1) Zoom in, you will see the wooden dinosaur sticking his head out of the window (spotted in North Oakland)

2) Mobile Offices at their best! (spotted outside of Whole Foods in Berkeley)

3) Talk about vintage! (spotted on Euclid in Berkeley)

Here is a picture that a home inspector took of me at a recent home inspection for some Albany clients.  Yes, I am indeed climbing on top of the counters in a skirt to unlock a window.

What constitutes a restaurant as worthy of a Bib Gourmand rating?  A Bib Gourmand restaurant is a d-lish eatery somewhere between Los Gatos and Geyserville where you can enjoy two courses and a glass of wine for under $40 — ooh la la.

Below is the list.  Those with a * next to it are new to the list.

• A 16 – San Francisco
• Artisan Bistro* – Lafayette
• Bar Bambino* – San Francisco
• Bar Tartine* – San Francisco
• BarBersQ – Napa
• Bay Wolf – Oakland
• Bellanico – Oakland
• Betelnut – San Francisco
• Bistro 29 – Santa Rosa
• Bistro Aix – San Francisco
• Bistro Jeanty -Yountville
• Boon Eat + Drink* – Guerneville
• Bottega – Yountville
• Burma Superstar – San Francisco
• C Casa – Napa
• Chapeau! – San Francisco
• Chevalier – Lafayette
• Chu – Oakland
• Colibri – San Francisco
• Contigo* – San Francisco
• Cook St. Helena – St. Helena
• Corso – Berkeley
• Cotogna* – San Francisco
• Crouching Tiger – Redwood City
• Cucina Paradiso – Petaluma
• Delarosa – San Francisco
• Delfina – San Francisco
• Domo – San Francisco
• Dosa – San Francisco
• eVe – Berkeley
• Fish Story* – Napa
• FIVE – Berkeley
• flour + water – San Francisco
• Fringale* – San Francisco
• Gather – Berkeley
• Hachi Ju Hachi – Saratoga
• Hibiscus – Oakland
• Hot Box Grill* – Sonoma
• Incanto – San Francisco
• Insalata’s – San Anselmo
• Ippuku* – Berkeley
• K & L Bistro – Sebastopol
• Kabab & Curry’s- Santa Clara
• Kappou Gomi* – San Francisco
• Kitchen (The) – Saccramento
• Kokkari Estiatorio – San Francisco
• LaSalette* – Sonoma
• Laurus – Danville
• Le Charm – San Francisco
• Le Garage* – Sausalito
• Mamacita – San Francisco
• Marinitas – San Anselmo
• Monti’s Rotisserie – Santa Rosa
• Namu* – San Francisco
• Oenotri – Napa
• Osteria Coppa* – San Mateo
• Perbacco – San Francisco
• Pican – Oakland
• Plum* – Oakland
• Risibisi – Petaluma
• Rivoli – Berkeley
• Sazon* – Santa Rosa
• Scopa* – Healdsburg
• Slanted Door (The) – San Francisco
• Slow Club – San Francisco
• Sociale – San Francisco
• SPQR – San Francisco
• Starbelly – San Francisco
• Sumika – Los Altos
• Sushi Ran – Sausalito
• Thai House – Danville
• the girl & the fig – Sonoma
• Troya – San Francisco
• Willi’s Wine Bar – Santa Rosa
• Wood Tavern – Oakland
• Yank Sing – San Francisco
• Zero Zero* – San Francisco

The full guide will be available October 25th.

I love this!  Only in Berkeley would you find a pimped-out walker.  This was spotted at the official launch of Off-the-Grid in Berkeley.

(and yes!  this time we were there early enough to get some tasty food truck grub)

A dog park in Albany?  They are one step closer to getting one!

I was talking with a colleague about the new pool that is coming to Albany High School, and that conversation led to another conversation about the new fence that will be installed at Memorial Park to separate the ballpark from the rest of the park.  City Council just approved the addition of the fence so it sounds like dog-owners may get their play space before long.

The one flaw is that it doesn’t allow you to plug in your actual mpg, which we all know is typically different from the manufacturer’s estimated mileage.

The company launched their Facebook app in March.

DooF-a-Palooza, the crazy, food-backwards, table-to-source, food educational experience for kids and adults of all ages took place at Jack London Square yesterday.  It included contests, games, entertainment and fun hands-on activities with growers, chefs, purveyors, businesses, and cookbook authors all filmed and streamed live online.

It was a truly unique event.

Kids got to make butter with Organic Valley, toss pizza dough into the air at the Lanesplitter booth, make pasta dough with Chef Gino, go bowling with coconuts, design and create a custom cereal box with Nature’s Path cereal products, and even make a smoothie by pedaling a bike on a bike blender.

Where else can my 4 year old do something like this?

Only in the Bay Area.

How to make a “One Love”:

2 oz Pear Hangar One Vodka
1 oz Organic Apple Juice
0.25 oz Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
0.25 oz Amaretto

Shake
Pour 4 oz Ginger Beer into a Collins glass
Top with mixture
Add a fresh Pear slice…

Ah, my one true love…

To be sure that you don’t miss out on future deals, subscribe to their deal of the day.  I did!

By the way, this is the image from the LivingSocial Deal of the Day that always shows up when I am playing Words With Friends.  I will never go to the paid version of that game so long as they are showing me this delectable cupcake!