Flying Pigs and Atelier Crenn


I read with interest Elle Magazine's recent profile of chef Dominique Crenn's new San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn. Although the restaurant seems a bit chi-chi for my tastes (as Crenn says, “You can’t come by for a glass of wine or a salad, it’s an experience") the ambition is inspiring. My favorite bit from the interview:

“I wish everyone could have the luxury of realizing their dreams, if only for a short time,” Crenn says. She has a tattoo on her right forearm of a girl gazing up at a small, perennially fluttering winged pig, “When pigs fly,” says Crenn, explaining the image, “it’s all possible.”

Elinor Diamond of Eel & Ermine

Eel & Ermine is a great little shop in Laurel Heights that sells handmade, custom tailored clothing at amazingly reasonable prices. The year-old boutique is run by co-owners Evelyne Aikman and Elinor Diamond, two friends who decided to create the kind of store they would actually enjoy visiting.

Dee Harley of Harley Farms Goat Dairy

A visit to Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero is one of my most favorite day trips to take from San Francisco. Just an hour's drive south of the city, down a gorgeous oceanfront stretch of Highway 1, the farm offers scheduled dairy tours, cheesemaking classes, and seasonal farm dinners. In addition, drop-in visitors are welcome daily to browse the farm's fantastic shop, sample and buy its award-winning cheeses, and even cuddle a goat or two.