Holy trinity of no

Prawns, saffron, and capers.

These foods will not be riding along with The BCB and The Semiotician to Portland for New Year's. It's The Semi's birthday, so her taste rules our list of provisions. It pretty much kills my plan of filling Gibson's trunk with prawns as a gift, but I'm sure I can come up with something else.

Speaking of Gibson, he decided at his 90K checkup that this would be an excellent moment for a new timing belt. Hooray! I didn't need that $500 for stuff like my PG&E bill, anyway. But there's a silver lining—in the form of a mechanic who's not only open this week, but willing to turn around the repair in a day for half the price of my usual VW shop.

Even better, this shop is run by a fleet of courteous little middle-aged men. One of them drove me to North Berkeley BART and pointed out the exact spot where he'd pick me up when the car was done, because "it's not safe around here after 4 or 5 p.m." Because, you know, a Cal professor on his way from office hours to his million-dollar house might beat me over the head with an arugula and heirloom tomato salad from Chez Panisse.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another coastal road trip. Hang on, weren't you just in Portland? Indeed. But when the birthday girl chooses, her pals listen, and we both have great friends up there to host us for the holiday. Plus, on the way back down, we're staying at . . . wait for it! . . .

The Treesort.

If you can get past the website patter about "our facilitree" and making a "treeservation," you have to admit it's the coolest thing ever. The Semi tells me our cabin is 35 feet up. If it doesn't rain, that's a photo essay just begging to happen.

Go on and kick back with a prawn cocktail and some risotto, and I'll see you in the new year.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm