This article on my neighborhood, Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto, has appeared in the new book from the Bay Area Travel Writers, titled Taste of Travel. Alice Waters remains a presiding spirit over Berkeley’s celebrated Gourmet Ghetto. But there are newcomers also who enliven the scene.

East from San Francisco stretches the Oakland Berkeley East Bay. A visitor looking for attractions, things to see and do, can enjoy Oakland's Jack London Square, Yoshi's Jazz Club, Port of Oakland, Asiatown, Old Oakland, Preservation Park, the Paramount Theater, Lake Merritt, the Oakland Museum, and Lakeside Park and Garden Center. A visitor to Berkeley will enjoy the UC Berkeley University, also known as the University of California Berkeley, plus Chez Panisse and the Gourmet Ghetto, along with the downtown Berkeley Repertory Theater, Telegraph Avenue, many fine restaurants, and special neighborhoods such as the Elmwood.

Please permit this humor caption: Associated Press (Family Edition): In this Dec. 17, 2017, file photo, possibly asserting silliness and having fun, The Nosebleed 4 (jerseyed Paul Foster Jr and Charlie Foster, accompanied by Paul Foster and Lee Foster) share...

More than 500 of us gathered two days before Thanksgiving at a long Grateful Table event in remote vineyards on the Sonoma Napa county line. Visit California organized this as a tribute to first responders in the Sonoma/Napa fires and the resilience of the wine country people. Chef Tyler Florence gave an impassioned salute to the first responders who prevented the fire tragedy from becoming an even greater catastrophe.

We had a lively discussion in Portland, Oregon recently at a meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers on travel journalist survivability and profitability.

My author/travel journalist website, dating from 1995, has undergone a rebirth and renewal that will carry me forward for the next decade.