Author: Philippa Ratcliffe

Whilst here it would have been wrong not to go and suss out SoMa StrEat Food Park in San Francisco. On a sunny California day we drove to Milbrae from Foster City to take the BART into San Fran and got off at 16th St Mission. SoMa is resident...

When we were first in the Bay Area after going for dinner with the OH’s colleague Pierre, we were kindly invited to join them for Thanksgiving at Pierre’s other half Patti’s father’s ranch Nr Hollister. There was a small caveat though, to bring some M&S slippers and English chocolate,...

Redwood City (they call everything a city here it seems!) is about a 15 minute drive from Foster City. We popped down to the ‘Historic Centre’ after grabbing the last few minutes of the regular farmers market. The ‘historic centre’ dates back to around 1900! Saying that it’s quite...

On Armistice Day our thoughts are with those families whose loved ones didn’t make it home or have been injured in conflict; the sacrifices that thousands of service men & women and their families give and have given to protect our nation and keep the peace. Below is a...

Off The Grid organises weekly street food markets or truck stops in and around the Bay Area, San Francisco. We had been in SF overnight and on our journey back we made a whistle stop to check it all out at the weekly Picnic @ the Presidio, though this...

Had breakfast at an IHOP down the road on the first morning before picking the keys up for the apartment. There was something on the menu that I had to have. It had my name written all over it…literally! For those that don’t know, my nickname is Rooty!    ...

Five thousand odd miles and 10hrs after leaving London Heathrow I arrive at SFO, tired but not too bad after a rather passable flight. Top tip that if you are going to fly this route and your aircraft is a 747-400, Virgin do economy seats in the upper deck....

I escorted the OH out of the country on Monday for his flight to San Diego. He’s based there until I fly out to San Francisco on 18th Oct. He’s working crazy hours at the moment but he did manage to snap a couple of pics just to make...

A fantastic interview by David Bailey – An Englishman in the Balkans with Marcus Agar Associate Producer of the film “TESLA”, the Nikola Tesla biopic from director Michael Anton. The film will shoot in Serbia and the US, starring Branko Tomović. Those of you that haven’t heard of Nikola Tesla maybe...

I thought I would jot down some lines about the arrival and our recent visit of Giggling Squid Thai restaurant in Reigate High Street. Having had a look around the premises when it was still on the market I watched with interest over the months the issues Giggling Squid...