On a recent trip to Berkeley, we made a stop at the best Bay Area grocery store, Berkeley Bowl. Let me count the ways why you need to stop by the next time you are in Berkeley.
Visiting Berkeley Bowl, the best Bay Area grocery store
Category: Food
The best picks at East Bay winter farmers markets
We are so lucky to live in a part of the world that has access to terrific produce all year round. And while I love a visit to the farmers market in spring, the East Bay winter farmers markets are pretty wonderful. As we are all kicking off a new year and various attempts to eat healthier, perhaps this post will inspire you.
Sampling delicious pie at Mom’s Apple Pie in Sebastopol
During our recent day trip to Sebastopol, we stopped by a terrific find- Mom’s Apple Pie in Sebastopol. Although we probably didn’t need yet another treat, we stopped anyway. And picked up two delicious pieces of pie- one apple for Dear Husband and one pecan for me.
Brighten winter days with a big box of grapefruits from Pittman & Davis
My love affair with grapefruit started long ago. My school in Dallas offered grapefruit halves (with a maraschino cherry in the middle!) for lunch every day. (I guess they still offer them. You can spot a couple of grapefruits in this pinterest photo!) Along with corn muffins and chess pie, they were a staple of my lunches for 10 years.
Early in my marriage to Dear Husband, after years in California, a friend of my parents from Texas started sending us boxes of grapefruit from Pittman & Davis every Christmas. Pittman & Davis, in case you are unaware, picks the best Texan ruby red grapefruits and sends them out across the country. And here’s a few reasons why you should place an order yourself!
Fabulous new cookbooks to gift this holiday season
Kate and I shared a few of our favorite new books for your Fall reading list. And now it’s time for some wonderful new cookbooks for the cooks in your life.
How to best enjoy farmers market strawberries- ice cream!
As I mentioned last week, Steve and I made a visit to the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. And we picked up a bunch of strawberries- delicious! Of course, there are a million uses for farmers market strawberries- but one of the best has to be ice cream!
Strawberries at the Tuesday night Santa Barbara Farmers Market
Steve and I stopped by the Santa Barbara Farmers Market this week. The market is really wonderful, but we don’t make it there as frequently as we want. Saturday mornings just tend to get filled up with other activities. So when I remembered that the market is open on Tuesday nights, I planned an outing with Steve.
Better mornings with my new Moccamaster and morning pages
Updating this post from June 2021…I am still doing morning pages (almost) every morning. Since I wrote this original post, we’ve gone back to the office a couple of days a week. So I bring my notebook to the office and find a quiet corner to write out a few pages. And I still love my Moccamaster- it’s going strong almost a year later!
I love working at home- but these East Coast early morning conference calls are getting to be a little much! So I recently decided I needed to upgrade my morning routine a bit… morning pages are a wonderful addition, but frankly nothing beats a fantastic cup of coffee at 4:45am! And that’s where my new Moccamaster coffee maker comes in.
I’ve been a loyal Nespresso user for years- it reminds me of trips to Europe long ago (at least it feels like long ago at this point!) Just that sound of the capsule popping reminds me of the apartment we rented in Paris years ago. So the Nespresso isn’t going anywhere (other than the garage!) But it was time to upgrade the coffee situation. And where to start?
Delicious soft serve in the East Bay at Meadowlark Dairy
The weather has been strangely warm across California this month, and although the implications of that are disturbing, we are making the best of it. And getting soft serve in the East Bay on a Sunday in the high 70s is one way to do that! And Meadowlark Dairy in Pleasanton is a quirky drive-thru dairy store that sells soft serve ice cream, along with other dairy items and a few groceries too. It’s a lot of fun!
A mid-winter visit to the Moraga Farmers’ Market
I really enjoy comparing the offerings at the Moraga Farmers’ Market throughout the seasons. Not only does it inspire me to cook more seasonally, there are actually some bargains to be had, compared to the nearby Safeway. And it’s fun to see the same vendors week after week. Luckily it was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 60s. I always feel bad for them on the occasional rainy days. It must be miserable to be out there for hours and see fewer customers to boot.
