The House Hotel is exactly that- your home away from home. That is if you live in the home of the architects that designed the Dolmabahce Palace. The [..]
Coastal Living has just ranked the top 15 happiest places to live on the coast. Marin managed to take 3 of those spots (yay!). California claimed 5 total [..]
4. Mill Valley, CA A Bay Area enclave that put mellow on the map keeps its funky vibe. Mill Valley is one of the jewels in a necklace [..]
Plum District has another deal for the scrumptious Rustic Bakery. With their new location at Marin Mart, it is even easier to get your hands on their yummy [..]
Can a Travel Agent Actually Save You Money? Cheryl Lock Posted 19 hours ago Are travel agents back? This question, posed by The New York Times, got us thinking. According [..]
Yay it’s back! Another Sol Food deal! Right now you can get their Early Bird deal with $10 worth of food for $5 or their Night Owl deal [..]
If you are considering of going to the Cancun/Riviera Maya area in the near future, here are some tips from a recent client. She and her husband started [..]
Pippa Middleton wore this green Temperley dress to the evening reception of the Royal Wedding. Lindsay Lohan wore the white version to Kim Kardashian’s wedding. Who looks better?
Another Real Housewife is going back on the market.
Lisa Wu-Hartwell, who starred on the first two seasons ofReal Housewives of Atlanta, has separated from husband, former NFL pro Ed Hartwell.
PHOTOS: Hellish housewives romances
Wu-Hartwell confirmed the news on Twitter on Saturday — and slammed talk that the split was prompted by the couple’s financial difficulties. (In 2009, after the couple defaulted on their mortgage, their suburban Atlanta mansion was sold in a foreclosure sale.)
“Sadly. We are separated but would NEVER be over money,” she wrote. “That is so far from the truth. Wish people could respect people’s privacy during times like these.”
PHOTOS: Biggest reality show dramas
The couple tied the knot in 2005 and have a 3-year-old son, Ed. Jr. It was the second marriage for Wu, who has two older sons with ex-husband, R&B singer Keith Sweat.
If you thought Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom’s wedding was an extravaganza, you aren’t prepared for the next one starring Kim Kardashian and NBA player Kris Humphries.
The wedding, planned for Saturday evening at a $29 million estate in Montecito, Calif. (The Santa Barbara Independent reports it’s at the exclusive 10.9 acre, 15,000 square foot estate, Sotto Il Monte, formerly owned by a Google executive and now owned by venture capitalist Frank Caulfield), is expected to have more celebrities, more security and a much bigger budget.
Friday morning on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, Kim Kardashian told listeners that her family is tweeting some wrong information to throw the media and fans off. In reality, the bridesmaid dresses aren’t actually green. Nonetheless, here’s a preview of what Kim and her family have revealed, that is reliable, thus far.
THE GUEST LIST
Many more celebrities have been invited to attend this wedding than Khloe and Lamar’s. Of the 500 guests, expected guests include LaLa Vazquez, Ciara, Kathie Lee Gifford, Ryan Seacrest, Eva Longoria, Jillian Barberie, Serena Williams, Kelly Osbourne, Demi Lovato and Perez Hilton. FOX News anchor Greta Van Susteren also received an invite and is expected to attend. Remember, the anchor invited Kim to be her guest for last year’s White House Correspondents Association weekend festival. Lindsay Lohan and mom Dina are rumored to attend as well as they are friends of the family. Recently, Radar Online had a source report that Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and even Kanye West all received invites. Guests were given specific instructions to wear black or white.
One couple who was invited and will not be attending is Donald Trump and wife Melania. A prior work commitment caused the Donald to decline.
THE WEDDING COVERAGE
The E! network, which airs “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and their successful spin-off shows, has a deal to air the wedding spectacular in a 2 part- 4 hour event. The special, titled “Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event,” will air October 8 and 9. Khloe and Lamar’s wedding was watched by over 3.2 million, which was a huge ratings winner in E! standards. Kim’s wedding is expected to be an even bigger success television wise.
In addition, the first photos of Kim’s dress and the wedding itself will debut on People Magazine’s online site Wednesday morning. The actual magazine cover story will hit newsstands Friday. According to a recent Access Hollywood Live episode, People Magazine’s Jen Garcia is the only reporter allowed into the wedding. Every other reporter better stay away. No word on how much People paid for the photos but the Hollywood Reporter reported Kim received $300,000 for her engagement photos to be published in People.
THE WEDDING
Kim revealed few details in her Friday morning interview with Ryan Seacrest. She proclaimed once you watch the wedding, “You will feel the heart… You will feel the presence of my dad [the late Robert Kardashian] and the love in this room.”
Step-dad Bruce Jenner will be walking her down the aisle. Sisters Khloe and Kourtney will be c0-maid of honors.
The actual wedding dress will be designed by family friend Vera Wang. When asked will there be two dresses during the night, Kim hinted at even more. “I can’t give too much away,” she told an excited Seacrest.
The wedding cake is believed to cost an epic $20,000. In addition, most of the wedding will be in tents or indoors to avoid paparazzi and news helicopters.
America’s Royal Wedding may not even be a one day affair. Perez Hilton reported Kim and Kris may be planning a second wedding in New York City later this month. Keeping up with the Kardashians really never ends.
Reach writer Mike Vulpo here
It always amazes me when you discover a restaurant that you’ve probably walked by a hundred times and never noticed. That’s how I felt about FIVE Restaurant which calls itself a Modern American Bistro and Bar. It’s located in the Hotel Shattuck Plaza in Berkeley, which I had never even noticed as it is totally non-descript on the outside but gorgeous on the inside.
As you walk into the hotel lobby, the bar and restaurant are
immediately on the right. The gentleman at the front desk immediately came over to us, asked us if we needed help, and escorted us to the host of the restaurant. I loved the feel of the bar and restaurant. With it’s high ceilings, white pillars, chandeliers, and colorful wallpaper and lighting, it felt like a throwback restaurant with a modern vibe. I felt like I was in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities in the world.
We started with fried green tomatoes ($9) that came with cypriot style cheese and a basil buttermilk dressing. They were perfectly fried in a cornmeal crust. Next was the orzo mac n cheese ($12) made with gouda and roasted mushrooms and topped with a tomato jam. I think they were oyster mushrooms, which I love, and the tomato jam tasted like sun-dried tomatoes, which gave the mac n
cheese another depth of flavor. There wasn’t a single piece of orzo left in the little skillet. Maybe they should offer a big skillit size for the piggies that come into their restaurant. The round of appetizers was finished with the tuna tartare ($13) that was dressed with a red miso-lime dressing served with creamy avocado and crisp won-ton strips. It was good but not extremely memorable.
For the entrees, we got the hawaiian butterfish ($23) which came with a ragout of beech mushrooms, fava beans, and sunchokes. The butterfish was crisp on the outside and super moist on the inside. The ragout was so flavorful, it tasted like it was made from just-picked tomatoes. Yummy! We also got the spinach gnudi ($17) which is like
gnocchi without the potatoes so its basically all cheese (ricotta to be exact). This was served with English peas, nettles and oyster mushrooms in a sage brown butter. You can never go wrong with anything in brown butter and I loved the deep fried sage leaves in it! We got an order of their buttermilk biscuits ($5) on the side. They were jalapeno-cheddar with white cheddar pimento cheese on the side. Oh 
man. Flaky, buttery goodness. Wish I had left more room for them but had to save room for dessert!
For dessert, we shared the ricotta panna cotta ($7) with fruit compote and a rosemary cookie. Still have yet to try a panna cotta that I didn’t like. I dove into it without taking a photo- sorry!
The meal was excellent but what made it so memorable was the sweet, elderly man sitting at the table next to us. I learned that every year he stays at the hotel for a month to visit his son and friends. He shared the most amazing stories with us (how he avoided being sent to a camp during the Holocaust) and I feel lucky to have met him. Just a thought- next time you’re at dinner and someone sits solo next to you and makes small chit chat, encourage it. More often than not, the stories you hear will fascinate you and stay with you a long time. Bon appétit!
Thursday August 18, 2011 05:55 PM EDT
Kat Von D may no longer have her show, but she’s back with her man.
Even as TLC announced the cancellation of LA Ink, Von D and Jesse James – who had called off their engagement last month – posted on Twitter separate photos of themselves locked in embraces.
James went a step further and added the caption, “para siempre” – Spanish for “forever.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, James made it official. The engagement is back on, and Von D is once again wearing her ring.
“Sometimes you are only given one chance in life,” he says. “It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her.”
Spirit Airlines, which bills itself as “the ultra low cost carrier,” quietly entered the Bay Area this week, with four daily nonstops between Oakland and Las Vegas.
From Vegas, fliers can fly nonstop to its main hub at Ft Lauderdale– and from there connecting to points in Latin America and Caribbean.
Spirit also offers nonstops from Vegas to Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas-Ft Worth and San Diego.
While I would normally get excited about new flights from the Bay, I’m filled with trepidation instead. Why? Spirit has a very strong “you-get-what-you-pay-for” reputation. (Disclosure: I have not flown Spirit yet. This is what I’ve heard anecdotally from readers, online review sites and from media reports.)
A quick scan of Spirit’s OAK-LAS fares shows some good deals, but with some caveats. (Note Spirit fares do not show up on travel search engines…you must shop at spirit.com)
During September and October, Spirit is promoting $9 each way, $18 round trips between Oakland and Las Vegas. Sounds great, but you have to pay a $60 fee to join its “club” to get that fare.
Don’t want to join? Then the base fare jumps to $22 round trip.
But that’s not what you pay. In addition, you will pay Spirit’s unique “passenger usage fee” of $16 per round trip, plus the usual federal taxes, so the round trip ends up at $59.40. (This fee covers the cost of Spirit maintaining its web site, so the only way to avoid this fee is to go to Oakland and buy your tickets at the airport.)
But wait, it does not stop there.
If you carry on a bag, you’ll pay an additional $30 each way, making the total price $119.40. (Want to check your bag at the airport? That will be $40 each way; $80 round trip!)
Want to reserve a window seat near the front of the plane, or one next to the person you are traveling with? That’s an extra $14 each way, $28 round trip, so now the ticket price is $147.40
By comparison, the lowest fare on Virgin America for SFO-Las Vegas in mid-September (including all taxes and fees) is $133.40.
Have you ever, or would you fly Spirit? Please leave your comments below.
(This item first appeared on The BAT blog, for Bay Area frequent travelers. It’s free! Sign up today.)
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cmcginnis/detail?entry_id=95658#ixzz1VR62p1Ot
This article comes courtesy of Zagat.com
Want to enjoy a Bloody Mary with your eggs and bacon? Or pair your happy-hour beer with a handful of pretzels? In the words of Sally Struthers – sure, we all do. But if you live in a state with ridiculous rules on the books, you may be prevented from behaving just how nature intended. Here are the eight stupidest statutes that we could dig up.
1. No booze before noon: Early-risers in NYC hoping to enjoy a mimosa or Bloody Mary at Sunday brunch are, to put it bluntly, SOL. A holdover blue law – a regulation meant to limit activities on Sunday (when you should be in church, ahem) – prohibits restaurants and bars from serving drinks until noon on Sundays. Of course, those most in need of a little hair of the dog are those least likely to be anywhere before noon anyway. But morning lushes, you have now been warned; plan accordingly.
2. No buying drinks for female bartenders: Lonely men looking for the hot lady bartenders of their dreams are at a distinct disadvantage in Maryland, where state law makes it illegal to send female barkeeps a cocktail. Note to lovelorn dudes: we are not aware of any law restricting large tips.
3. Beer and pretzels can’t mix: We have some bad news for pretzel lovers in North Dakota. State law prohibits restaurants and bars from serving the popular bar snack and beer at the same time. This might be the reason God invented corn nuts and wasabi peas.
4. Security guards are required: An ordinance proposed by the city council but rejected by the mayor would have required, restaurants in Newark, NJ, that serve 15 or fewer people and want to stay open later than 9 PM to hire armed guards. At least it would have been the safest sandwich experience you’ve ever had (then again, it is Newark, so we suppose it’s better than the patrons arming themselves).
5. You can’t be drunk in a bar: This one seems way too dumb to be true, like airport security frisking babies, or banning raisins in cookies, but true it is. A broad law in Texas makes it legal for cops to go anywhere – including a bar or restaurant – and arrest people for public intoxication. The sad truth about this one is that less-than-ethical officers are using the protection of this law to target minorities they suspect of being undocumented immigrants. Stay classy, Texas. Oh wait, that might be easier said than done.
6. You can’t drink on Election Day: Positively sick about the state of the union? (Tell us about it.) Even sicker to learn your candidate is trailing in the polls on voting day? Well, if you live in South Carolina, don’t expect to drown your sorrows at your favorite bar or restaurant. An archaic law initially meant to prevent slimy political operatives from plying voters with drinks and then escorting them to the polls makes it illegal for restaurants to serve alcohol on Election Day. It’s also illegal for stores to sell alcohol on that day too. It is not, however, illegal for people to stockpile beer, wine and liquor on the day before Election Day. Just sayin’.
7. You can’t take it with you: Many states agree that allowing diners to take home their unfinished bottles of wine rather than overimbibing leads to responsible activities like walking without stumbling and driving home sober. Not so in Mississippi, where re-corking is not allowed. Lame.
8. If you drink, you must eat: Utah has come a long way from the days when bartenders had to be separated from patrons by a partition (so that they wouldn’t be tempted by the mere sight of alcohol) and would-be drinkers could only gain entry to a bar if they had a previously purchased membership. But it’s still illegal to serve restaurant diners a drink if they’re not also ordering food. Also illegal? Drink specials of any kind. The silver lining? Las Vegas is right next door.
Honorable mention: In Massachusetts, happy-hour deals are illegal. If frat boys could ever shake those hangovers from their keg parties, they would so organize and protest this.
Warren Buffett seemed to entrance the nation with his common sense and logic in an op-ed piece for the New York Times where he stated he paid a smaller percentage in taxes than his receptionist. But Buffett hasn’t been the only billionaire to state they are for higher taxes publicly — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg joined the group that also includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates, points out MSNBC.
In a town-hall meeting hosted by Facebook in April, President Obama pitched the idea of greater taxes on the wealthiest members of society. In response, Zuckerberg said succinctly, “I’m cool with that.”
Zuckerberg also signed Warren Buffett’s The Giving Pledge last year, which commits wealthy people to donating at least half of their fortunes to charity.
Although Zuckerberg is worth $13.5 billion, much of the funds are tied up in Facebook and are technically theoretical rather than actual.
Zuckerberg also recently donated $100 million to New Jersey public schools — although the cynical among us may believe that was a calculated move to counter the negative light he was cast under in the Hollywood biopic “The Social Network.”
Others who have joined the Giving Pledge include Larry Ellison, George Lucas and other Facebook founder Dustin Moskowitz.
There is alot of fun stuff going on this weekend around the Bay.
La Cocina’s 3nd Annual SF Street Food Festival taking place in the Mission from 11am-7pm. Folsom from 22nd to 26th and 23rd to 25th St from Treat St to Shotwell are blocked off and they are full of the best food trucks and stands from some of the best restaurants around. Food trucks like Namu, 4505 Meats, El BUen Comer, Curry Up Now and The Creme Brulee will all be there. Restaurants like The Slanted Door, La Mar, Beretta, Pizza Delfina and Nettie’s Crab Shack will also be representing. Last year the longest line was for the Porchetta sandwich at Roli Roti which is worth the wait. A newcomer this year is the Nom Nom Truck which was on the Great Food Truck Race last year. If you can take public transportation there, I highly recommend it. The Bart station is a couple blocks away. And go with an empty stomach because you will be eating ALOT!
This weekend is also the 3rd Annual Sausalito Film Festival taking place at Cavallo Point starting on Friday. Opening night ceremony tickets are already sold out but you can still get tickets to see one of many great independent films. Last year, I saw “Can Cannabis Cure Cancer” and it was a phenomenal film. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s held at Cavallo Point so you can grab food at Farley Bar or Murray Circle before or after.
The 74th Annual Stern Grove Festival will be featuring the San Francisco Opera this Sunday at 2pm. Get there early to get good seats! This is the last concert of the season.
