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San Diego Gardening in July: It’s about the Water!

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By Susan Taylor

Friends—India and Pakistan had devastating heat waves in June. This makes my whine about too much heat in San Diego gardens a bit of a whine. Nonetheless, the heat in my La Mesa garden just about did my veggies and me in. I thought I was watering deeply only to discover that I was not.

San Diego County has many water districts, each of which has warned consumers about percentage of water reduction for their residential customers. Be sure you know how much water reduction is required (read mandatory) in your neighborhood.

We all waste more water inside and outside our homes than we realize and it really must stop. Here’s how to be water wise in the garden in July and probably August.
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Ronald McDonald’s Unhappy Meals

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By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

McDonald’s is floundering.

There’s no other way to say it. The global fast food chain has experienced declining U.S. sales for well over a year now. But why?

I’d love to gloat that Americans have finally caught on that the Golden Arches peddles terrible food, but that might not be the case.

Theories for the slump abound.   [Read more…]

SDSU/CPI Study Finds Wage Theft, Labor Law Violations and Discrimination in Local Restaurants

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By Doug Porter

A study by San Diego State University Department of Sociology and the Center on Policy Initiatives found persuasive evidence of widespread wage theft, labor law violations and widespread discrimination in restaurants throughout San Diego.

If you went in to a grocery store and took something without paying, you’d face arrest. If you robbed a bank you’d be eligible for jail time. Both are thefts. Both are crimes.

But if you’re an employer in the restaurant industry and fail to pay an employee’s wages –also a crime–, chances are good to excellent that you’ll get way with it. So this morning we’re learning  there’s a crime wave going on in San Diego. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.   [Read more…]

June in Your Garden: Time for Early Summer Planting

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San Diegans get half an inch of rain… and they become mad planters!

Yes, it did rain and everyone rushed to plant more seeds and summer veggies in the refreshed soil. What a good idea! While it rained I browsed yet another article on companion planting. Although we did cover this topic last year I think it bears consideration.

Companion planting means planting certain garden plants together for intended benefits. My main take away recently is that nasturtiums, marigolds and various herbs are wonderful additions to most garden beds because they stimulate and improve the taste of much of what we grow. These three are also deterrents for many garden pests.   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review : The Marine Room

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I don’t remember the last time I went to a restaurant where I felt that I needed to dress up before entering their door. But last night one of my first Foreign Language Students – Corinne – graduated with her Ph.D and she wanted to celebrate. “After all,” she said, “I won’t be getting another degree any time in this lifetime.”

To say that I was nonplussed when she told me that she had made reservations at the Marine Room for the celebration I was stunned. I figured eating there would only add to the student debt that she must have incurred over the past 3 years.   [Read more…]

If You Google “Pint of Science…”

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By Mukul Khurana

Pint of Science is not the kind of event one thinks of when looking for things to do around town. But San Diego is changing. Not only has the cultural and art scene been steadily changing for the better in the past decade or two, but even the content is getting “meatier.” Cleverly, one of the first events locally was titled: “Science of San Diego: Beer, Brains, and Beaches.”

That describes San Diego pretty well and it also shows that the organizers have a sense of humor. The idea of pairing beer and science makes sense as a way of making the average San Diegan interact with science on a casual basis. Not all of us are involved in PhDs.   [Read more…]

The Chinese in Mexicali

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By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass

Welcome to my “ethnic enclave” tour of the border! I’ve been fascinated by how many different languages, cultures and religious groups exist along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, I focus on the Chinese.

Mexicali is the capital of Baja California and it’s a booming city of around 1 million residents. The city also has a unique claim to fame: La Chinesca or the largest Chinatown in Mexico.

The Chinese influence remains substantial here, even as there are perhaps fewer than 5,000 full blooded Chinese and three times that number of mixed Chinese-Mexicans.
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Restaurant Review: SEA180º Coastal Tavern

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By Judi Curry

Many, many years ago, I was the Vocational Manager at San Diego Job Corps. There was not a restaurant that would rank over a “3”then, but times have really changed.

This past weekend I celebrated my $%th birthday. But the way I celebrated it was different than I thought it would be. My friend, “Cowboy” flew in from North Dakota to help me age. But he also had started building a solar panel over my flat roof the last time he was here because I kept complaining how cold my bedroom was during the day. He drew diagrams, checked different places on line for parts, and asked a question that triggered a memory from a few years past. I cannot tell you what that question was, but I knew where I could get the answer.

During the time I was at SDJC, we had an excellent Solar instructor teaching our students how to build and maintain solar panels. Over the years I called upon him to repair various problems I had with the electrical lines going to the house, and I knew that if I ever was in a bind I could call on him.

I put in a call to Randall Mann and he agreed to meet us and see if he could answer Cowboy’s questions. He suggested that we meet at the “SEA 180º Coastal Tavern” because it was close to work and a nice place. And nice it was! Beautiful view, both from the inside and outside.   [Read more…]

The Lobbyists at Your Dinner Party

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Every purveyor of food and drink wants the government to advise Americans to consume more of what they produce

By Jill Richardson /Other Words

Remember the old food pyramid?

Until “MyPlate” replaced it a few years ago, the U.S. government’s official dietary advice for Americans fit neatly into that triangle.

The government recently moved toward updating those standards again. And the result isn’t nearly as digestible. In classic bureaucratic form, the Department of Health and Human Services cooked up a 571-page draft report for Americans to comment on.

The actual updated dietary guidelines will come later. Here’s what we know about the draftso far: The meat and soda industries hate it.   [Read more…]

Some Things Never Change: A Review of Perry’s Café

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By Judi Curry

It has been years since I have had breakfast at Perry’s. It was a place that my husband and I used to go to frequently and always enjoyed the meals we had there. However, since he passed away, I find it difficult to frequent those places that we patronized, because it always brings back memories that I would just as soon forget.

However, one of the members of my widow support group – Ro – had a birthday today that we wanted to celebrate, and she chose “Perry’s” as the place she would like to go. Interesting enough, all of us had been there with our spouses, with the exception of Candy. We asked the very nice waitress when Perry’s opened, since we all had recollections of our previous visits there and she said it was about the middle 1980’s.   [Read more…]

Sometimes the Simple Things are the Most Fun

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Try going to the “ZION” Market one day

By Judi Curry

As much as I hate to admit it, I have a birthday coming up at the end of the week. As a general rule I would just as soon forget the day and move right on to the next one.

Perhaps many of you know that I am a “host mother” to foreign language students in the US to hone their English skills. My latest student is the 413th student I have housed since 1992, when my husband and I began this adventure. I have had students from all over the world; each one unique in their own way; and with the exception of only three students I asked to have removed from my home, it has been a wonderful experience.

Yuri, one of my two students right now will be leaving me in March after being here for one year. Ever since she arrived she has been “threatening” to cook a Japanese meal for me. (Yes, I have cooked one for her – but she keeps saying “I will cook one for you.”) And, apparently, now is the time for a great adventure.   [Read more…]

OB’s People’s Food Expansion Plans Put on Hold

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Organic Store Had Agreement With “Tiny” of Tiny’s Tavern Before His Recent Passing

By Frank Gormlie

The expansion plans of Ocean Beach’s largest employer, the famous OB People’s Organic Food Market, have been placed on hold due to the unfortunate and untimely death of “Tiny”, the owner of Tiny’s Tavern.

The market co-op, which is a mainstay on Voltaire Street in OB, has just recently purchased the two parcels of land directly to the store’s east, one containing a duplex and the other containing Tiny’s Tavern. And part of the store’s expansion plans were based on an agreement with “Tiny” who was on the verge of retiring from operating his bar and small grill. “Tiny” – the nickname of Alan Kajiwara – had planned to use the land sale to the co-op as a push for him to move back to Hawaii where he has family, but his fatal stroke at the age of 54 ended all that.   [Read more…]

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