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發表於 08-4-3 12:59 |只看該作者 |倒序瀏覽 |打印

I've just moved to the Bay Area last week and learning everything from zero.... a bit hard... so would like to get some idea from the Mama here.

Regarding supermarket for Chinese stuffs, I went to the Ranch 99 near Milpitas last weekend and I wonder is there any other choices of asian supermarket that is nicer than this one? I want to buy some chinese herb such as 紅"組", but don't know which store carries the better quality and authentic stuffs....

I've never drive in Hong Kong and it seems to me that it's hard to survive without knowing how to drive in the Bay Area. I wonder is there any driving school ? or I have to find an individual driving teacher? My husband drives but he is too busy to teach me.

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babytomato

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2^#

發表於 08-4-4 02:51 |只看該作者

hello honeybeeyy,

you come at the best time of the year, the weather is so nice now, even it's a little bit cold in the morning and at night.

i usually go to ranch 99 in milpitas or cupertino, there's a korean supermarket in sunnyvale on el camino and they've better quality meat according to my husband (he's the one who does grocery shopping). i think紅棗are usually pretty cheap and we usually just get the ready-packed去核雞心棗from ranch 99. there's also a 中藥舖in mountain view (close to castro street) that we go to and we bought 陳皮from them.

as far as driving school or instructor, you can probably find them on the newspaper or chinese phone book, just make sure you pick a reputable one, maybe one with bigger ad....

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HappyMatt

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發表於 08-4-4 03:17 |只看該作者

Hi honeybeeyy

Welcome to Bay Area ah! Which city are you living? I'm mom of a 8 month old baby boy, and we live in San Ramon.

We used to go to Ranch 99 long time ago, but now we find they are a little expensive than other Chinese market ... so not going there for long time lu. Unfortunately, I'm not that familiar with the Chinese market in the South ... hope other south bay mom can help la. We might go to China Town (both SF & Oakland) once a while coz food in China Town is cheaper, but quality may not be good all the time.

I knew that there should be at 2 中藥舖 in the same mall with Ranch 99 in Milpitas ga.

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SY_Mom

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4^#

發表於 08-4-4 13:22 |只看該作者

i think life in bay area is crazy!!

when i visited a school today, i met my son's classmate in his 2-yr-old class (so we haven't met each other for abt 2 yrs now).
they'd moved to hayward, but parents work in redwood city and milpitas while one kid goes to school in palo alto and another one goes to school in fremont. they were all in the same car today.
how could they handle it?

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5^#

發表於 08-4-4 14:50 |只看該作者

Honeybeeyy,

Which city do you live? You can buy the "date" (hung joe) from those Chinese herbs store too. Though I never buy those before as my mom got those from HK and fill up my cabinet/fridge.

There are other asian markets besides Ranch 99 depends which city you live. I prefers to buy stuffs in Korean/Japanese market. I usuallu go to the Galleria mkt (El Camino/Lawrence or Han Cook (on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale). I don't usually but meat from Ranch 99 as sometimes I think the meat doesn't look too fresh. My hubby usually buy meat from Safeway (or some meat from costco). I usually go to Trader Joes every weekend and only go to Ranch99/Marina mkt once a month.

By the way, I live in Mountain View, work in Redwood City, son's daycare in Santa Clara.

If you go to SF Chinatown, the food is much cheaper there (compare to Ranch99). But I seldom go to SF and I don't like to go to Chinatown usually.

原文章由 honeybeeyy 於 08-4-3 12:59 發表
I've just moved to the Bay Area last week and learning everything from zero.... a bit hard... so would like to get some idea from the Mama here.

Regarding supermarket for Chinese stuffs, I went to ...

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HoneyBee30

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發表於 08-4-11 06:29 |只看該作者

Your friend probably spends 2 hours everyday (one-way) to drop off and pick up the kids and his/he spouse.

The schools that they picked for their kids are on their way to work, while I probably won't do that (have kids in different schools), this makes the most sense --> Hayward - Fremont - Milpitas - Palo Alto - Redwood City. I think the parent who works in Redwood will be the designated driver - dropping everybody off and picking them up. But I agree, this is a commute that is a bit too long, granted that they can take advantage of carpool.

原文章由 SY_Mom 於 08-4-3 21:22 發表
i think life in bay area is crazy!!

when i visited a school today, i met my son's classmate in his 2-yr-old class (so we haven't met each other for abt 2 yrs now).
they'd moved to hayward, but parent ...

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zillyzizi

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7^#

發表於 08-4-13 13:08 |只看該作者

another asian supermarket is Marina's at cupertino.
I prefer Marina's than Ranch 99...
or, if you are willing to drive further, can go to Mitsuwa in san jose (japanese supermarket)

原文章由 honeybeeyy 於 08-4-3 12:59 發表
I've just moved to the Bay Area last week and learning everything from zero.... a bit hard... so would like to get some idea from the Mama here.

Regarding supermarket for Chinese stuffs, I went to ...

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honeybeeyy

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8^#

發表於 08-4-20 14:56 |只看該作者

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm living in Palo Alto and I have been to the supermarkets that mentioned by you guys :>

I agreed with bunnymonkey that Ranch 99 might be a place that only visit once a month for some seasoning source or ingredient. The meat and vegetable do not look very nice there.

I've been to both Mitsuwa (San Jose) and Nijiya (Mountain View) coz I cook a lot of Japanese food but I would prefer Mitsuwa coz they have greater selection yet both are pretty pricy.

For vegatable and fruit, I really like the farmer's market on Sunday. For weekday, I just get the meat and vegetable from Safeway.

I think Whole Food is nice yet some products are overpriced.

I think Trader Joe has good price and some good stuffs.

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發表於 08-4-21 06:52 |只看該作者

honeybeeyy,

If you live in Palo Alto, you may check out Dragers's in Menlo Park (http://www.draegers.com/). They have international stuffs and I see they even have those Cantonese "mean c" (soy bean paste) in those paper-cardboard jar container. The price for those products are not as cheap as other places. It's good that they have different selection for you to choose and you can check out their sales items, too. They have decent cheese selection there as well.

I go to the whole food more frequently in the past few weeks coz I was in the area (cupertino one). I like to grab the yobaby yogurt there as they seems to have the $2.99 price tag very often nowadays (TJ's is $3.xx; safeway have it for $4.xx). My son loves to sample the cheese there and we had dinner there for the past few Saturdays.
I used to go to Nijiya more often few years back. Sometimes just grabbed the bento box there to go. Mitsuwa is not that on the way unless I go to Valley Fair/Santana Row shopping. Anyway, it's nice that Nijiya close late and it's closer to my house.

By the way, which Famer's Mkt do you go to? My husband (or we) go to the one in Mountain View every Sunday. Sometimes we were a bit late to get there after church's service.

原文章由 honeybeeyy 於 08-4-20 14:56 發表
Thanks for all the advice.

I'm living in Palo Alto and I have been to the supermarkets that mentioned by you guys :>

I agreed with bunnymonkey that Ranch 99 might be a place that only visit once a ...

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babytomato

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發表於 08-4-22 01:53 |只看該作者

i love the farmer's market in mountain view, we usually go there after church too. there was one time we bought a whole bag of peaches (over 20 in the bag) for just $5.

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honeybeeyy

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11^#

發表於 08-4-22 05:29 |只看該作者

Hi Bunnymonkey,

I have alrady checked out Dragers several times :> I like their gourmet cooked food and cheese section and I found some good Italian tomato cans and souces that are priced resonable.

I have only been to the Farmer's market on California Ave. so far. I bought a lot of vegetable yesterday! BTW, Where is the Farmer's Market on Mountain View? I heard the one on Palo Alto will start in May.

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12^#

發表於 08-4-22 08:11 |只看該作者

I know what you are talking about! :D I got those peaches couple times too. Fill up the bag, mix and match, for $5. I think I counted and it had over 40 or 50 peaches/nectarines.

原文章由 babytomato 於 08-4-22 01:53 發表
i love the farmer's market in mountain view, we usually go there after church too. there was one time we bought a whole bag of peaches (over 20 in the bag) for just $5.

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13^#

發表於 08-4-22 08:16 |只看該作者

Yeah. I like Dragers too. Some of the items there are cheaper than the other stores. Some are more expensive depends on what you are getting. But most of the time, I may not have enough time to shop there after Church coz we would be catching the Mtn View Farmer's Market. Last Sunday, I went to Dragers coz we stayed in Church late so we know we will be missing the farmers market anyway.

The farmer's market in Mountain View is by the Mountain View Cal-Train/Light-rail station (Castro St/Central Expressway). They have it every Sunday from 9am to 1pm.
http://www.cafarmersmkts.com/mtnview.html

原文章由 honeybeeyy 於 08-4-22 05:29 發表
Hi Bunnymonkey,

I have alrady checked out Dragers several times :> I like their gourmet cooked food and cheese section and I found some good Italian tomato cans and souces that are priced resonable ...

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dd04

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發表於 08-4-22 19:40 |只看該作者

以下有些問題希望能回答

1) 1) 買樓後, 若作為自住之用, 以後有甚麽稅項(加州及聯邦)要繳付呢? 如香港的差餉
2) 2) 買樓後, 若作為出租之用, 以後又有甚麽稅項(加州及聯邦)要繳付呢? 如香港的物業稅, 稅率又是多少%呢?
3) 3) 買樓後有多少必要支出, 如保險費要交幾多呢?

Thanks

Th

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HappyMatt

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15^#

發表於 08-4-23 04:06 |只看該作者

dd04

1) You need to pay property tax. You will receive a statement to show you a grand total, but they already divide that into 2 payment. Tax rate is vary in different city. But remember, the property tax amount you pay can be use to calculate the tax return every year.

2) If you rent it to people, you still need to pay property tax. Plus, you need to pay tax for the rent $$ you got from your renter. Not sure about the rate coz I gave everything to accountant.

3) Monthly mortgage + gas & electric + water + garbage + insurance + HOA ... Home Owner Association Fee (if any) + phone (optional) + cable TV (optional) + internet (optional) ... how much $$ is really depend on what is the living standard you looking for, so kinda hard to say.

Hope the info can help la.

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SY_Mom

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發表於 08-4-25 06:16 |只看該作者

Stratford and Challenger schools - which one is better for kindergarten and elementary school??

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dd04

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17^#

發表於 08-4-26 17:06 |只看該作者

我是新移民, 想買樓, 請問San Leandro, castro valley 是否good neighbourhood 呢?

朋友話Daly City 經常好foxy,是否向北移, 在San Francisco County 內的西邊沿海也同樣大霧呢?

但Mission District / Silver Terrance 又是否好多黑鬼呢?

在SFO的生活指數, 一家四口每月要有多少收入, 生活水平才可與HK$30,000/月接近呢?

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rose-mag

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18^#

發表於 08-4-27 13:37 |只看該作者

我老公話San Leandro同Castro Valley都好熱，San Leandro近ocean好少少，但Castro Valley夏天超過１００度，冇泠氣會幾難頂。屋價大約３０萬起，比起Daly City同San Francisco真係平好多，Castro Valley都幾多唐人，校區ＯＫ，唔係最好，灣區最好校區係Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin等，不就Ｄ屋就貴好多。Daly City 係幾大霧架，不過近海地區都係差不多，三藩市有Ｄ地區都大霧，例如Sunset。Mission 同Silver都要睇地段，唔係條條街都差，你要實地去睇下周圍環境先知架，如果Ｄ舖頭好早收，外面又鐡閘鐡枝咁，果個區好極有限，你又可以睇下周圍泊Ｄ咩車，好新定係又殘又花，後者多的話又係唔慌好，留意街上面Ｄ人係咩人，多唔多人係街度無所事事，你有小朋友要小心佢地安全。除咗黑人，墨西哥同中東及南亞都要留意下。

好難講要幾多，好多人嚟咗之後都發覺生活習慣要改嚟適應，例如香港以前唔興食唔晒打包，呢度就係人都咁做，好多仲爭住囉，打包埋白飯咁第日午餐就可以唔駛錢；用coupon、等sale先買嘢好普遍，仲唔止話貴嘢，連日常飲嘅奶食嘅蛋用嘅紙巾都唔例外。要記得三藩市的稅係高Ｄ架，相對最低工資都高少少。我估如果話要維持一家四口比較好的生活水平，睇怕都要有總共１０萬稅前收入（以你有一架車，一間唔係太貴嘅屋嚟計）。

[ 本文章最後由 rose-mag 於 08-4-27 13:39 編輯 ]

花旗太太生活在花旗國，留意時差，你問我未必即時答到。

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meeemeee

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發表於 08-4-27 13:54 |只看該作者

回覆 #3 SY_Mom 的文章

Hello SY_Mom,
我比較識多啲人(parents)比小朋友讀Challenger. 你仲未決定比Sean讀边間??

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SY_Mom