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 | Laurie Fox's The Lost Girls Berkeley-based author and literary agent Laurie Fox recently published her second novel, [i]The Lost Girls[/i], a feminist re-imagining of J.M. Barrie's classic [i]Peter Pan[/i]. In Barrie's story, Peter Pan promises to come back from Neverland for Wendy, but like all little boys, he irresponsibly shows up too late. Wendy has grown up and is unable to return with him. She offers her daughter to Pan in her place and begins a cycle of each mother sending her daughter to fly with Pan and explore Neverland.More |  | Out of the way eatery shines On Saturday night I joined a bunch of culinary enthusiasts from the Craigslist Food Forum (I've recently learned that some find "foodie" derogatory) for dinner at Lotus Garden. While I have yet to visit Vietnam, I am always amazed at how at each Vietnamese restaurant I visit there is something unique on the menu that I have not seen elsewhere. Lotus Garden was no exception. While the standard items like imperial rolls and Vietnamese crepes were good, what really struck me were the raw beef salad and the eggplant with coconut and curry sauce.More |  | In the former farmlands of Contra Costa, a big-city teacher finds a global village of writers. Three years ago I devised a course called "Writing Your Wisdom," a memoir-writing class that I presented to two local adult schools in the East Bay suburbs. I admit that I worried I'd only get white bread and bologna with sentimental "little stories" about when this area was once farmland. After all, let's face it, the burbs out here in Contra Costa County are not the city, I narrowly thought, but a "safe place" where one doesn't make waves and votes conservative. How wrong I was!More |  | Let's talk a little meth, shall we? Crystal Method (Ken Jordan & Scott Kirkland) live in a world of gathered samples of sound bytes, where their love and enjoyment for pumping break-beats, killer bass lines and digital hooks rule. What their music produces is true dance, pumping bass and a kicking movement that is known as modern electronica.More | | | As Valentine's Day approaches, we turn our attention away from who's playing where, and toward the emotionality behind the music. Taking the upcoming day into account, three brave writers have revealed their personal lists of songs that work between the sheets and others that are perfect for breaking up to.More |  | Butterfly features a creative menu set to the sounds of local jazz So you’ve got well-to-do friends visiting from out of town for one night, and they’re expectant. They not only want to sample the fine cuisine that this city has to offer, but they also want to take the pulse of the city’s burgeoning nightlife. Where to take them? Look no further than the swank, new Butterfly, a Mission Street establishment that’s equal parts jazz club and tapas bar...More |  | It's a rare and beautiful thing to find a dining destination that's as well suited to a romantic dinner for two as it is to group giggles with a small posse of good buddies. Côté Sud is one such place.More |  | Dueling Senses Like pampered stars, each dish unabashedly flaunts its plumage. The "Shi-itake Mushroom Dumplings" ($9) make for a difficult act to follow, laid as they are in a sauce pleasantly undecipherable between sweet and an "other" still difficult to label. Vying for the limelight is the extensive wine list (running pages long and regions wide) that alone ranks EOS as a destination spot.More |  | Fina Estampa's Peruvian Cuisine Though largely eluding the city's foodie radar, Fina Estampa has dished up generous - yes, huge - portions of central coast Peruvian cuisine for thirteen years. Huge portions because it continues to be family-run, Peruvian because that is from where the owner and head of the family had immigrated, central coast because like many Japanese-Peruvians, the Shinsato clan hails from that region. The regional influence is not lost on the menu, carrying an extensive seafood selection and idiosyncratically Japanese-Peruvian traces of ginger and soy sauce.More |  | Find a Real Slice in North Beach Where to find the city’s best pizza? In an Italian neighborhood of course. North Beach’s Golden Boy Pizza serves it Sicilian style, by the square slice, accompanied by ... a fork and knife? You guessed it, these guys take their pizza seriously, and maybe that’s the secret to their success. Golden Boy won’t make deliveries to the office, nor do they sell whole pies to go. Rather, patrons must pay pilgrimage to this dive locale--on Green St. at Jasper Alley--to get their little taste of heaven.More |
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