Arizmendi Bakery, Oakland

7/22/13 (My two year anniversary)

Stopped in here yesterday after a 5K fundraiser around Lake Merritt, ran

And awesome it was. You can order pizza by the slice, half, or whole. I bought a whole to share and the pizza of the day included goat cheese, mushrooms, and fennel. The sourdough crust was perfect for me: thin and crispy. The flavors were great together and everyone really enjoyed it; even those in our group hesitate to try something more exotic than usual.  I fell in love.

We waited in a line that moved quickly to order, and even though seating is somewhat limited we got lucky and found seats at two tables. Unfortunately their credit machine wasn't working so we had to pay with cash. I would have bought two pizzas if I'd been able to use my credit card. It would have made wonderful breakfast today!
 with my wedding party. I think pizza was an appropriate award for completing the event. I had actually suggested Cheese Board to the group since I've never been there, but one of the girls we were with said that they're closed on Sundays, and that Arizmendi is owned by the same people and located even closer to where we were. Awesome!

Rosamunde Sausage Grill, Swan Marketplace, Oakland

7/22/13

Favorite item: Vegan sausage.
Oh yum! I actually didn't expect to like this as much as I did but the texture and flavor were both awesome and with some mustard on top it was just like eating an animal sausage.

Rosamunde uses all sorts of animals, including ducks, boar, rattlesnake and chicken (and maybe others?) I like anything with a little spice and the cajun chicken here has a nice flavor, and there was  a little piece of jalapeno on top (I think?) that made me very happy. I would have like to see a little more kick to this. Same goes for habanero chicken. Habaneros are pretty hot. Almost too hot to eat by themselves, but I don't mind them from time to time with a little salt. So I was hoping the sausage would make me rush for water, but it didn't. STill pretty good though.

Least favorite:
My uncle-in-law BBQed me some wild boar ribs once and that might be the only time I've ever had wild boar. The flavor was incredible. So I was hoping for the same amazing taste to burst from the sausage here and it didn't so I was a little disappointed, but at least they have lots of different flavors/meats to choose from.

Ample seating here, but other tables/chairs are also available further down Swan's Marketplace. A good beer selection (and most of the beers had pretty high alcohol contents, which they listed). Very enjoyable spot to hang out!

Apollo Veterinary Hospital, Walnut Creek

7/23/14

When my cat went from 12 lbs to 7 lbs I took her in to Apollo. They tested her blood and the results said it was a thyroid issue, which they treated her for. She began to get sick at night but was doing a little better it seemed. A follow-up blood test said her thyroid was now normal, but she wasn't improving. She went to 6 lbs.  :(

Since they were telling me the levels were normals, but I knew something was wrong, I took her to Muller Vet up the street. They requested the blood results from Apollo and were given one. They had to call back while I was in the office and request the other blood test too. Why would they just send all the blood work together? I paid for it!

Muller did a blood AND urine test of their own and found a horrible urinary tract infection that included a kidney infection. Severe chronic kidney failure also showed up. There was a two month period between vets while my cat suffered terribly from the infection. To make matters worse, the thyroid treatment may have aggravated her kidneys.  We are now treating her infection but the damage to her kidneys is severe and we have to put a needle in her every night hooked up to an IV bag and pump fluid into her. I just wish we had caught this a couple of months ago.  She is my baby and the thought of her suffering kills me.

Aside from this I liked the doctor and staff here - and the same blood tests and read were less expensive. Sometimes cost is a factor when treating a pet. I understand its hard to treat patients that can't tell you how they feel, but I think it's a vet's job, not mine, to suggest all the tests that can be done. A urine test would have helped in her case. Kidney problems can be very painful and lead to nausea and loss of appetite, explaining her severe weight loss. Just wish we'd started to treat this sooner. She's gained 11 ounces this week since we've started the meds.

UPDATED FROM: 5/30/13

YOU'LL HAVE THE TEST RESULTS IN 24 HOURS

For me, the last 21 hours were pretty much the worst I can remember in a long time. Having noticed sudden weight loss in my beautiful long-haired calico, I panicked. She went from 11 or 12 lbs to 7.

We scheduled a same day appointment at Apollo after my husband called a ton of other vet locations. We wanted a blood test - I don't get why this isnt' a standard price from location to location. You're doing the same work but some places justify charging patients crazy amounts of money. The visit and blood work here were the least expensive around. Plus, it's conveniently located on Treat Blvd and I knew they'd be open when i was off work since they're open until midnight. It was important to me that I could go to the appointment with Autumn and my husband. He bought a Yelp deal and saved us $20 on top of the already lowest prices!

We were seen on time and a vet assistant had me get Autumn out of the box. I was suprised since normally the assistants grab kitty by the scruff and pull her off, but since Autumn was so weak I was glad for this today. She is very docile and doesn't bite or scratch or hiss. The assistant was gentle as she took her vitals.

The vet came in to examine her and checked out her abdomen, mouth, throat, etc. He agreed nothing was hurting her and a blood test was needed. I usually won't let anyone be alone with her. A bad experience at Civic Feline during a routine visit; and a good experience at Sage with people treating her for an emergency; and luckily another good experience here. I let the nice doctor take her to draw the blood from her neck for testing. I'm actually really glad I didn't see this. He then told us the dreaded words: "We'll have your results in 24 hours".

My husband and I couldn't wait though and called back a few hours short of the waiting period. They gave us the results and it's totally treatable. Hyperthyroidism. Medicine twice a day, but she'll gain the weight back. Really happy with the fast service.

California Plaza at Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek

7/24/13

The lucky employees of this plaza and nearby offices have two awesome cafes to choose from. (Plus, all the other small ones nearby). Good lunch options go well with their pretty, outdoor fountain and seating area.  This business plaza is a quick walk from BARt - Walnut Creek Station.  It's located on California with the Pringle cross-street.

Huge, beautiful stairs at Caffe California (deli #1) lead up to a great big statue, and then at the top of the stairs sits Murphy's Cafe (deli #2).


If youre unsure where to go, a directory of listing and a clear map are in the middle of the plaza near the fountain.

How lucky to get to work here or nearby!

Sapore Restaurante, Concord

7/24/13



We celebrated our one year anniversary on Sapore's two year anniversary. I had seen groupon deals for here before but I stopped in to check it out and was kind of turned off at first glance. I think it was the plastic table cloth covers. For whatever reason, this is what I decided I wanted for our anniversary dinner.

I picked up a bottle of champagne and called ahead to ask what the corkage fee was. I was told they didn't have one. I liked the place already.  I stopped at home and grabbed two candles and the top of our wedding cake, which we'd kept frozen all year. We met at the restaurant and there was only one other table dining so we had our choice of seats.  Miguel was our server and we learned he's the owner. Very friendly.  He suggested the bruschetta as an appetizer. It was very good and we liked the unique balsamic dressing on top. We didn't get our bread and tomato dip having order the bruschetta - so we'll have to go back because that sounds
great.

Husband had an alfredo/sausage dish. It comes with veggies but he requested they all be removed. The sausage was really good in his dish and the sauce wasn't bad. Pasta was cooked perfectly.  My seafood dish with penne (frutti di mare) was $13 and had a surprisingly large amount of seafood. Calamari, clams, white fish, scallops and large shrimp (de-tailed - I don't usually see this - I liked it). The sauce was a red sauce with cheese in it. I would probably put a little more garlic salt in it but it was pretty good as is. However, I'm an over-salter (bad habit), but perhaps some hot sauce would go nicely in it too. Mmmm, hot sauce.

Our dinner was lovely. Our champagne was bubbly. And our dessert.... you ask? The one year old cake stored wonderfully! It was amazing! Everything about our evening was enjoyable. We didn't use the Yelp check-in offer saving us 10% off our meal because Miguel said the business is struggling. He feels it's the location. I agree; I think of Monument and taquerias come to mind over Italian. But he has tacos too!! I told him I'd pass along what I thought of the meal, and there it is. Give a local business some love and check this place out.  Italian pasta not your thing? Try their $1.50 tacos - then tell me how they are!

Caffe California

7/24/13

"Oh yes! The sauce has a little bit of kick to it."  Those were my thoughts upon first bite of today's special: Chicken Curry a la Mumbai. It came with veggies and rice, a crispy tortilla thing, and some lentil soup.

Lots of chicken, cooked perfectly (wonder if they could do a veggie version of this, and substitute broccoli for the chicken or something?) The sauce just seemed like it'd be amazing on top of some steamed veggies. It was really good and had just a little kick to it. (I added hot sauce when I got back to my desk at work) but it would have been spicy enough for most people as it was. The rice was good and I mixed it in the sauce. The serving of veggies was oddly very small. Maybe a heaping tablespoon worth, so it was more of a teaser than part of the lunch. It was a cucumber-like veggie salad (cold) and it was good. I had an eyelash in mine but things like that don't really bother me cuz they can happen anywhere. I finished my hot lunch and then worked on the hot, lentil soup. It was really good too.

Even though I would've liked to see a little more of the veggies, lunch was good and it only came to $8.41. The guy at the register was really nice and used my name as he asked if i needed a copy of the receipt. I like the name use. And I like the effort to save paper by not printing all receipts. Plus, I liked the food.

The Caffe is located on California at Pringle. There is some seating both inside and outdoors. If hot soup on a hot day isn't your thing, you can substitute this for a fountain soda. There is also an espresso bar inside.  Lots of other items (sandwiches and salads) on their menu as well. Three different vegetarian sandwiches caught my eye. Usually i just see "vegetarian sandwich". Yay for variety.

Chicken Mumbai and lentil soup

Whoever's cooking this dish did an awesome job. I'd come back for it - especially if I could sub broccoli for the chicken! :D

Lake Merritt, Oakland

7/24/13

It's about 5K around the Lake and fundraising groups often host 5Ks here (like the one we recently participated in, and an upcoming one from the same group in October. I'd never gone all the way around the Lake before and it was really cool. Lots of great buildings and interesting people.




Accurately described as "the Lake of a thosand smells." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzkoeyhAAdk at 1:00), our last visit happened to be on an extra smelly day. We saw large birds in the water, looking for food but coming up with empty trash bags instead. It was actually really sad. It looks like the Lake sees a fair share of litter. (It's prettier to view the Lake by looking far across it, and not around the edges.)  And it was a little on the shallow side (we didn't get much rain this winter). But its still a great, big Lake in the middle of nearby Oakland and that is pretty awesome.

Out of the Park Pizza, Anaheim

7/30/13

"When it rains, it pours" was the story of my life last week. I felt like everything bad possible was happening all at once. An emergency trip to Orange County to see my cousin in Tustin motivated the 7-hr drive from the Bay Area and we ultimately planned to spend the night at my grandparent's in Anaheim Hills. I lived with them for 6 years when I was a child, and have driven down to visit countless times since then. So how is it possible that I had never been to Out of the Park Pizza before this? Seriously - it's so close to their home! We actually stopped at the FoxFire but they turned our sandaled feet away and it was then that we thankfully found this gem on Yelp.

We had been eating delicious food for hours at my Aunt and Uncle's home and the thought of more food was very unappealing. Shaina was bartending and we ended up ordering a pitcher of Hef that I think was about $17. She kept it in the cooler for us when she noticed how slowly we were drinking.


The place was really big and bustled with employees and several patrons. We played skee ball and other arcade games. We talked with people at the bar and then moved on to the pinball machine. Free pool captivated us for a little while as well. Outside we watched a few games of ping pong. We made friends with two guys that told us a little about the place and recommended some pizzas. Carlos and Javier! They were brothers and they were super nice. I love when we're out of town and we meet new friends.  :)  The next guys on the ping pong table were great too. One worked at Medieval Times and we asked him a million questions about his rad job.

Pizza-by-the-slice is available after the kitchen closes but it was almost 11 and they were still open, so we ended up ordering a personal pizza with ranch and avocado and sweet chili chicken (also a BBQ chicken option on this one). I had 1 of the 4 slices. Even though I wasn't hungry I probably could have eaten the other 3 as well. It was really good. Glad Carlos suggested we order something.

So at least one really great thing came out of the weekend. We will definitely be back in this place. We don't get to go down to visit again for a few weeks, but for my husband's 30th bday in August we decided to skip BurningMan and go to Disneyland. (His decision)  :)  So I'm pretty sure a birthday pizza from Out of the Park is in our future!

They have a large screen listing all of their beer and it was very easy to read. That was pretty cool. Lots of TVs as well.

Walnut Creek Valero Car Wash & Food Shop

7/30/13

Well I've never had any problems with gas or pricing here. But I honestly don't pay cash for anything (especially gas - Discover gives me 5% back!) so I don't even look at prices. I drive a 66 Mustang and an SUV so my average mpg isn't great. (Before you frown, I don't drive much, and when I'm out with my husband we drive his hybrid). All in all, gas prices don't really bother me. But I don't get gas here often. I come for the food.

I love gas stations with food inside. The Chevron next to my house has awesome employees but a totally weak sauce Food Mart. This Valero has a pretty decent inventory. A wall of drinks and several aisles of snacks.

I get friendly service when I go in. Never had any complaints about the employees. I like all the people working here.  :)

Kabuki Springs & Spa, San Francisco

7/30/13

Writing down things that make us smile on our way out

Health & Beauty items for sale

I live a pretty blessed life and I'm very thankful for that. There are a million things that make me smile. I stay pretty busy and sometimes don't take the time to just sit back and enjoy being still.  Kabuki Springs is the perfect place to do this.

Our group of 7 lady friends ended up here at the end of a bachelorette party weekend. The girl at the front desk wasn't very welcoming or friendly and made a bigger deal of us not having a reservation than I felt was necessary. ("Oh youre soooo lucky that we have room for you without a reservation.") We didn't know about calling ahead, but luck was on our side and there was room for all of us.

We each received a locker and disrobed almsot completely. I keep on some swimming bottoms, as did most (but not all) of the other girls. Most of the ladies already in the pools were completely nude, but some had bottoms on too. Sunday is women-only so you can indulge in this freedom from clothing without anything to worry about. Love who you are.

The tranquility was amazing. We sat first in a very large hot tub, and then us brave ones moved to an ice cold pool. All the while we had delicious hot tea and a variety of infused iced water options. A hot dry sauna was a wonderful place to stretch and there was limited seating around the pools for laying down. My favorite part of the day was enjoying the steam room. Bowls of salt were provided for scrubbing, along with cucumbers and ice cold towels. A shower head with cool water is inside the steam room if your'e getting warm but not ready to step out.  All the while, we moved about in silence. Occasional whispers escaped us but mostly I sat with my eyes closed and enjoyed the still. It was so pleasant.

Showers to rinse off are near the exit and a locker room with conditioners, lotions, oil, q-tips, combs, mouth rinse, etc. is provided. We took our time in here and it was hard to put our clothes back on when we were finished. Being naked with one another was incredibly bonding and sensual. Any insecurities were replaced with self confidence. I felt closer to each of the beautiful women I was with when it was all over. Of all the million things that make me smile, having these kinds of relationships with my friends is one of the best.



Ross Dress For Lunch, Walnut Creek

7/31/13

Who is the buyer for this store? Based on what I saw yesterday, starting in the women's shoe area, I feel pretty lucky that I live closer to the Marshalls in P. Hill and don't have much reason to venture to the downtown WC Ross. I like most Ross stores but this one was pretty empty yesterday and what they had didn't feel very organized.



Perhaps I'm just not keeping up with trendy styles and new looks. I don't read a lot of magazines so I'm likely out of the loop. But some of the shoes on their shelves were painfully awful. They could probably knock down pricing on a few of their items as well. A couple of their men's shirts could easily be found as Macy's for the same price.

We were happy with a few baby's clothing items I found for a co-worker's gift. And the check-out line moved fast and service was friendly.

WaterWorld California, Concord

7/31/13

Our friends!

WaterWorld is a pretty cool place with several rides and swimming areas. I imagine their water temperature is no colder and their lines are no longer than any other water park. Parking is $10. Discounted tickets for the park can be purchased at Costco and a season pass pays for itself in 2 visits.  No food or drinks allowed in but there are in & out privileges so just stick a cooler in your car. Or buy the park food; it's average price but above-average quality. The nachos were outstanding. Lockers and tubes are available for rent. Bring your own towel. Don't bring shoes you like, in case they get lost or stolen - you can't wear them on ANY ride (including water shoes) so expect to be barefoot all day. AVOID the cabana rentals. NOT worth the money. Bring lots of sunscreen as shade can be limited. Even the umbrellas around the park don't help at a certain time of day. Be patient. Lines move slowly sometimes for safety reason (to allow water levels to refill enough to slow you down at the end of a ride, etc.) If you like waterslides, you'll have a great time here. Have more questions? You could try calling the park and asking an employee, but it's possible your dog might have a better clue of the answer. Youre best off asking someone whose been there.

Now for my story:

for large group private parties

At the beginning of summer back in 1996 or so, I broke my collarbone on an improperly functioning slide at this WaterWorld.  Three terrible things happened as a result. First: I was supposed to leave in a few days for a bus ride to San Vicente, Mexico. I wasn't allowed to go and the new classroom at the orphanage was built without me. Second:  We drove to Portland that summer for my dad's car racing. Towing the trailer made it a bumpy ride and I was in too much pain to have fun swimming at the hotel's pool. (But I did meet a friend sitting poolside and we became pen pals and he and I are still friends). Third: Of the three, the most terrible thing that happened was I developed a horrible fear of water slides. I didn't go on another one for almost 20 years.

Big Kahuna Slide

My husband loves roller coasters and water slides, and since he was going to run a 5k with me on the Sunday of our 1st anniversary weekend, I figured I'd set it up to go to Water World on that Saturday. I would face my fears! I tried to book a cabana online but they were sold out. I called to confirm this a couple days ahead of our trip and even asked specifically about day-of rentals. I was told there are none, but this is a lie. There are several spots that you can rent in-person and aren't available online. They are about $40 cheaper and I think they were just as nice or nicer than the other ones. The benefit of the cabanas is youre in a private area, and an employee will take your food order for you. While it was nice being able to leave our stuff sitting out, we could have just as easily rented a locker for the day. (You do get a locker with cabana but there's really no point in using one).  You also get tube rentals included so you avoid that line.  Our biggest complaint though was that we would order food and beers and it took 30-40 minutes to arrive each time. PLUS, the menu they provide for you is very limited. We had no idea there were so many other options (which you are allowed to order) but they aren't listed on the menu.  The food lines weren't that long. We could have gotten our own food faster. And our food arrived cold. It was still pretty good - we were all surprised. Husband liked his burger and my nachos were huge. Not vegetarian though, if that's what youre looking for.


cabana area

We would never rent a cabana again. In fact, our group of four was pretty upset about having paid $100 for this. We arrived so early in the day we could have had great seating anywhere.  We brought our cabana complaint to customer relations and asked for a refund. We were comp'ed tickets for a return visit instead. Good enough.

$8



$9 cheeseburger

$8.79 super nacho

Lines grew longer in the afternoon but this didn't affect me. I was too scared to go on the rides. I did two of them and then couldn't do any more. I've never really been overcome with fear, especially unwarranted fear. I'm not one of those people afraid of things like this (usually). I've hopped in a boxing ring at a motorcycle club party in Oakland and I wasn't afraid. I walked out of that ring with a very bloody smile. But I was too scared to do these rides and the two I did weren't very fun. Luckily, my friends all survived the day unharmed. And I had fun watching my husband. I waited in lines with everyone and even shot a good video of them on one of the slides. http://youtu.be/4Ketc32HpdU So we'll go back with our free passes, order some delicious food, wash it down with something from the car coolers, and then I'll work on maintaining my tan in the Lazy River. Where it's safe.

Grapevine Antique Mall, Lebec

7/31/13

I brake for antiques. Even when it's been a long and stressful weekend, and all I want to do is be home in bed, but that's still hours away and the only thing stopping us from being there is the long road. The road and the antique stores. It doesn't even bother me when these great shopping destinations tack on a little bit of extra time to our drive.  Not that I do much shopping. It's mostly browsing for me. I've got enough 'stuff' in my home already thanks to the borderline hoarding influence my mother passed down to me. But I LOVE looking at all the treasures of others: new and old.


This place was bigger than we expected and had a variety of individual booths. Each one had its own theme and you could really feel the unique personalities of the sellers through their items. We had a great time exploring. No purchases.  (Good girl, Amy.)

"One man's trash is another's treasure." No way, baby. It's all treasure if you can be creative enough. I'm not all that artsy but I love when I see items recycled in a much different way than expected. UPCYCLING is actually the term for this art. Browse some images online. And then next time you stop in an antique store, think about this! Some people are so amazing! Make something beautiful!! :)