AUGUST THOUGHTS

PHOTO BY BILL SLAVIN

Some days I just have to look up to the sky. That beautiful cerulean blue of summer, the cloudy grey of winter, the sunset hues of autumn, or the billowy clouds of spring. I look up and feel the wonder. How vast the sky is and how clouds stream or drift across, sometimes creating new shadows on the ground. The view reminds me how insignificant we all are. In August though, if you are lucky and can stay up way past your bedtime, the Perseid meteor shower fills the sky. The meteors, each small in comparison to a planet and all originally of the comet Swift-Tuttle, are pulled together and fly like one across the sky before they evaporate in the heat of our atmosphere. I think again of the lessons that Nature teaches us, how small things united can make a big impact.

PHOTO BY BILL SLAVIN

August, before school starts, can be a slow winding down of summer. August is filled with discovery: baby sparrows hop in front of me as I walk the neighborhood, still small enough to pester their parents for any tidbits the parents find. The dragonflies flit around inside Oracle Ballpark on game days. I ask myself why are they within the ballpark? Is it the humidity created by all the other bodies so close together? Was this their home before the ballpark was built and they persist in staying?

At night, somewhere out of the city, I can experience the quick thrill of seeing a shooting start late at night. As someone with nearsightedness, I didn't see a shooting star until I was given a pair of glasses in elementary school. Looking up, I was amazed at how full the night sky was. I could then identify the Big Dipper and Orion, where before all I saw was the dark, indigo sky with only the moon and some of the larger stars and planets like Venus and Mars visible to me. Perhaps that is why I continue to look up in hopes of seeing the moon in the sky.

PHOTO BY BILL SLAVIN

The slow, hot days of August are filled with historic reminders of human achievement and human failings:

August 6 and 9, 1945, the days when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

August 6, 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson.

August 13, 1961, East Germans began to build the Berlin Wall to prevent mass migration into Western Europe.

August 18, 1920, the day when the 19th Amendment was passed which allowed white women to vote. Black women, Asian women, Hispanic and Indigenous women waited till 1965 to gain full voting rights in all states.

August 28, 1963, when the March on Washington took place. Will we have a repeat of that march this year?

August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans.

August, the end of summer, a time of wonder in nature, and a reminder of the continuous progression/regression of human actions.

History of the Women's Suffragette Movement:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution 

Check out Meteors, Comets, and Astroroids:

 https://science.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-meteors/

Read about the atomic bombing here:

https://visit.archives.gov/whats-on/explore-exhibits/atomic-bombing-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

Read about President Johnson and the signing of the Voting Rights Act here:

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act

Check out the Berlin Wall here:

https://diplomacy.state.gov/berlin-wall/#the-legacy-of-the-berlin-wall

 The March on Washington information:

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom 

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath:

https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina

 

TOMATOES, TOMATES, OR POMODOR

Summer. A friend gave me a paper bag full of her garden-grown tomatoes. I bent down into the bag for a whiff of the luscious vegetable-fruit. Most of us, including nutritionists, call tomatoes a vegetable because we use them in savory dishes, but a tomato is actually a fruit. A fruit is a ripened ovary containing seeds (more than you want to know?) so tomatoes fit into the fruit category, but most of us use tomatoes in sauces, casseroles, or on top of pizza dough, not in cookies or cakes.

Another friend has an abundance of figs this time of year, and, if we are lucky to see each other when she is overloaded with figs, I come away with a bag from her.  What a luscious treat to bite into a ripe fig.

Friends of Calligraphy, the calligraphy guild I belong to, (and yes, they still refer themselves as a guild which is a name associated with the Middle Ages and the businesses that proliferated then) last summer produced a cookbook for their 50th Anniversary. Inside, are recipes from members with illustrations of ingredients. Tomato recipes include Baked Feta Pasta, Marinara Sauce, and Mostaccioli.

We used to call this period in history the Dark Ages; but in fact, the Middle Ages were a busy time for crafts and trades to develop. Silversmiths, merchants, leatherworkers, religious orders, and others banded together into separate guilds to protect their crafts or business or beliefs. The Middle Ages became one of my favorite periods in history because of the ambiguity between the name the Dark Ages and historical reality. The Middle Ages gave rise not only to guilds but to universities and the development of capitalism, making way for the Renaissance. 

I am writing something here far removed from recipes for tomatoes and figs, but these two fruits also have interesting histories. Tomatoes, since they are part of the nightshade family, were considered poisonous by some people. Figs, one of the first fruits to be cultivated, came to represent abundance, peace, and femininity, and were often consumed for strength development, and just because they are delicious. Depictions of figs and fig trees appear in the art found in Ancient Egypt, are referenced in the Bible as politely covering Adam and Eve, in the Quran, which identifies the fig as one of the fruits of paradise, and in California, missionaries planted fig trees at each mission along the coastal boundaries --one of the few good projects they accomplished. (Remember how we all used to spend fourth grade learning about the missions, while ignoring the treatment of the indegenous people caught in their system?) Figs are easy to grow and continue to flourish in the California climate.

Easy recipes for summer:

For using an abundance of tomatoes:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees

Brush tomatoes with oil. Shake on salt and pepper.

Place on greased broiler pan. Add other vegetables such as broccoli florets or brussel sprouts.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes till vegetables are charred.

Easy recipe for figs:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread oil on a baking pan.

Cut a cross in each fig.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Place a dollop of Blue or Feta Cheese in center.

Bake till cheese melts. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

What are your favorite summer recipes for using home-grown produce? Don't forget peaches.

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Check out the Friends of Calligraphy website where you can find a copy of the cookbook. Please consider a donation to FOC for their efforts to encourage the practice of calligraphy:

https://www.friendsofcalligraphy.org/pages/history.html

Tomatoes, Tomates, and Pomidor information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

Best information about the history of figs:

https://www.hammersleyinletfarm.com/from-eden-to-empire-the-cultural-and-historical-journey-of-figs/ 

LIVING IN A NEIGHBORHOOD

We've lived in the Bay Area for ages, yet we are constantly surprised by how little we really saw of San Francisco before we moved here. Exploring the city and settling into a neighborhood gives us the option to ask a store clerk, as we learned to do in France and Japan, "Ca va?", "Genki Desu?", or "How are you?", and then to find their response, because they recognize us, a heartfelt reply.

Walking around the neighborhoods of a city over and over again gives us the change to see what was hidden when we used to rush around, trying to beat traffic out of the city, and going to the spots that everyone else knows--the Eiffel Tower, Ginza, the Ferry Building, Golden Gate Park, or Union Square.

Driving at night around neighborhoods opens up different possibilities too. We would never have spotted Uncle Boys without their bright lights on a very dark street. Uncle Boys is a local take-out burger place in the Richmond District. I can't even call it a restaurant, coffee shop, or cafe, it is so small. It reminds me of Asian places down alleys with a few counter seats and the rest of the room the open kitchen. Another place my son and I spotted was Pizzetta Napoletana on Frederick Street near Kezar Stadium. Again, bright lights drew us in. Theo found a parking place nearby and we walked into a busy, narrow bar and pizzeria with a large brick oven dominating the room.

In both places, my expectations were not high. A hamburger joint? A pizza place? Just a quick meal to keep our hunger satisfied, we thought. Instead, like so many small places in the city, the food was fresh and delicious. At Pizza Napoletana, we had a fresh greens salad with local fruit and sourdough slices with swipes of blue cheese as well as a pesto and parmesan pizza. Good food!

We've also found other places closer to us: Sajj's, a Mediterranean deli, Casa Sophia, a Peruvian-influenced restaurant, and Caffe Centro in South Park. We frequent Caffe Centro so often that they recognize us when we come in and know what our order will be. They offer good paninis, salads, soups, and various coffee drinks that we can consume while we sit in the park. Gradually, the park has become like a college campus with many young workers taking a break. We hear conversations with words such as research, agents, and "He talks over me as if what he has to say is more important."

For us, as we frequent the same places in our neighborhood, the city feels more like the place for us to be. It reminds of city life in New York City when I was fresh out of college and the neighborhood grocer would smile when I came in. Life there, later overseas, and here in San Francisco, starts out with much that is unfamiliar, but I find as we spend more time that the large city becomes a series of neighborhoods patched together. Now, we see people we know as we take walks, we have quick conversations with friendly clerks at cafes we frequent, and we find more and more places to explore. 

Next to explore is the area serviced by MUNI bus line 2, which runs from the Presidio to Sutter with bus stops in the Fillmore District, by the Japan Center, then traveling by the Victorians lining the street to Downtown, passing by 450 Sutter St., a beautiful Art Deco building, skirting Chinatown, and the Financial District with a final stop on Steuart Street near the Ferry Building.

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Sajj's Mediterranean, 636 2nd St. plus 2 other locations:

https://www.sajjstreeteats.com/location/san-francisco-soma/

Casa Sophia, 701 2nd St.:

 https://www.casasofiasf.com

Pizzettana Napoletana  775 Frederick St, SF

https://www.pizzettanapoletana.com 

Uncle Boy's  245 Balboa St, SF

https://uncleboys.com

MUNI bus 2 routes:

https://www.sfmta.com/routes/2-sutter

450 Sutter St. Take a quick look at the lobby and elevator:

https://450sutter.com

Window View July 2026