It's been a busy couple of weeks for me. Between the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge and staying glued to my computer to watch the amazing peregrine falcon cam (mama and babies are local eaters, people!), I have been constantly playing catch-up with my favorite blogs.

Sean at Hedonia has been entertaining me every time I click through to his blog. This week he reported on the results of of home-curing olives.

The olives were delicious, with an almost nutty flavor and good, firm texture. Sadly, we only got to enjoy them a short time, as the persistent scourge of mold reared its ugly head once again. One morning I cracked open my container to find the orange rind covered in a fine white fur. I hadn't stirred the olives the day before. Damn.

Sean also has a new feature called Eatsdropper which is keeping us all entertained. Anyone can write in food-related comments that they hear out and around town. The results are very funny, and I look forward to new installments.

Catherine, our newest Bay Area Bites author, loved Cafe Majestic

Cafe Majestic won't be for everyone, I guess. Some people only want to eat frozen bubbles filled with molten seaweed, others are allergic to settings where salt is served in a glass sleigh bed and suits aren't out of place, but the rest of you, the next time you'd like a really nice meal? You go.

Tea is abandoning us for Seattle. Sniff.

I'm going to Seattle for myself. I am stepping back from a life and a city I love, taking a break. Things have been interesting lately--illness, fatigue, and yet good changes as well. This blog has crept into my life unexpectedly, bringing with it new friends, a focus on food and writing in a different way, new political issues I want to support. My life is changing in ways that make me happy, but transition is unsettling. I don't know what the new structure looks like yet, it's not fully formed, but I know that old things are slowly drifting away. In times like this, it's good to get some perspective.

BlogSoop is a fun new San Francisco site. The founder of Blog Soop has been working to take our local food blog reviews and organize them within one searchable database. The result is a useful site that makes it easy to find combined restaurant reviews.

Michael Bauer breaks big news on his blog: Chez Nous on Fillmore at Bush is about to be sold to the A16 clan. I live in the area and have loved Chez Nous for years and have a lot of memories associated with Chez Nous, but could not be more excited about an A16-type restaurant taking over that space. The Wednesday Food Section should have more information on this changeover tomorrow.

This post is a couple weeks old, but worth visiting if you missed it: Jeanne at World on a Plate conducted a brownie test: Do people tend to prefer boxed brownies, brownies from scratch or a basic boxed brownie? Find out the results at World on a Plate. I'll give you a hint: the winner was chosen by 75% of the group!