Surfing!

Surfing. One of the Left Coast’s great pastimes. Daunting, yes, but rewarding? Doubly so. I can understand the apprehension that might come along with a first surfing lesson, but if you’re willing to overcome your hesitation, there’s an incredible world that awaits you.

Fact: Surfing will make you cooler.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. You + surfing = cooler you. The amount of coolness-increase you experience is, however, at least loosely correlated to how well you surf. In other words, if you spend all day eating waves, you might now achieve your maximum coolness. Practice, makes perfect.

Myth: Surfing is the most dangerous sport ever.

There are many more dangerous sports than surfing, especially if you consider competitive Russian roulette a sport. Seriously though, you have a far better chance of getting into a car accident than you do having a shark attack you. Is that comforting? That was meant to be comforting.

Fact: Riding a wave is the best feeling in the world.

There is a downside to this, namely that other important events such as your wedding day, the birth of a child, or winning the lottery will pale in comparison. However, most surfers find the trade worthwhile.

Myth: Surfing is the heroin of sports.

In most important aspects, this is not true.

Fact: Surfing might make you talk like a surfer

It might also turn you into a member of the Beach Boys. This was more desirable several decades ago.

Myth: Humans are the only animals that surf.

As we have learned from animated documentaries, both penguins and chickens are also able to surf.

Fact: If a penguin challenges you to surf, it will win.

Don’t surf against penguins until you’re very confident in your surfing abilities, and have a large bucket of small fish to distract them with.

Myth: Surfing is expensive.

Aside from the aforementioned bucket of fish, there are very few costs to surfing. Oceans are free, and you can rent a board and a wetsuit from Bolinas Surf Shop for about $25. A group lesson, a greatidea for a first timer, is about $50.

So basically, you need to get out there and try. It’s nothing short of the best thing you’ll ever do in your life. Ever.

 

Going to the Market

Carrots. Photo courtesy of Annie Fox.

Growing up I was a huge fan of eating, which naturally led to another passion: cooking. I once heard the essence of the culinary arts distilled as thus:

1. Start with great ingredients.

2. Don't mess it up.

Solid, solid advice. So if you're likewise gastronomically inclined, you're now wondering, where can I get the best ingredients? When in Marin, do as the Marinites do and check out a farmer's market. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, there's no better place to get the freshest most delicious produce you've ever had. You'll get the first crack at whatever's in season and that's the start of a great meal.

Paraphrasing Chef Tom Colicchio in his excellent book, Think Like A Chef, chefs get inspired to cook a meal based on the best available produce. The proteins don't really change from season to season, but the first crop of kale, or white nectarines, or summer squashes-- now that's something to get excited about.

With that in mind, you should really hit up the Point Reyes Farmers' Market next time you're free between 9am and 1pm on a Saturday. In fact, I can give you 6 reasons why you owe it to yourself to check it out.

1. They have free samples there. Free samples are usually enough of a reason to get me to go anywhere (especially Costco). Here you have the added bonus of learning by trial and error how to judge good produce. Your senses will be tuned to ninja-like levels of precision in touch, smell, taste, and sight. Hearing... will probably be unaffected, unless you're listening to the fruit hawker telling you "yes, this one is ripe," which is a good idea too.

Royalty. Photo courtesy of Marin IJ.

2. Royalty have been there. In November 2005, Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall went to the market. Are you going to stand there and tell me that you're better than royalty? That you're too good to shop where the royals shop? Check for ripeness what the royals check for ripeness? Freely sample what the royals freely sample? I thought not.

3. The environment. There's a lot of talk about the impact our food has on the environment and how much better it is to eat local, organic, and seasonal. It's a very important issue, and I don't want to mince words here. If you buy anything at the farmers' market you will save the world. I don't mean this figuratively. Any purchase that you make at the farmers' market will single-handedly solve every environmental problem we are currently facing. Literally. So buy an organic nectarine so we can stop worrying about this global warming thing already.

4. Music. The live kind. Played by people, and or cyborgs that look like people. Either way it'll sound really good and you won't know the difference.

5. You can make the best meal that you've ever had. As delicious as the restaurants in West Marin are, a lot of taste is the experience that goes with it. Picking the best ingredients out with the help of its growers is a great start. Plus, if you're stumped for dish ideas, the growers will know some great ones. If you want to put your time and energy into making one great meal, you'll create a dish and an experience that you'll remember for a long time.

6. There will be oysters. 'Nuff said.

The Event of a Lifetime

The foundation of any good time is the knowledge that you're experiencing something unique. Chance and circumstance have conspired to give you a moment that you're lucky to catch and will never come again.

It's with an eye to the unique that I'm letting you know about an opportunity to culture yourselves at the upcoming West Marin Review release party, August 16th, Sunday, 4pm.

Since the last Harry Potter book was released two years ago, the literary world has been yearning for the next big event that would whip readers everywhere into a frenzy and trigger a mass of literate-hysteria. I'm letting you know right now: the West Marin Review, Volume 2 release party is that event that we've been waiting for.

The West Marin Review is a literary and art journal that features some of the best talent in the area such as Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, California Award winner Philip Fradkin, and influencial poet Joanne Kyger.

If they were selling tickets to this thing, the tickets would be sold out. People would be camped out for weeks around the venue, Toby's Feed Barn Gallery in Point Reyes, just to get a glimpse of all the talent that will read there. Inexplicably, but lucky for you, the event is free and you won't even have to set up a tent outside of Toby's to be assured a seat.

All you have to do is show up on August 16th ready to be blown away by the blinding convergence of literary and artistic talent that happens only once in a generation.

And yes, there will be refreshments provided.