Hello, my friends. How are you all doing out there? It has been such an awful, gut-wrenching week for California, full of terrible loss, heartbreak, and so much smoke. The tales of survivors and loss are equally overwhelming. It’s so defeating to look out at these ash-filled skies, and the claustrophobia is real. Sending all the hugs.
I know so many of us feel quite helpless in the face of all this overwhelming destruction, wondering what to do and how to contribute. One really easy way is to give $10 via the American Red Cross by texting CALWILDFIRES to 90999. It’s that easy. Go ahead, do it right now. Or you can donate via their site, or call 1-800-HELPNOW. The New York Times also put together this helpful post with more charities and ways to donate. Thanks for doing the good deeds you all do so well. I will be keeping you posted on upcoming charity events here. Our precious California.
I’m so grateful to get out of the smoke this week, and am actually heading into another kind of smoke: I’ll be in Las Vegas all week for MJBIZCON, on behalf of my other brand (mymilligram), along with 20,000 other cannabiz folks. (Can you believe I’m on a 4:20pm flight today? That was definitely the flight to book.) I haven’t been to Vegas in years, so if you have any recent food faves and finds to check out, I’m all ears. It’s going to be busy bizeee, but a girl’s gotta eat.
Speaking of that, I’ve been eating all over town for you guys! Last week’s Table Talk on Bay Area Bites includes a visit to Five Happiness (an Inner Richmond Chinese restaurant for classic Shanghainese and Taiwanese dishes), plus there’s a new Le Marais Bakery and commissary in Polk Gulch, and let’s look at three new restaurants opening in the North Bay.
This week’s Table Talk covers a quality brunch and cocktails at The Saratoga, plus the Week of Italian Cuisine returns (featuring Puglia this year!), the off-the-menu Prog Dog at The Progress, and don’t miss the next installment of Chicken and Wine Palace’s pop-up, featuring some truly excellent fried chicken.
If that brunch at The Saratoga is really catching your eye, and I know it will, you’re going to be happy to hear I’m hosting a tablehopper holiday brunch there with Westland Distillery on Sunday December 2nd! We’re so excited to see you at this swanky and boozy brunch, it’s going to be a blast, but tickets are limited, so hop to it!
One last item, and this is a fun one. Many of you know I was an Alfa Romeo driver for quite some time, before the Lipstick Mobile experienced her untimely end when a wall fell on her. So smushed, just like lipstick. Tragic!
Anyway, my Dad is currently clearing out his garage of his toys, and one of them is his 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 2.0. If you were ever going to buy an Alfa Romeo, you’d want to buy one maintained, loved, and tuned by my father. She’s a beauty—she’s white, only 38K miles (!), comes with a hard top (great for winter), and she sounds like a beast. Immaculate. Check out his beloved Claudia (named after Ms. Cardinale) here. It would be so amazing to sell the car to someone “in the family,” or at least to fellow Alfisti. Thanks for spreading the word! We’re also going to be selling a silver 1972 Spider, also immaculate, if you like vintage cars—stand by on that one.
Okay gang, I’m off for a crazy week with Snoop (yup, he’s going to be there) and suits and everything in between. Catch you on the flip side.
Big hugs. Marcia Gagliardi
Sunday evening’s smoky moonrise in Healdsburg, just before TSO Sonoma’s Fall Foraged harvest dinner. Photo: © tablehopper.com.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Nov 13 2018
