Home Care In Modesto, CA

Here’s some news sure to spark, ahem, some debate.

We’re not just blowing smoke when we tell you Modesto has been ranked 15th among the “Best Cities to Get Stoned” in America, according to a new promotional study of cities where adult-use recreational marijuana is legal.

The list was compiled by Lawnstarter, a Texas-based tech platform that helps people schedule outdoor home services. It regularly puts out regional studies based on city demographics and data for marketing purposes.

The rankings came out just in time for 420, the unofficial cannabis holiday celebrated by marijuana enthusiasts every April 20. In Modesto, the date will roll out with specials and other festivities at area recreational cannabis businesses.

Modesto was ranked just below Salem, Ore., and above Oakland on the national list. The top three cities for 2023 were San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver, respectively. According to Lawnstarter, the list rankings were based on access, consumer satisfaction, convenience, lounging, entertainment and “munchie relief.”

You can ask your pot-smoking friends what “munchie relief” means, but for the study’s purposes, it denotes “fast food lover-friendliness” and “cheese lover-friendliness.”

Modesto’s pot industry also has attracted marijuana icons like Cheech Marin, who in March 2022 stopped by the north Modesto dispensary Jayden’s Journey. The comic, half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, known for “Up in Smoke” and other pot-centric movies, signed autographs for hundreds of fans as part of the cannabis retailer’s Epilepsy Awareness Day event.

Stanislaus County has about two dozen recreational cannabis dispensaries, with locations in Modesto, Turlock, Riverbank, Oakdale, Ceres, Patterson and more.

Recreational marijuana use has been legal in California since 2016, when voters passed Proposition 64, legalizing its use for all adults 21 and older and sale through licensed dispensaries. Cannabis retailers have been able to sell to recreational users legally since 2018 in Stanislaus County.

Modesto even has promoted its cannabis industry through Visit Modesto, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. In 2021, it launched MoTown CannaPass, a tourism campaign aimed at getting people to stop, shop and enjoy the Central Valley’s cannabis businesses.

The campaign helps cannabis-curious travelers find legal marijuana businesses and experiences in the area. The free digital campaign, accessible via mobile phone and online, also offers perks, specials, discounts and giveaways to those who sign up.

For those wanting to celebrate Modesto’s rankings responsibly, remember that to legally enjoy cannabis in California, you must be age 21 or older. You also cannot smoke or ingest marijuana in public. And under no circumstances should you drive or operate any kind of vehicle during or after using marijuana, as it is illegal and could definitely harsh your vibe by landing you in jail with a DUI.

Don’t put away your winter coat just yet. While winter is technically over (the spring equinox was last week), the cold weather in Modesto is not going away just yet.

If this March has felt colder to you than it typically does, that’s because temperatures in the area have actually been lower than average.

Here’s what the numbers look like:

This month ranks as the fourth coldest March in history dating back to 1927, based off of the average overall temperature, according to the National Weather Service.

The average overall temperature to date has been 51 degrees in March, said meteorologist Idamis Del Valle-Shoemaker said. The normal iis 56.4 degrees. The average overall temperature takes into consideration both the highs and lows.

So far, the average observed high this month has been 59.4 degrees with an average observed low of 42.8 degrees.

The normal high in March averages 68.2 degrees and the normal low averages 45.2 degrees.

Modesto Junior College Earth Science Instructor Noah Hughes said the most likely cause of the colder-than-normal weather is La Niña.

La Niña is a pattern of below-normal sea surface temperatures in the topical Pacific Ocean, Hughes said. Stronger than usual trade winds push warm water toward Asia, causing upwelling that brings cold water to the surface of the Pacific Ocean off of the coast of North America.

“This deflects the jet stream up toward Alaska before it plunges down along the West Coast, bringing cold Alaskan air toward the West Coast of North America,” Hughes said. “This is why La Niña years are usually colder than average.”

Hughes said La Niña winters are also typically drier than average in California, but this winter was different.

“For some as-of-yet unknown reason, the strong La Niña ridge of high pressure set up further west than usual,” Hughes said. “This allowed the jet stream to steer out our storms over the waters of the eastern Pacific before slamming them into California, bringing us much more precipitation than we would usually expect from La Niña ocean conditions.”

This is California’s third winter in a row of La Niña conditions, Hughes said.

Modesto residents may want the “rain, rain (to) go away” and not come again another day, but they should expect to see more this week.

“A strong winter storm will bring widespread moderate to heavy precipitation to the region (Monday night) into Wednesday,” Del Valle-Shoemaker said. “We’re expecting anywhere from a quarter of an inch to a half inch for the Modesto area.”

Temperature will be 10 to 15 degrees cooler than average Tuesday with highs in the mid-50s, the meteorologist said. Wednesday will see similar temperatures.

Thursday, Del Valle-Shoemaker said temperatures will be 10 degrees below normal with highs in the low 60s.

This story was originally published March 27, 2023, 1:05 PM.

Easter may be a warm one, as the National Weather Service said temperatures are expected to increase in Modesto by the weekend.

“We’ll see a warming trend kind of gradually throughout this week,” meteorologist Katrina Hand said Monday. “By Saturday or Sunday, we could be 20 degrees warmer than what we have for today.”

Here’s what to expect as the Easter Bunny prepares to lay its eggs around our backyards and parks:

A wind advisory is in effect Monday until 8 p.m., the weather service said.

Modesto could see gusts between 30 and 40 mph in a northwesterly direction, Hand said, with winds diminishing overnight.

A frost advisory is also in effect Tuesday between 2 and 9 a.m.

“You’ll wake up (Tuesday) morning to some cold, morning low temperatures,” Hand said. “Generally speaking, in the mid- to upper 30s across portions of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.”

Monday’s high is expected to be near 57 degrees, with a wind advisory extending into the late evening and a frost advisory overnight until Tuesday morning. The wind chill is expected to be 39 degrees.

Tuesday’s weather will be sunny with a high of 60 degrees and a low of 37 degrees.

As temperatures gradually get warmer, Wednesday may see a sunny sky with a high of 63 degrees and low of 40 degrees.

Thursday is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 68 degrees and a low of 47 degrees.

Friday might see a high of 71 degrees.

“By the weekend, we’re looking at, currently in the forecast, upper 70s, but we’ll see how things trend as we get closer,” Hand said.

The seven-day forecast says Saturday will be mostly sunny, with a high near 74, while Easter Sunday will be sunny with a high near 78.

The Weather Service meteorologist said there is ridging building back into the region, which means an elongated area of relatively high atmospheric pressure will bring warmer air.

“Confidence is increasing as we get closer to this coming weekend for some high pressure building back in, allowing for temperatures to rise,” Hand said.

This story was originally published April 3, 2023, 11:12 AM.

Modesto city employees perform random inspections on waste bins — and if you’re not doing it right, the fines can (eventually) cost more than your rent.

It would take determination to get to the heftiest of fines, but if you mess up enough, even the lowest penalty will cost you triple digits.

And it’s gotten more complicated: Last year, the state mandated residents to recycle food waste, adding another bin to the rotation.

A Modesto Bee reader wrote to our service journalism team, which is focused on answering community questions, asking about the city’s three-bin system.

Here’s how to use it correctly, and what happens if you don’t:

Household garbage put in the black container is sent to a waste-to-energy facility, where it is burned to make electricity, according to the city.

The city’s website says trash allowed in this bin includes:

Organic waste, recyclable material, dirt, rocks, concrete, asphalt and hazardous, toxic and e-waste material are not allowed in black bins, according to the city’s website.

Organic material, which is what the green can is used for, is food waste, paper waste, cardboard and small yard waste.

Such materials include, according to the city website:

The website says these items cannot be placed in green bins:

Compost is created from organic waste and is sold to the public by yardage. Residents can get a free kitchen compost bucket by calling 209-577-5494.

The blue can, or recycling can, is used for CRV (California redemption value) and non-CRV plastics, glass and metals. According to the city, all items that go into the blue container must be clean and dry.

If materials in the blue bin are contaminated with liquid, food matter or a plastic bag, the material risks not being taken to a center for processing.

Recyclable items include:

Nothing that is supposed to be placed in black or green cans can be placed in blue cans, including plastic bags or plastic-lined bags. You’ll notice that clean cardboard is listed as acceptable in both the blue and green bins. An employee with the city’s Solid Waste Division clarified for The Bee that it’s preferable residents put the clean cardboard in the blue bin, but if it’s full and the green one is not, it may go there. But soiled cardboard, like pizza boxes, may go only in the green bin.

Diana Ruiz-Del Re, a city spokeswoman, said the city encourages residents to continue to take their CRV material to a facility if they want to and it is cost effective for them to do so. Recyclable items that are not redeemable at recycling centers can still be placed in home blue containers.

Bins may not be filled to more than 100 pounds or to the point the lid will not close, according to the city.

City employees perform random route reviews of the three containers throughout Modesto, where they flip the lid of the container and check for contamination.

If they find a container has the incorrect material, employees first tag the container to provide residents an opportunity to clean it, Ruiz-Del Re said.

“Our main goal is to educate customers to ensure they are doing the right thing,” Ruiz-Del Re said.

Residents have two weeks to make a reinspection appointment, and if they pass the reinspection, they are cleared. If they do not pass, Ruiz-Del Re said residents can be fined $100 for the first offense with progressive citations following every noncompliance inspection.

The amount of administrative civil penalties assessed per day or per violation is set according to the following schedule:

For FAQs about the blue bins, and their pickup schedule, go to www.modestogov.com/370/Solid-Waste-Division.

Two of the world’s most-used seasonings come together literally, figuratively and (most importantly) deliciously at Modesto’s El Bistro by Salt and Pepper.

The new west Modesto restaurant on Carpenter Road comes from a pair of restaurant and catering veterans with more than a decade’s experience serving Central Valley diners. Married team Judith Avila and Jose Luna are behind Salt and Pepper, a local food business that includes catering and taquerias.

The couple now have added a bistro and bakery to that list with the Modesto site in a former longtime bakery space at Carpenter and Kansas Avenue. Before sitting vacant for about two years, the site was home first to Hanna’s and then to Frost bakeries. The retail complex includes Harbor Freight Tools and a Dutch Bros Coffee kiosk.

Now Avila and Luna have transformed the location into two distinct yet complementary attached spaces with a bakery side and a bistro side. The sections also are distinguished by their color tones — white for the bakery and black for the bistro, intentionally like their namesake seasonings.

“We had dreamed about an open concept where all your cravings are in the same place,” said Ana Espinoza, who co-manages the restaurant with her husband, Israel Espinoza. “That way, each time you come back, you can get something different. Something sweet, something savory, some coffee, some Latin flair, some French, some Italian, Mexican. It’s all here.”

Avila and Luna started their original catering company Salt & Pepper in 2012 and have operated out of Patterson since. Then in 2020, they opened two Salt & Pepper restaurants, one in Patterson on El Circulo Avenue and and the other in Turlock on North Tegner Road.

The opportunity to open El Bistro came suddenly, Israel Espinoza said, when another bakery’s plans for opening in the space fell through. He said they realized it would make a great place for their dream bistro. The project came together quickly, taking only about two months thanks to its large and intact preexisting kitchen.

El Bistro’s two-sided approach to dining means the first choice you make is where to sit: the bakery-cafe side or the bistro-bar side which both serve the same menu.

In the bakery-cafe, you’ll find a host of hot or cold espresso drinks, teas and bakery items, all made in house. A wood-framed glass pastry case fills the back wall, offering about 15 different delights from cookies and sweet rolls, scones and cheesecakes to whole loaves of bread, dinner rolls and more.

The bakery makes all of the bread for the bistro side, as well, used in everything from sandwiches to French toast. The kitchen also makes all the tortillas, chips and sauces from scratch. You’ll find breakfast, brunch and lunch items served all day in the bistro.

Breakfast/brunch fare includes more than a dozen selections, including several towering French toast varieties (from Italian-inspired tiramisu to Nutella-stuffed churro and Mexican dulce de leche, which run $19 to $23). Lunch spans fusion specialties like the carnitas biscuit (carnitas with refried beans, avocado, coleslaw and pickled jalapenos on a homemade biscuit) to the bacon-birria burger (a half-pound beef patty with birria, chorizo, American cheese, bacon and the fixings), ranging from $17 to $23.

The restaurant’s attention to detail extends beyond just its decor. Food is served on an assortment of aesthetically pleasing plates, and care is taken with plating. Don’t be surprised when most of the customers whip out their phones to snap pictures of the beautiful creations coming out of the kitchen.

Luckily for El Bistro customers, it’s not all about the aesthetic. Thanks to scratch-making so many ingredients and offerings, the results are flavorful and fresh. Those with dietary restrictions should feel included as well, thanks to the various gluten-free, vegan and keto options. And the bistro also serves a selection of beer, California wines, champagne and, yes, of course, mimosas.

West side residents already have found, and started returning to, the eatery. Those include Tim Mieher, who called the carnitas biscuit he ate at the bistro recently “one of the best meals I’ve had in Modesto ever.” He was thrilled to have another quality dining option west of Highway 99. The area has far fewer full-service restaurants than other parts of the city, like downtown and north Modesto.

“It’s great to have a new restaurant to satisfy and represent the west side, which often gets a bad rap,” Mieher said. “People over here will support a good place, and it’s always nice to not have to go over the bridge (across Highway 99) for something to eat.”

El Bistro by Salt and Pepper, at 901 N. Carpenter Road, is open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday. For more information, call 209-622-0419 or visit www.instagram.com/elbistrobysaltandpepper.

This story was originally published April 17, 2023, 6:00 AM.