Getting to know our neighbors

This past week was our first full week in Oakland and I didn't want to miss any opportunity to get to know my neighborhood or my new neighbors.

It started on Monday when a dear friend called to let me know she was at the Children's Hospital with her newborn who was fighting a high fever. She was in need of a break for lunch. We parked the car in the Temescel neighborhood and wandered over to Bakesale Betty. I was amused by the old ironing boards lining the sidewalk as outdoor seating! I tried the fried chicken sandwich (1/2 of it would have been a fine meal), followed by strawberry shortcake that reminded me of Mom's Bisquick biscuits--YUMMY! I also took some ginger cookies home because I couldn't resist the chunks of real ginger that were exposing themselves to me :)  See photos of the joint and food on Yelp. (Note: baby now fully recovered.)  

Thursday night, we enjoyed a BBQ hosted by the company behind our new home, Holliday Development. Truth be told, we were quite excited for a BBQ because we were going on 7 days of "house camping" and it was getting a bit old, but we were also looking forward to meeting our new neighbors! At 5:30, we headed out to join the development crew who had manned their stations: Cleya, burger flipper. Thomas, rib splitter. Gail, neighbor introducer. Nancy, visual cataloguer. We cornered Rick Holliday for a few minutes to get the scoop on Central Station, the extended neighborhood and plans for the 16th Street Train Station. We met a lot of our compadres here at the Cannery Lofts and look forward to more gatherings to come!

Saturday, as countertop installation got underway at home, I escaped to visit the Grand Lake farmer's market. Having lived in San Francisco for quite some time, I've had exposure to several Bay Area markets including those at Alemany, Ferry Plaza, Marin and Jack London Square and I enjoy the uniqueness of each. Grand Lake did not disappoint! I parked next to the beautiful and calm Lake Merritt, which for a moment brought back fond memories of Minneapolis. Then I wandered down to the market where I filled my bag with goodies like thumbalina carrots, mixed greens with edible flowers, and heirloom tomatoes before heading home.