6 Essentials to Help You Thrive During Quarantine
Looking for something to do? If you’re quarantined in the Monterey Bay, you may feel luckier than some, but that doesn’t always make the hours go by any quicker. Here’s a list of six essentials we all need to help us get through these trying times.
Coffee
Let’s face it: Whether we’re working from home or waiting for our jobs to come back to us, we’re all exhausted. Our coffee pot is more overworked than we are, but we’re super excited about one thing — Captain + Stoker is back up and running! That’s right, Monterey’s favorite coffee shop is ready for you to come get your fix every day from 7a.m.-1p.m. While you can’t actually enter the store and you have to wear a face mask while maintaining your distance, give your coffee pot a break and get some fresh air when you order through their togo window.
Can’t make it to the shop? Well, not only do they offer a delivery service on all their coffee options through their website, you can also pick up some of their locally roasted coffee on our new online store, as well! We offer their Captain Blend, with notes of dark chocolate, cherry, and citrus, and their Stoker blend, with notes of brown sugar, plum, caramel, and orange. Both of those blends come in 12 ounce bags, with free local pickup at Melville Tavern, free local delivery in Marina, $5 delivery to Monterey, Seaside, Carmel, Carmel Valley, and Salinas, as well as free shipping on all orders of $75 or more.
Entertainment
When times get rough, it’s more important than ever to find ways to connect and uplift each other. Thankfully, we can turn to My Local Thrive on a frequent basis to get our fix of local talent. Every Friday and Saturday, they do a live music stream with the talents on a rotating basis. On Sundays, there’s a Zoom stream of Daniel Troia’s “We’re All in This Together” documentary that focuses on the impact of kindness and the simplicity of one small favor going a very long way. They’re also preparing for Meditation Monday’s and Two Step Tuesday dance classes, so be sure to check out their list of events to be there for your favorite one! Additionally, there will be a cook along with a local chef on June 7th for a Father’s Day brunch, and you KNOW we’ll be there for that one!
In the meantime, you can also sign up for a Thrive Pass to get discounts on all affiliated businesses. Their main goal is to highlight the deep well of talent on the bay and to showcase local business and services. The pass is $4/month or $30/year, with 10% of all proceeds going to Dorothy’s Kitchen and 10% of proceeds going to weHike. Check out the full list of businesses and discounts you receive with that pass here.
Exercise
If you’re anything like us, you love your food. However, with gyms being closed and major restrictions on outdoor activities, it can be a little easy to let your exercise go off to the wayside. Although you can potentially dust off some P90x or Insanity DVDs, we recommend joining Elizabeth Plante over at Monterey Bay Moves for her virtual group classes. On top of that, with the current climate, they’re offering a Pay What You Can service that gets you a 10-class pass. It’s a $155 value, but you can set up an account and send an e-mail over about what you can afford, and there you have it!
With the classes being virtual, that also means you can join in with any friend or family member that doesn’t live locally. You can check out the full schedule of online classes here, which include various HIIT, Yoga, Core, and Zumba workouts. The classes average 45-50 minutes and are sure to help make sure you come out of this quarantine looking your best!
Take Out
Are you as tired of cooking as we are? We all miss the restaurant industry, but that doesn’t stop our local mom and pop shops from serving you the best of the best! We’ve crafted a list of all of the places open as of now, and as we move into June, there will hopefully be more and more by the day. As of now, you can catch us ordering pizza from Melville Tavern and Gianni’s. You know we’re getting down on some chicken massala from Aabha, and we even splurge on a lasagna every so often from Rosine’s, as well.
During these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to support our local eateries. For the restaurants that are open without the delivery service, consider Green Pedal Couriers to deliver for you if you’re unable to pick up the food for yourself. If you prefer fresh products to cook for yourself, consider Savor the Local, Ridge to Reef Organics, or Hall’s Organic Farm services to bring you farm-to-table fruits and veggies. You could also put together a charcuterie board with a fancy bamboo California cutting board from our online store and salami from Foustman’s. Get some cheese from Schoch Family Farmstead and you’re good to go.
Dessert
When you get a hunkering for something sweet (which we’re guilty of on a daily basis,) there are local shops that have you covered in that department. You can always call on Nece’s Gluten Free Bistro, who now also offer vegan options. Additionally, as the reigning champs of last year’s CSUMB Startup Challenge, we’d like to take a moment to congratulate them on taking the crown this year! We’re obsessed with their cinnamon rolls and churros, but with made-to-order cakes and cookies, we know we can trust them to craft up a solid product that with satiate our sweet tooth.
If you’re a fan of chocolate, we also offer Heritage Chocolates Corralitos in our online store, with an 8-piece artisan chocolate box mixing and matching the dark and milk chocolate offerings. Ad Astra Bread Co. also does donuts every Friday, so if you’re having trouble keeping track of what day it is, there’s another reason to circle the Fridays on your calendars. Plus, the donuts are perfect snacks for viewing the live music from My Local Thrive.
Adult Beverages
At the end of a long day (or, hey, maybe at the beginning of one, who even knows what time it is anymore?) you might need to take a long, good sip of a drink that burns a little on the way down. Local wineries including Comanche, Puma, Pierce Ranch, and Hellam’s Tobacco Shop all offer wine to go. Alvarado Street Brewery also offers curbside pickup for their beers in both their Salinas and Monterey locations, with some Yeast of Eden selections thrown in, too. Fieldwork and Dust Bowl also offer curbside pickup.
If you need something a little stronger, we’ve got you covered in that department, too. You can always craft your own homemade cocktails with The Bitter Ginger Bitters or Carmel Berry Company elderberry and elderflower syrups. However, you can also order take-home cocktails! Yes, you read that right. Head on over to Osteria al Mare to choose from their nine crafted cocktails available with their meals (perfect for another take-home option.) Cultura at Carmel-by-the-Sea also has six different cocktails to choose from, so take advantage of bringing the bars to you with some ready-to-drink libations that will keep you company during quarantine.
