Jack of All Trades and Peacock Gap, April 12-13, 2014

April 12, 2014  - Jack of All Trades Market, Oakland, CA

Singing in French

Unique!! Beautiful, used shoes

I was pretty excited when my friend Lauren invited me to join her for a weekend surfing at Stinson Beach. My husband said he was happy to watch us from the safety of the sandy shores. As fate would have it, a few days before the trip, three surfers were caught in a riptide that ultimately left one of them missing in the ocean. So when Lauren cancelled the trip due to lodging complications, I wasn't that disappointed.  Instead, I was happy that a coworker told me about the "Jack of all Trades" event taking place at Oakland's Jack London Square.



Wonderful live band playing

Not really knowing what this festival included, we showed up and were happy to find that the title fit the description perfectly.  It's a monthly flea market for local designers, antiques, vintage apparel, art, food, and live music at Jack London square. The vendors had a variety of goods ranging from used clothing, to vintage toys, old furniture, do-it-yourself terranium building, to jewelry, homemade lotions and oils, and homemade hot sauces. We enjoyed walking around - the weather was great! Jack London Square sits on the waterway in Oakland and a sailing event was taking place simultaneously.  We listened to wonderful live music and I purchased a (VERY) hot sauce from a local company, Om Oliva.

Sailing Event at Jack London Square

Casey found a gently used pair of men's Gucci dress shoes in his size and bought them for $20.  I also found a body butter made by the woman selling it, and purchased a citrus fragrance for $5.  As we started to get hungry we found ourselves disappointed that the only choice was a pop-up fried food stand, so I ordered some garlic fries ($6). I don't like to throw away food but about halfway through the soggy, greasy fries we tossed them and decided to go to a friend's.

I happily called my coworker Doug, as he had invited me to when he'd told me about the market earlier in the week.  We stopped for a visit at the home he shares with his girlfriend Aimee in the Ellington building only a couple of blocks away.  It was a short walk and the beautiful building was easy to find; it's the tallest, prettiest one in that area.  His condo was almost on the top floor of the 16-story building.  The two bedroom, two bath, two balcony home was nothing short of tropical.  Life flourished on the counters and outdoor spaces. Tons of beautiful, tropical plants! His balcony overlooked the water and you could actually see all the way to the Bay. What a wonderful place to live!

The Ellington, Oakland

After a cold beer and some enjoyable conversation, we left their home and walked across the street to Annex Burger who had opened one day earlier.  Their "come eat our meat" sign out front describes the place perfectly.  Even the veggie burger was a beef patty with veggies inside.  So I ordered fries.  Yes, more fries.  These ones were also not crispy and I ate about half.  I don't do really well on little food and I was starting to get noticeably irritable.  I told Casey I could wait to eat until we got home, but I think he thought it was a better idea to get some food in me now, so he walked me to Souley Vegan and then walked to get our car out of the parking garage.  A green garden salad ($6) took 13 minutes to get to my table, and that really frustrated me even more.  Once we got home I made some popcorn before bed, but was pretty dissatisfied with my eating experiences on that sunny Saturday.

April 13, 2014 - Yelp's Tee Party at Peacock Gap

Shown here, a previous breakfast, cooked perfectly

Waking up hungry (as usual) we went to one of our favorite diners: Plaza Café in Pleasant Hill.  Not surprising to us, the line was out the door for this cash-only favorite, but at least we didn't have a long wait before being seated.  Everything from that point on was a different story.  We waited to get menus (even though we knew what we wanted), we waited to get drinks (until I got up and asked a second time for them), and then we waited for food that wasn't nearly as good as usual.  Husband ordered a side of gravy, and I ordered my Hollandaise on the side. Our waitress confused this and my plate was drenched in H. sauce. It had taken so long for the order that I let it slide.  Neither of our hashbrowns were crispy, even though in the past they've been served dark brown (as pictured). So we paid our cash and left disappointed but ready to move on to something awesome.  Brunch was only meant to tide us over until the Yelp party at Peacock Gap!

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

After getting a notary call and performing the $10 service, we drove across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toward the North Bay and headed East toward China Camp.
Destination: Peacock Gap Golf Club!

We arrived at the event which boasted 400 or so party attendees.  Stations for wine, beer, and champagne were set up all around the room.  I stuck with Honest Tea and Hubert's (amazing) Lemonade, trying two of their three flavors and finding that the Original was my favorite. Not too sweet at all!

In the center of the room there was a hot station where chefs were frying individual, customized plates of mashed potatoes, mixed with toppings of your choice (shrimp, spinach, green onion for me, but there were TONS of toppings) and then smothered in gravy or sour cream and served in a martini glass. Very fun! Additionally, tables of hummus and olives and meats, and every cheese you could name, sat on opposite sides of the room.  The open room was spacious and airy and had a "Watch the Birdee" do-it-yourself photo booth in the corner.

Outside, a huge patio and lawn had people playing bocce ball, croquet, and badminton, which we also participated in.  Yelp events are always a lot of fun. We had more than 10 friends at this one and really enjoyed making the rounds to say hi to them.  It was a beautiful day, very warm and sunny!  The newly renovated Golf Club was huge and you could hardly tell how many people were in attendance at the "Tee Party".  It was another great day spent together.  A notary call on the drive home was our last stop for the weekend, and made me glad I stuck to free lemonade instead of free champagne.  But only a little glad... I did have one glass of bubbly, and it was most certainly enjoyed!