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How an East Bay fusion taqueria grew out of a home birria project

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

Combine birria, creativity and family, and you’ll have the key ingredients behind Tacos Don Chaí, a new taqueria in Martinez offering Mexican fare alongside fusion dishes — including birria paired with udon noodles and pizza, plus concha French toast.It all began during the pandemic, when Bryan Gonzalez, an Antioch resident, found himself laid off from his job as a manager at Artesano, a South American restaurant in San Francisco.Looking for a way to stay busy, he started making birria at home. After wowing his friends and family with dishes like brisket birria tacos and pineapple salsa, he decided to start selling it, albeit informally.Bryan Gonzalez started making birria during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now he’s owner of Tacos Don Chaí, a taqueria with birria fusion dishes in Martinez. (Courtesy Najib el Ferrouj.) The informal sales continued for over a year, and eventually his home-cooking business became so popular that it reached the attention of the County He...

TasteFood: When life gives you tomatoes

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

Too many tomatoes are never a problem. Perhaps the only challenge is maintaining self-control when passing the colorful piles of peak-season tomatoes at the market. Admittedly, they are hard to resist. Cherries, heirlooms and Early Girls in vibrant shades of the sun and summer challenge restraint. It’s easy to be greedy and fill the basket with an array of these beauties without a plan for how to use them. While I am not here to judge or to advise you on any indulgence issues, I do have a recipe to help you use your exuberant surplus.This recipe is a wonderful summer salad with ingredients that scream “garden-fresh.” You might be tempted to call it a pasta salad, but as you can see, the emphasis is on the vegetables rather than a carb-laden bowl of pasta interspersed with a few green leaves. Dainty orzo steps into the pasta role. Its petite rice shape won’t overwhelm the bowl, allowing the tomatoes and greens to shine as they should. Fresh, creamy mozzarella ...

High school football 2023 preview: MVAL/WACC Shoreline Division

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

MVAL/WACC SHORELINE DIVISION(Predicted order of finish)No. 1 ALAMEDACoach: Robin Morris2022 record: 5-4-1What to expect: Alameda’s league MVP A’Jhuan Parker transferred to El Cerrito, but the majority of the talented core returns for an encore. It starts with senior QB Eli Slez. He will throw to seniors Will Roizen and Gabriel Speed, who as a trio have all made all-Shoreline teams. Morris described senior LB Sinisa Finau as “aggressive and a gifted athlete.” Sophomore Hayden Arndt is a breakout candidate, with Morris saying that Arndt “attended lineman camps and was fine-tuning his game” during a productive offseason.  Season opener: Aug. 26 at Ygnacio Valley, 2 p.m.No. 2 NEWARK MEMORIALCoach: Brad Tubbs2022 record: 5-6What to expect: Longtime coach Brad Tubbs has turned Newark Memorial into a consistently competitive unit, winning exactly five games and making the playoffs in each of the previous three full seasons. Junior WR Matthais Vaka and WR Iven Takkher should be top ta...

Hollywood strikes begin to impact Bay Area, but actors and writers plan to stick it out

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

With no end in sight for the historic dual strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, anyone in the Bay Area who relies on movie and TV productions to earn a living or boost local events and city economies could soon feel the impact.Thousands of Bay Area actors, writers and crew members are going without work. San Francisco and other cities may lose out on the hundreds of thousands of dollars a day that location shoots can generate for hotels, restaurants and other businesses. And upcoming film festivals in San Jose and Mill Valley likely won’t feature the usual red-carpet appearances by celebrities, which add luster and help support those events.Oakland actor Michael X Sommers is among the striking artists who says, “I’ve got to wait it out and do my best.” A member of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, Sommers is among the rank-and-file Hollywood workers who help make the blockbuster films and critically lauded streaming series that keep the world entertained.But Sommers and ot...

Wish You Were Here: Adventures on the Aran Islands of Ireland

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

Readers have spent the last year hiking, biking and exploring vacation destinations around the world, from Kauai’s Napali Coast to Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and Guatemala’s astonishing ruins. And they’ve been sharing their adventures — and practical travel tips — with us along the way. Here’s the latest:Wish You Were HereIRELAND: In June, Oakland residents Gordon and Joyce Teekell visited Inis Oirr, one of Ireland’s Aran Islands, which sit at the mouth of Galway Bay. “Inis Island has 260 permanent residents. Many residents are born there and stay there!” Joyce says.Related ArticlesTravel | Wish You Were Here: Tokyo adventures Travel | Wish You Were Here: Oklahoma City from museums to Bricktown Travel | Wish You Were Here: Roasting marshmallows atop a Guatemala volcano “A main attraction was the shipwreck of the MV Plassy, a cargo ship which ran onto rocks during a huge sto...

Mold, roaches, security issues at San Jose homeless housing heighten broader concerns

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

After five years of living on the streets of San Jose, Cecilia Martin couldn’t believe her luck in landing an apartment at the city’s first long-term homeless housing site. But it didn’t take long for the new facility, which opened in 2019, to fall into disrepair.Flooding, fires and cockroaches have since inundated the property, but her biggest worry is the intruders who stalk the hallway to her studio, said Martin, 53, a San Jose native. “I gotta watch my back all the time because you never know,” she said.A few miles away, Laura Laform, a resident at a former motel north of downtown now used for homeless housing, fears a mold infestation in the aging city-owned building is threatening her health. Laform, 63, is desperately searching for another place to stay.“It seems like I’m being ungrateful, but I’m watching myself deteriorate so bad,” she said.Laura Laform becomes emotional while talking about her living situation while out...

Bay Area LGBTQ seniors aging without traditional families build their own

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

Aging can be isolating. Especially if you belong to a historically marginalized group that doesn’t fit into a traditional family structure.When 68-year-old Alex Baccaro and his wife were thinking of moving to senior adult community Rossmoor in Walnut Creek 14 years ago, Baccaro was not yet out as a transgender man. The two had been living as a lesbian couple for several years. But that was in the progressive cities of Oakland and Berkeley. Now, they were moving to a senior community they assumed would be more conservative.“We thought we wouldn’t be able to be ourselves and be accepted. It was a big concern for us,” he said.Cut to 2023. Baccaro has recently come out as transgender and received a surprisingly positive response. He says he never dreamed he’d one day be able to be himself. He heads the LGBTQ Alliance at Rossmoor, which has more than 240 members and serves as a signal to prospective LGBTQ residents that they can be part of a vibrant community.Alex Baccaro, right, p...

Credit card skimmer found at 7-Eleven in Santa Rosa

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

(KRON) -- Santa Rosa police officers found a credit card skimmer at a 7-Eleven store Saturday afternoon. The skimming device was found on a pin pad at the front register. The store is located on Piner Road. Police say it was installed by three suspects when the employees were distracted. Woman's body found at Golden Gate Park The device was on the pin pad for around 24 hours before it was discovered. The store is working to notify any cardholders who may have been skimmed.

Steamy and stormy start to DC region’s workweek

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

The Monday afternoon commute in the D.C. area could be clouded over with heavy rain, thunderstorms and possibly even an isolated tornado. Here’s what you need to know about the forecast.Be on the lookout for severe weather watches and warnings Monday afternoon as an approaching front is making for a “slight risk” of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.“We could see some pockets of heavy rain also thunder lightening, damaging winds and hail,” said 7News First Alert Meteorologist Eileen Whelan.Isolated flooding is also possible, particularly in Western Maryland, said 7News First Alert Chief Meteorologist Veronica Johnson.The chance for rain or storms ramps up at around 3 p.m., Whelan said.Storms that include tornado risk are expected from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Johnson said.The rain is expected to last overnight but the risk of severe weather should fade by midnight. Johnson said not all parts of the D.C. region will be impacted by the sto...

Ford lures Apple executive to run new unit that will sell software subscription services

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:14:40 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Ford-Apple ExecutiveFord has hired away a key Apple executive to run a new business unit that will sell software-related subscription services to vehicle owners.The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker said Monday it hired Peter Stern, who was Apple’s vice president of services. He’ll run Ford Integrated Services, a unit that will combine software and hardware into services.At Apple, Stern oversaw Apple TV plus, iCloud storage, Apple Books, the arcade and fitness operations and other businesses, Ford said in a statement Monday. Stern started Monday and reports directly to CEO Jim Farley. Stern also will expand Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free partially automated driving system, as well as productivity and safety and security services, the statement said. Source