Blam!

Here it is!

Zooom!

What a long day. A 5:30am flight from Newark to Houston... layover...flight from Houston to Sacramento and VOILA! I'm in Sacramento by Noon. Somehow my favorite charm fell off between the disembarking of the last flight and the rental car terminal. I dashed back to file with the two lost and founds, but I doubt it'll ever show up. It's really pretty and artistic and someone has gotten a new treasure! Hoping they love it as much as I did!

I dashed back to the rental car counter and collected my car. (Thank you Avis rental car lady for allowing me to drop my luggage behind your counter while I raced back to the terminal on one of your shuttle buses!) Before I knew it I was zooming down town to my lodging and to meet Anna Marie for lunch before my afternoon at The Village Hat Shop.

A few words about The Sterling Hotel. Love it. Warm staff, huge rooms and giant tubs & beds. Irons in your room. Desk to work at and easy to connect to (although a little slow) Wi-Fi. They serve a nice continental breakfast and hopefully will have their restaurant back up-n-running soon (new owners or management for the restaurant I believe.) Upon arrival Anna Marie was waiting for me and we dashed to lunch. She'd gotten there a little early and scouted out a fun looking place called Ma Jong's. It's part of The Park Downtown group of restaurants and bars. A group of eateries and drinkeries in one building sharing a central bathroom. Modern decor (see the website.) Between all of the business in that building I think all of the decor trends we've had in NYC over the last few years are present albeit watered down slightly. They are all comfortable at a glance with an edgy "see me here" vibe.
Ma Jong's calls themselves an Asian Diner. It's far less dinery and more order at a counter and we'll bring you your food kind of joint. The decor was inviting, but the benches are rather uncomfortable as they slope forward and we spent a good portion of our energy trying to sit in a manor that was comfortable. The food... so disappointing. By FAR the WORST pot stickers either of us had ever eaten. Ever. Bar none. Flavorless. So sad. I ordered the Mandarin Beef Salad listed as crispy beef, romaine lettuce, vegetables, onions and a lime ginger dressing. Apparently crispy beef means batter-dipped and deep fried beef... which I wouldn't have ordered had I known. The beef was in there, but the batter coating over-powered the flavor. The dressing was tasty on the salad, but left me wanting something far better. My friend ordered the stir-fried rice bowl with brown rice. The rice was a bit over cooked and pasty and the chicken... again, some dry white meat chicken, likely frozen strips with no flavor. The vegetables were tasty though, I'll give them that.
It's wonderful that the company was grand as the food WASN'T!
This will be on the DON'T return list!

After saying farewell to Anna and thanking her for driving up to meet me, I headed over to the Village Hat Shop to select hats for the TV interview that would happen tomorrow morning across town. Viki and her team greeted me with smiles as always and we set about the selecting. Hats packed into the car and I had time for a short nap in an attempt to add to the 5 hours of sleep I'd gotten between 3 flights. Naps. Are. Good.


I was so happy that Toni and I were on the same "passing through Sacramento for the weekend" schedule and after my nap I popped over to meet her. She suggested we eat at the Thai Palace. Good call! Quite good and not too pricey! We enjoyed the Tom-Kha soup which the waiter spooned out from a big bowl with plenty for at least one more person (maybe two!) I enjoyed the Green Curry and my friend had her usual Praram with peanut sauce. The staff took great care of us. Our water was never empty and we were never left waiting too long between courses or for the bill. It's a local spot that will go on my list of places to visit again when I next visit Sacramento!

Bed time it is! Need to be at the TV studio by 7:30am tomorrow!

Seeds of Change

The sun is shining in NYC! The birds are singing, my apple tree is in bloom and it's time (almost overdue) to plant some seeds. I've decided to try out Burpee's new "Ultimate Grow System." I'll be letting you know what I think of it as time goes by. Today let's talk about setting it up.

I ran through the directions and set up the first of two. I have the following comments.

1. Before you do anything, dump out the soil pellets from the growing container and flip it over. Carefully cut out the draining/watering holes that didn't get fully punched out in manufacturing. This will save you from soil spillage later once it's full.

2. Place the seed pellets, one per hole. Place them flat. They expand upwards/downwards. If they flip on their sides they don't expand enough.

It's easy as pie to set up.

I planted 2 flats after work & before dinner!

I planted a variety of things from flowers to herbs to vegetables. I'll be in and out of NYC and the country over the next 5 weeks so we'll see how the self-waterer does! I hope to be planting them all end of May!

It's places in the sun... Hoping the cats leave it alone!!

Once everything was planted I dashed out the door and across the park to meet Lisa at Cafe D'Alsace. Yummy steak frites -- 10 oz. Black Angus Hanger Steak with bone marrow, red wine sauce and fries -- although the marrow was only eh)...lousy waiter. We had smelled truffle oil and asked what dishes on the menu had it. He replied saying it wasn't on the menu and must be on the paella. When we balked "truffle oil on shellfish?" He said, of course and walked away. After reading it, there were two items on the menu with truffle oil... he really should know the single page menu better. They have only one special per day and it's a rotating weekly special (paella always on Thursdays.) That wasn't "terrible" just lousy knowledge of his menu. He continued to be a sub-par waiter and slightly annoying.

The food was tasty though and the evening was just what I needed.

Now to go pack for my trip to Sacramento! The car to the airport comes in 4 hours!!

She's Baack!

The last year seems to have flown by in a blur. Woooosh!

So much has happened and yet little has changed.

BUT -- changes... THEY ARE A-COMING!

I’m still designing hats as a by day (and sometimes night), knits as a hobby (although I'll have a piece in the latest Stitch-n-Bitch book due out in 2010) and cooking up a storm!

I’ve really missed writing here and will be resuming! YEAH!!!

I’m packing up for a trip out to Sacramento for a trunk show at The Village Hat Shop (123 K Street Old Sacramento) on Saturday, April 10, 2010 from Noon to 4pm. Those of you inthe Sacramento area, keep an eye out for me on Good Day Sacramento at about 8am on Saturday morning!

I’ll be tweeting as the day progresses. Follow the Tweets at Madhatrk.

A flash of what the last few months has brought...

An amazing few weeks in India with the BF showing me his hometown and home country:

Knitting (in 4 countries in 4 months!):

Yes - Many friends have had babies these last few months!

Cooking in my kitchen:

Entering the annual Grill It! contest. Shot on a VERY cold day in February. Brrr! Made it to the finals this year...but not on the show. Next time!


Thanks for stopping back by!

I’m BaaaaaCK!