New Resident!

[snakeyesboy.livejournal.com]

Hello folks!  I have been watching this community for a few weeks and am totally surprised at how active it is.  It's great to see because my girlfriend and I are moving to Somerville in a few weeks.  We already have an apartment sort of in between Davis and Porter squares, if that makes any sense.  Right now we are in San Francisco and I am nervous and excited to be living somewhere new.  She lived in Somerville a few years ago and I grew up in western MA but this is going to be a whole different experience for me.  Just saying hello!

Comments

[ron_newman]

Welcome! Please come to our next monthly bar meetup once you get here.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

HAhaha! Yes, as Ron says, Welcome! ALSO BEER! :)

Good luck with the move.

[richips.livejournal.com]

Hi! i don't actually live in the area, but a T ride away and love it there. One other thing you may want to check out to meet awesome new locals and also word travelers is Couchsurfing.com

[nu-luba.livejournal.com]

i would also recommend checking out www.meetup.com to find people with similar interests to you. I met some of my best friends through that site.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Between Davis and Porter is a good place to be. Porter has the practical stuff like a big grocery store, and Davis has the fun stuff. =:)

Also, greetings fellow California-type-person! I grew up in Walnut Creek, not far from SF.

[nu-luba.livejournal.com]

I just want to say that you have really really pretty hair. I am jealous!

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Though it only looks like that after it's been in a french braid all day. =;)

[snakeyesboy.livejournal.com]

Cool! I have been to WC many times. Nice to meet you.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the neighborhood! Between Davis and Porter is a great place to be.

[makoshark.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Glad that you'll be joining all of us!

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the area. I love your Avatar. It's horrible what happened to Tony Hart. I wish there was a place close by to dirt bike.

[snakeyesboy.livejournal.com]

Do you ride? Where is the closest good place?

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

Not since I was a kid. I've been wanting to get back into it but I can't get my friends to, lol. A couple of my friends used to ride motorcycles but now won't even get on a dirt bike. Then there is the distance. There used o be more places but MA isn't so dirt bike friendly so there are less and less places as the years g by. The places closest to here are over an hour away. There is a place in Plymouth, one in Uxbridge, one in Franklin from what I hear. There are a few up in NH and the best one is probably the one out by six flags where most of the competitions are held. That's a good few hours away. You should check out, www.nedirtbikes.com
They have tons of info and a fairly active forum.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

As one who also recently moved from CA (lived in Santa Cruz, worked a district from Morgan Hill to Big Sur), let me join the welcome wagon! Living just outside of the Davis Square area (thanks for letting me crash, guys!) please know that Somerville has great stuff throughout the city, not just one neighborhood (although it might be the most active in many ways). You'll have to get used to a few things-- the main one (IMHO) is the complete lack of quality produce in any major supermarket. And the farmer's markets are seasonal (that whole winter thing out here...). Oh, and start missing the burritos... and Tapatio hot sauce...

Otherwise, welcome! ;-)

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Also a Bay Area native, and the produce here, at the supermarkets and even at the farmers' markets, makes me sad. I mean seriously, the Grand-Lake farmers' market in Oakland totally blows away all of the Cambriville farmers' markets combined, and it's no Ferry Plaza market...

That said, enjoy the markets while you can, and when you can't, go to Market Basket. They have much lower prices than Star or Stop & Shop. Perhaps due to the prices, they also have a large immigrant community which means a much better variety of produce, and a high produce turn-over which yields fresh stuff. Just don't go looking for organic locally grown there, strictly macro-agriculture, but still much better than the other mainstream alternatives.

[snakeyesboy.livejournal.com]

Cool. I haven't even left yet and am already missing the great food. Thanks for the ideas. Is there any real availability of organic locally grown food in the Boston area?

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's easy to get local during the season (early June to late November). There's a list of farmers' markets (http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/t-allmarkets.aspx) (scroll down to "Eastern Massachusetts") and there's one in Cambridge or Somerville every day through the beginning of November and a few holdouts, notably Davis Square on Wednesdays, through November. Outside of that, there is no local produce to be had since it doesn't grow in the New England winter!

There are also a fair number of CSA options. It's probably too late for this summer, but a search of the posts here ought to turn up recommendations if that's of interest for next summer. We like Farmer Steve (aka Parker Farms). A couple or three Meat CSAs also deliver to urban Boston.

As far as non-local organic, there are three Whole Paycheck Foods outlets in Cambridge and another in Medford, and all the supermarkets have the obligatory organics section. There's also the Co-Op in Central Square and TJ's in Cambridge and Arlington. Not so organic, but also interesting, we have a bunch of specialty markets which are very worthwhile: Dave's Fresh Pasta, the KickAss Dairy Bar, and Sessa's in Davis Square, Reliable and a lot of other ethnic markets (Brazilian, Mexican, Italian, South Asian, etc.) in Union Square, and Formaggio Kitchen, Courthouse Fish, Fresh Killed, etc. etc. in Cambridge. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch, but those ought to get you started.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

Good points on the farmers markets and Whole Foods (although, you'll still sometimes see wilted lettuce there). And yes, be prepared to be let down by the size and scope of farmers markets out here in relation to CA, but they are definitely good places to check out. I use yelp.com a lot for food-related advice- the users in the area are generally good sources of info and advice.

[kelmit.livejournal.com]

Pemberton Farms down toward Mass Ave? I like their produce and condiments, but have never really thought about prices.

I liked Boston Organics (http://www.bostonorganics.com/) produce delivery, though it was a bit much for just one person. May be right for two, though.

I don't think much of any of that is local, but they try.


/Californian too

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

We used to (> 5 years ago) go to Pemberton for much of our produce needs, especially in the winter. We tried hard to squint and see it as a replacement for the Berkeley Bowl or Monterey Market (or even the Milk Pail), but the quality of the produce kept going down, and the prices kept going up, and more and more space was devoted to the category I'll call "froofy grocery", i.e. fancy condiments, jellies, chocolates, and so on, at exorbitant prices. Now we mostly go there for garden supplies and quick snacks when we're passing by. I think that the non-organic produce at Market Basket is at least as good, and much cheaper.

As for Boston Organics, we tried it when it first started (also like 5 years ago) and quickly decided that, since we didn't really value the delivery aspect, we could do better with non-local organics at the supermarket. Like I said, it's been a while so it may have changed.

We also took a look at inseason (https://www.inseason.us/), but again don't really value the delivery component and prefer the farmers' markets.

[natef.livejournal.com]

I used to live near that market in Oakland - good times. Back here, I agree with the sentiment that CSAs are the way to go (though that only gets you through half the year for produce). Market Basket is decent, and convenient. Every so often I drive out to Wilson Farms in Lexington for nice and not overpriced produce (in particular to stock up on fruit and farm fresh eggs, and Shaw Farm milk - which you can get here).