Hitting the Links: Bay Area Blogs

We’re not the only game in town and we know that. There are a lot of good blogs that dot the SF Bay landscape, from food to architecture to real estate. (I threw the food in because it is my personal passion.) A lot of good information can be had, things that we at Sweet Digs don’t write about or go into detail on, so I thought I would share some of these on a more regular basis. Today’s menu includes:

Let’s start with breakfast: Confessions of a Restaurant Whore: A San Francisco Girl’s Down and Dirty Adventures in the Culinary Playground recently posts about the new Dynamo Donuts. This is not your regular donut shop. I mean where else can you get Chocolate chocolate star anise or maple apple bacon or lemon pistachio donuts? I mean really. This is culinary genius. For all the mouth-watering details and info on Dynamo Donuts, check it out.

And as I sit here pounding out posts on my 12″ Mac Powerbook (albeit with a 17″ screen), I find myself oddly jealous of the boys over at The Front Steps. Alex, the lucky bugger, just bought a new 20-inch iMac. I spent a few years on one and loved it, but now my trusty 12″ Powerbook makes much more sene, because it can go everywhere with me (along with an air card). Makes traveling a bit easier for a lightweight like me. He also bought an iPhone, which I passed on. Although I have been working exclusively on Apple products since 1990, I found the original version of the iPhone to be less than intuitive and it doesn’t work if you have nails (no-one bothered to tell me that there is a stylus you can use). Both items should make blogging and life easier for the boys at TFS.

San Francisco Schtuff, site of recent controversy , has published its stats for San Francisco single family home sales for July. They break down the sales by district and do a comparison to last year, including number of sales, median sales price and days on market. It’s clear that homes are spending a bit longer on the market by about 20% (except in District 6 and 7), but for the most part the number of sales is holding steady. As for price, well it certainly does vary by district, with 3 areas having higher median sales prices than last year.

Peninsula blog, San Mateo Home Sellers in Trouble, recently released their July 2008 report on properties in foreclosure or short sale. They cover the whole Peninsula, as well as the Coast, so it is broken up into two parts: East Palo Alto to Millbrae is here, and the not-so-surprising but sad news here is that almost 90% of the homes listed in East Palo Alto are in some form of foreclosure. The second part is Atherton to Millbrae, which is here. Daly City seems to be the big loser in this group.

Although it is an older post, I couldn’t help but love CondoContessa’s article about Weather Bonk, a site which helps you figure out the micro-climates in SF (and weather throughout the Bay Area and world). Being a suburbanite, I am always confounded when dressing for the City. I worked in SOMA for years, near CalTrain, which has pretty nice weather, but when I visited friends over near GG Park or in the Sunset, the weather was often cold and foggy, necessitating an extra layer. Checking Yahoo weather or similar site, you only get one temp, and it is hardly a good gauge for every part of our beloved 7×7. This should come in handy, especially during the summertime.

And finally, for dinner and dessert, I bring you a review of Pizzeria Picco in the North Bay, courtesy of Shuna of Eggbeater blog fame. She starts the post with a mouth-watering review of soft serve ice cream. Not your run-of-the-mill Dairy Queen version, but in her words “The best, most delicious, perfectly cool but not too cold, light but not full of air, sweet but not marshmallow-hurt-your-tongue sweet, innovative, nouveau fashioned, Papa Bear Just Right Sized, gorgeous, unpretentious, silly, flavourful but not overbearing, whimsical, locally made and produced, soft serve ice cream.” How’s that for a mouthful? Of course, you can’t have your dessert before dinner, so you should try the charcuterie or the sausage. And let me know what you think when you do…..