While most cities in California have seen development stall in the last few years, thanks to the recession and the dissolution of state’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs), Willow Glen has become an outlier, a DIY business community.
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Jane Austen’s novels are so noted for their insight into the manners and domestic proprieties of their age that it’s easy to forget how lively, indeed funny, her work is. An element of danger also arises: those idyllic country settings are really battlefields in which lone heroines square off against an array of Willoughbys, Wickhams and Crawfords.
The indian call center has become an unfortunate racist cliche, the place where robotlike workers perform outsourced American jobs, and even for many who don’t partake in churlish vitriol about “stolen” jobs, there is something undeniably surreal about being connected with a service person in South Asia.
More folks seem to be taking up homebrewing as a hobby based on feedback from local homebrew stores. The next step for some is exploring the possibility of joining a homebrew club. The American Homebrewers Association has a database of more than 1,000 registered homebrew clubs, including San Jose’s Almaden Brewers, Affinity Home Brewing Club, the Grain Trust and the longstanding Worts of Wisdom Homebrewers and Silicon Valley Sudzers, as well as Santa Clara’s the HeadQuarters and Santa Clara Valley Brewers.
A restaurant in downtown Los Altos that is starting to garner some legitimate buzz. Its cottage setting is reminiscent of a visit to Grandma’s: impossibly clean, surprises for the children and collective sighs of relief from the parents.
Mexico has tacos. England has fish and chips. In the Philippines, the equivalent is is tapsilog, a very simple, common dish of garlic rice, eggs and tapa (cured beef). Although considered a breakfast meal, it is also eaten for lunch and dinner, and as a popular late-night snack—pretty much any time of the day someone is hungry.
Mochi ice cream is a fusion dessert that binds the traditional Japanese dessert—mochi (rice cake)—with the quintessential American dessert—ice cream. Its roots can be traced to Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, where feisty Japanese pastry chef Frances Hashimoto invented, distributed and later marketed the wrapped ice cream balls to big-name American supermarkets.
When Tracy Lee graduated from San Jose State University, her love for the city and atmosphere kept her rooted in downtown San Jose. Her passion for food and fun led her to create Dishcrawl, a dining concept that consists of “four restaurants, one night.” Nearly two years later, the concept has grown to more than 100 locations across the U.S. and Canada. We met with Lee to discuss the concept of Dishcrawl, her new project with nonprofits and her favorite San Jose restaurants.
This month’s South First Fridays art-about features new shows and receptions at the galleries in and near the SoFA district. One of the more intriguing shows, “CHILD-SIGHT,” brings colorful new works in a fantastical vein by local artist Leah Jay. One of Leah’s mixed-media pieces, “Yesterday’s California,” is featured on the cover of Metro Newspaper this week.
A group of about 20 San Jose locals gathered around the Peralta Adobe site on a warm Saturday afternoon, surrounding two De Anza freshmen as they spouted off facts about the historic building—the oldest structure still standing in San Jose. The purpose for the gather was the Adobe to Adobe tour, part of San Jose Walks and Talks, a new organization created to showcase Silicon Valley history.
