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Downtown Fresno Welcomes New Frida Café

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As your resident FresYes coffee-obsessed blogger, you have to know that if a new coffee shop opens in town, I will absolutely be visiting as soon as possible to share all the details with you, dear FresYes readers!

Los Panchos Mexican restaurant located on the northeast corner of Fulton and Tulare in Downtown Fresno has done some really innovative things under their roof in the past year. Their beautifully remodeled tequila bar has hosted an ongoing pop-up (prior to COVID closures) for Quail State, the upcoming rooftop bar going in on the top floor of the Pacific Southwest building. And now, as of this month, Los Panchos is also serving as home to Fresno’s newest coffee shop, the Frida Café.

My mini concha from Frida Café
Frida Cafe’s counter/Los Panchos tequila bar

Frida Café is the brainchild of Albee Sanchez, who wanted to create a coffee experience as exciting to the eye as the taste buds. The café, which is now located at the tequila bar inside Los Panchos, features images of legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who was best known for her self-portraits, featuring bold and beautiful colors. Sanchez carried bold and beautiful colors throughout the décor of the café area, and even into the drinks he prepares – as each milk used is dyed with natural, organic food dyes.

Frida Café’s community Ofrenda (visitors are encouraged to honor their own departed loved ones by adding a memento to the ofrenda, a Mexican tradition that is part of the Dia de los Muertos cultural celebration)
Frida Café’s menu

Frida Café’s menu consists of six specialty drinks and mini pan dulce (Mexican sweet pastries). Their drink menu includes:

  • Agave Chai – An earthy chai made with agave nectar, cinnamon and pale blue milk
  • White Rose – A white chocolate and rose latte with pink milk
  • Almond Citrus – Latte featuring natural orange and almond extracts with fresh orange zest on top
  • Smoked Vanilla – a smoked vanilla late with Saigon cinnamon and red milk
  • Lavender Cream – a creamy, light and sweet latte with lavender flavoring
  • Mayan Xoco – a spicy, intense natural hot cocoa with cinnamon and shaved chili

On my recent visit, I tried the Smoked Vanilla and it was very tasty and served piping hot and “made with so much love”. The welcome and customer service I received was exceptionally great.

Los Panchos serves a full breakfast and lunch menu in their adjacent dining room. The fenced outdoor seating area is very nice and features plenty of shade, and if you order your Frida Café drinks to enjoy on site, they’ll be served in glass mugs on a wooden tray.

The patio outside Frida Café
Pieces honoring Frida Kahlo are on display for purchase on consignment at the café

Frida Café is open 7 days a week from 7am to 2pm. It becomes quite busy on the weekends, so plan to go early or be aware that there may be quite a wait for this special new coffee shop. Street parking is metered and both coins and cards are accepted, however parking is free on weekends.

Calling all Fresno Plant Lovers!

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Sheltering in place and being quarantined in addition to the need for healthy stress relief outlets has led to a boom in interest in houseplants and gardening. Social media feeds are filled with images of potted fiddle leaf fig trees, rubber plants, succulents, and vining plants like golden pothos and string of hearts.

If you are one of the many who has become recently plant-obsessed (or maybe you always have been) we have a great round-up for you of awesome places to score the next plant for your garden or indoor collection, and where to find plant specialties, too!

Evergreen Garden Center

Location: 210 W. Alluvial in Clovis

Hours: Mon-Sat 9-5, Sundays 9-4

Highlights:

  • Widest selection of plants in the area
  • They carry indoor plants including hard-to-find varieties and a huge selection of succulents
  • Known for thriving, healthy plants and a great selection of pots, too.

Gazebo Gardens

Location: 3204 N. Van Ness in Fresno

Hours: Mon-Wed 8:30a-5:30p, Thurs-Sat 8:30a-9p, Sundays 10a-4p

Highlights:

  • Stunning selection of outdoor plants and beautiful grounds to explore
  • Indoor café available daily featuring a selection of house plants
  • Live music, beer garden and food trucks every weekend

Green Hills Nursery

Location: 2408 N. Armstrong in Fresno

Hours: Mon-Sat 7a-5p, Sundays 10a-4p

Highlights:

  • Known for affordable pricing and excellent customer service
  • Primarily focuses on outdoor plants but is currently expanding its selection of indoor plants and pots
  • Knowledgeable staff with backgrounds in Horticultural Science can offer expert advice

Lotus Gardens Outdoor Living Center

Location: 2271 N. Grantland Ave. in Fresno

Hours: Mon-Sat 7:30a-4p, Sundays 10a-4p

Highlights:

  • Known for excellent pricing and customer service
  • Focuses on everything for your garden, including cute and quirky yard art, pond plants and even carries koi and koi accessories
  • Features a chicken coup from which you can purchase fresh eggs

Belmont Nursery

Location: 7730 E. Belmont Ave in Fresno

Hours: Mon-Sat 8:30a-5p, Sundays 10a-4p

Highlights:

  • Wide selection of outdoor plants, shrubs, and trees
  • Propagates their own plants to ensure proper acclimation to Valley conditions
  • Owner is a certified arborist and staff offer expert advice and support

Foliage Clovis

Location: 453 Pollasky Ave. Ste 102 in Old Town Clovis

Hours: (COVID hours) Sat & Sun 11a-2p, contactless local delivery on Wednesdays and Thursdays, online ordering available

Highlights:

  • Beautiful selection of houseplants and pots
  • Plants can be purchased potted into decorative pots
  • Classes and advice offered by the owner

Nee-Hai Gardens

Location: 3236 W. Ashlan in Fresno

Hours: Tues-Sat, 10a-4p

Highlights:

  • The owner, Grey, has over 40 years of Bonsai experience and is a known expert is his field
  • Shoppers speak of incredible customer service, support, and atmosphere
  • California’s largest Bonsai nursery featuring Bonsai trees at all stages as well as accessories, books, and Japanese gifts

Author’s Bonus:

The following spots are not locally owned, however, as a plant lover myself, I have had good luck finding specific plant related items at each.

  • Trader Joe’s: Awesome, incredibly affordable houseplants, often in nice pots are available typically before 12pm each day (they do sell out). You never know what the selection will be, but I’ve been able to purchase several rare plants that have been on my list from Trader Joe’s, and they’re all doing great!
  • TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Ross & Grocery Outlet: Each of these stores carries nice plant pots from time to time at very affordable prices. The selection varies greatly, and with plant popularity these days, they may be sold out – but if you do find pots there, they are usually at a steal of a price compared to elsewhere.
  • Have plants and want more or other plants? Join this local Plant Swap group on Facebook! It is just getting going, but I’ve already made a successful, contactless porch-trade with another member, and it was a great experience!

Meet PINC Fresno: local women’s philanthropy group prioritizing Creek Fire Relief

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PINC (Philanthropy Inspired by the Needs of our Community) Fresno is a local, non-profit organization comprised of women who seek to make a positive impact on the local community through volunteering and fundraising efforts.

Since their founding, PINC Fresno has held an annual PINC Party benefit event in support of a different local charity. Past PINC Parties have benefitted Angel Babies of Hinds Hospice, Fresno County’s Make-a-Wish Foundation, The Marjorie Mason Center, Break the Barriers, Catholic Charities of Fresno, Transitions Children’s Services, The Holy Cross Center for Women, Feed Our Future, Heart of the Horse Therapy Ranch, Valley Children’s Healthcare and Breaking the Chains. In just 10 years, PINC Fresno has raised over $700,000 for local causes.

Currently, PINC Fresno has mobilized their members and made it the organization’s primary focus to support those evacuated by and first responders working to extinguish the Creek Fire. As of the time this article is being written (Oct. 1, 2020) the Creek Fire has consumed over 300,000 acres of Sierra forest and damaged or destroyed over 855 businesses and homes. More than 30,000 people (and their animals) had to be evacuated to Fresno and Clovis locations such as schools, fairgrounds and hotels.

PINC Fresno is working hard to make life a little easier for evacuees, their pets, and first-responders by collecting funds, materials and goods that meet the specific needs of the moment. PINC has also partnered with Fresno Acura and Skyline Bar and Grill in Clovis, who will accept donations of physical items from Valley residents during their business hours. PINC members have now packed hundreds of meals, rolled bunches of burritos, created custom supply kits for first responders, made grocery and pet care item deliveries and raised over $25,000 in cash donations (and counting) toward Creek Fire relief.

PINC has created a handy list of items most needed to help those who’d like to pitch in with relief efforts and shared them on their Instagram account (be sure to follow them for additional updates as needs evolve). Check out their graphics below for details on the items most requested by First Responders, Evacuees and those caring for Evacuee pets and livestock. If you would like to contribute to the organization’s fundraiser, you can do so via Go Fund Me here or via PINC’s website here. We at FresYes are proud of PINC’s efforts and happy to have an organization like theirs in Fresno.

Thinking of buying a Condo? We say FresYes!

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Thinking of buying a condo? There’s no better time than now, in fact, we have a new one to just hit the market you can see here

There are a lot of benefits that come from condo ownership, in fact, you could even think about it as “Home Ownership: Lite” – no yardwork, easy to rent on VRBO or Airbnb – and close to fabulous locations.

First, you may be asking yourself: What Is a Condo?

Well, first, the formal name is condominium. This type of property is a hybrid between an apartment and a house,you can purchase the property outright.

Second, you may be asking, Why Would I Buy a Condo and Not a House?

It’s more convenient, and a less expensive investment, most of the time. The cost of any property depends on the size, property value and neighborhood. However, our experts note buyers spend less on a condo than single-family detached homes. Additionally, condos keep their value much longer than traditional style homes.

If you’re wondering, How will condo ownership be different?

Condo owners tend to live in much closer proximity than traditional homes, fostering a more immediate sense of community.

When researching this topic, we found that US News interviewed a condo owner, Mark Scott – here’s what he had to say:

“Like most Americans, once you drive into that garage, you don’t come back out until the next day. Living in a condo you see your neighbors in the elevator or at the pool or in the lounge and lobby,” Scott says. “You’re also more likely to go back out because many condos are in areas where interesting bars, restaurants, parks, and so on are within an easy walk. So I found myself much more active and met many more of my neighbors and did things with them more often than I ever did living in a house.”

Our personal owners and condo tenants shared their six favorite things about Condo living with us, here’s what they had to say:

  1. Community – Like Mark said, by living in a condo you’ll naturally be around more people. Since units are closer together and there are many more common areas like party rooms, fitness centers, and pools, you have plenty of opportunities to meet your neighbors, which can be so nice if you’re ready to expand your social circle, have just moved to the area – or have recently found yourself in an empty nest.
  2. Travel – Remember when you could just up and decide to go to the coast, 15 minutes later you were out the door? If you don’t.. then you must be living in a house! You can’t always just leave your house –  there are lots of responsibilities to consider, such as the yardwork, maintenance and more – hence the term ‘House Sitter’. A condo though? Lock it up and head to Europe for a month!
  3. Green – In a world full of commutes and carpools, not only will you save the earth by being a walking or riding distance to so many restaurants and shopping centers but you will save green in fuel cost as well.
  4. Safety – Unlike a home, you’re never far from people in your condo. This really pays off when you have an emergency.  Remember that time your cable went out in the middle of the season finale of Scandal? Well, ok, that wasn’t an emergency, but if one was to occur – you’d be in good hands with your new condo community.
  5. Security – Still afraid of who may be driving around out there at night? I don’t blame you, I am. But it’s nothing that the security of a condo can’t fix for you. Gate code access, security, cameras, and plenty of neighbors leads to fewer break-ins and a warm, fuzzy, safe feeling inside.

Now that you know some of our favorite value benefits of condos, we hope you’re wondering, “How do I get my own?”

Well, my friend, we’re here to help! email jason@fresyes.com and I’ll get to work.

I lost my home in a fire – what I wish I’d known

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Just over a year ago, Brooke Rummonds and her family lost their beloved family home to a freak explosion in an outdoor garbage can that quickly ignited their home and engulfed it in flames. While Brooke and her family (including furry family members) were able to escape to safety, their home was a total loss. With all of the fires currently burning near Fresno and across the West Coast, Brooke took time to sit down and compile a list of the things she wish she’d known, and what she’d want others to know in order to be prepared and cope if they were to ever experience a house fire. The following is her advice.

Note: The tips below mostly relate to homeowners but if you are renters, PLEASE be sure that you have renters insurance so that the contents of your home will be covered. If you don’t, and you lose all of your things in a fire you won’t have any recourse to replace those items & even just the bare necessities add up so quickly.

1. Get a copy of your homeowners insurance policy now, before you’ll ever need it. You can contact your agent that you bought the policy through or the insurance company directly & ask them to email it to you so you’ll always have it handy.

Read every line of that policy and call your agent with any questions at all so that at the end of it, you’re crystal clear on the specifics of your policy. Not all homeowners policies are equal. Do you have updated code coverage? This means that anything to do with any updated building codes that have changed since your house was built will be covered separately by this separate bucket of money. Pro tip: if you don’t already have this coverage, call your agent right now and add it on.

For example, all new residential construction in California as of 2020 is required to have solar, at least enough to run the major appliances and also is required to have an electric car charging outlet in the garage. I’m sure there’s many others but those two stick out for me. Because we had this coverage, those costs won’t come out of our structural coverage bucket when we rebuild.

Another thing is extended dwelling coverage. This is an additional amount of insurance allotted by the insurance company to compensate for a total loss that exceeds the dwelling coverage that’s listed on the insurance policy. For example, lumber has increased in cost a ton in the past couple of months, we’ll likely need to pull from this bucket for stuff like that. I highly recommend adding this to your policy as well. We had no idea that we had these additional coverages but I’m so grateful that we did!

2. If the worst happens and your home is lost or damaged by a fire, call your insurance company immediately. They should quickly send an adjuster out and be able to cut you a check as an advance on your claim so you’ll have access to a certain sum (dependent on your policy) to help you purchase items that you’ll need right away.

3. In addition to contacting your insurance company, contact the Red Cross. A very sweet Red Cross volunteer came out in the middle of the night during the fire to give us a debit card with immediate access to a small amount of money to cover the very, very immediate needs of our family. He also brought some stuffed animals for the kids to snuggle with which was just so special to me in the midst of all that chaos. The Red Cross will help with emergency lodging if needed and they even told me they’d help with any work needs (replacing tools if you needed them to work, or a laptop if you needed that for work etc). The Red Cross rocks!

4. Be aware: people and companies WILL try to take advantage of you, be prepared. We had a fence company come out the night of the fire to board up what was left of our house. They told us “don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything for you guys.” They told us they’d come search through the muck for any salvageable items, they’d box them up for us and even store them for us! “Wow,” I thought, “that’s so nice of them and helps us so much!” What they didn’t tell us was that they’d be billing us like crazy to box up and store our very much not salvageable items. They also charged us a bunch to attempt to clean and sanitize said items only to later say oops, guess we couldn’t salvage this stuff after all.

That night was a blur so we didn’t understand what hugely unnecessary things we were agreeing to, so just beware and be skeptical of any company that pounces on you when you’re vulnerable.

5. I’m sure you’ll be very quickly contacted by a public adjuster. Whether to use one or not is up to you but read the fine print closely. You’ll be signing over that you will pay them a set percentage of EVERY dollar your insurance company pays you. It sounds enticing because who wants to hassle with insurance when these guys are saying they’ll do it all for you? You might feel differently once you realize that most, if not all of what your insurance pays out is standard and you’d get that same amount with or without using the public adjuster. With them you’ll just now have to give them 10% of every single dollar paid to you, whether they did anything to help obtain the payment or not. Again, up to you but I personally vote no on this one.

6. Take a minute and just breathe. This is a huge loss and a very traumatic event you’re going through and it’s ok to not be ok. Just tackle things one by one and try not to get too overwhelmed. When you do, take a step back and ask for help. We’re over a year post-fire and still learning so much as we go.

Stay safe everyone!

Special thanks to Brooke Rummonds for allowing us to share her invaluable advice.

The Creek Fire: How you can help.

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Sadly, what started as a small, three-acre fire has now blazed into a massive and currently uncontrolled wildfire that has consumed over 75,000 acres of our beautiful neighboring Sierras as of the evening of Sunday, September 6th. Conditions continue to make for extremely dangerous fire conditions, and currently the flames are 0% contained, and communities for miles are affected by raining ash, smoke and dangerous air quality.

So many Fresnans have spent countless days and nights in the Sierras, visiting family cabins in Shaver Lake, camping at Dinkey Creek and Big Creek, exploring near Huntington Lake and sadly all of these areas have been deeply devastated by the Creek Fire, and many additional areas remain at risk.

Many Valley residents are looking for ways to help. We wanted to create a list of viable options for providing assistance to our neighboring community members as well as the firefighters and many rescue workers involved in trying to stop the blaze.

  • Fresno Acura is accepting donations of bottled water, Gatorade/Powerade, packaged snacks, hand-sanitizer and hand wipes and coordinating with the Sheriff’s Department to put these items in the hands of firefighters.
  • The Red Cross is currently accepting financial donations to place people immediately in hotel rooms. Unfortunately, they are unable to accept donations of goods, supplies, food or clothing due to COVID-19 restrictions, so monetary donations are most immediately helpful.
  • The owners of the Subway Restaurant in Prather are feeding fire crews in the area. If you would like to donate towards these meals that the restaurant is providing at no-cost, you can do so via Venmo @CenCalSubsInc-Page or in person at the Subway restaurants located at Willow and Herndon or Bullard and First in Fresno. These stores will also accept donations of water/gatorade.
  • The Clovis Rodeo Grounds at 748 Rodeo Drive in Downtown Clovis is acting as a safe holding area for livestock, and is accepting donations of hay for the animals.
  • Stay up to date with local news and evacuation orders. Check on friends and family who live in the area, and ensure they are aware of evacuation orders. Tips for evacuations from the Sheriff’s Dept can be found here.
  • Do not drive up to the affected area. Roads are closed, and firefighters and rescue workers are hard and work and do not need more people or vehicles to need to rescue. Do all you can to stay out of the area, and contribute to those who have already partnered with official organizations in the area to provide supplies and funds.
  • If you know of someone in need of specific help or resources, check out the Creek Fire Facebook Crisis Response page. Numerous individuals are offering help with moving livestock, housing people or pets, coordinating discounts at local hotels, providing baby supplies and more.

Tom Seaver, exceptional human, who led ‘Miracle Mets’ to glory, dies at 75

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I’ve always enjoyed telling the stories of the people in our community the most. Don’t get me wrong, indulging in local fare and sharing with you where to get the best foods is right up there with my other favorite things to write about – our homes, neighborhoods and events.  But if pressed to only write on one thing, without question it would be the people. 

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Tom Seaver in person but I know many people that grew up with him and some that played baseball with him at Fresno High, Fresno City College and even caught some pitches from him while he played for the New York Mets.  Since learning of his passing I’ve checked in with those nearest him and asked about what they recalled most of Mr Seaver – every memory shared has been one of him being an exceptional human.  

Each person I’ve spoken to that was either a friend, past teammate or frequent opponent used words like honest, caring, loving, gentleman, respectful, intelligent, and class act to describe him.  I learned a lot more about Mr Seaver these past few days, and most had nothing to do with his amazing talent on the mound (truly he was AMAZING). Did you know that he would pass on a loaded baked potato for a good steak any day? Or that he was one heck of a crossword puzzle player?! . 

Hall of Famer, Tom Seaver, pitcher who led The Miracle Mets, passed away Monday August 31st after 75 years of living and loving on an American past-time, friends and family. He was born and raised in Fresno, California.  

3 New Treats and Eats Deliverable to You!

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Are you like me? Do you like to stay in the comfort of your home and have delicious foods brought to your door? If you said yes, this post is for you! There are three new companies delivering awesome eats and treats your way in the Fresno/Clovis area!

Dough Amazing – Are you cookie lover? If so, you’ll love Dough Amazing. Dough Amazing delivers freshly baked, gigantic cookies direct to your door with just one day’s notice. (Same day delivery is available on occasion as well, depending on time of day and their current order volume.) I recently tried Dough Amazing’s Seasonal Lemon Supreme cookie (a sweet, tart and chewy lemon cookie dotted with white chocolate chips) and it was out of this world good! Their Snickerdoodle and Oatmeal Raisin cookies were also big hits within my family. Two thumbs WAY up for Dough Amazing. Check out their website and place your orders online here.

Oatmeal Raisin and Snickerdoodle Cookies from Dough Amazing
Dough Amazing’s Lemon Supreme Cookie – Order quick, it’s seasonal!

Brothers Catering – Are the fresh chips and salsa one of your favorite things about eating out at a Mexican restaurant? You’re definitely not alone. In fact, Brothers Catering knows how much people crave freshly made chips and salsa so they started a chips and salsa delivery service!

For $15, Brothers will deliver to your door a pound of freshly made, salted and seasoned corn tortilla chips along with two containers of salsa of your choosing. They offer Chile Pequine, Pico de Gallo, Chile de Arbol and Salsa Verde. 24 hours notice is required, and the delivery free for Fresno and Clovis is included in the $15 total. Follow Brothers Catering on Instagram here and text 559-287-3617 to order.

Brothers Catering 16 oz box of chips and 2 containers of salsa (Image credit: Brothers Catering)

Larry’s House of Eats – This local engineer turned Asian fusion home chef is cooking up amazing meals for delivery Wednesday through Sunday each week. He posts updated menus daily on his Instagram page featuring mouthwatering images of customer favorites like Chicken Katsu, Honey Sesame Chicken, Beef Bulgogi, Lemongrass Pork and Chicken Stir-Fry. Each main dish is served with steamed rice and vegetables and Larry (who’s actually named Steven) also offers fresh, crispy egg rolls in packs of ten.

Larry’s House of Eats mouthwatering meals (Image credit: Larry’s House of Eats)

Pre-orders help a lot, so whenever possible, giving Steven a heads up the day before is much appreciated as his business is mostly a one-man show. He cooks (with the help of his mother) and he delivers, too!