Win Free Tickets to “Taste of Potrero”
Ready to enjoy sips and noshes from Soulva, Hawker Fare, Trick Dog, Dandelion Chocolate, Humphry Slocombe, Nopa, August 1 Five, and so many more, all in one spot for one night only?
You can at the ninth annual “Taste of Potrero,” 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. May 2 at The Midway, 900 Marin St. in San Francisco. Yes, it’s on a Thursday night. But Thursday is the new Friday, isn’t it?
More than 60 of the Bay Area’s best restaurants, bars, breweries and winemakers will come together for this annual fund-raiser for Daniel Webster Elementary School in San Francisco. All proceeds from the event go to the school, providing more than 75 percent of the Home and School Club budget, as well as arts enrichment programs, classroom supplies, computer instruction and literacy professionals. Since 2011, this event has raised more than $760,000 for the school.
Tickets are $150 each for general admission; $250 each for VIP access that allows you early access starting at 6 p.m.
CONTEST: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a pair of free tickets (valued at a total of $300) to the event, which will feature The Morris, Gibson, Dumpling Time, Oren’s Hummus, The Slanted Door, and more.
The contest, open to those who can make it to the event that date, will run through midnight PST April 27. Winner will be announced April 29.
How to win?
Just tell me one of your greatest memories about elementary school.
Here’s mine:
“Does anyone remember playing high-jump, where you’d knot rubber bands together to form a rope held taut at each end by one of your friends? We’d all take turns jumping over it, as the rubber-brand rope got lifted higher and higher, from ankle height to hip to waist to shoulder and so on until it finally reached “heads,” and then crested at one-inch above that. You’d have to jump over each height level cleanly, without letting a foot or ankle pull down the rope, before you could go on to attempt the next level higher. “Heads” was always my nemesis. Until the day it wasn’t. I clearly remember that moment in first grade. I steeled myself, stared down that rubber-band chain, and went for it. Over I went, clearing for the first time “heads.” I remember the elation I felt, like the world was all of a sudden mine, like a new door had been flung open. Of course, I was brought back to Earth when I landed — twisting my left ankle in the process. My leg was in a cast for weeks afterward. But hey, that’s a whole ‘nother story.”
When I was in elementary school, it was a big thing to walk around the yard during recess either holding hands or hanging on to the arm of the yard duty teacher. Mrs. Antonacci was my first grade teacher and I loved her. I will never forget that one day as I clung to the sleeve of her heavy tweed coat I said, “Can I go to the bathroom?” Her response, “I’m sure that you “can” but “may” you go to the bathroom?” I clearly remember that moment and my response back of, “May I go to the bathroom?” Manners learned on the blacktop.
2nd grade: coming in from recess. Running forward, looked back, turned to face forward again and BAM. My face meets a tree just near my eye. What did we do back in class? That’s right: school photos. I have the lovely pic somewhere to prove it!
Favorite in grade school we’re holidays and preparation for them.
I remember writing a letter to President Reagan in 2nd grade. My mom has a framed copy. I disparaged Reagan for not letting women work in “polotix†and hoped one day woman would become president and he’d “learn his leson.â€
My parents wouldn’t let me have a radio, and it just sonhapoened that in 4th grade I took an electronics class in summer school. Why? I have no idea how that happened! But we got to use the oh so cool 101 Electronics Kit of which they still make a version.
I will never forget the triumph of making a crystal diode radio using the kit and hearing a funk song come across the airwaves. If I win the tickets I will sing it to you. 🙂
Thanks!
Ack please excuse all the typos – and within a comment about school, to boot!
Such great stories! One of my favorite memories is from 3rd grade. We had a school wide competition where the entire school was divided into teams. I started informally tracking scores and my teacher noticed and asked me to do an announcement every day during the competition on the intercom so everyone in the school knew where their team stood. I was petrified at the time but now realize the value in going out of your comfort zone 🙂
My favorite memory from elementary school involves art class and the freedom of creating. I remember creating a mask with different beans and getting art of the month. I saved that piece for years until my mom threw it out due to bugs crawling all over it. I wish I still had some of those creative juices left!
So many memories from elementary school but my favorite was when there was a sports day where I got to go through an obstacle course!
Growing up in Singapore, I loved being able to play badminton every day with my friends and be able to eat delicious chicken rice for lunch!
My favorite memory from elementary school was third grade, when i was in the spelling bee. I was an okay speller, and it came down to me and a girl from the other class who was supersmart. But the last word that got her was automobile….she left off the e on the end. And because I was a car nut, or aficiando, and had read every book on cars I could find, I spelled it right. And when I became a journalist, my frustrated copy editors can attest that I was over-confident about spellin’ due to that one incident.
One of my favorite memories from elementary school was when we had a Four Square competition and I almost beat the best kid. I didn’t win but when I lost, I joined my friends in jump roping and learned to double dutch that day!
One of my greatest memories about elementary school happened years after I left my elementary school! My 5th and 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Schaeffer, made me believe I was bright and had a lot to offer the world. She always encouraged me (even if she wrote my name on the board daily for talking too much). When I graduated college, I wanted to thank the most influential teacher I had and called the school to find out she was still teaching there! I surprised her with flowers and told her that because she believed in me, I was now a college graduate and wanted to thank her. For long moments, she said nothing and I was so embarrassed because I thought perhaps she did not remember me. But she looked up, with tears in her eyes, and said she was retiring in a few weeks time and that the last decade of teaching had been so tough and the children were just so cruel (she was already an older teacher when I had her so now she was even older). She said she had questioned many times in the past decade whether or not she was contributing anything and I happened to come 2 weeks before her long teacher career was over. She said it was the most meaningful teaching moment she had experienced – my coming back to thank her.
Sorry y’all but this is kind of a long one…
I lead a relatively quiet existence while in elementary school. Moving to a new school in the 3rd grade has a way tamping down any enthusiasm for social interactions. My attention wandered, I didn’t speak up very much and wasn’t the most popular kid on the block yet I maintained a presence and got along well enough with my classmates. I flew under the radar and stayed out of trouble though I didn’t have the best academic habits. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), that all caught up with me in the 5th grade. Due to various reasons, I just started tuning out and stopped trying. I guess I had enough smarts to keep getting by but after some time, I wasn’t even “getting by.” Someone noticed and she wouldn’t stand for it. Dr. Harvey, my 5th grade teacher, started calling me out. She’d often pull me aside and questioned me. She persisted and laid into me when I failed and didn’t mince words. “Don’t be a bonehead!” I didn’t want to be a bonehead and she seemed to think that I wasn’t one. Hmmm…maybe I wasn’t?
I could list multiple reasons for my lack of hustle, motivation and dedication but they’d be excuses. She was the kind of woman that could separate excuses from valid reasons and her BS detector was STRONG. She pushed me and called me out. She set up parent-teacher conferences and was relentless in getting me to straighten up. In one of those conferences, she told me, in front of my mom, “You’re not a dummy but you’re acting like one.” More words followed but you get the gist of her tone and intent. The conviction, dedication and care she showed me was on full display in that meeting. She saw my mom as a woman doing the best she could, working 2 jobs while raising 2 boys on her own. Maybe Dr. Harvey saw those difficult circumstances and decided to step up her game to help compensate for what was missing? I’ll never know the real answer but that day in that meeting, I felt surrounded by two women that I felt wanted the best for me because they knew I was better than what I thought I was…and they weren’t going to give up on me. So I started trying and doing better because I started believing that I was better than what I was reflecting. I also didn’t want to let down the two women that seemed to have the most faith in me.
My mom never forgot Dr. Harvey and what she did for me. She’d often tell me that she appreciated her efforts so much and that it meant so much to her. When you’re living a life that’s overwhelming, it must feel nice to know that there’s someone else that wants to help and that’s what Dr. Harvey was doing. On that day, Dr. Harvey made an unforgettable impression on not one person but two and it will always remain with me. I’m grateful and probably, a part of who I am today is due to her. I may not be a bonehead but I have my moments and when those moments arise, I hear her firm and passionate voice telling me to do better. I’m still a work in progress but I’ll keep trying…
As soon as I read this article, the memory of Elementary school that popped into my mind was of one day during recess. I didn’t have many friends-German was my first language and sometimes I couldn’t think if the English words fast enough….Anyway, One day at recess while kneeling on the ground using a bench as my table. I had my head down focused on coloring a picture when all of a sudden I felt a boy run up and give me a quick kiss on my right cheek. I looked up but he had run away faster than his kiss lasted. So I never found out who my first kiss was from.
I’m now 52, never been married and no kids, so one of my pastimes and passions is going out to eat-Finding healthy, vegetarian and ethnic foods (Thai, Indian & Ethiopian) are my favorites. If I win the tickets I would bring my best friend of 35+ years who is a pastry & baking school graduate and loves fine cuisine and wines.
One of my greatest memories of elementary school starts with me in the 5th grade. Every year my school had an annual Shakespeare festival. All the 5th graders had to participate in a school wide play, which everyone’s families would attend. My role was playing opposite another boy in Macbeth and we each had to recite about 10 lines back and forth. I had very severe stage fright and dreaded having to perform in front of the whole school. I practiced my lines for weeks so I wouldn’t make a mistake.
When the big day came, I was terrified but felt ready to get it over with! 10 minutes before my part was to go on, my scene partner was no where to be found. He finally came running in straight from his little league game, not yet even in his costume. I asked him if he remembered his lines and he said he thought he did but seemed unsure. I’ll never forget the moment we went on stage- I recited the first portion of my verse and waited for him to respond. And waited, and waited.. he just stood there looking at me blank faced and finally said “uhhhh uhhhh..†Finally, I decided something had to be done and just burst out the rest of my lines! We walked off stage together and I was so happy to be done and have made it through, I forgot all about how embarrassing it must have been for him!
The funny thing about this, and why it turned out to be such a favorite memory, was that it cured me of my stage fright and from then on, I was a lover of all things theater. It shaped the rest of middle school and high school for me and I’ll never forget that moment when I realized how much I actually loved the stage!