Chez Panisse San Francisco Dining Experience

Most of the 1000 Places To See Before You Die are monuments, cities, or other areas of interest. Its rare to find a shop or business as one of the destinations you must absolutely see before you kick the bucket. However, in Berkley California, one restaurant has the distinguished honor of residing on this list. Chez Panisse, the world famous restaurant opened by chef Alice Waters over 30 years ago is named "the restaurant that changed the way America eats" by this book.

On one of our many trips to the Bay Area, we decided to get ourselves into this famous American restaurant and were lucky enough to snag a reservation at the Chez Panisse Cafe located on the upstairs level. On the outside, the restaurant looks like a private club. Large beautiful trees hug the walls of the building and only a wooden sign above the entry way tells you where you are. Inside on the ground floor you can get a glimpse of the kitchen with chef and sous chefs prepping meals. We showed up at a time between lunch and before dinner. We had been lucky enough to get the very last reservation of the lunch period. We were seated at a table by some windows where the branches of the trees outside reached inside. Its as if the trees are trying to reclaim the building.

The menu, which is never the same from visit to visit, presented an amazing list of dishes with fresh vegetables, recently caught fish, and local meats. This is what Alice Waters, and her restaurant are famous for. She is credited for introducing the concept of fresh organic eating to the American dining public. Critics have rightly pointed out that her reputation has reached somewhat of a ridiculous level of crunchy granola eating proportions. I can see the point of her critics but on the other hand, I've also had her food. Its wonderful. Each of us chose a different dish and shared bites from each plate without fear of ridicule. I could go into detail about each dish, but then you'll never be able to get them in the way we did on that day. When you go, the menu will be different and the presentation altered.

What I can promise is that you'll find a gourmet meal that feels familiar yet reborn. There are no foreign sounding alien ingredients. Simple foods from local sources. As with the many cities we've visited where I've thought, "this is what life should be like," eating at Chez Panisse is the best way to introduce yourself to the way we should all be eating. I realize that in this review I'm not going in to detail about the individual tastes in each bite of food I had but really, I don't know how I could. Dining at a restaurant of this caliber with this attention to preparation is something we all need to experience for ourselves. The feelings and emotions a good meal stirs are personal and unique to every person. Chez Panisse truly is deserving of its spot on the list of the 1000 Places To See Before You Die.

Favorite Things: M.A.C. Makeup

I am not a huge make up person. I rarely wake up early enough before work to put much effort into my face, and I only ever buy CoverGirl for my powder, blush and mascara. But my weakness? M.A.C. eyeshadows!

I started my M.A.C. eyeshadow collection 11 years ago in Europe. I had never heard of the brand before but at a mall in Austria I discovered it. I bought some and immediately fell in love. I have been actively adding to my shade collection ever since. My current count is 14 different colors, all of which I wear on a regular basis.

This eyeshadow is what makes me want to wear make up in the morning, since the colors are all so pretty and fun to wear. I cant pick a favorite. And some days, I pick my outfits based on what eyeshadow color I would like to wear that day. With 14 different colors, there is a lot of mixing and matching I can do, and I always have the right color to match whatever I might be wearing that day.

What is your favorite make up product that you think I should try? Or better yet, what is your favorite M.A.C. eyeshadow color that I should add to my collection?

Employment: Job Seeking Techniques

Not a day goes by where I don't hear someone on the radio or Internet talking about employment numbers. We've got a lot of people out of work right now and all signs are pointing to an extremely slow process of getting us Americans back to work. Landing a job is the number one priority of millions of people and there are a couple different ways of going about it. I'm going to outline some of the strategies I have used. Some worked, some didn't. But all were done during this current climate of high unemployment and poor economic outlook. Along with these strategies, I'll throw my opinion in as well. However, just remember these experiences were from one person in one industry in one part of the country. What you decide to do, and the outcomes you get, are ultimately, up to you and your determination.

Job Boards/Websites

This is the low hanging fruit isn't it? Its the easiest way to get a look at the most job available all in one place. There's a lot of options out there but the three I found to be the best were:

• Monster.com - I used Monster to perform pin-pointed searches for jobs within my industry and skill level. The great thing about this service is that its free (always good) and is a place where a lot of employers go to post jobs. Its just one of those things where being the biggest and most well known gathers the most people and jobs into one place. 
• Indeed.com - Indeed gathers job postings from all over the Internet. At first I tried using Indeed the same way I used Monster. However, I started using Indeed to see the selection of jobs that I might not be aware of. For example, I'm in marketing so my natural inclination is to search for marketing positions. Its what I do on Monster. However, with Indeed's reach, I started looking for jobs that were in a certain geographic location and within a certain salary range. Sure, I got a ton of results that didn't apply to me but occasionally I would see jobs that I was perfectly qualified for due to my skills that weren't necessarily marketing positions. Indeed is great for looking outside the box.
• Craigslist.org - I've already talked about the drawback Craigslist presents when it comes to scams. However, if you're good at ruling out the scams, Craigslist is actually a fantastic place to find jobs. You simply need to go to the job function sub-heading that you are interested in, and see what's been posted. Craigslist is a great hybrid of the passive search you get with Indeed, with the pinpointed results of Monster.

Job websites are a nice place to start. They definitely can expose you to a lot of companies you would have never know about. I also discovered just how many big, recognizable companies were in my area. I sent out hundreds of applications to companies through the job websites and while I landed a few interviews (and even second interviews) I never saw an offer. In the past, I've been hired after running in to a company on a job board but I question how often that will happen for people now. I have a feeling that the large amount of people looking for the few available positions are making people's chances even smaller when competing at this scale.

Temp-To-Hire Agencies

I have mixed feelings about temp-to-hire agencies. On the one hand, its a great service. The job seeker pays no money to have a group of professionals look for jobs that the unemployed might be suited for. On the other hand, recruiters at these agencies are paid on a commission basis and I've heard often send people to interviews knowing the job seeker will never be hired or even considered. 

A lot of people have had fantastic success with a temp-to-hire agency. I wasn't as lucky but don't let that discourage you from trying them. Because they're free to sign up with, you might as well try. There are some great ones out there and almost every area in the United States has a good one you can sign up with. Do some research on the local agencies and give them a call. Despite the fact that I didn't get hired as a result of a temp-to-hire agency, I did get a few interviews out of it and there's no reason to look down on that!

Networking

This is the number one way to get a job. So says everywhere you read or inquire. Networking is a loose term for a pretty basic concept. Essentially, you look to the people you know to get leads on potential jobs. When I finally got back to work, it was the result of MULTIPLE people in my network. Several great opportunities came my way in the form of jobs I would have never thought to look for simply because I had maintained great relationships with people I had previously worked with. 

Anyone you know is a part of your network. Its like Facebook.. but you know, real life. A lot of job coaching agencies or professionals like to focus on forced networking. Situations where you are essentially cold calling/visiting/approaching to start talking to people. I'm sure this has worked for other people but it really isn't my cut of tea. I think there are better ways of investing your time into your job search. Primarily, working the hundreds of people you know is a better option. Anyone you have a decent relationship with has the potential of hooking you up with someone they know who is hiring. In some cases, you may get hired by someone in your immediate network (happened for me).

When it comes to networking my best piece of advice is to never assume your network is actively looking for job opportunities. You need to be proactive about talking to people while avoiding the embarrassing situation of begging for jobs. Simple conversations with family and friends will suddenly jog their memory and you'll start hearing phrases like, "You know, my cousin actually needs someone who does what you do. Would you want me to get you in contact with him?" The thing to realize is that people don't want to intrude into your life. They'd rather hear your permission to start throwing your resume out there and start making calls. The key to getting your network working for you is to maintain contact with them. Also, it doesn't hurt to help them out as well. In fact, I'm going to insist you seek out ways to help people in your network. By doing this you are showing people how reliable you are, and you're also doing something really nice for them.


These are the major techniques I can give advice on. Obviously, there are way more techniques and we could go much deeper into each one than I have here. Post your experiences below. Hopefully I've helped you out! Let me know what you think.

Favorite Things: ING Direct

Now that you have saved up an emergency fund, what do you do with that money? Thomas and I debating putting the total in our savings account that is attached to our checking, but it seemed too easy to access, not to mention the interest rate was horrible. So we did a lot of research and decided that it would be best to open up an ING savings account.

The best part about ING is the ease of it all. Everything is handled online and does not take much time to set up. We have the account tied to our checking account so that we can easily transfer money in and out if we need it. Another bonus is the interest rate! While it is not what it used to be, the interest still gives us a little bit of extra money each month, which we just transfer to our vacation fund. It might not be much, but we feel that every little bit helps, even if its only $20 a month. Who doesn’t want free money, right?

The only downside we have found with ING is the time you have to wait for the money to transfer from your ING account to your checking account. It is normally about 3 working days. The way we use our emergency fund, this does not really concern us, but it is something that we think you should be aware of if you decide to go this route.

Meme Monday: Unemployed Storm Trooper

Meme Monday brings you a weekly Internet Meme that we have found. Internet Memes are described as something that catches on like wildfire with Internet communities with no outside source of promotion. They exist purely for enjoyment and laughs.