Archive for Novato
Sonoma Latina Grill in Novato serves Real Food!
Posted by: | CommentsSonoma Latina Grill serves real food. What I mean by real food is that it is made fresh, no preservatives, no trans fat, no high-fructose corn syrup and no freezers! Just real, good, clean food. Not only is the food real and whole it is organic, fresh and local! Sonoma Latina Grill is truly a hidden gem here in Marin! I’ll tell you why. Sonoma Latina Grill is located in a strip mall. I don’t know about you, but I often make the assumption that restaurants in malls are corporate restaurants. Well Sonoma Latina Grill is not some corporate franchise it is an independently owned business run by Lucy & Mike Tamayo.
I don’t even know where to start! Dani from BZhive introduced me to Mike, one of the owners of Sonoma Latina Grill.
Mike invited me in to the restaurant so he could share his passion about food with me. I was not expecting to get the treatment I got! Mike brought out a tasting platter and introduced me to all the different foods they were serving that day. 
He explained to me that since their food is fresh and local that they to a tasting every day before opening because the food consistency can change depending upon the weather and other factors. They do a tasting to make sure what they are serving is delicious. I was delighted to be a part of this tasting. I tasted everything from Chicken Mole to Carne Asada to the Four Bean blend (Black, White, Adzuki and Pinto). After the tasting Mike brought me a plate of fish tacos because he knows that is one of my favorite dishes.
I almost forgot to mention their homemade mouth watering tortillas! You can choose between the Traditional Flour or the 9 Grain Tortillas both with no additives, preservatives or trans fat and made with natural and organic ingredients.
I enjoyed the food and talking to Mike so much that I ended up staying for a few hours! It was a sunny beautiful day and we sat outside. Mike took me in the back and introduced me to his staff and I got to watch how the salsa was made and eat the salsa seconds after it was prepped. Wow their salsa is amazing! They actually have 5-6 different types of salsa and I loved all of them!
On March 26th Sonoma Latina Grill is going to have a Paella party! Mike has a big authentic Paella pan! More details coming soon but the save the date, I have a feeling you don’t want to miss this Paella!
Of course after sitting with me for a few hours Mike decided to create a Twitter account for Sonoma Latina Grill. You can follow them @SonomaLatina. I’m looking forward to reading their tweets because they get community!
Sonoma Latina Grill is located in the Hamilton Marketplace in Novato.
www.sonomalatinagrill.com
415.883.2662
CoWorking and Social Media in San Rafael
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been so busy working and sallying around the bay I haven’t stopped to take the time to blog. Where do I start?
Yesterday, I woke up with a neck spasm and a headache. I just felt out of whack so I called my chiropractor and made an appointment. Wow, I really needed that adjustment. I’m happy to report that I am feeling 100 times better today!
I scheduled my chiropractic appointment right before the open house at BZhive (they’re located within a half a mile of each other in San Rafael) where Patrick Schwerdtfeger was going to be speaking about Social Media. It worked out great. I had my adjustment and was feeling fantastic, ready to meet new people.
BZhive is the new coworking space in Marin County. I was curious about coworking and wanted to check it out. I’d read about the coworking idea in the book, The Whuffie Factor and have been intrigued by it since then.
BZhive is cool! I want to work there. It’s an open office space environment where you can have your own work-desk in an area shared with other entrepreneurs. The owners Hila and Dan seem to be really friendly and fun people.
The BZhive open house was catered by Sonoma Latina Grill in Novato. I learned their food is local, organic and delicious! The tortillas were homemade. The light and crispy chips were served with a Hominy Hummus, guacamole and super fresh salsa. They serve good, clean, nutritious whole food. I spent most of my time next to the food table. 
<—Here I am (eating) while talking with @fun_master and @quepol (the co-owner of Citizen Space in San Francisco).
After we finished eating the amazingly delicious Sonoma Latina Grill spread we moved in to the open office space area to hear Patrick Schwerdtfeger talk. I was impressed. He knows his stuff and he was a great speaker. (He’s cute too). I learned some new useful tips for social networking that I hadn’t tried before and came home inspired to implement them. Patrick is the author of Webify Your Business. I bought the book and have already read through chapter 12 since I got home last night. If you get a chance to hear Patrick speak don’t miss out on it. It was well worth my time. I stayed after and chatted with Patrick for a bit. He’s real. It was so refreshing to meet someone working in the social media field who is genuine and authentic. He tells it like it is and doesn’t try to put out there that he is better or more knowledgeable than you.
I really enjoyed meeting and listening to Patrick Swerdtfeger. After his talk I went up and asked him if public speaking just came natural to him or if he was in Toastmasters or something. Turns out he is the president of his Toastmaster’s club. I’m the VP of Public Relations for mine. Patrick was a wonderful public speaker. I told him I wanted to be just like him when I grow up (we happen to be the same age).
PS. Thank you to @LeighShev for telling me about this event. And thank you to @fun_master who is always willing to sally around the bay with me and try new things. I don’t know if I would have gone last night if it weren’t for Marilyn agreeing to go with me.
Edited to add Patrick’s mini video from his talk at BZhive:
Toast is Fun
Posted by: | CommentsRecently I’ve been going out with my Twitter/Toastmaster friend Marilyn a.k.a. @fun_master to talk about FUNspirational Living and Social Media. We both love talking about both. 
As many of you know, I’ve been looking for a place to host a TweetUp in Novato. I’ve been putting requests out to restaurants via Twitter but have gotten no responses. However, Marilyn suggested we do the TweetUp at Toast and invited me there for lunch to check it out. I love Toast, it will be a great place for a TweetUp.
We met the General Manager, Patti who was very excited to hear about the possibility of a TweetUp – so stay tuned… TweetUp at Toast coming soon – just working out the details and the date (most likely will be an afternoon the first week in March).
I loved Toast. The place is just plain cool! And the food is delicious! Toast is contemporary and hip designed by architect, Stanley Saitowtiz.
I had the special of the day – grilled fish tacos and Marilyn had the Roasted Red Beets & Spinich Salad. Yummy!
We had a wonderful afternoon talking social media and FUNspirational living.
The new Novato Toast is located in the Hamilton Marketplace in Novato.
