Kate Mayo's Profile

Take any roasted root vegetable & mash. Delicious alternative to mashed potatoes.

Most importantly, remember to get protein! Make an avocado smoothie or just eat an avocado straight out of the skin.

My toaster oven is the only thing that gets me through hot Los Angeles summers without air conditioning.

google the landlord! I cannot stress this enough. Had I done this prior to renting my apartment in SF, I would have ran for the hills. Completely non-responsive, rude, and shady. Just for kicks, check out these reviews:

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/23/nyregion/neighborhood-report-chelsea-a-hated-landlord-in-hot-water.html

http://www.yelp.com/biz/norcal-holdings-san-francisco-2

I'm a grad student and I do a lot of my studying and writing at home. I sat around a lot on the couch and on my bed but last year developed carpal tunnel syndrome and had to find a solution to the work-from-home pains in my wrist.

The thing that helped me most was setting up a small desk in the bedroom and getting a 24" flat screen monitor & full size keyboard to connect my laptop to. When my wrist is tired and achey, I sit at the desk. The monitor doubles as a TV screen for watching Netflix, Hulu, etc from my laptop, and takes up very little space. If you don't have space for a desk/keyboard/monitor combo, just work at an ergonomic surface. Carpal tunnel is not fun!

And yes, keeping the room & house clean is an absolute must!

A few weeks ago you did a feature on Trader Joe's coconut oil. I had never heard of coconut oil so read through the comment section to see what it could be used for. I found this recipe for granola and made it earlier this week. It is unbelievable!

Looking back now, I can't believe I went so long without making homemade granola. The coconut oil made my house smell amazing all evening and I even rubbed a little on my hands after washing the dishes.

http://www.two-tarts.com/2012/01/homemade-coconut-almond-granola.html

My spice cupboard is the least organized thing in my house, and I like it that way. For the most part, everything is in jars, albeit mismatched sizes, shapes, and colors. Although I am a neat freak, the chaos of my spices leads to more interesting cooking. I'll be looking for cumin for a recipe but stumble upon paprika and decide to add that to the dish as well - adding my own spin to a recipe. Also, directly above my spices is the hot sauce shelf, filled with 20+ bottles of hot sauce from all over the world. Same philosophy applies to those bottles as well.

Budget, lifestyle, and timing are important factors. When I moved to San Francisco in 2007, the rental market was at its peak: studios in good parts of the city were over $1,000 and 1 bedrooms were over $1,500. By the time I left in 2010, the rental market had slowed, and studios were going for about $850, 1 bedrooms closer to $1350. Not a big difference, but just an example of how timing is important.

In terms of neighborhoods, SF has something for everyone. The only way to "know" which neighborhood to live in is to go there for awhile (I'd say at least a week), and just walk around different neighborhoods. Try getting to and from places on public transit and find which neighborhoods offer the best vibe, ease of transit, and preferred terrain. Some people love the hills of Nob Hill, some prefer the flatlands of the Sunset or Richmond. Some people love the subway, so it is imperative to live near a subway stop, some people love the bus, so a good bus line is important. Go to SF, walk around, find what feels right.

All that being said, I lived in Duboce Triangle for the entirety of my SF experience, and I loved it. Not a single complaint. Safe, clean, central to all the Muni lines and close enough to BART. Good access to grocery stores and the freeway. It has a perfect SF mix of gay, straight, young, old, wealthy & not. There are hills but nothing out of control. It is almost the geographic center of the city, so no other part of the city is too far away.

Good luck - SF is a beautiful, wonderful place.