Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Dana Street Roasting Company: The place to Hang in Old Mountain View CA

One of the first things we did as a family when we moved from Palo Alto CA to Mountain View CA was to start to look for our new hang out spot. Dana Street Roasting Company quickly became the place to hang in Old Mountain View CA for us. The coffee is great. You can watch them roast it right there in front of you every day.

I prefer to drink decaf coffee but have a hard time finding something that still tastes like coffee. No worries, Dana Street Roasting Company roasts an amazing Columbia decaf that tastes like the real deal.

You can follow Dana Street Roasting Company on Twitter @danastreet Aaron's posts what is freshly roasted and what bands are playing on Twitter. One of the most useful Twitter posts I follow. They have a wide variety of live music on the weekends to fit just about any taste.
In addition to great coffee they have great food. I really like their house made soups when I need a quick meal on the go.

Dana Street Roasting Company is a great place to meet family, friends and business associates. Think outside of the chains and meet someone at Dana Street Roasting Company in Old Mountain View CA.

http://www.danastreetroasting.com/
744 W. Dana Street Mountain View, CA 94041

Carla Dimond
Realtor-Lifestyle Neighborhood Specialist
Keller Williams Realty-Cupertino
Cell/Direct: (650) 388-8820
cdimond@kw.com
carladimond.com
DRE # 01871201
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/carladimond
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carla.dimond
Blog: http://siliconvalleyrealestate-blog.com/agent/cdimond
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/carladimond

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Open House Today 3366 Country Dr Fremont CA 1:30 to 4:30 1bed/1bath condo

Hosting an Open House Today at 3366 Country Dr Fremont CA 1:30 to 4:30

1bed/1bath condo for only $180,000.00

Great opportunity for the first time buyer or for an investor. 3366 Country Dr Fremont CA is 723 sq feet and on the first floor. HOA's are only $256 a month.

This condo gets a Walk Score (www.walkscore.com) of 82 out of 100, which means it is very walkable.

You can walk to the Bart Station, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, and the Naz 8 Cinema just to name a few.

Please drop by and see what a great opportunity 3366 Country Dr in Fremont CA is for the first time buyer or investor

Friday, April 16, 2010

Old Mountain View CA, a great lifestyle neighborhood

Old Mountain View CA has Castro Street as the center of action and Castro Street has become a destination spot for people all over Silicon Valley looking for great places to eat. Castro Street is just one of the reasons that Old Mountain View CA is such a great lifestyle neighborhood.

Old Mountain View CA is bordered by Grant Road and Highway 85 on the south, Shoreline Blvd on the north, Evelyn Ave on the east and El Camino on the west. Old Mountain View CA is an amenities rich place. It has a post office, doctor offices, and farmer's market, in addition to the all the destination dining it is famous for on Castro Street. Old Mountain View CA also has several coffee shops; local variety and national chains. It boasts shoe repair shops, hair dressers, nail salons, bakeries, and clothing boutiques. It even has a center for the performance arts.

Old Mountain View also has several start-ups that occupy the top floors of the retail spaces creating instant customers for the restaurants that line Castro Street. It provides easy access to the Caltrain and the VTA. Old Mountain View is an easy place to commute to downtown San Francisco and downtown San Jose and all the stops in between that Caltrain and VTA make. Plus there are buses that take many Foothill College students to class every day. It offers some of the best public transportation options on the Peninsula.

In addition to being a great place to go to it is a great place to live. Options include quaint older cottages, brand new condominium and townhome complexes, apartment houses, plus new high end homes. Housing goes quick in Old Mountain View CA, houses and condos often sell in a week or less with multiple bids on the rare occasion they do appear on the market. Rentals often have multiple rental applications as well.

If you would like to explore Old Mountain View CA as a potential lifestyle neighborhood for you, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to give you a tour of the neighborhood and better understand your needs for your next home. Together we can see if Old Mountain View CA is your next lifestyle neighborhood.

Carla Dimond
Realtor-Lifestyle Neighborhood Specialist
Keller Williams Realty-Cupertino
Cell/Direct: (650) 388-8820
cdimond@kw.com
carladimond.com
DRE # 01871201
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/carladimond
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carla.dimond
Blog: http://siliconvalleyrealestate-blog.com/agent/cdimond
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/carladimond

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Recipe: Beef Burgundy

Beef Burgundy was the first grown up recipe I ever mastered. I was a young struggling college student and was looking for an inexpensive but impressive recipe to make for my friends. By making Beef burgundy you can make a small amount of inexpensive beef taste delicious.

Many years later I find that I like to still make Beef Burgundy because I am trying to eat less meat and eat more vegetables. Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same!

I have made this recipe with everything from ordinary beef stew meat to fillet mignon. The fillet mignon was overkill; this is a recipe that requires a tougher meat that can withstand the cooking time. I use the pearl onions if I can find them but I find that a yellow onion works as well for flavor but you lose the presentation aspects that the small pearl onions provide. The quality of the bacon is important as it flavors the whole dish; get real smoked give the smoked nitrate free bacon if you can find it.

I also like to add baby carrots for flavor. Use a heavier wine like a burgundy or cabernet sauvignon, nothing fancy just flavorful. Also use a low salt beef broth as the bacon already has a strong salt flavor.
This takes about 4 hours to cook down slowly on the stovetop. Nice dish to make on a lazy afternoon as it smells so good!

1 lb of beef stew meat
1 lb of mushrooms, cleaned but whole
1 lb of small pearl onions, cleaned and trimmed
1/2 lb of peeled baby carrots
64 oz of low sodium beef broth
375L of hearty red wine
2 pieces of bacon, crumbled
1 Tbl flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the bacon until crisp but not burned. Remove bacon and any bacon grease more than a tablespoon. Salt and pepper the beef and add the beef to the bacon grease and brown completely. Sprinkle the flour on the beef and stir the beef and flour combination until the flour is browned. Add the wine, crumbled bacon and beef broth. Stir to mix and then add the onions. Put a lid on the pot and put it on a low burner for two hours. Add the mushrooms and carrots and cook for at least another hour to 2 hours. Beef Burgundy turns a delicious dark reddish brown color when ready. Serve with potatoes, rice or noodles depending on your family’s preference.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Recipe: Killer Oatmeal

Killer oatmeal? Is there really such a thing?
If you are like me you know that you should be eating something healthier for breakfast and MD's are always peddling oatmeal. My father, who is 85 and can still climb up on a rooftop and clean out gutters, also constantly shares the benefits of oatmeal for breakfast with me. However, I find that his oatmeal conjures up visions of gruel from the 17th Century in England! It looks awful and is only edible with large amounts of brown sugar. This seems to defeat the whole effort of eating it in the first place. And that gooey texture!
I then discovered the steel cut oats which have a nuttier firmer texture. I also find that a couple of chopped dates, a handful of almonds and some shredded coconut make for a very tasty breakfast. This is probably not the lowest calorie breakfast but it does keep me going at least 90 minutes at gym.
Cooking note: It does take longer to make oatmeal from scratch so start it at the same time as you are making coffee so that you have time to eat it before running out the door. This makes more than enough oatmeal for 4 people in the morning.

4 C water
1 C steel cut oats
4 pitted and chopped dates
12 sliced almonds
2 Tbls shredded coconut

You can dump all of the ingredients into the pot on the stove at the same time. The trick is to not leave it on too high of a heat and to keep stirring it until the oats soften. 25 to 30 minutes should do it.