East West Bookshop for spiritual books, yoga and meditation items, lots of jewelry and a fascinating selection of scarves. They have exquisite crystals and geodes on display and I always like to look at their tea selection.

Big Frog of Mountain View can print anything on a t-shirt. No exaggeration, anything. Bring them a picture that your child created, a photo of your pet or your favorite quote—they can put it on a shirt or a tote-bag within 24 hours. I love this place.

Book Buyers on Castro is the place to go for calendars. They have about a million of them in stock at this time of year. And wouldn’t a vintage book by their favorite author be a wonderful holiday gift? Used books always feel like they have soul.

Daiso in Mountain View is a Japanese dollar store with lots of cute bento boxes, teacups, chopsticks and mysterious things in packages that you can’t read unless you know Japanese.

Mountain View Lock & Safe Co. has stocking stuffers, like the ‘hiding place’ can of Aqua Net hairspray, bug spray or other household products. I also like the Hide-a-Key rocks. And I’ve always been a fan of cool little brass padlocks.

Villa Rouge has hip cowboy rain boots and their aromatherapy candles have a cult following.

Boutique 4 has sexy party attire and some outrageously fun jewelry. Any girl would love a gift certificate from this cute store on Castro.

Gift cards are always a hit. How about one from Morocco’s Restaurant,  Don Giovanni’s,  Cascal or Scratch? Or dance, yoga or Zumba classes from For The Love of Dance? Or take that special someone to a wine tasting at Artisan Wine Depot or Savvy Cellar.

And did you know that the Humane Society of Silicon Valley is having an adoption special for the holiday season? Yes, most adoptions are only$10 and they’re hoping to find homes for 1000 animals before the year ends. Maybe your family needs a new four-footed-friend.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year celebration. Please  remember to shop, eat and exercise locally. Thank you for being a fan of the city of Mountain View and reading this blog for the last 2 years. I look forward to a wonderful 2012 in our community. And it’s true, I really do love Mountain View.

I went last week with a few friends. It’s a hands-on class, as opposed to the demonstration kind. She demonstrates a technique and then asks someone to take over and finish the dicing, stirring, or flipping. We made Karai Murgi Torkari (Bengali Chicken Curry) and Aloo Poshto (Potatoes in a poppy seed gravy) and rice. There were 4 students in Fharzana’s kitchen and everyone participated in the tasks as she directed us and watched what we were doing. She complimented me on my slick knife skills.

Two of us brought wine for everyone to enjoy while we were cooking and we all chatted and laughed quite a bit while we were supposed to be paying attention, but we didn’t get in trouble. I’ve been to the kind of class where you aren’t allowed to drink wine and giggle and it wasn’t nearly as much fun as this one.

Fharzana is charming and really good at explaining the history or significance of a dish. She is from Bangladesh and her husband is from South Indian, so she knows how to cook food from both regions. If you have something specific in mind that you want to learn, she would probably be able to show you. We just let her pick the menu for us and all of us were happy with her selection.

She spent a great deal of time talking about the spices involved in the dishes we made. She passed around little spice bottles for each of us to examine up close. There was no talk of measuring anything. I liked that part. Just dump in some of this and even more of that one and it’ll turn out fine. I noticed that since I went to her class, I’ve been more brave at home and willing to try new combinations of spices. And I haven’t measured anything either. My measuring spoons must be getting lonely. And I like that she gave us copies of the recipes that we made. The copies that she gave us do have measurements written down, so don’t worry about whether or not you’ll be able to recreate the dish once you go home.

Fharzana can be reached through her blog, http://foodvestigation.posterous.com/ Her cooking classes seem like a wonderful way to get together with friends and do something new and different. I love Mountain View.

Unable to communicate with the person massaging your feet, you had to either accept the pain as they pushed their strong fingers into the tenderest places on the bottom of your feet, or embarrass yourself and squeal from the pain. Or even worse, cry.

Once I came home from that vacation, I started to go to the foot massage places around Mountain View. My favorite is Happy Feet on Villa Street downtown. I used to go to the Happy Feet in Palo Alto, but one opened in Mountain View about 2 years ago. It’s better than the one in Palo Alto. The one in Palo Alto is on the El Camino and it seemed to attract a rather questionable clientele occasionally.

It’s different from getting a pedicure and different from getting a massage. You sit in a quiet, dimly lit room with lots of other people as they massage your feet and work the kinks out of your shoulders and back. Wear comfortable clothes because you’ll be asked to lay face down in your recliner and someone will climb on top of you in order to properly inflict enough pain to make your muscles relax. And don’t plan on going anyplace important afterwards because they’ll do a really good job at messing up your hair. Sometimes they even smear oil in your hair. They don’t ask permission before they rub oil on your neck and in your hair; you figure it out afterwards when you look at yourself in the mirror.

It’s really a very pleasant way to spend an hour and considering the fact that the massage is so cheap (only $25.00) I always feel like I should leave a really good tip. I love Mountain View.

Remember a while back when Forbes magazine said that Mountain View was #4 on the list of the top 25 places to live in the country? We loved hearing that news. And yet approximately 44% of the students in the Mountain View Whisman School District are on the free or reduced lunch program. It’s really quite disheartening to find out that there are so many people in need in our community.

This is really a wonderful opportunity for our community. Local merchants who are willing to contribute are getting promoted, the non-profits around town are getting extra funds at the time of year that they need it most, and residents get to have that awesome feeling that you have after you give to someone in need.

Chamber of Commerce CEO, Oscar Garcia says, “Great cities create value for the community, support local businesses, and help neighbors help each other.” I like the idea of neighbors helping each other, especially at this time of the year. The Holiday Fund raised about $60k last year and the goal this year is $85k. If we all do a little something, we can make big things happen. I love Mountain View.

As we walked in the door, another couple was leaving and I asked them how they liked the food. They were really happy about what they had eaten and said that everything was wonderful. They were right. It was outstanding food. We’ll definitely go back and that says a lot, considering the fact that we have so many incredible restaurants in Mountain View.

My husband ordered lamb shank and the meat was falling off the bone. I had chicken kabobs. We also ordered appetizers, salads, desserts and drinks. Everything was amazing, but the lamb shank is what I’m going to order next time.

I also need to mention the décor. I really liked the colorful fabric draped across the ceiling that gives the feeling that you are inside a giant Moroccan tent. And the hanging lanterns, painted fabric art on the walls and sconces all create such a nice atmosphere—so different from all the rest of Castro Street. We have a ton of Asian and Mexican restaurants in Mountain View, and I go to almost all of them, but Morocco’s is something new and different and unusual. I’m a big fan of unusual. See you at Morocco’s. I love Mountain View.

Harriet is originally from Munich and moved to the Bay Area about 14 years ago. She’s been a painter her entire life and her artwork is in collections all over the world, from Germany, to Japan, Australia and the United States. Her newest series is called “Yellowstone.”

The Visual Arts Committee decided last year that the artists featured in the lobby may also sell their artwork if they would like to do so. There are prices on the artwork if it is for sale. A small percentage of the price goes to the Center. It’s really nice for the community to get to look at beautiful one-of-a-kind artwork and to know that they can purchase the items as well. The exhibit changes every 8 weeks. Artists from all over the United States submit their work for this show. The Visual Arts Committee spends a great deal of time studying the images and deciding who will be selected. We’re lucky to live in a community that cares this much about art.

The lobby is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12 pm to 1 pm and one hour prior to every public performance. The artwork that is for sale may be purchased at the ticket box office Wednesday through Saturday, from noon to 6 pm. For information about upcoming theater productions, please visit the Events Calendar for the Center for the Performing Arts.

I’ve read about Shellac Nails in magazines (Oprah and Cosmo) and it always says that they’re amazing. It’s a nail color, not a thick long nail, just cool strong color that is super shiny, like patent leather. It uses a new UV3 Technology and the gel-polish hybrid goes on like polish, you stick your hand under a little light to cure it, and then it wears for 14 days at least, and can be removed in 10 minutes. And it’s dry and hard instantly! You can stick your hand in your bag to get your wallet out or in your jeans pocket. It’s like a miracle in nail technology! It’s everything I ever wanted in nail polish.

Allure has about 15 different colors to choose from. I picked black because it was the coolest. Next time I’ll try a more girly color, but the black ones are so hip. I’m a ceramics artist. I worked with clay for 4 hours yesterday and my nails still look perfect. I love them and I can’t wait to get them done again, but I won’t actually need to have them done for a few more weeks. If you try them, let me know what you think… but I already know you’re going to love them.

The class was taught by Judy Gardner. Her card says that she is a “Master Palmist and Teacher.”  She was very patient as different people in the crowd asked if she would look at certain lines in their hands. “What does this one mean?” and “Will I be rich or will I be really, really rich?” I heard from those sitting near me. Judy told us that “our hands are an extension of our brains” and that people can learn to tell how easily money will go through their hands by looking at the lines and shape of their hands. For example, if your thumbs are curved and bend back really far, money can go right through your hands. Heather and her stiff little thumbs looked at my curved, bendable thumbs and said, “You’re screwed.”  After Judy spoke for about 45 minutes, she went around the entire room and looked closely at everyone’s hands and told them a little something about their personality. She told me that she thought I was creative and talented and she told Heather that she was very ambitious.

This particular workshop was free and really lots of fun. If you take a look at the East West Bookstore’s event calendar, either the online version or the printed one that they hand out in the store, you can find all kinds of upcoming activities. I love that this store is in the center of our city. The merchandise selection is outstanding and they have an amazing selection of books. We really need to support this special store by shopping at it and attending their special events, workshops and lectures. I love East West Bookstore and I love downtown Mountain View.

A few days later I went to Clarkes. Sometimes there’s a long line at Clarkes because everyone loves their awesome burgers. Instead of standing in line, my co-workers and I ordered via our Pago apps. We ordered right as we walked out the door of our office on Castro Street then drove over to Clarkes. By the time we walked in the door, our food was ready. We walked up to the usual pick-up area next to the register and grabbed our food and went outside to sit on the patio. There was a line of about 8 people looking at us as we walked in and got our food. I’ll admit, not having to wait in line kind of made me feel like VIP or a rock-star. I almost felt sorry for all of them and wanted to tell them about Pago, but my food was ready and I was hungry! So, hopefully, they’re reading this blog and they figure out that I’m no rock-star, just someone with Pago on my phone.

Pago will also be part of the upcoming Mountain View Art & Wine Festival on Sept 10 and 11 in downtown Mountain View. Download the app to your phone, add your credit card information and play around with it so you’re used to it on the weekend of the festival. You can even buy your drink tickets right now so you’re ready for the festival. Pago is offering a discount on drink tickets and glasses if you buy them before the festival begins. I just checked the app and I counted 44 different Mountain View restaurants listed that accept the app so far. I’m sure there will be more in the future. Even Molly Magees accepts it. Imagine being at Mollys and you want a beer but there are tons of people at the bar and you don’t want to wait in line, just go on Pago and order it. They’ll call your name and you just walk up and grab your beer. How cool are you? Someone that I know did just that, but I’m not going to tell who was at Molly Magees in the middle of a workday drinking beer.

I love not having to stand in line and I love Mountain View.

I’m not generally a noodle-slurper. I tend to try and eat my noodles in a more lady-like manner. But I’m interested in watching those around me and seeing their particular noodle-consumption-styles, especially those that slurp with gusto. Most people use the 2-handed approach, spoon in one hand and chop sticks in the other. The cool thing about Mountain View is that the area is so diverse that there are people from all over the world in our restaurants and they  sometimes have  different techniques to eating noodles.  And I try to wear something that I don’t mind getting splashed. I usually get splashed a little bit…

I think that soba (buckwheat) noodles might be a little healthier than regular noodles and they also seem more substantial than white noodles. I go to Maru Ichi for dinner quite often and I have it figured out how to come in at the right time to get a table. It gets really crowded at this noodle house and if you don’t time it right, you’ll have to stand in line. Sometimes, the line is out the door and in the winter it can get cold standing out on the sidewalk. I like to go late enough that most people have already had dinner, but not so late that the Maru Ichi employees are mad at you for walking in at the last minute. If they close at 10 pm, I try to arrive at 9pm. Everyone’s happy that way. Maru Ichi is located at 368 Castro Street, downtown Mountain View. I love soba noodles and I love downtown Mountain View.