Traveling Feast

Someone else has probably coined a better word for it, but here is my spur-of-the-moment entry: techpression.

Techpression [tek-PRESH-uhn] noun. 1. the state of being overwhelmed by online expectations and social media commitments.  2. a sense of foreboding caused by the constant attention demanded by email, text, and telephone messages.  3. gadget fatigue where the promised time-saving devices and communication advances begin to domination a person’s schedule.

As you might guess from scrolling through Traveling Feast, I love food and almost anything to do with the restaurant industry.  I’m also something of a geek with a deep delight for gadgets and the latest technology.  I’ve got this blog.  I’ve got a stable of domain names.  A Blackberry Bold.  Three digital recorders.  A touch-screen laptop decked out with high end software.  Digital cameras.  A Facebook account.  Twitter too.

The list could on, and on, and on.  And that is becoming the problem.  What started as fun is now exhausting to maintain.  I can’t seem to get my email Inbox empty… wait… empty isn’t even on the horizon.  Several months ago I had to declare email bankruptcy after a trip. When I returned,  my inbox had several thousand messages waiting.  Now I’m back in triple digits, and any use of the scroll bar in Outlook triggers anxiety as I flash past message after message from people needing a response.

And here is the irony… I’m posting my dilemma online… on my blog which is linked to my Twitter account which will in turn update my Facebook status.

If you are finding some success in using technology rather than being used by it, I’d love to hear your secrets.  Or maybe your newly coined word for whatever this oppression or depression or angst in the ether might be.

In my ongoing investigation into whether Facebook can be useful or is ultimately a sinister plot by Chaos to cut worldwide productivity in half, I requested suggestions on places worth eating in San Francisco.

Here are the responses I received in the event you might want to add them to your ‘hit list’ for the next time you visit.  I’ve added a few explanatory notes in ITALICS at points.

Daryl Geffken commented on your status:  “naan and curry… fantastic. azteca in the castro… not the chain… ask a local what to get. pho vietnam II. have fun”

Jeremy Leonard Hansen commented on your status:  “Say hi to Chef Eric Tucker at Millennium for lunch & Michael Mina’s Clock Bar for cocktails. Have fun and eat with thought my friend.”

Tad Wisenor commented on your status: “You can never go wrong with the Pacific Cafe at 7000 Geary. Two of my favorite seafood meals ever.”

Diane Allen Buzzard commented on your status: “Try Tommie’s Joint! Very fun + good food!”

Jeff Englehorn commented on your status: “the stinking rose is always fun… oh yeah- the caffe trieste in north beach for espresso, then over to vesuvio – where kerouac used to hang out…”

Eric Charles Lanes commented on your status: “Bouca di Beppo on Howard is always a riot–but you have to go in a group to the hang of it. Meatballs the size of softballs, ravioli the size of playing cards, parmigiana to kill g’ma for. Get off on Harrison/Bryant from S. 101 or from the Bay Bridge coming West (and you could get off on Howard just as easily) and in your in South-of-Market. Up and down Harrison, Bryant, Howard, & Folsom (run parallel) you’ll find alot of different things. Gets somewhat fancier toward Financial District/Mkt. St. so try to stay toward the grungier part of SoMa. Good Indian food places, dim sum, etc. Too many to list here.”   “Almost forgot: Picadilly Fish & Chips @ 1348 Polk St (415) 771-6477 is excellent (it’s a block off Van Ness, right turn).  Naan N’ Chutney 525 Haight for Indian is good.  Okay, okay. Last: If you want some fancier excellent food that’s prepared by a staff of all ex-convicts/parolees (I’m not kidding) go to Delancey Street Restaurant at 600 Embarcadero St (right under the 80 freeway, pretty much). From S. 101 get off on Howard go to the bottom of Howard, turn right and go on. Ex-cons doing valet parking, too. http://www.facebook.com/l/;delanceystreefoundation.org”    “One more thing: If you get to the East Bay and have time, go to Linguini’s in Alameda 1506 Park St. Pescatore is recommended (every shellfish there is w/calamari over garlicky fettucine, basil, olive oil, parmesan butter, tomatoes, onions, etc). So is the asiago w/prosciutto on spinach fettucine with peas. From 80 E. on Bay Bridge take 880 Nimitz Freeway south get off on Webster St./Alameda exit, thru the tube onto the island, take a left on Central at end of Webster (becomes Encinal at split right exactly where I lived a block away), drive thru town and left on Park. Lived here for 5 years–great little town and this was my favorite eating place. http://www.facebook.com/l/;linguinisrestaurant.com (pix of the food!) Sushi in Alameda: Kamakura 2549 Santa Clara.  Oakland: In the Piedmont off MacArthur is Shin-Shin. Small excellent Chinese outfit. Ask for waiter Dennis-good man. In Jack London Square (right on water under freeway) in Oakland: Hahn’s Hibachi–great Korean Grill (get a side of spicy kim chee).”

Cammie Finnerty commented on your status: “Swans (OYSTER BAR) for lunch if you haven’t been already. Also, try Anchor and Hope. My sister-in-law works there and I hear the food is yummy!” “Just thought of another good one… Burma Superstar- on Clement St. The tea leaf salad is a must!”

Julie Ann Higgins Russell commented on your status:  “I had an excellent dinner at Gitane on Claude Alley. The bacon bonbons were delicious (and I don’t usually eat meat) and the dessert beignets are something I still think about.”

Thanks to everyone who weighed in with a suggstion.  Eric gets the award for the most enthusiastic and detailed suggestions.  Naan and Curry picked up two votes and I happened to drive by it as well as The Stinking Rose on my way to pick up a friend in the Financial District.  In the end we headed down to the Ferry Terminal on the Embarcadero to Taylor’s Automatic Refresher for half a bottle of wine and an order of sweet potato fries.  The setting was near perfect, but one of the food suggestions above would have been better.

It would be more in keeping with the general theme of my average post to report enthusiastically on the Shirred Eggs ($9) I ate for breakfast in a small black skillet at Sante.  The Verdict: quite good (but eat fast if you like your eggs runny).  The cast iron happily keeps cooking long after it arrives at the table.  If you try to finish the story you started just before your skillet arrives, plan on those initially runny eggs becoming anything but within another minute or two.

But I digress.  Instead of my typical food fixation, I’ve been musing on how my beloved computer seems to isolate me from those closest to me even as it provides some limited contact with people at a distance.

To set this in context I should note that I’ve taken pride in the fact that we have not installed television sets throughout our house.  We have a single TV in the family room.  Yet even as we have self-righteously looked down on the TV-in-every-bedroom crowd, we’ve been adding computers, phones, and IPods at a pace just behind that of the entire country of India.

Technically I can claim to watch very little TV, but “technically” is the key word.  Rarely does a night go by when I’m not tempted to grab my laptop and pop in a movie or surf over to Hulu and (you guessed it) watch television shows over the internet.  If I’m not self-involved with a movie or Hulu, I can easily chew up an hour or more working on clever Facebook posts or reading digital camera or cookbook reviews on Amazon.

And all of this is easiest alone.  Even if the movie I’m interested in might be of interest to others in the family, my first instinct is to watch alone, and I find myself fighting irritation when Karen or one of our three truly wonderful children peeks in the door of my study and wants to talk.

Feel free to wade in with observations or suggestions, but my gut says this need to change.  Too often our family (with me leading the charge) divide up the “screens” available and scatter to different corners of the house.  Even books seem far less isolating.  I’ve heard that books don’t make noise so it is quite possible to be in the same room reading (on the same couch even) and have some sense of connectedness even as you explore another world.  Depending on your fellow readers, there might even be pauses for conversation.

Sarcasm aside, I’d very much appreciate any suggestions on ways to contain the isolating impact of technology or use tech to build community in the family rather than damage it.

But if you need a gander at the Shirred Eggs, here they are.

Last night a friend dropped me off at the SeaTac Doubletree at dinnertime.  We had driven over for the Western Regional Conference of the American Culinary Federation, but he had a dinner appointment and I wasn’t on the guest list.  On impulse I posted my dining dilemma on Facebook: “Kevin is in Seattle near the airport without a car. Any Seattlites up for dinner?”

I was curious if anyone would respond.  Four did, including my cousin Ken who not only responded, but jumped back in his car with his two daughters and picked me.

I didn’t bother to look at the Doubletree room service menu, but I’m almost certain it didn’t list Pho Ga (Vietnamese noodle soup with chicken) or Phad Se-ew.  Big money says they didn’t offer a Tapioca Pearl Smoothie in strawberry, and even the fried rice would probably have been at the bleeding edge of hotel restaurant fare.

Happily, all of these were on the menu at Best Pho and Thai in Renton not far from Ken’s office.

So we ordered them.

And got cream puffs on the house for dessert.

Thanks Ken, Marissa, and Allison for my first Facebook-facilitated dining hook-up to date.