The Lowdown on Upper Rockridge.

Here's how it goes for many families who live in the Bay Area...

You're younger and maybe single and move to San Francisco. You live in the city and you're living it up. Working, enjoying the nightlife, amazing restaurants, arts & entertainment and all your friends. Then you settle down and eventually your family grows, you have children and may realize you don't want to be in the city long term.  You start thinking about moving away for more suburbs, better school selections, larger living space for less money, easier parking and... more sun and less fog, perhaps.

The new Bay Bridge span. Connecting San Francisco with Oakland.

That was our story anyway. I remember having just given birth to our first child, ten years ago, and lying in my hospital bed at California Pacific Medical Center, just two blocks from our apartment we rented in San Francisco, and getting a call from our realtor that we got the house we bid on in Upper Rockridge, Oakland.  I was living in San Francisco for the past six years and really loved it there, but once baby #1 came along, we knew it was time to move away.

My husband and I had spent months before then cruising around Oakland, looking for homes. We wanted Oakland because we owned a business there and we were not ready to let go of urban life completely and go any further east for more suburbia.  Because he worked there, he knew Oakland pretty well, I didn't know it at all.  All the neighborhoods blurred together for me, and as I heaved myself out of our car, way pregnant, looking at all those open houses, I started to not really care anymore where we'd end up.

But luckily both of us were not pregnant, and his mind was clearer and so he insisted on really thinking about which neighborhood we wanted to end up in.  I even remember not really paying attention what school district the house was in, because I just couldn't wrap my head around caring about schools when I felt like I was so far away from being a Mom of a school aged child. I also didn't realize how different all the schools could be within the same public school system.

I'm glad we ended up with our first home in Upper Rockridge, an area as I describe as next to Rockridge, Piedmont and Montclair.  The lower side of where Highway 24 and 13 connect. Upper Rockridge is at the base of the Oakland Hills, the hills that overlook all of Oakland and the Bay.

This home we bought was about one block away from highway 13.  Our back deck had a view of a small valley, with houses all over the opposite side, facing us, and the highway buzzing down below.  I remember standing in the nursery, right by the window on the highway side, before we decided to put an offer in on the house, and listening for the highway noise and wondering if that would bother me. It's hard to predict those things, and ideally, before you buy a house, you could have a trial week living in it.  It turned out, the highway noise never bothered me, as it was a constant consistent hum.

We moved in with our little family, and it was the perfect house for us.

At first we were really worried if Oakland would bore us.  Would we miss the restaurants, the friends, the street fairs, the urban living of San Francisco?  The truth is we never looked back. Because unless you are ultra hip, your life with a baby and children changes and other things become important. I was now interested in visiting playgrounds, children's classes and meeting other Moms and having friends over at home.  (But of course it turns out Oakland has amazing restaurants and endless amounts of things to see and do. More on that in other posts.)

We only had one car then, because that's all you need in San Francisco.  And we lived for a whole year with one car in our Upper Rockridge home.  Husband would take it to work each day and I went on my way with baby and a stroller.

I walked to Montclair Village often.  I even did my grocery shopping that way; (Safeway and Lucky's are there), stuffing the stroller basket and a backpack with groceries. Montclair park was a few blocks from our house, with two playgrounds, a pond, (geese, ducks and turtles!), a sports field, the Wells Fargo carriage to play on, and a skating ramp. The park also has the Montclair community center, with lots of interesting classes for kids.  Most Montclair families with young kids know Miss Marilyn's dance classes there.

Wells Fargo stage coach play structure at Montclair Park.

Montclair has it's own little library, in an old tudor style house, where I spent many hours for Toddler Reading time.  The Village itself is unusual, in that it really is like a little village, about four blocks long, with lots of stores and restaurants and services.  I think the Village is pretty unique to the Bay Area.  It's gives the area a nice community feel with fun annual events like their Holiday Stroll, Halloween Parade and Art & Wine Fest and a year round farmers market on Sunday. When you're in the village you are bound to run into a neighbor or someone you know. It's that kind of a place.

I also literally stumbled onto Lake Temescal park one day.  A total surprise park, in our neighborhood, hidden off of Broadway Terrace, in a little valley, with grassy fields, a lake for swimming with a beach and lots of paved paths for biking or strollering.  A popular spot for birthday parties, play dates, fishing and walks.

We bought into this neighborhood because we liked the house we found there, but also because of the public schools. The three public schools in this Upper Rockridge area are Hillcrest (k-8th), Montclair Elementary and Thornhill Elementary.  All three of these are excellent schools (go to greatschools.org to see the details) and all the families attending put in tremendous effort and many volunteer hours to make them so.  Major fundraising happens at these schools, to raise money for things such as teacher aides, libraries, art, music, physical ed and more.

These schools are popular, and they are pretty small with just a few hundred students each. With the neighborhood demographics changing over the past decade, the schools are getting fuller and it's not always a guarantee that every resident will get to attend their neighborhood school.  It's always good to find out directly from the school what their enrollment situation is for that year.

One of the many schools in Upper Rockridge.

Besides these three public elementary schools there are also some great private schools within just a few miles of each other; including Aurora, Holy Names High School, and St.Theresa.  And there are lots of preschools and day cares, including Montclair Community Play Center (the preschool my three kids attended. The oldest co-op preschool in the West.), The Cottage Play House, Smile's Day School, Apple Garden School (Montersorri) and lots of others.

This area of Oakland was hit hard by the Oakland Fire Storm of 1991. A devastating fire that destroyed over 3,700 homes.  Large patches of Upper Rockridge had to be completely rebuilt. Sometimes you can see the fire line, by noticing where the older homes were spared. In some cases, like on Proctor Ave., one side of the street has new homes, and the other side of the street has the original 1940s era homes, (or "pre-fire" homes, as they are often referred to), which are usually smaller.  There are lots of beautiful tudor, cottages and colonial style homes in Upper Rockridge.

Upper Rockridge homes; a mix of new and old.

Now ten years, and two kids later (that's three total), I'm still happy in Upper Rockridge.  I love the weather, usually sunnier and clearer than across the bay in San Francisco. I love the people, the parks, and that it's centrally located to Berkeley, Lamorinda and San Francisco.

There's so much to do and see right here... I go months and months without ever going to the city. The incredible restaurant choices are endless, with College Avenue and Rockridge right down the hill from us. College Avenue, is a long road (going all the way to UC California Berkeley, thus the name), lined with fun shops, (luxury consignment shop I wrote about, Labels is here) gourmet food markets, and the Rockridge BART (train) station is there too.

Views from Mountain View Cemetery. 

Hiking in Upper Rockridge.

I'm glad we found our spot right here, for now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's a big decision to decide where you want to start your journey of family life with kids, schools and new friends.  Do the research, ask around, hang out in neighborhoods that you are considering. You'll be able to tell if it feels like home.

Cocktails and Luxury Consignment

It turns out that school fundraiser parties can rule your social life, and it's a great way to get you out, be with friends and raise money at the same time.  You bid on being a party guest, and the parties have all sorts of themes, from Mardi Gras to Beer Ping Pong and others.

For two years now I have happily partaken in the Mimosa & Mingling party at Labels, a luxury consignment shop on College Ave, in Berkeley (accessories only) and on Main Street in Walnut Creek (clothing and accessories).  The owner, Lynn, my friend and a preschool Mom is one of the most happy, energetic, fun persons I know.  And as a Mom of three, a successful  family business owner, she amazes me at how she does it all.  She runs both stores, with her husband and has three kids.

Labels, Berkeley location.

Lynn

Her beautiful shop opens for just us small group of moms, browsing around, sipping drinks, nibbling food and trying on things.  It's like being in a giant rich persons closet.

Last time, I scored a 1960s yellow crystal bead necklace and a green patent leather clutch. 

The store interior is beautifully custom designed and all the inventory is nicely categorized by color, style and size, making it fun to look at.  Shoes, bags, jewelry, scarves, hats, all accessories are at the Berkeley store.

There's my yellow necklace in the bunch.

Shoes on the second floor.

Bags in cubby holes.

Scarves

Labels in Walnut Creek is their original location.  It's bigger and also beautifully designed with gorgeous tables displaying tons of shoes, and their signature square cubby hole bookcases housing their luxurious bags. 

The second time I joined their party was at their Walnut Creek store.  Cocktails, food, friends, trying on Chanel dresses and vintage furs...  I can't wait for the next one!

Shoe display

Rows of shoes...

My cocktail, with furs, bags and shoes in the background.

For those who do not want to pay full price, consignment is the way to go, especially luxury consignment.

Oakland Art Murmur - First Fridays

An especially fun event to go to is the monthly Oakland Art Murmur - First Friday, held on most first fridays of every month.  It's a great example of what makes Oakland great.

It's a night time festival (5-9pm) in Uptown on Telegraph Ave. between Grand and 27th, featuring open galleries, live music, food trucks and other vendors.  It's a constant scene of people watching and senses overload. Great fun.

Art Murmurers on the street.

When I went I made it a family affair with my three kids, 2, 5 and 8 yrs old at the time. Although not appropriate for all children, mine did fine and enjoyed themselves.

Cool cats and their hot rods.

The event, although organized by the city, seemed a tad unorganized and really run "by the people", which made it all the more interesting.  The vendors and musicians seemed to set up camp randomly where they wanted to.  Sometimes clashing music would be playing within feet of each other, but it all worked out somehow.

Stand up comedian, trying to gather his crowd.
Not sure what that cut-out monkey is about.

Rocking it in a school bus with strobe lights
and white masks. 

The people watching was great. Every single interesting looking person in the city was at the Art Murmur that night, it seemed.

My kids walked through old school buses converted into mobile art galleries, or little mini rock clubs, with bands in side playing (or on top of the roof), or vans used as a clothing boutiques that you can walk into.  They checked out the various vendors selling things like jewelry, installations, or displaying strange barbie doll art. They listened to tons of music, and danced around.

Barbie doll art.  Barbies on hats, and doll faces on pant legs.
The girls were amazed.

The first thing we did when we got there was head for a cupcake food truck.  And although the cupcakes looked appetizing, they were a big disappointment.

Standing in line at the not so good cupcake truck.

There were other food trucks there, but we had already eaten dinner before at home.

DJ-ing with old school stereos strapped to a frame.

Our friends underneath a dragon/horse/van with a DJ on top.
Still covered in dust from their Burning Man trip.

Dancing in the street.

We got back to our car at 9:30pm, and everyone was in a good mood, even our youngest, Austin who had missed his bedtime by two hours.  I love my kids for being such troopers!

Amazing Napa & The CIA.

The Bay Area is close to the sea, mountains, desert and... of course wine country, or more specifically Napa and St. Helena.  I've been to Italy many times, visiting family there.  And when the light is just so and the smells are just right, I feel like I'm in Italy when I'm looking at grape fields in Napa. 

We live about 45 minutes away from there, and  yet it's been years and years since I have visited.  For many it's one of those places we rarely visit, because we can.  It's there and yet it so far away.  If I had my choices I'd spend a weekend in St. Helena at least once a year.

Then one Friday, a few weeks ago, by strange chance and circumstances, I was able to attend a business lunch at a winery in Napa and have a few hours by myself in the afternoon.

Our lunch and wine tasting table.  

I almost drove home after my lunch, but decided to be spontaneous and continue driving to St. Helena, which is a small town, right next door to Napa and has many of the famous wineries.

I really wanted to visit my favorite place in St. Helena, Greystone winery and the Culinary Institute of America, the CIA.

As my college graduation gift, my parents gave me an unforgettable week at the CIA for a cooking class.  This was 1996, and the school was brand new - the famous original CIA is in New York.  I stayed at a local inn, and for five days cooked all day, ate amazing meals we made, and hung out with my new cooking class friends in the evening.  I think it was one of the best weeks in my life.  I was in absolute heaven the whole time.

Our Chef instructor, was a typical French Chef as you would imagine.  A largish older man, strict yet nice, had a traditional French culinary background, spoke in a thick french accent and knew everything there is to know about cooking.

St. Helena is a dreamy little town.

It's downtown is a few blocks of cute little stores and then the street, lined with big leafy trees, leads you to many of the famous wineries.  It's beautiful country there with foggy mornings and warm days and fields and fields of grapes.

Miles of wineries.

The Greystone winery is an old castle like building, all stone, with dark gloomy insides. The CIA teaching kitchen is on the very top floor, a huge open cooking area with round windows overlooking the vineyards across the street.  When I was there in the cooking class, I remember looking out and thinking it felt just like being in Italy.  It's so beautiful there.

The front entrance.

Their marble sign on the floor.

My memories of that week and that place is one of those memories that is forever lodged in my mind as a time when I was so happy, content and I felt like I belonged right there.  It's a great place to go back to, in my mind.

The Greystone restaurant terrace.  An amazingly beautiful setting.

I walked around a bit, looked around their huge retail store, bought a selection of expensive hand-made-by-cooking-students chocolates, checked out their restaurant, took lots of pictures and then had to head home.

Ultra modern, ultra special hand-made chocolates.  

My box.  Salted caramel and lavender flavored were my favorites.

It was an amazing day at one of my favorite places.  One day I'm going to do another week of cooking classes at Greystone.

Kitchen On Fire - Cooking Indian.

For Mothers Day I received a gift certificate to Kitchen On Fire, a cooking school in Berkeley.

I signed up for an evening class called, A Summer Taste of Punjab.

Taking that class was heavenly for me.  The chef teacher; Vinita Jacinto, who was born and raised in India, classically trained at Cordon Blue, and has tons of teaching experience, was so enthusiastic about her love for cooking Indian, it was contagious. I loved listening to her talk about her memories of watching her family cook when she was a young girl, and her passion for spices.  On her business card she calls herself a "spice whisperer".  (Her website, The Spice Whisperer.)

Chef Vinita telling us about rice.

The 28 Spice Packet.

She say she's often up late at night, mixing and experimenting with her spices.  And in preparation for this evenings class, she spent some time and came up with a unique spice mixture and made little baggies for each of us to take home.  This mixture combines 28 spices.


There were about ten of us in this class and each of us got to make one part of the meal.  I made the Indian Potato salad with Yogurt dressing, and Cumin water or Indian spiced lemonade.  The other dishes on the menu included Tangy Chickpea Curry with Daikon Relish, Gingered Cauliflower and Fresh Flatbread smeered with ghee.

Chickpea Curry.

Whole Wheat Flatbread and Rice.

After we all chopped and cooked (and you don't have to clean! The best part about taking a professional cooking class), we plated all the food and served our selves and stood at the counter and ate and listened to Vinita talk about Indian cuisine in America.  (She says that no Indian restaurants really represent true homemade cooking.  Which at first seems surprising, but then when I think about it, same goes for American cuisine or really any restaurant.  There is "restaurant" food and then there's "home cooked" food, which you can only find at home, really.)

I wish I could take a cooking class every week.  I love it, it's so much fun. 

A few days later I made my own chickpea curry with peas and tomatoes, using her spice packet she gave us.  It's easy and came out great. One big thing I took away from this class; the spices always have to be cooked first.

The start of my own Chickpeas and 28 Spices.

Pork Belly & Off The Grid.

I'm a sucker for food trucks.  I'm always tempted by what they have to offer. 

With out the constraints and costs of running a traditional restaurant, food trucks are independent, nimble and extra creative in what they cook up. For me it's a great way to try quality food without the extra effort of going to a restaurant.  And the idea also is that they are a bit cheaper than a traditional restaurant, because of the low overhead cost.  But that's not really true, at least not in this area, as I find that most food trucks prices are the same as in a good restaurant, with just smaller food portions.

I regularly visit my favorite truck in Fruitvale, Sinaloa, which I wrote about here.  Sinaloa, makes the most amazing tortas (sandwiches) ever. Their $5 for a giant sandwich, is a steal.  I've tried tortas from many different places and they never compare to the ones they make there.

I have some friends refer to food from food trucks as "street meat", which always makes me laugh. Some people are too cautious to buy food from a truck.  Where is their kitchen, what really goes on in that truck anyway?  Food trucks, by the way, are regulated by the health department just as any restaurant is. 

Recently, one Saturday after a soccer practice I was finally able to go to a Off The Grid event. OTG organizes gathering spots for food trucks all over the Bay Area.  A "..roaming, mobile food extravaganza", they call it.   They are San Francisco based, and for a long time only stayed near the city. But recently they've come closer to Oakland and last summer they were in Alameda at a shopping center every friday.

When faced with a gathering of food trucks, the choices can be overwhelming. There is food from literally all over the world, tons of different types, lots of variety.  What to pick?

I walk around, take my time, reading the menus and I watch what others are eating.

I finally decide on Nicks Wheely Good Breakfast. Because....they have a pork belly sandwich!  Oh, I'm also a sucker for pork belly.  Pork belly is such a bad way to describe a cut of meat.  But it's the most tender, tasty, delectable part of the pig.  I never cook it and rarely, rarely order it. (Mainly because it's rarely on menus).  Their description on the menu; maple glazed, arugula, fried egg... convinces me to get it.  And a guy who just ordered one tells me that it's the absolute best and he always gets one when he can.   

So back to my Maple Glazed Pork Belly Sandwich.  I have to wait for ever for it.  But that means it's fresh and that's always good.  And when I see it....

Close-up of my sandwich.  Charlotte in the background.

I can tell right away that it's going to be good.  And it is.  Fresh foccacia bread, pork belly which is made into a tasty hash, with sharp arugula and a perfectly fried egg...all together.  A perfect blend of flavor and texture.  I'm oohing, and aahing while I'm eating.  It's incredibly rich, but not in a gross way. It's so flavorful and just melty. That awesome pork flavor that you can only get from pork.  It's the perfect meal in a sandwich. I'm so, so glad I tried it.  And I can't wait to track them down and get another one :)  And by the way, the price for this sandwich, $8 is really fair.  It's a big sandwich and top quality.  It's the kind of meal that stays on my mind all day.  An experience that lasts a while.  Really great.

The line was only two deep.  

Then of course I want to try desert.  And desert food trucks are not as common.  There are too many cupcake food trucks.  Anyway, I find this Pacific Puffs truck, all the way from San Francisco, it seems. Expensive, ($3.25) cream puffs.  I opted for the mini versions which are $2 each, so that it's easier for our family of five to share.

I really can't stand over priced food. It makes me a bit mad.  But these were good, and of course I wanted more than just half of a mini... I had to share theses with my three kids!

Three little cream puffs.

I can't wait to go to my next food truck gathering.  Be sure to go hungry, take your time and enjoy yourself.

Tiny Homes. Really Tiny.

I came across this movement of Tiny Homes.  Have you heard of it?  I don't know if "movement" is the right word, but it is a thing for sure.  Downsizing and simplifying, living small. People who build/buy and live in miniature homes, that can fit in a parking space.  Imagine that. 

About 320 square feet of living space, that's how tiny!  And they live in these homes, full time.

Tiny home (MoleculeTinyHomes.blogspot.com)

Cozy. Also from the above website. 

And by the way, when I googled "Tiny Homes" I also found a blog about a person who obsesses over decorating tiny rooms, like a dollhouse. She re-arranges furniture and re-designs the doll house rooms and takes pictures and blogs about it and she's quite popular.  She has lots of interested readers who want to know where she bought the furniture, or how she made that tiny throw rug. Who knew?  I love learning about quirky things like that. 

But these little houses for humans, are people's full time homes.  They are built on wheels, like a camper, to circumvent some kind of a building permit rule.  There are companies and contractors who specialize in building and designing these and their popularity is rising.  They are permanent homes usually even though they are on wheels.  They have little gardens and porches and almost always a cozy looking loft in the rafters for sleeping.

(From ecojoes.com/tiny-house-big-savings/)

I read blogs about people, and even families with kids, such as TinyHouseFamily, who decide to downsize their whole life and move into a home like this. 

It gets me thinking about my minimalist side.  I know that for me, having fewer things, and fewer things to take care of, clean, keep track of, put a way and fix, makes me feel better in general.  I feel less stressed, less anxious and burdened.   And yet I live in a largish house full of stuff, like most families do.

But on the other hand, I like to have things on hand, just in case. We are lucky enough to have a large storage area below our house (let alone we also own a self storage facility), and so I keep collections of things such as; various empty glass jars, a large amount of old towels and sheets, and about twenty different quart size containers of paint, because I'm convinced I may need those sometime.  I might needs those class jars for a kids project. like making snow globes.  And all those old sheets, I may need for Halloween costumes or a future sewing project.  And the paint.. I may find an old piece of furniture I want to fix up and paint.  I might.  

So I save all this stuff because I can and I have the room, but meanwhile it contributes to stuff and clutter in my house.   And that sort of clutters my brain.

And our clothes in our closet?  How much do we really wear?  

How much time do I spend shuffling my "things" around in my house?  I make a pile of things at the top of the stairs, to go downstairs, and pile of things at the bottom of the stairs to go up, another pile at the entrance of our storage space and a pile of things in our hallway that need to go to our garage. It's an endless cycle of organizing stuff.

I feel like a squirrel shuttling my nuts around my den, tucking things away.  Cleaning our house consists of moving things from here to there, to there and here.  

I wonder what it would be like to have to pair down your possessions to only have things you really, really want or need.  It sounds like a nightmare on one hand, (how would I decide what to get rid of?) but maybe it would free up my time for other more fun things. 

If I lived in a tiny house, then maybe instead of caring for and organizing my things so much, I would spend more time doing things I truly enjoy.  

But what do you do when you have friends and family over?  Most of these homes involve some furniture re-organization in order to reveal a tiny dining table.  The "couch" doubles as a storage container and bed.  There's just no place to hang out and sit.  I think that would be deal breaker for me. And also the fact that we have 3 kids.  There's no way living in a tiny home is possible with three kids.