Sunset Movers and Sunset Boulevard

Dan came home later on friday, and I picked him up in Larkspur, as he took the "Marin Airporter". (Yes, Jim and Laura, he did, and he thought it was a good idea) Before I got him, I stopped in at this terrific bookstore named Book Passages to get an up to date speakers program. I happened upon this lovely, Scottish brogue reading aloud, and realized there was an author speaking. It turned out to be Val McDermid, a Scottish msytery writer I have never heard of, but she sounded really good. I was so happy to discover (hopefully) a new mystery writer. Have any of you ever heard of her or read her books? She signed my book, and a small group of us talked about the mystery writers we like. She mentioned Steig Larsson, whom we just discovered, and several others, who are Scandanian and Italian. (She agrees with you Per, about Henning Mankell, that he is very good, but so dark and depressive) She talked about her small village on the Scotland-England border, North Umberland, and how the kooky villagers give her all the inspiration she needs for her characters. so this was very enjoyable.


Saturday, we helped Jay and Lindsey move. A familiar activity for us! I told them that we should hire ourselves out, and call ourselves the "Sunset Movers". (play on words about this new movie, "Sunshine Cleaners" about 2 sisters who clean up after dead people---it IS a comedy) We drove around Alameda a bit, and really like it, drove down to the beach. Dan loves their house, as I do, and I did include some pictures. Here is a link for more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1/JasonAndLindseySHouse?authkey=ZjZwNMBe4IA#

We came home and then went back to the city to an art gallery opening that our neighbor has recently opened. It was in a very ritzy part of town, on Sacramento in the Marina District. It was fun, quite elegant and interesting to see the people. I wanted to just people watch, but didn't want to be obvious, so I was subtle. We talked to the caterer, a delightful woman from Jordan who is a friend of our neighbor, Philip. It was fun, it was so nice to be included in this.

On sunday, we had Jay and Lindsey and others over to watch the Oscars. It was JJ, (Jay's old roommate), Lars and Kate, and Erin, Nat and Silas, who is 2 and was a really big hit. Everybody loves Silas, he's a doll. He really liked Gus! So we watched the Oscars, sort of, which were pretty boring this year, but it was fun to have a party. Everyone brought a dish, which had to relate to one of the movies. Here's the menu:
SlumDOGS (little hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls)
BodySlamBURGERS (sliders)
PickleSPEARS ( a wrestling move)
German Potato Salad (for the Reader, which takes place in Germany--this movie is a real challenge to cook for!)
Spaghetti ala Mickey Rourke's hair (this was Lars' idea)
Wine (Doubt-the wine and wafer)
Mini-cupcakes with FROSTing, but not from a mix, therefore a NIX)
Indian appetizers and sweets (Erin and Nat brought these from a great Indian place in Berkeley)
Jay and Lindsey were going to make MILKshakes, but didn't, and there was various other food that was just darn good, but not within the theme. I made Lemon Cookies with Lemon filling with fresh meyer lemons from the tree at Jay and Lindsey's new house. (yummy)
It was fun to have them all over, we all enjoyed it.