Home & Real Estate
Positively Green Waste not: food conservation revisited by Iris Harrell
I
n our home I am proud to be the “leftover” queen. As the sous-chef, I am responsible for putting away the food we prepared but did not yet eat. We often cook a meal with twice the amount we will consume, so we purposely have leftovers to draw from for lunches or for dinner later in the week when we do not have time to properly prepare a good meal due to our busy schedules. With the aid of a microwave, voila! — a home-cooked meal re-appears on our dinner plates in minutes. I take great pride in having just the right amount of leftovers needed for a few good lunches during the week without having to resort to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, unless I am heading off to the golf course. For this approach to work out perfectly each week, our family has to be careful not to over or under purchase at the local markets. And if we don’t look at our calendars for the upcoming week — and I have three or four business lunches to attend — the leftover plan could be all for naught, meaning at the week’s end I would have to throw some wonderfully prepared home-cooked meals down the disposal. This pains me as I hear the “starving children” mantra from my now-deceased parents. As an adult, I know somewhere in the world, probably even close by, people are going hungry while I am disposing of carefully prepared, organic food because it sat in the refrigerator too long. Many of my friends don’t eat at home as much as we do and they certainly don’t cook as often, though they are good cooks. And not wishing to sound like I’m on a self-righteous rant, I should explain that having lived on the road for five years while in a traveling band long ago cured me from wanting to eat out on any regular basis. There is some kind of spiritual reward for me in sitting down at my own dinner table in my own home to eat a meal that was prepared in my own kitchen.
And the only way to truly know what is in the food you are eating is to buy locally and prepare as much of it yourself as you can. Most of us living in this area are so fortunate to have the opportunity to eat extremely well without consuming much of the food prepared at some corporate headquarters in the Midwest and shipped in gas-guzzling trucks halfway across the country. Talking about how and where food is grown and prepared can become a very hot political discussion quickly. If we don’t support the small local food producers for our own health and theirs, who will? Do we want to be eating more genetically modified food grown in places further and further away from where we live? The word “fresh” may soon lose its meaning in regards to food preparation. We have big issues to resolve around food production and distribution, not only as a local and national community, but as a global community as well. The human population is expected to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion by 2050. In a recent interview, Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana asked the question, “Where are there acres on Earth to supply this amount of food?” The Christian Science Monitor just reported that the global food price index just reached a record high and further stated that in 200708 30 countries had riots because of dramatically rising food prices. Perhaps because of my growing up on a farm and watching my grandmother and parents lovingly and arduously prepare food for our family meals, nothing is more important to me than knowing when my next home-cooked meal is going to happen. So what can we do personally to “green” our choices around our own daily food purchases? Planning ahead for the family so there is time in the week to prepare and eat a homecooked meal together could become a new spiritual experience instead of an inconvenience. Buying food from local produce farmers could boost their sales enough to enable them to stay in the business of farming. Otherwise, our food in the not-so-distant future won’t be what we had in mind, because we were “consumed” with other matters that at the time seemed more important. N Iris Harrell is CEO and president of Harrell Remodeling, Inc. in Mountain View (www.harrell-remodeling.com). She can be reached at 650-230-2900 or irish@ harrell-remodeling.com.
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SALES AT A GLANCE East Palo Alto
Palo Alto
Total sales reported: 6 Lowest sales price: $127,000 Highest sales price: $1,150,000
Total sales reported: 4 Lowest sales price: $775,000 Highest sales price: $2,650,000
Los Altos
Redwood City
Total sales reported: 2 Lowest sales price: $741,000 Highest sales price: $1,356,000
Total sales reported: 11 Lowest sales price: $206,000 Highest sales price: $1,679,000
Menlo Park
Woodside
Total sales reported: 5 Lowest sales price: $257,500 Highest sales price: $1,218,500
Total sales reported: 4 Lowest sales price: $1,175,000 Highest sales price: $2,975,000
Mountain View
Source: California REsource
Total sales reported: 2 Lowest sales price: $200,000 Highest sales price: $640,000
HOME SALES Home sales are provided by California REsource, a real estate information company that obtains the information from the County Recorder’s Office. Information is recorded from deeds after the close of escrow and published within four to eight weeks.
East Palo Alto 251 Azalia Drive Maxey Trust to T. So for $285,000 on 1/13/11; previous sale 5/87, $90,000 1240 Camellia Drive T. Su to C. & L. Lee for $263,000 on 1/14/11; previous sale 5/02, $370,000 1918 Cooley Ave. Day Trust to Z. Jiang for $1,150,000 on 1/13/11 480 E. O’keefe St. #3 JP Morgan Chase Bank to M. Hagerty for $127,000 on 1/14/11; previous sale 12/08, $188,500 867 Weeks St. Bank of America to Working Dirt Limited for $194,500 on 1/21/11; previous sale 8/06, $650,000 140 Wisteria Drive New Century Home Equity Trust to C. Yee for $233,000 on 1/20/11; previous sale 6/05, $621,000
Los Altos 191 Frederick Court S. & S. Sethi to M. & C. Buckley for $1,356,000 on 2/1/11; previous sale 5/03, $1,050,000 510 Tyndall St. Lennar Homes to S. & G. Young for $741,000 on 1/31/11
Menlo Park 416 Durham St. Gnam Trust to J. Yu for $1,075,000 on 1/13/11 370 Hamilton Ave. Criner Trust to Z. Liu for $430,000 on 1/14/11 1440 Modoc Ave. Federal National Mortgage to Habitat For Humanity for $257,500 on 1/18/11; previous sale 8/03, $370,000 28 Nancy Way Richert Trust to S. Carmichael for $1,218,500 on 1/20/11 176 Stone Pine Lane Wells Fargo Bank to J. & B. Thrasher for $785,000 on 1/18/11; previous sale 5/07, $1,260,000
Mountain View 1710 California St. P. Kuo to D. Flees for $640,000 on 1/28/11 457 Sierra Vista Ave. #2 Ucolano Trust to R. Ucolano for $200,000 on 1/28/11
Palo Alto 501 Channing Ave. #6 Mitchell Trust to K. & M. Eide for $775,000 on 1/28/11; previous sale 6/88, $199,000 945 Laurel Glen Drive Walker Trust to D. Mendez for $2,650,000 on 1/28/11 786 Moreno Ave. M. & L. Covert to L. Lam for $1,617,000 on 2/3/11; previous sale 8/78, $82,500 886 Moreno Ave. Lefrank Trust to Marshall Trust for $1,200,000 on 1/28/11
Redwood City 723 Castle Hill Road D. & S. Norcutt to D. & B. Nicolosi for $1,300,000 on 1/14/11 821 Clinton St. D. Berglund to Drh Trust for $210,000 on 1/20/11 34 Eddystone Court W. & K. Yen to
F. Tuang for $565,000 on 1/13/11; previous sale 12/03, $522,000 3697 Farm Hill Blvd. E. Friess to M. Tessier for $632,000 on 1/19/11; previous sale 3/08, $600,000 54 Fulton St. Morrissey Trust to J. & J. Perry for $1,679,000 on 1/13/11; previous sale 9/88, $540,000 50 Horgan Ave. #1 Delaney Trust to K. Linford for $552,500 on 1/13/11; previous sale 4/95, $249,500 35 Laurel St. R. Vega to S. Kennings for $300,000 on 1/14/11; previous sale 7/06, $620,000 528 Macarthur Ave. W. Frankel to L. Keith for $206,000 on 1/21/11; previous sale 3/98, $178,000 75 Oakwood Drive Peterson Trust to S. Stewart for $879,000 on 1/20/11; previous sale 11/08, $875,000 578 Shoal Circle #74 US Bank to A. Pal for $455,000 on 1/21/11; previous sale 5/04, $578,000 1355 Sierra St. Herbst Trust to L. & J. Dagum for $590,000 on 1/21/11
Woodside 6 Cedar Lane Losey Trust to J. Pittman for $2,065,000 on 1/14/11 335 Harcross Road E. Kennedy to M. Anstey for $1,175,000 on 1/14/11; previous sale 10/86, $425,000 280 Ridgeway Road Vanzanten Trust to N. & A. Frisbie for $2,975,000 on 1/21/11; previous sale 8/03, $2,815,000 580 Woodside Drive Gorman Trust to J. Black for $1,280,000 on 1/21/11
FORECLOSURES Foreclosures are provided by California REsource, a real estate information company that obtains the information from the County Recorder’s Office. The date is the recorded date of the deed when the lender took title to the property. The price is what the lender paid for it (usually the mortgage balance plus foreclosure fees). Each property is now owned by the lender and is for sale, or will be for sale soon, individually or through public auction. Individuals should contact a Realtor for further information.
East Palo Alto 1415 Kavanaugh Drive Aurora Loan Services, 12/20/10, $275,000, 1,150 sf, 3 bd
Menlo Park 1134 Madera Ave. Wells Fargo Bank, 1/13/11, $349,652, 1,730 sf, 4 bd
Redwood City 3330 Page St. GSR Mortgage, 1/18/11, $320,000, 880 sf, 2 bd 347 San Carlos Ave. JP Morgan Chase Bank, 1/18/11, $527,062, 890 sf, 3 bd
Sunnyvale 999 W. Evelyn Terrace #81 Aurora Loan Services, 1/14/11, $256,000, 1,123 sf, 2 bd 107 Holly Terrace Suntrust Bank, 1/05/11, $455,600, 1,468 sf, 2 bd
BUILDING PERMITS Menlo Park 4 Sunset Court S. Viswanathan, water heater, $1,700 1361 Willow Road Menlo Gateway INC, re-roof, $9,410 1379 Hollyburne Ave. South Moore LLC, re-roof, $4,000
Home Front
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gamblegarden.org or www. thepassionateolive.com HOME HELP DEADLINE ... Applications for seniors and homebound individuals to receive free help in everything from changing smoke-detector batteries to flipping their mattresses is Monday, Feb. 28. The annual REALTOR® Service Volunteer Program (RSVP), where Realtors and others who provide industry-related services pitch in to help maintain local properties in tip-top shape, takes place the week of May 16-20. Tasks include replacing light bulbs, changing furnace filters and cleaning windows. Information: 408-200-0100 or www.silvar.org to download an application RENTS RISING ... Rent for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in large Palo Alto apartment buildings is strongly on the rise, according to RealFacts, a Novato-based research organization. Average rent in the fourth quarter was $2,004, up 12.1 percent over last year. That brings it almost as high as Menlo Park, at $2,037, with nearly no change from 2009. Mountain View, at $1,456, was up nearly 6 percent, but East Palo Alto fell close to 11 percent to $951. Real Facts surveys owners of buildings with at least 100 units. N Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or e-mail cblitzer@ paweekly.com. Deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m.