The NY Times drove up the coast of California from LA to SF, tasting tacos along the way. They found a treat at Taqueria y Mercado de Amigos in Pescadero.

Halfway between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, we turn off into the rolling green hills of Pescadero, a tiny little blip of a town with a handful of general stores, a single bar and one gas station. I have been tipped off that there is a taqueria holed up somewhere in town, and that the ingredients are straight off the farm. I ask around. “There is no sign in the window,” a local offers, “but there is a taqueria in the gas station.”

Inside the gas station, it’s lunchtime and bustling at Taqueria y Mercado de Amigos. Mexican workers squeeze into booths, sipping hibiscus sodas and chatting over the sizzle of the grill and the rhythmic cha-ching of the register. Two cooks work quickly — grilling the shrimp just till the edges blacken, searing the al pastor and drizzling it with hot sauce.

Outside, the quiet of Pescadero is breathtaking. We head up Stage Road to the old cemetery and take the dirt road to the top of the hill. Sitting on the trunk of the car, tacos warming our laps, we find the most beautiful spot yet — the Kelly green pastures rolling and folding straight into the Western sky, the sun beaming down on all that open land. And just when it couldn’t get any better, we realize something else — we’re holding two of the best tacos this side of Mexico.

This the most-emailed story on the NY Times website yesterday.

The sun drenched Montara as 51 children from 37 Coastside families gathered at Sweet Peas Organic Produce to sample fruits and veggies and have their pictures taken by renowned local photographer Martha Bruce.  The special event was co-created by Bruce and Sweet Peas owner Kerry Tate in preparation of a children’s book on good nutrition and healthy eating habits.  Children were asked to pose eating their favorite fruit or vegetable, and then photographed to capture the moment.

“Strawberries were the most requested produce item!” reports Martha, “And while some older kids were willing to pose with rhubarb, eggplant and red onions, celery eaters were hard to come by.” Parents stood nearby enjoying latte’s from Caffe Lucca, while kids posed and played in the sandbox while waiting for their turns.  The kids, in ages from 5 months to 12 years, arrived in clean white shirts and left looking like a billboard for stain removers.  Parents were given a free 5x7 for participating in the event, and a barrel of donated food was collected for the Coastside Opportunity Center’s food bank in El Granada. 

The California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) presented the Half Moon Bay Review with five awards in its annual Better Newspapers Contest. The paper received a first place award for a feature story, its front page (in the broadsheet category), and a sports photo. It received second place awards for a sports photo and for editorial comment.

There were four categories for weeklies, based on circulation: under 4,300; 4,301 to 11,000; 11,001 to 25,000; and over 25,000.  The Review competed in the second category.

Communities are struggling to fill the empty hulks left by Albertson’s and other grocery stores, reports the Chronicle. Some have been replaced with movie theaters. Some have been vacant for years.

Phil Tucker, special projects coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1179, said that Contra Costa County has seen seven supermarkets close in the past five years, with only two of them turned back into grocery stores. Another was converted into housing units, and the rest remain vacant.

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But even when a supermarket site gets filled with a new tenant, it is not always the one that the community wants. For instance, in Cherryland, an unincorporated section of Alameda County, residents expressed strong interest in replacing an old Albertson’s on Mission Boulevard in the Creekside Shopping Center with another supermarket. Instead it was replaced with a 99-cent store.

Disclosure: Coastsider is a media sponsor of this event.

“Outstanding in Their Fields: A Day on the Farm,” a tour highlighting the farms, farmers and what’s growing on the San Mateo coast, will be held on Saturday, July 29th, the Committee for Green Foothills announced today.  Reservations are still available for this daylong guided tour.

The bus tour will visit four local farms between Half Moon Bay and Año Nuevo and will include a lunch and dessert prepared from local produce.  “If you ever wanted to learn more about farming on the coastside, this is the time to do it,” said Holly Van Houten, executive director for Committee for Green Foothills. “This is a special opportunity to meet some of the farmers who grow our food locally.”

The tour grew out of efforts to support the heritage and sustainability of family farming on the San Mateo county coast.  “We realized to protect open space on the coast, we needed to work closely with the local farming community to preserve their ability to farm and to help people connect to the land around them,” said Lennie Roberts, legislative advocate for the Committee.  “We’re pleased to be partnering with these farmers, the Farmer’s Market, and the San Mateo County Farm Bureau.”

The tour starts in Half Moon Bay and travels to farms where participants will get a guided tour from Erin Tormey, founder of the Coastside Farmers’ Market at Cetrella and from Tim Frahm, director of conservation and water quality for the San Mateo County Farm Bureau.  The first stop will be at Daylight Farms in Half Moon Bay to hear from Farmer John Muller about how he is adding variety to what used to be a strictly flower growing operation.

In just under three weeks, more than 5,500 people signed a petition asking Trader Joe’s grocery store to consider moving into the soon-to-be-vacated Albertson’s store at 150 San Mateo Road in Half Moon Bay.

Petitions were circulated without any backing from governmental or business associations, from June 15 to July 4. Response was overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic – Trader Joe’s, everyone said, would be a perfect fit for the Coastside.

Those thousands of signatures will be presented to the City of Half Moon Bay at the next Council meeting, on July 18. Then they will be submitted to Trader Joe’s headquarters.

Martha Bruce Photography will be photographing kids eating their favorite fruit or vegetable for a children’s book on nutritious foods on Saturday, July 8, from 10am to 4pm, at Sweet Peas organic produce stand in Montara.

Parents who donate nonperishable food to their collection for the Coastside Opportunity Center, will receive a free 5 x 7 print of their child’s portrait.

Sweet Peas is located on Highway 1 in Montara, between Eighth and Ninth Streets, next to Caffe Lucca. Call 415.822.7581 to reserve a session time.

Now is the time for all coastsiders to work towards getting Trader Joe’s to come to the coastside.
 
Please get behind an extensive and aggressive three-week campaign to gather a minimum of 5000 signed petitions to be delivered to Trader Joe’s Headquarters in early July 2006.
 
We will need coordinators and petition gatherers to walk their neighborhoods and sign up for two hour shifts at Albertson’s, drug stores, coffee houses and the post offices, as well as asking local businesses to display the petitions.
 
Contact me if you want to assist with coordination so we can coordinate shifts of petition gatherers. Additionally, contact me by phone or e-mail if you want to participate in this petition gathering effort.

This will be a great opportunity to show that we, as the coastside community, can come together on this most important issue.

Download your PDF copy of the petition form from Coastsider.

 
John Lynch
Frenchman’s Creek, HMB

   
650-726-9280

I thought I’d take my camera down Highway 1 and into downtown Half Moon Bay and talk to the people running retail businesses here on the coast. I stopped at random and spoke with the owners and managers and asked them a single question: How is business with the Slide closed?

The answers were surprising.