MONTCLARION: January 25, 2013
It’s Saturday night, and we’re circling the block like two vultures, looking for a soft place to land. It’s Oakland Restaurant Week and the little “Gourmet Ghetto” — the Glenview — is jumping.
Tough economy? You wouldn’t know it by looking at Oakland’s emerging restaurant scene, where young chefs are clamoring to open new venues for eclectic East Bay diners. Consider the question the server at Hopscotch asked us last Friday just after 4 p.m.: Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: January 18, 2013
In the anthropology of eating, food is what holds society together. We dine together at the table of life.
Never have I felt this more deeply than at chef Tanya Holland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen new B-Side BBQ. Warm and inviting, this bluesy West Oakland cafe brings out the best in our town — folks from all walks of life breaking bread and supporting a city that’s had more than its share of struggles. Continue reading
Photo by Emma Krasov
MERCURYNEWS.COM: January 4, 2012
If health tops your list of New Year’s resolutions, welcome to the party. A survey by the Journal of Clinical Psychology shows three of the top five resolutions for 2013 are wellness-related. Combine this with travel, and you have a $106 billion industry worldwide.
I pondered this briefly as I climbed to the top of a crag of red spires above Enchantment Resort in the scenic Boynton Canyon of Sedona, Ariz. There was an hour before sunset, and I wanted to catch nature’s light show from a perch I’d picked out on the edge of an energy vortex. Continue reading
It’s the fourth day of January. How are those resolutions holding up?
The secret, you know, is to set the bar lower. Diet restrictions? Forget ’em. Cleaning out clutter? Yeah, right! Better to make blanket statements than sweeping changes. Continue reading
CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: December 21, 2012
The Wall Street Journal calls it the world’s premier Christmas dinner — a pageant so grand that only the angels in heaven could summon a more joyful celebration.
The Bracebridge Dinner in Yosemite National Park has been held almost without interruption since 1927 — the year the Ahwahnee Hotel opened. It’s a must-see event that should be on everyone’s wish list or bucket list. Yet you may be thinking, “How can I even get a ticket to this popular event that seemingly sells out a year in advance?’ Continue reading
MONTCLARION: December 14, 2012
It was the first jazz standard in the country to sell a million records. Dave Brubeck’s syncopated 5/4-time hit “Take Five” was being played on jukeboxes around the country in the 1950s, and his band, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, was on the road frequently. But when Brubeck came home, it was to his house in the hills of Montclair. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: December 6, 2012
The holiday pickle surfaced this week. It’s my favorite ornament — a shiny, glass pickle I hide in the tree as part of our Christmas tradition. The youngster who finds it gets a special treat, which has — in past years — caused quite a kerfuffle. Now that my kids are grown, the pickle has become passé. Continue reading
CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: December 6, 2012
Trains are to Christmas what chocolate bunnies are to Easter. They’re a symbol of a simpler time — when we looked at the holidays with childlike wonder. But not since “The Polar Express” hit the theaters has there been such strong interest in holiday train rides. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: Nov 30, 2012
It’s the first weekend of December — time to consider a simple act of giving. I’m talking Christmas lights, here — big blinking bulbs on your bushes and eaves. Get ’em up, and get ’em up now.
Studies show that lights make us happy. Colors stimulate the senses, much like the kaleidoscopes we enjoyed in our youth. Folks who put up lights are also perceived as more generous and connected to their communities. It’s a win-win for everyone, including the electric company. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: November 21, 2012
Pack up the pinot and the roast turkey sandwiches — it’s a beautiful weekend for leaf peeping. Yes, while most of the country ushers in winter, we’re in full autumn splendor in the Bay Area and beyond in Northern California.
Every fall, travel expert John Poimiroo tracks California’s changing colors on his website, www.californiafallcolor.com. He says the mid-elevations are the best places for crimson and gold this week, including the Bay Area wine regions. Continue reading
