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The 5 Best Bakeries on the Peninsula

April 1st, 2016

When you make 888 San Mateo your San Mateo apartment home, you’re never far from an eclectic mix of dining and culinary options. Bakeries are no exception. Whether you’re celebrating a special event or just want to satisfy your sweet tooth, the bakeries on the Peninsula have alot to offer.

Best Bakery Options in San Mateo

If a cupcake is what you’re craving, Sibby’s Cupcakery offers custom cupcakes made from scratch. This bakery is noted for its premium ingredients such as sweet cream butter from local dairy farms, Scharffen Berger chocolate and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla. Customer favorites include Grandma’s Chocolate Tea Cake, Latte Love and Coconut Snowball.  Gluten-free and nut-free baked goods are available for customers with dietary restrictions. Sibby’s has earned rave reviews in the media and was named one of the best places for baked goods in Northern California.

Cookie lovers should head to Antoine’s Cookie Shop in downtown San Mateo where every cookie is baked from scratch.  Gourmet options include White Chocolate Macadamia, Toffee and Snickerdoodle. If you can’t decide, try the sampler dozen to help choose your own personal favorite.

If you’re looking for something a little different, the Sheng Kee Bakery bakes cakes, breads and pastries with an Asian flair. Customer favorites include Taiwan Toast and Cheese Puff Pork Sung Bun. Traditional pastries and croissants are also available.

Popular Bakeries in Nearby Burlingame

Your San Mateo apartment is only minutes away from cosmopolitan Burlingame, with gourmet bakery options such as the Copenhagen Bakery & Cafe. This popular bakery offers a full menu of European-inspired baked goods including coffee cakes, strudels, croissants, scones and wreathes. Sophisticated wedding, birthday and holiday cakes are a specialty. In addition to purchasing baked goods, you can also enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner at the cafe.

The Cakery is also located in the heart of the Burlingame shopping district.  This shop is known for its specialty cakes for weddings and holidays, but also offers a full line of baked goods prepared from traditional European recipes. The Apple Galette, Pugliese Bread and Pinwheel Croissant Danish are particularly popular.

Whether you’re celebrating a special day or looking for a quick treat, you’re never far from homemade, gourmet baked goods as a resident of downtown San Mateo. To make 888 San Mateo your San Mateo apartment home, contact us today to learn about our amenities and available floor plans.

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Tips to Making Your Own Energy Bars

March 20th, 2016

200422737-001Fully customizable to your lifestyle, homemade energy bars are a low-cost, healthy alternative to expensive, processed commercial products. There are an abundance of recipes available for mixing up a variety of energy bars, some of which require very little preparation and no baking.

Health and Fitness

Dieters and fitness experts alike agree on the convenience and health benefits of energy bars. Various healthy eating platforms that flood the market generally means that what works for one person, may not be suitable for another. Rather than spend valuable time and money at the grocery store after perusing the labels of pricey pre-packaged labels, ask yourself what your nutrition goals are at present. Fickle trends and contradictory research lends itself to a range of nutritional needs and preferences. In season, an avid athlete may be stocking up on calories and carbohydrates, while a sportsman generally needs additional protein during the training season. Calorie count and sodium level are additional examples of special dietary needs that vary from person to person.

Focusing on those ingredients beneficial to your particular nutritional needs is as simple as adding nuts for protein and agave nectar for a healthy alternative to sugar.

Cost and Volume

It is not uncommon for long term money-saving ventures to cost more up front than what you would pay by purchasing a single convenient item. Many an enthusiast has been deterred by the investment stage of pursuing homemade options versus ready-made. By preparing a flexible budget, it is easier to see the long term impact on your wallet and justify the initial spending. A box of oats, a jar of peanut butter, a carton of raisins, and a bear-filled honey bottle are going to cost more than a three-dollar energy bar. Keep the big picture in mind though, as these ingredients are going to make a number of bars that, when multiplied by the cost of purchasing ready-made, should pay for themselves in the short term. If you don’t already have a food processor, don’t feel compelled to make a large purchase. Instead, roll your oats or grain with peanut butter, flax seed and dried fruit. If you do happen to have a fully stocked kitchen, you can expand your repertoire to include those recipes that would otherwise require more elbow grease.

Energy bars are convenient, healthy, and portable options for busy parents, athletes, dieters, and fitness junkies. As real food and clean eating become more prevalent, you don’t need to hunt and gather, but you can skip the processing that takes place to package and preserve energy bars and reap their benefits while still being able to pronounce the ingredients.

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The Largest Employers in the San Mateo, California Area

March 9th, 2016

San Mateo, California is in the San Francisco Bay area. It is specifically in the district of Silicon Valley, and Silicon Valley is known for being high tech. The San Mateo area is known for three other industry categories besides technology. Employment demographics are the indicators which are directing to the industries of education, air travel and healthcare.

Air travel and education are two large areas of employment, which make sense with the San Francisco airport close by as number 21 on the list of largest airports in the United States. Education is a huge magnet for the San Mateo area which makes it a major employer too. With Stanford University and the University of California Berkley located in the area, educational institutions are large employers. Aside from these super-categories, San Mateo city and San Mateo county have quite a few employers infusing the area with opportunity.

The city of San Mateo has a thriving financial sector. Franklin Resources Inc is a well known, successful asset management firm; it is one of the city’s top employers along with Franklin Templeton Investments, which is known for being one of the area’s top 20 employers in 2016. The largest providers of employment in the healthcare field are the Kaiser hospitals, Kaiser Permanent Medical Center, Kaiser Permanent South Sn, Peninsula Pathology Associates, San Mateo Medical Center, Seton Medical Center and a healthcare facility known as LPCH and Gilead Sciences Inc (which recently made waves with the release of its Hepatitis C cure at the end of October 2014.)

Technology is as much a part of the San Mateo as the warm weather. Large tech employers in the San Mateo area include the game developer Electronic Arts Inc, the computer software manufacturer and the scientific apparatus and instrument manufacturer Sciex LLC. These firms are the large tech employers in San Mateo County, and there are even larger ones outside the area.

There is a global credit giant with three large centers of employment located in the area. A lot of people would never associate Visa as one of the largest employers around San Mateo, but it has certainly made its mark on the economy and found a home with plenty of loyal employees. Visa Inc and Visa USA Inc are both classified as groups for credit cards and other credit plans. Those two are accompanied by one more branch of Visa, which specializes in credit card merchant services known as Visa International Services Association.

There are a few other major employers in the San Mateo area. They are scattered about in different niches. Some are hotels like the Hyatt and another is a garbage collector. San Mateo is definitely a central hub for a variety of high-end employment, and it is a great place to be for those looking to advance their careers.

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5 Types of Workouts To Try Out

February 29th, 2016

crossfit

The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar a year sector. Right from fitness regiments to celebrity endorsed diets, people in recent times are the largest consumers of fitness goods and services. Fitness clubs and gyms are all the rage and attract quite a number of fitness fanatics. There are hundreds of forms of exercises that already exist in the market. Styles of working out change over time and evolve continuously.

It is important to keep a few basics in place whenever you try out a new workout regimen to ensure healthy results. Regardless of what your previous workout levels or habits are, there is always room to try out something new and move parts of your body that you may haven’t been targeting before. The importance of working out is maintain healthy levels of respiration, body weight, cardiovascular circulation, and overall body efficiency. Here are some different types of exercises that you could try out to get started or change things up a bit.

Flexibility Training

You could combine aerobics and pilates into your workout regiment. However, yoga is one of the best forms of flexibility training to keep you in shape, healthy and stretch muscles to inspire length and release of muscle tension. This helps to preclude any sort of joint or muscle pain.

Body Weight Training

A lost form of training in today’s fitness world is the importance of body weight training. It is considered to be the oldest and most natural form of training and working out. It is the process of using your body weight to enhance your body strength and develop your core strength, as well.

Core Training

This is a type of workout that strengthens your core areas which carries most of your body weight. Core training is a mix of body and weight training to strengthen you back, legs, shoulders, arms and chest.

Intense Cardio Training

Cardio training is the form of training that ensures that you go through high stamina workouts to increase your stamina and keep you very agile. It is a speed based training.

Circuit Training

Circuit training is a mix of many forms of training, but it combines all the types of training in one circuit exercise. Crossfit is one example of circuit training workouts.

After reading the list above, examine how your body feels and determine which would be the best for you and your body’s needs. If you commonly gravitate towards intense, cardio workouts, consider trying out some flexibility training to give your muscles a release. If you are still working on getting into a solid workout, try circuit training to get a taste of everything, and then see which portion of the circuit you like the best.

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Best Scenic Bike Rides in San Mateo, CA

February 10th, 2016

bike commute

With a large number of people taking to biking in the county, people are in desperate need of specific biking trails that cater to their needs. In San Mateo, biking has been on the rise in recent times. Health conscious people tend to be more bike savvy and really appreciate a good bike ride. People who are in search of some of the most beautiful and scenic bike trails in San Mateo could go to some of the suggested areas listed below.

The Bay trail 

The Bay trail is an excellent area for you to go biking. It has a beautiful scenic route that hugs the coastline, while you could look out into the vast oceanic expanse and enjoy the early morning sea breeze. If you are a water person this is the best place for you to be. If you wish to head to the beach on a hot summers day, biking through the marine drive is the best way to do so.

Sawyer camp trail

Sawyer camp trail is one of the few naturally green trails left in the Bay area. The biking trail is exceptionally beautiful. The terrain comprises of a more challenging terrain than any normal road. It is best to navigate the slopes and turns on a mountain bike. You could enjoy the breathtaking lake and breathe fresh and pure air.

Seal point park

Seal Point Park is one of the areas you definitely want to enjoy, especially on your day off. It is one of the most enjoyable bike trails in the San Francisco bay area. You could also take your dog along for the ride and culminate at the end point which opens to the sea.

Ryder Court Park

Ryder Court Park is a great place to enjoy your Sunday morning bike ride. It is a beautifully maintained public space which you could enjoy with your loved ones. It also has free and unlimited parking.

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5 Ways to Save More Water in San Mateo

January 18th, 2016

Close-up of Victorian-style basin tapsWater is one of our most precious resources. While water covers 70% of the Earth, only 3% is suited for human consumption. Even people who live in areas with ample rainfall need to practice water conservation as using water consumes energy in pumping, heating and re-processing it. Luckily, there are ways and tips for saving water for everyone in our society. Here are a few tips in which you can save water easily:

  • Saving water from taps – Turning off the tap when brushing teeth, shaving, doing dishes and washing hands as well as when showering saves everyone a lot of money. Use the cold water coming out of the faucet or shower while waiting for the hot water. This water can be used to water plants or pour into the toilet reservoir post flushing.
  • Installing low flow shower heads – These low flow devices are cheap and screw simply into place with current units maintaining pressure and feel of the flow while using nearly half as much water as regular shower heads. Have showers instead of baths as this uses nearly one third of the amount of water used in a bath.
  • Create dual flush toilet – These are toilets flushing smaller amounts of water for the activity you carry out at the toilet. This helps save a lot of water. The half flush button comes in handy here.
  • Replace washing machine with a high-efficiency washer – Old style top loading machines consume 45 gallons each load with an average family of four running 300 loads each year. The newer high-efficiency washer consume just 15 to 30 gallons each load. You end up saving almost 34000 liters a year.
  • Wash full dish loads – Select the economy mode when washing clothes. Load your dishwasher full but not too full. Check energy and water usage levels of the dishwasher prior to purchasing one.

Especially in a Californian city like San Mateo, water conservation is in its peak time of importance. Although we run the risk of facing severe drought conditions frequently in this part of the country, we should always be creating habits to save water for the sake of our environment.

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Best Bicycle Stores in San Mateo, CA

January 6th, 2016

bikeSan Mateo is a hot bed for commerce and business with tons of companies and jobs being created daily. Individuals from across the globe and the nation are moving to San Mateo for the opportunities, and these people look to bicycles for their key mode of transportation. Besides being an economical option, a bicycle is good for the environment and a good form of fitness. The best bicycle providers will have something for every type of rider, every member of the family and a range of products matching any budget so that all can cycle both for work and for leisure. Below is a list of  some of the best bicycle providers in the San Mateo region of California:

  • Talbot’s Toyland – in business since 1953, Talbot’s Toyland is one of the most reliable names when it comes to hiring bicycles. Over the years Talbot’s has evolved from the neighborhood toy store to a specialized bicycle store selling hobby, bicycle and general toy needs of the San Mateo and surrounding region. Specializing mostly in BMX bikes, Talbot’s has the gear required for the fun and fast paced experience including FMF Aluminum race frames, dirt jumpers from Redline and GT Mach One bicycles.
  • Summit Bicycles – location of the Bay Area’s largest bike rental stores, Summit Bicycles ensures the buyer walking through their door are met with the highest levels of customer service, the right bike and a quality machine with each store offering the best in on-site repairs and the best selection of bicycles in the San Mateo region.
  • CyclePath – touted as San Mateo and the Bay Area’s most comprehensive provider of bicycle services and equipment. CyclePath eats, breathes and sleeps bicycles. Whether it be a customer’s first road bike or choosing to own one’s first racing bicycle, Cyclepath will assist the customer leveraging over 3 decades of racing and repairing bicycle experience.
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