Hidden Gems:

Bed and Breakfasts in Ukiah, California

Ukiah is one of the many little towns along California's Highway 101 that boast historic architecture, organic restaurants, and wineries nearby. It's not a destination per se, but
my friend Alex Baker's parents have a ranch there that we sometimes visit on the fourth of July. We roll up in DJ Ziplock's white mercedez with DJ Neel N. Kizmiaz and Alex meets us at the gate of the "compound," wearing army green khakis and matching kangol, riding an ATV. This is the scene in the movie where the drug deal goes bad.

Next cut to a montage of a bunch of wacked out hipsters training as undercover Hapkido action heroes. Then night falls and everyone is sitting by the lake strumming guitars in the moonlight. Rumour has it Alex's dad was in the CIA and underneath the lake is where you'll find the evidence to support the eyewitness accounts of Wukalars roming in them thar hills.

But Alas, they are selling the place, so when that happens, when we are in Ukiah, we'll stay again at one of the two B&B's below that are both well worth the visit.

The Sanford House is a charming old (circa 1904) Victorian, walking distance from the old downtown shops, restaurants and farmer's market. The breakfast is gourmet vegetarian faire- absolutely to die for. There is a three legged cat named popoki and a couple of cute little dogs too, and the owners are very friendly.

Robinson Creek B&B and Flower Farm is another old Victorian in Ukiah's sunniest section of town that doubles as a flower farm. The breakfast is excellent and includes fresh eggs from their chicken run, and on those hot summer days, you can wander down to the ol' swimmin' hole.

Music update:

I'm almost done with a project that has taken over a year- creating the background music and doing the audio editing for a couple of Meditation CDs by Donna Morrish.

Also in the works, I wrote the lyrics and melody for a song by Drown Radio (Aka Dr. Popular)
the world class champion Yo-Yo-ist slash Nerdcore hip hop beat maker. In return he is working on a remix of Door to Door. So far, the remix is sounding really good. I'll let you know when it is available.

Meanwhile I am working on licensing music for synching to visuals- i.e. movies and television. Check out the music on Idnote for a bunch of my little electronic ditties.

Hidden Gems:

Focuss: Chicken Tikka Masala, in SF

Like Johnny Depp's CIA agent character in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" I eat the same dish
at each type of restaurant I go to, only I don't kill the chef (usually.) Just as I eat Bun Thit Noung at every Vietnamese restaurant, I eat Chicken Tikka Masala at every Northern Indian / Pakistani place. Here are my faves...


Masala Indian Cuisine, San Francisco: This place has the best ambience / price / taste ratio of all the Indian places in SF. The staff are friendly, the place is clean, the food is inexpensive and not greasy. The Chicken Tikka Masala rocks. What more can one ask for?
1220 9th Avenue (415) 566-6976


Chutney Restaurant, San Francisco: The Chicken Tikka Masala here is sooo good. The place is self serve, floors are greasy and it's in the tenderloin, but the Chicken Tikka Masala is sooo good... 511 Jones Street (415) 931-5541


Tasty Curry, San Francisco: While the ambience is lacking- greasy and self serve, the food does you right and the price can't be beat. Chicken Tikka Masala is very good- a little dry and I would like more chunks of chicken, but very good none the less. 1375 9th Avenue (415) 753-5122

Cousin Isaac making headlines- literally.

Kansai Time Out Magazine published a story I wrote called "The Pan in Japan" in the September 2006 issue. I just got my copy, due to slow mail service, so I guess it's old news by now.

The Article was published in the print magazine, but not online, so here is a pdf of it.