San Francisco Bay Area

SF Sundays – Let’s Try This Again

Categories I'm Always Hungry, Ms Hala Travels, San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco Sundays

Happy Father’s Day!! I hope this finds all the wonderful humans who are father figures in our lives enjoying their well-deserved day of rest, fun, and breakfast in bed. Yes, dads deserve breakfast in bed too!

This is also the perfect time to reignite the SF Sundays rant series. The last time I wrote for the rant series was right before the second state-wide shutdown in December. As summer approaches, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. San Francisco is one of the first major US cities to have over 80% of its eligible residents either fully or partially vaccinated. Most of the Bay Area, along with California, officially reopened last Tuesday!

As I type this, I’m excited but still as cautious as ever. With this rant, I hope to see a better and new normal. So let’s try this again and see what’s going on in the Bay Area.

TOWN HAPPENINGS

Max Field Bala – Greetings from San Francisco mural

If you’ve got the kids this summer, time to impress them with some fun activities around the city. I was the cool auntie to my nephew a couple weeks ago when I took him out on a sunny day from Ghirardelli Square to Pier 39.

He LOVED the Cartoon Art Museum and seeing the history of animations and comic books’ superheroes. Currently, they are showcasing artwork reflective of George Takei’s graphic memoir, “They Called Us Enemy”. Later this summer, the museum will host an exhibit showcasing costumes and props from the Batman movies. We got a sneak peek and it looks promising.

We headed around the corner to Umbrella Alley. A fun outdoor alley with interactive murals by local artists for all your Instagram and photographic delights! From there, we strolled through Fishermen’s Wharf, where slowly but surely, local shops, eateries, bus tours, and boaters were reopening and welcoming everyone back.

Other fun things to do and check out this summer:

Wangechi Mutu – Outstretched, 2019

LET’S EAT

With restaurants reopening for both indoor and outdoor dining, I’m readly to back out on my foodie adventures, discovering renewed local spots while continuing to support my favorites. Personally thought, I’m not comfortable dining indoors. However, I’m glad that there are still so many options for those still hesitant like me.

So where am I going?

Shout out to my favorite take-out spot, Old Mandarin Islamic in San Francisco. It’s one of the few halal Chinese spots in the Bay and they’ve gotten better over the years. They still have the outdoor parklet and limited indoor seating so I’m comfortable heading back out there (and I’ll try to remember to take pictures before I dig, I promise!).

Vegan and halal? Yes please! I’ve got to head back to Grandeur Oakland for those amazing adobe chicken wings! They have a great vegan selection, including the cauliflower wings which were just as good with the amazing selection of sauces.

As we head back out on our foodie adventures, kindly be courteous to the restaurant management and staff. I’ve seen a few struggling with reopening regulations, limited staff, readjusted hours of operations, and even limiting the capacity for safety and service reasons. We are all in this together so let’s remain calm, kind, and courteous.

What are you trying again with the reopenings happening across the Bay Area? Do share your thoughts below.

Disclaimer: This rant was not sponsored or paid for by any of the above-mentioned entities unless otherwise noted. Any and all sponsored rants are always based on actual experiences and/or interests. If you’d like me to check out a local event or eatery to rant about, please email ha@mshala.co.

SF Sundays – A New Normal

Categories Food, I'm Always Hungry, Ms Hala Travels, San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco Sundays

The last time I wrote for SF Sundays rant series was right before the local and state-wide shut down due to a surge in covid cases. Now as we approach the winter season, we are once again seeing a surge in cases. California alone has reached over one million cases but still persisting to flatten that curve with the lastest shelter in place curfew being enforced this week.

This latest entry is being written with the knowledge that some businesses are still safely open as we continue living during this “new normal”. I was honestly hesitant these past few months but I think it’s an appropriate time to slowly relaunch this rant series to show some much-needed support to our local businesses and organizations.

So let’s see what’s open and how we can enjoy the Bay’s “new normal” living this winter season.

TOWN HAPPENINGS

Thanks to the Frida Kahlo Museum (aka The Blue House) in Mexico City, Mexico, we here in the Bay will get to see some of Frida Kahlo’s personal items along with some of her magnificent works of art.

The Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving exhibit at the de Young Museum is open to the public through February 2021. Whether or not you are a FAMSF member, you need to book your tickets online, marked with the scheduled entrance time with respect to the museum’s limit capacity protocol.

In other museum news, the lovely Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) was expected to slowly reopen to the public this Thanksgiving week. Sadly, the reopening has been postponed until further notice. I’ll be sure to post once a reopening date has been announced.

If you’re looking for an activity to do safely with the family, my brother and I headed out to Mulatto Meadows recently for a horseback riding lesson. I got really lucky to meet and ride the one and only Dapper! This is the same lovely horse that Mulatto Meadows owner and activist Brianna Noble rode during the Black Lives Matter protests in Oakland. It was a wonderful experience and I can’t wait to continue taking lessons in the near future. Interested parties are asked to call ahead and schedule their lessons in advance.

LET’S EAT

My foodie family and I have either been cooking more at home or ordering take out from our favorite local restaurants these past few months. However, I’ve only allowed myself to go out to a handful of places that have been keeping up with safety protocols such as outdoor seating and limited capacity to allow distancing. One of these favorites have been Pacifica Brewery.

Off the CA Highway 1, this spot is literally spot on. You don’t have to be a drinker to appreciate the beautifully plated dishes and friendly service that bring me back for more. Their menu is seasonally changing except for a few staples and crowd favorites like the PB burger and their delicious take on beignets. This season, you must try the chestnut and butternut squash ravioli of their dinner menu.

How are you going about the “new normal” this winter season? Do share your thoughts below.

Disclaimer: This rant was not sponsored or paid for by any of the above-mentioned entities unless otherwise noted. Any and all sponsored or paid rants are always based on actual experiences and/or interests. If you’d like me to check out a local event or eatery to rant about, please email ha@mshala.co.

How to Help Those Affected by the California Wildfires – 2.0

Categories News and Events, San Francisco Bay Area, USA

I’m disheartened as I find myself writing another version of a similarly titled rant.

The wildfires burning across not just the state of California, but the entire western US region is alarming and heartbreaking. Mainly caused by the effects of climate change and a few dumb human mistakes, these fires have now become one of the largest yet on record.

In California, fires have now claimed over 25 lives, burned over 3.2 million acres, with some fires barely 50-70% contained as I write this rant. Even while being many miles away from the closest fire, the smoke has made the air quality all across the Bay Area and the state one of the worst in the world. At one point, according to IQair, we in San Francisco hit 200AQI or “purple”. San Francisco air is now in the “green” for the first time in over a month.

Since my asthma attack earlier this year, I haven’t used my inhaler as much as I have these past several weeks. I have been home for almost three weeks straight and finally went for a walk for the first time this week, masked of course. Yet I keep thinking, how are the people in the heart of this disaster even coping?

The first responders have put their own lives on the line helping people evacuate and attempting to put out these fires. They’ve even gotten help from firefighters from as far as Australia, who battled their own wildfires barely a year ago.

If you still deny that climate change is real, please educate yourself!

So how can we help our fellow Californians in their time of need? Below are a few organizations I’m aware of that are on the grounds. Your donations in the form of finances, awareness, and time would be greatly appreciated.

– The California Fire Foundation is providing both financial and emotional support to our hardworking firefighters on the grounds as well as fallen officers and their families. Let’s be sure to show your appreciation to the amazing s/heroes out there.

– Islamic Relief USA has a Disaster Response Team that is helping those affected by the fires all across the western coast.

– The American Red Cross is also providing assistance for all those affected by the wildfires, from temporary shelters to blood drives.

– The North Valley Community Foundation is continuing what they started during the Camp and Butte fires back in 2018 and providing continued support to local resources across Northern California.

– Of course, the World Central Kitchen is still helping provide hot meals across Calfornia as well as Washington and Oregon states. You can also donate to local food banks in the region through Feeding America.

I’ll update this rant with any additional information I come across to do our part in helping our fellow Americans throughout the west coast. If you have additional information to share, kindly email me or post the sources in the comments below.

Picture of the Day

Categories Islam, Picture, San Francisco Bay Area

Alhamdulillah (Praise God) for the beauty of the small things in our path. Blessed Friday to one and all!

Back to Normal? What Normal?

Categories News and Events, Rants of Life, San Francisco Bay Area, USA, World

I recently posted the following statement on Instagram and Twitter, “I do not want to go back to normal. I want to go forward to a better, brighter, and peaceful future.”

I have been reflecting a lot these past several weeks on many, many things, from what’s happening around us to my personal well being. How can I do better for not just this world, but also for myself? Do I have faith that these changes will indeed be for the better or is this just another phase?

The world is currently in a crisis, not one started by the COVID pandemic, but indeed exacerbated by it. Although many act like the virus has miraculously disappeared overnight or pushing their localities to “reopen already”, the crisis is still very much upon us. We are still in the first wave of this pandemic and the second, I believe, is not far behind.

Our planet isn’t getting better because people have stayed home. It may have gotten a small break, sure, but it will indeed get worse. As highlighted by a recent USA Today report, environmentalists are worried about the rise of waste in our oceans. Mainly, COVID related wastes such as masks and gloves, both made of materials that are not necessarily biodegradable.

Our country is already anticipating a historical record rise in evictions. So many people right now, especially our essential workers, are unable to pay their rents as perfectly covered by Hasan Minhaj. This is not a problem of rent affordability but how we’ve allowed corporate landlords to take advantage of a difficult situation to make a quick profit. This is not the first time – for those who have forgotten the 2008 recession – nor is COVID the sole reason behind it.

In a matter of weeks, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd were killed either by lynching or unnecessary police violence. “My gut told me he did it”? No knock warrant? Choked to death for over 8 minutes? The social contract we’ve been forced to adhere too by so many that haven’t followed through, as best put by Trevor Noah, has been broken. Better yet, it’s always been a flawed design. I think with the recent protests, those that had never experienced police brutality saw first hand what a militarized, systemically racist police force are “allowed” to do to its citizens practicing their first amendment rights.

Poverty, corporate greed, systemic racism, and the environment are long suffered issues, that were never going to survive this pandemic.

I’m not in any way shape or form undermining the human casualties of COVID. I recently lost a cousin who was just a couple years older than me to COVID. Our family can’t go near my grandfather’s long term care facility in New Jersey where he resides. My father has been dealing with isolation issues after having a thriving social life in the community.

This virus is real, and it’s hurting people. It has not gone away and yet I feel everyone is trying to “get back to normal” like the virus, and the issues exacerbated by it, have magically disappeared overnight. This bugs me to my core!

Am I speaking from a place of privilege when I say I don’t want to go “back to normal” like everyone else? Yes, I miss my extended family, friends, people but patience will get us to a better place, not the “normal” that brought upon this pandemic and horrid response to it.

I know I will most likely not be heading back to work in our offices this year, but I’m so grateful to be able to work from home. I will not be traveling this summer as planned but I still have options to do so when the time is right. My hometown of San Francisco is slowly being reopened but I’m very, very cautious while attempting to support local businesses from afar.

I’ve been using this time to read, keeping myself informed, and trying to figure out how I will be better on the other side of all of this. This is the time to build stronger bonds with our families, especially with my nephew. This is the time to learn sometime new, like my mom’s sweet baking recipes. This is the time to figure out what do I want to on the other side of this. And what I want is to be better and brighter.

Nothing will be the same, nor would I expect it to be. If this is not the time to demand change that’ll be beneficial for all as well as self-care and personal growth, when is it?