The "F" word

No, not that word.

The other overused word that begins with the sixth letter of the alphabet: FREE.

The San Francisco Really Really Free Market (RRFM) meets on the final Saturday of the month at Dolores Park near 19th and Dolores streets. (It moves to an indoor location on rainy days.)

The market functions as a potluck. Bring things you want to give away, and take things you need. Everything is free. Which you likely guessed from the name of the event, right? Complete details are here.

RRFMs occur across the U.S. and around the world. Check the list.

It's a zoo out there

Zoodango is a city-centric search engine to help you find things to do right near any San Francisco address you enter.

Dozens of perky little icons will dot your map, showing you restaurants, bars, movies, museums, etc. Each destination also has a score based on other destination websites and Zoodango users' experience.

For more info, check this article on SFGate.com.

Schlepping for spices

If you're a fan of Penzeys, the online spice emporium, you can now visit the new Penzeys store—in Menlo Park.

Read all about it in the San Francisco Weekly.

More winners in the condo lottery?

The City of San Francisco needs money and one way to get it is to up the number of condo conversions it allows this year.

The 200 slots for 2009 have been awarded, but another 1,500 people are ready to pay for the privilege of going condo.

Read Carolyn Said's article in SFGate. And her follow-up piece.

Chicken or fish?

Roost.com now has listings for San Francisco. The site lists all homes and condos for sale in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), plus homes for sale by owner, new construction listings, and foreclosures/foreclosed property listings.

Enter an address on PropertyShark.com and you'll get a description of the property, the most recent sales price, approximate current value, title history, code violations, permits, photographs, maps, etc.

Why aren't any of the real estate sites name after tofu?

Let me call you tweetheart…

If you use the Twitter microblogging platform, you might want to follow these members:

SFEarthquakes for minute by minute updates on seismic activity.

FoodNut or SFRestaurants for links to Bay Area restaurant reviews.

Cheeseboard Pizza for this Berkeley eatery's pizza of the day tweet.

USCFpeds for the lastest news and research findings from UCSF Children's Hospital.

SFist or SFStation for Bay Area news, arts, events, and more.

San Francisco Weekly for links to articles from their website.

San Francisco Government Jobs for links to (you guessed it) job listings.

Oakland Museum and the de Young Museum for your fine art fix.

Southwest Airlines and JetBlue for breaking news, deals, and rapid problem-solving.

Know of other Twitter streams Bay Area residents would find handy? Leave the links in a comment.

Valentine's day dining

Sure, you can wait until the last minute to think about where to take your honey-bunny to dinner on Valentine's Day.

You can also pretend to enjoy the dubious grub at some questionable eatery that just happens to have plenty of empty tables on February 14.

Instead, make a reservation at one of the eight restaurants suggested by Thrillist/San Francisco. Fabulous food without the inflated prix fixe pricing. Yum.

Thinking big

Imagine a 24-room home…in just 344 square feet.

Hong Kong architect Gary Chang has remodeled his apartment three times to get the most from the limited space available.

So before you grumble about not having enough room, read about his home in a recent New York Times article.

Picture this...

Whether you're new to the Bay Area or a lifelong resident, you'll enjoy the hundreds of photos (and stories) on FogBay.com.

Don't miss the photographer's links list of events, shops and restaurants.

Culinary resolutions for 2009

New year, but same old kitchen?

Mark Bittman, a.k.a "The Minimalist," offers some great ways to up your cooking game in this New York Times article.

Bittman's blog is worth perusing as well.