Travel Writing by Robin

11/04/2024

Mission Valley's Civita neighborhood embodies a fresh concept in condo living, characterized by modernity. Condos dominate the landscape, fostering a distinct lifestyle. La Clochette brings breakfast and lunch options. You might recognize them from their La Jolla and Pacific Beach bakeries. Light, delicate pastries and premium coffee are offered until 2 pm.

10/31/2024

Loveland friends, I had a serendipitous happening in the cute tourist/mining town of Julian today. Meet Chris Reed. His grandfather was Bill Reed, namesake of our beloved Bill Reed Junior High School, where I sent to 8th and 9th grades. He told me his grandpa's full name was Howard William Reed. He taught in Loveland, I think he said he was a principal also (maybe not). He was a sports coach also. He said the entire basement of his grandpa's house was filled with photos of all the teams he coached and students and teachers.
How cool is that?

10/14/2024

Harvesting beautiful Sangiovese Grosso today. We also harvested Symphony grapes too. But the squirrels got most of them this year.

10/09/2024

https://sdnews.com/bringing-flavor-to-the-community-lemon-grove-bistros-fusion-of-western-european-and-mediterranean-delights/
My latest article about a great new restaurant in Lemon Grove. I know! Lemon Grove gets a nice restaurant! They deserve it. We deserve it. Go give it a try!

With 25 years of experience in La Jolla’s fine dining world, restauranteurs Rashi Wahidi and Frederick Selchau left corporate America, located a community that needed an upscale yet approachable dining experience, and opened Lemon Grove Bistro.

10/05/2024

Here we go! My favorite conference the year, SommCon. This year there is one full day of Women in Craft. Talking , learning, Networking with women in the beverage industry. It can be very challenging for us and this is a great way to share experiences.

09/27/2024

Today I made the brutal trek up to Los Angeles to meet both the LA wine writers and Korean American female winemaker Cecil Park. Amongst many things Cecil has her own label Innovatus. She's based in Napa and works with a company that manages 80 vineyards. She came to the US to work on her Master's Degree, without being able to speak English. Isn't that gutsy!? She changed her degree from Engineering to Viticulture at UC Davis. Her wines are so tasty. We called them voluptuous. I particularly loved her Viognier and Cabernet Franc.

09/15/2024

I think I've been hacked. Don't accept any friend requests from the fake me.

09/14/2024

Seneca lake is so pretty. They were having a Nascar race this weekend, so I hightailed it out of town after waking the pier.

09/14/2024

I tooled around Seneca Lake, the middle lake in the Finger Lakes. I went to a couple of wineries but loved this one so much. I didn't actually taste the wine, because I was too late. It reminded me of a southern plantation. Miles winery. They even had a restaurant in the dock.

09/06/2024

Heading out to Rochester NY and on to the Finger Lakes. I'm going for some good wines this week.

09/03/2024

In continuing writing about the Ramona Wineries, Woof 'n Rose Winery is one of the first wineries in the Ramona Valley. Marilyn and Steven Kahle have been great mentors, civic leaders, and animal rescue and husbandry donors.

Marilyn and Steve Kahle, owners and winemaker (Steve) for Woof ‘n Rose Winery in Ramona came to San Diego in 1987. They purchased a property on five acres in Ramona, a small town east of San Diego. “Our wine journey began as a landscaping project in 1995. With five acres of property which was es...

08/29/2024

My latest article is on a relatively new restaurant in the La Mesa village called Limoncello. Enjoy!

Enter Limoncello in La Mesa through the yellow and white striped awning and be transported to sunny, southern Italy.

08/18/2024

My friend is teaching another fun cooking class at Domaine Artefact in a couple of weeks. If you're looking for a deep dive into gazpacho and pasta, join him!

Cooking Classs, Events, San Diego Events, Culinary Class

08/15/2024

I have so much to do today, I'm stressed. How does that happen when I'm retired and supposed to have all the time in the world?

08/13/2024

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1047652504030831&id=100063582730056&mibextid=NnVzG8

08/08/2024

I think Marc's Maui Gold Pineapple is about ready to be picked. I hope it's super sweet!

07/18/2024

We have 2 Cuban Restaurants in town now! Havana Grill is like stepping into Havana Cuba and getting lost in the ambiance of the city. And the food's great too!

Take a trip to Cuba, it’s closer than you think- well the food is anyway.

07/13/2024

WARNING!!! COMING SOON TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU!!!:

Refusing to be silenced by City Hall, communities protest massive ADU projects

July 8th, 2024
NFABSD

Two local neighborhoods recently staged impressive protests against multi-unit "Bonus ADU" projects in their communities.

Jicarillo Avenue —
On June 22, more than 50 homeowners and renters in Clairemont/Bay Ho rallied against a 12-unit development on Jicarillo Ave near Moraga Ave. That over-sized project abuts a high-risk fire zone on a sensitive canyon rim. It will have no off-street parking for residents, and like all Bonus ADU projects, it was approved without community input or design review.

Neighbors continue to pledge to fight against the Bonus ADU program, even if they can't stop the Jicarillo Ave project.

Their protest was covered by KUSI/Fox5 and other local media.

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Shoshoni Avenue —
On June 27, KUSI/Fox5 aired an in-depth report on another ADU protest. The focus of that neighborhood's anger is another 12-unit Bonus ADU project on a single-family lot on Shoshoni Avenue near Genesee Avenue, also in Clairemont.

The site is at the end of a very narrow cul-de-sac, and the project will have no off-street parking for up to 24 new residents. Neighbors voiced legitimate concerns about parking, congestion, and, most importantly, the ability of emergency vehicles to reach houses on their street.

Construction of that backyard apartment complex hasn't started yet, and residents on and around Shoshoni Avenue pledge to do all they can to stop or alter the project.

The KUSI/Fox5 report includes a statement from Councilmember Jen Cambell, who expressed sympathy for the neighbors and raised concerns about the negative impacts of the city's "Bonus ADU" ordinance.

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To be clear, NFABSD continues to support the California state allowance of a single ADU in the backyard of a residential home.

But these Bonus ADU projects result from an ill-conceived and poorly written San Diego ordinance encouraging developers to work every possible angle to their advantage. The Bonus ADU code is wreaking havoc in single-family-zoned neighborhoods, diminishing opportunities for homeownership, and adding to rising land and rent costs.

Permits are pending on a mega-project that would squeeze 18 units on a single-family lot (8 two-story buildings behind a one-story home with a converted garage). Another project would pack an astonishing 37 ADUs on a single-family-zoned lot.

Rather than listen to the legitimate concerns of their constituents, San Diego City Councilmembers just made it worse by voting for a provision in the 2024 Land Development Code Update to further relax regulations for ADUs in areas that are least appropriate for this type of development.

As Neighbors For A Better San Diego has emphasized many times, these problems are compounded by San Diego’s 2023 approval of the Sustainable Development Area (SDA), which allows dense development like the Bonus ADU program in neighborhoods up to a mile away from transit — including imaginary future transit stops. This has opened up single-family parcels in environmentally sensitive areas, especially along canyon rims and high-risk fire hazard zones.

To learn more about the SDA and the lawsuit against it, please click here.

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