I was reminded of this well known Robert Frost poem as ML and I went for a stroll through the Muir woods this Christmas eve, and the photograph above captured the moment perfectly.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– Robert Frost, 1922

As I move neighborhoods yet again this time the move is much a longer one in terms of distance, from NYC, the city I have lived in for over 10 years, to San Francisco, the city I have always wanted to live in. From Park Slope and it’s the stroller filled streets to Russian Hill and it’s steep hills that open up to stunning views of the bay.

San Francisco is one of the most picturesque cities in this country and I fell in love with it when I was here on a project during my consulting days. I remember having a beer at a bayside cafe in Tiburon one weekend and tellling myself I would make an effort to live in this city at some point in my life. I am fortunate to be able to finally make the move.

The first thing that strikes you about this city coming from NYC is how different people here are. Friendly, approachable, mellow are adjectives you rarely use in describing anything in New York but here they fit just fine. People will often go out of their way to help you and its quite refreshing. The second big difference is the weather – its chilly in the summer! Right now however the weather is perfect, though this is said to last only a week or so more. Whether or not I will miss the seasons remains to be seen but so far, I am enjoying the weather thoroughly – even the chilly, foggy evenings. The third big difference is the bountiful abundance of outdoor activities that are available within a stones throw from the city – from rock climbing, to golfing to surfing to hiking to skiing- you can do virtually anything you dream of year round (it’s also a bit overwhelming at first!). I am looking forward to trying out as much as I can. The last thing that was surprising to me is the food. You would think that its hard to beat all the variety and quality that you get in New York but the diverse local organic produce thats found at restaurants and markets make everything here taste fresh and home made. Something as simple as a tomato tastes fresher and sweeter here than anywhere else.

All in all, I am pretty stoked to be here and will be blogging more about my experiences – technological, cultural and culinary, in my new home.

Day 2:

11:00 AM – The next morning, we walked over to the Mile-End neighborhood to see how it earned its reputation of being the hipsters hangout. A local attraction there is the Fairmount Bagel Bakery. In the words of a local shop-keeper in the area, a true Montreal moment is biting into a sesame bagel, served hot right from a brick oven at the Fairmount Bagel Bakery on a beautiful morning along with a good cup of coffee. Enticed by his description, ML and I decided to hunt down this place and see for ourselves how a Montreal bagel compared to its New York brethren. Upon getting there, I took the shopkeeper’s advice and ordered hot sesame bagel while ML ordered a cinnamon raisin. The bagels were noticeably skinnier and less doughy than your bagels at H&H. While I did enjoy the sesame bagel (though not as satisfying), ML’s cinnamon raisin bagel was hard as a rock and watching her face as she tried to bite it was priceless. She had half an intention of beating some sense into the shop-keeper’s head with her bagel.

12:00 PM – After the bagel debacle, we walked down Boulevard St. Laurent to St. Catherine Street. This is another great stretch of the city to walk through. You find shop after shop of local designer boutiques (much to ML’s delight its mostly women’s clothing) as well as, interestingly enough, a lot of Portugese restaurants and shops. Veer of St. Laurent a little and you’ll find a row of restaurants on Rue. Prince Arthur with sidewalk seating. Still hungry from the from the unsatisfying breakfast, we stopped into a Greek restaurant for a quick bite. While these restaurants are more for their location and scenery than the food, its worth grabbing a cup of coffee or a small bite and people watching.

2:00 PM – Montreal is a very bike friendly city and walking around you will find many bicyclists on the streets. The city even has a bicycle rental service much like the zip-car concept where you can pick up a bike from anywhere and drop it off anywhere else you’d like. This is geared more towards locals than tourists as renting these bikes on an hourly basis can quickly get expensive. Since the weather was holding up well, we walked back down to Old Montreal (following Blvd St. Laurent all the way) and rented bikes at a small bike shop on St. Laurent and Rue De La Commune. Being recommended a 20-mile bike trail along the St. Laurent River, we picked up our bikes and head down the trail which turned out to be a very pleasant bike ride through the old industrial parts of town, into Ile Saint Helene where you can catch a glimpse of the massive Biosphere and then into Ile Notre Dame. Once you cross the river back into the city, you can head over a very European style farmers market by the Lechine Canal and treat yourself to a cone of ice-cold gelato.

8:00 PM – Head back into Old Montreal for dinner at an excellent French restaurant within an auberge called Bonaparte. If you’re lucky, you can get a table by the window overlooking the cobblestone streets of this part of town and people-watch as the street lamps light up. I recommend trying the fois-gras and the tuna as they were excellent.

If you have time the next morning before your flight, checking out the underground city on St. Catherine street is worth a visit. Its block after block of inter-connected multi-level malls usually packed with locals and tourists that makes you forget for a second that we are in a global recession. A word of caution though, it’s very easy to lose your sense of direction and wallet in this labyrinth of retail stores.

I recently got back from a weekend vacation to Montreal. Having been there a few years ago and loving it, I thought it would be a good mini-vacation for ML and I as we were well overdue for one. It’s like Paris without the snobby holier than thou attitude Parisians are infamous for. So not only do you get to experience a different culture/language, there’s also an added benefit of going there during the summer time – you get to see why its called the city of festivals. We intentionally coincided the trip with the Just for Laughs festivals – a huge comedy festival that happens right after the Jazz Fest.

Having done a bit of looking up on what to see and do in the weekend we were there I thought I could share our experience breaking out the trip by day.

Day 1.

12:00 PM – The best way to get yourself intimately acquainted with a new city is to walk (assuming of course its a pedestrian friendly city). So once we checked in to our hotel, ML and I walked over from the Financial Area (by Rue Peel and Maisonneuve) to Old Montreal. The walk is pretty encompassing as you walk through the financial district of the city, past the hundreds of stores and malls on St. Catherine, through Chinatown and into Old Montreal.

1:00 PM – Once in Old Montreal you can choose to walk through the more tourist-friendly parts of the area packed with mimes, caricature artists and busy sidewalk cafes or walk through the quieter, more charming parts of this area strolling down the cobblestone paths lined with old gas-light lamp posts, hearing the occasional click-clock of horse-drawn carriages and encountering the ever-so friendly locals. The architecture, and quaintness makes you forget for a second that you are still in the 21st century and feel like you have been transported momentarily though time to the 18th century.

There are also a ton of boutiques and art galleries that populate this area that are worth looking at to get a feel for the local art. After soaking in the architecture and sights, we stopped by to sample some of the local micro-brews and grab a quick bite at a restaurant called Santos. ML tried their unique and rather potent sangria which was actually pretty good. After coercing the bartender for the recipe, I thought I’d share it here as well as I think it makes a great summer cocktail:

Rosé Sangria:

1 shot of Bacardi
1 shot of Peach Schnapps
1/2 cup Rosé wine
2 fresh strawberries, halved
A handful of blueberries
2 peeled and fresh lychees
1 wedge of lime
Splash of lychee juice
Club soda
Ice

In a large wine glass, add ice with one shot of Bacardi Rum (white), 1/2 cup of rose wine, a shot of Peach Schnapps. Add in a couple of halved strawberries, a handful of blueberries and a couple of lychees (skinned, of course) with a few drops of lychee juice and a wedge of lime. Top with club soda and enjoy.

On the way to check out the centerpiece of tourist attention in this area, La Basilique Notre Dame, stop by at a small bakery called Les Glaceurs for out-of-this world cupcakes that put the ones you wait in line at Magnolia for to shame.

7:00 PM – Given that we were in the midst of the Just For Laughs Festival, we had to get tickets to a comedy show. So we were lucky enough to catch a Videotron Gala series show (which are the premier shows of the festival) hosted by Lewis Black.

10:00 PM – After the show, we walked through the Just For Laughs street fair – its a block after block of food vendors, games, live music, clowns,  mimes, and Cirque du Soleil-esque processions. Right in the midst of the fair, we stopped by for dinner at a tapas restaurant called Confusion on St. Denis. You can sit outside at this restaurant and get a front row seat to the masked performers walking on stilts through the street fair, as well as a good dose of live jazz music from local musicians playing right next door on the pavements. It’s a perfect way to end your first day in Montreal.

Go to Day 2.

Here’s another great clean-out-the-fridge recipe that’s both nutritious and comforting. Having a lot of various vegetables left over from a recent BBQ, I thought of throwing them all together in a one-pot chicken and rice dish. So without further adieu, here’s the recipe:

Serves 4:

Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a dutch oven on high heat. While the pot heats, take about 1 lb of boneless and skinless chicken breasts and season them with salt and pepper. Once the pot starts to smoke, toss the chicken breasts in and let cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side. While the chicken cooks, chop up about half of a large red onion, a few cloves of garlic (to taste), a handful of baby portabella mushrooms and some ginger (approx a tablespoon’s worth).

Once the chicken is seared on both sides, remove it from the pot and place on a plate to the side. On a low-medium heat, add another tablespoon of vegetable oil and toss in the chopped aromatics, mushrooms and half a teaspoon of salt. Once the onions become translucent (approx 8-10 minutes) add in a cup and a half of long-grain rice. Also add a tablespoon of cumin and half a teaspoon of ground red pepper to give the dish additional depth. Mix the rice well with the pot and let it absorb the flavor for about 3 minutes. Pour 3 cups of chicken broth  into the pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and let the rice cook for about 10-12 minutes on low heat.

Add the chicken back into the pot, along with a can of chickpeas (rinsed), a cup of chopped tomatoes and 2-3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro. Let everything cook for another 5-7 minutes while stirring periodically. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Gone also are the pedestrians scrambling frantically around at break-neck speeds on the very narrow pavements willing to mow you down if by some misfortune you happen to come in their way.  And instead, I’ve found less crowded pavements, sometimes as wide as the streets they border, with people strolling at a more leisurely pace.

Gay sex stores & bars like Rawhide have been replaced by more family friendly restaurants with unusually large amounts of space between the tables. My nearby & overcrowded Whole Foods has given way to quieter more community oriented grocery stores with enough aisle space to let me to think about what I need while I’m shopping (imagine that!). Bars nearby are less packed and offer a large selection of beers on tap and plenty of live music.

The tiny little stoop in front of my building used to be the only place within reasonable walking distance I could sit outside on a good day and now I have a rather large (and well maintained) backyard with more space than I know what to do with it.

As I begin to adjust to these changes I must admit that all in all, I am pretty pleased with my new neighborhood and I’m looking forward to learning more about it.

Since it was a gloomy evening with one of my favorite forecasts- “a cold wintry mix”, I stayed in and tried my hands on something quite low tech. Raiding Maria’s art drawer, I found some books and oil painting paraphernelia and thought why not. It was a better than sulking over the Giants disappointing loss to the Eagles.
Spending a couple of hours playing with paints, colors, and brush strokes was quite relaxing. I can’t remember the last time I painted and it made me feel like a kid again. I will definitely try to do more of it if I can.

After a very long hiatus I’m back on Posterous (partly since getting an iPhone blogging has never been easier). Being the end of the year, the natural thing to do is reflect on how the year has gone. Inspired by a post by Garry (http://garry.posterous.com/my-resolutions-for-2009) I thought I’d write down my thoughts and hopefully it will help me strenghten my resolve. I have been looking back at the past two years and reflecting on how they went. 2007 & 2008 were incredible years for me. I fell in love and moved in with Maria, quit my 9-5 corporate job, worked on my own start up with some of the smartest people I know, took part in Y-Combinator (summer 08), put my start up on hold after working on it for over 20 months, and now will be entering the workforce again to hopefully build upon what I learned while working on Youlicit (more on this later).  The life lessons I’ve learned in these last 731 days have been more than some learn in a lifetime. And going into 2009 I want to resolve to act on these lessons learned.

Personal goals:
- Spoil Maria rotten
- Learn Spanish
- Be more fiscally conservative
- Be better at prioritizing everything in my life
- Start and maintain a personal blog
- Plan a trip to India before summer of 2010
- Take more pictures
- Volunteer to give back to the community
- Read more books

Leisure goals:
- Continue learning salsa
- Explore more restaurants in New York and try out new cuisines and foods
- See more music and art events in the city

Health goals:
- Run at least twice a week and go to the gym at least four times a week
- Eat less cholesterol heavy foods
- Eat more veggies regularly
- Cook at home more often

Geek goals:
- Pick up Python and write at least one useful webapp in django
- (stretch) Experiment with developing on a mobile platform (iPhone
or android) ]]> http://blog.nihaargupta.com/2008/12/resolutions-for-09/feed/ 1