One-handedness

No one told me about all the tasks I now need to complete using one hand.
No one told me that I would be feeding a baby for 8-10 hours a day.
No one told me that the nighttime was actually pretty nice.
No one told me that sometimes, I’d pat my belly thinking she was still in there.
No one told me about the Diaper Genie’s trap door of knuckle scraping.
No one told me about the snuggling.
No one told me about the smiles.
No one told me about the pockets of awesome.

All in all, it’s going pretty well. I’m trying to keep up with clients and mothering and I feel I may be letting both parties down.

Yeah, yeah, I know which area is the one to cut back, it’s just tough. See, I already know how to do online stuff, it’s easy to gravitate to. I can write blog posts, I can post photos, I can run email campaigns. I can do those things without the frustration that accompanies wrestling a nipple into a newborn’s mouth.

But figuring out those new parts are part of the fun here. I have had lots of support and that keeps the challenging parts to a minimum.

It’s nice to have James here.
He is working from home this week.
Sadly, he really works from home.
(I was hoping his hard-working streak would break a little.)

My sister arrives Wednesday from Australia to help while she gets situated back in the Bay Area. She’s bringing Australian baby clothes.
She’s bringing a pair of arms.
She’s bringing her beautiful self.

Last week, Brittany generously donated babysitting time so we could go to dinner and see The Batman for my birthday. So necessary, this time alone with James. I felt like a much better lady after I got back. Hooray!

Taste3, Swag Bag

I’ve been to a few conferences in my day. Most give you a gift bag upon arrival, one with logo’d pens, plastic fooferoo and a notebook.

But the Taste3 gift bag took the cake.
Best. Bag. Ever.

Are you considering your conference budget for next year? Are you in the Food + Wine + Art business? The gift bag alone should woo you over to allotting some of that precious budget to attending Taste3.

1. The bag. Giant. Good for lugging bocce materials back and forth from the park.

2. Wine and wine gift bag.

3. Books. Real books. There was a gorgeous photography book, Illuminations, by Lynn Davis, one of the presenters this year. There was the Michelin guide to San Francisco (Bay Area and Wine Country). There was the elegantly photographed Willams-Sonoma tome Wine & Food, a new look at flavor. Whole books!

4. Books continued. My favorite was the recipe book given to all attendees. It is a TasteBook, a customizable recipe book started with recipes pulled from the Taste3 folks. Attendees also received 50 credits to add their own recipes to their TasteBook. Clever use of technology and they made it easy for folks to deal with when they got home.

5. Magazines Alimentum and Edible San Francisco. As well, The Best ’08 of San Francisco Magazine. I haven’t made it through all of them, what with the newborn and all, but I was pleased to see blog buddy Samin’s byline in the Edible San Francisco mag.

6. Food! There was TCHO chocolate! There was Scharffenberger chocolate! There was Voges chocolate! I have enough dark chocolate for my nefarious needs for weeks.

7. Other food! There were fancy salts from Saltistry.com and even pear and chocolate sauce.

8. Other stuff! There was a carrot-based hand cream, there was a little pack of wine trivia questions and there was the sense that someone had planned this gift bag thoughtfully and well in advance. I’m sure I forgot some of my favorite stuff, there was so much in this bag. Amen, sister, amen.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Tom’s Shoes’ presence at the conference. Upon registration, each attendee received a coupon for a free pair of shoes! Seriously. And during all my time in the upstairs vendor area, they had everyone’s size in everyone’s requested color.

Plus, they do this buy a pair donate a pair thing that makes one feel all fuzzy inside.

So to sum up, Taste3 gift bag = rad.

Taste3, Friday's lunch at Copia

Quickly and worthy of mention, the lunch on Friday was amazing. Marscapone polenta, Mahi-Mahi, sauteed zucchini and green beans and radish salad with chocolate truffles for dessert. The wine, a Mondavi Pinot Noir and a Sauvignon Blanc from Kim Crawford, made toes tingle. Lunchtime mingling found other folks from the restaurant business eager to apply the morning’s ideas.

Good, good, all in all.

Taste3, Friday, Mentorship

I’ve been considering a more significant career change, one where I work with my hands more than my keyboard, one with a more concrete impact on the world.

Something like food.

And since the opportunity to blog the Taste 3 conference at Copia came up last year, I was eager to check it out.

What could I glean at the intersection of Food, Wine and Art that might change my career?

A few speakers I was lucky to get access to had some great insight into where this might go — enter Chef Roland G. Henin, talking about Mentorship

It was fun to hear Chef Henin, with heavy accent and cheerful demeanor, walk through his culinary mentorship history.

Competition, collaboration, sous cheffery and a rotating presentation of quotes behind him on the big screen made the presentation fascinating.

At the end, Henin’s most famous prot

Aubs came to visit today

Helen Jane and James made themselves one awesome baby!

Originally uploaded by Aubs

Aubs swung through St. Helena today on her way home. We were lucky to catch her. And she held our daughter and talked to me about grown up things that were neither poop nor boobs!