Somis Nut House Has Been a Ventura County Tradition Since 1959

The Somis Nut House has served the cravings of Ventura County residents since 1959. Originally it was a walnut processing plant that processed locally grown walnuts in the area. Today it serves up a wide selection of nuts, interesting snacks, trail mixes, seeds, candies, dried fruits, other edibles and gift baskets.

What I really like about this place is that it is a throwback to another era. The inside of the Somis Nut House looks as if it has never changed. Although the original founder of the store passed away in 2009, his family continues to operate the Nut House.

Front of the store from the 118 (Los Angeles Ave) east of Bradley Road.

One might ask, why would I want to drive from, say, Thousand Oaks, to buy nuts at the Somis Nut House? We can go to Trader Joes, Sprouts, Lassens, Whole Foods, etc. Well, I'll tell you that none of those places have the same retro ambiance and great selection of the Somis Nut House! And the freshness of the items here is outstanding.

The Somis Nut House is located at 4475 E. Los Angeles Avenue in Somis. From Thousand Oaks, take the Santa Rosa Road exit off the 101 and turn right. Take a left on Adolfo to Lewis Road, where you'll turn right (north) until you reach Los Angeles Avenue. Turn left and your destination will in a mile on the right.

More information at www.somisnuthouse.com or call 805.386.1211.

Somis is an unincorporated community of about 3,000 residents in Ventura County that was established in 1892. The name Somis means “water of the scrub oak” in the Chumash language, indicating the presence of water.

The Annex at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard Features Eateries and Boutiques

If you haven't already checked it out, The Annex, located within The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard, is worth a visit.

This 16,000 square foot is home to a dozen micro shops, artisan boutiques and craft food and beverage eateries. Tenants as of April 2024 include the following:

• Bottle & Pint

• Burnin’ Mouth Nashville Hot Chicken

• Burrata House

• Love Pho Cafe

• PizzaMan Dan’s

• Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters

• Silverlake Ramen

• Sueño Jewelry Studio - handmade and custom jewelry

• The Blend Superfood Bar

• Tow Hands Corn Dogs

• Mong Q Mongolian BBQ (coming soon)

The Collection at RiverPark has become quite an incredible destination within Ventura County in recent years, with so many great eateries all in one place as well as The Container Store, a fantastic Whole Foods Market, REI, Target store, movie theaters, Levity Live Comedy Club and more. Quite impressive what they have done over there off the 101, Oxnard Boulevard exit. thecollectionrp.com

Buy Gift Cards at Costco and Save a Lot of Money Elsewhere

If you're not already a Costco member and have no intention of becoming one, gift cards are a reason to consider a Costco membership. Costco offers an assortment of gift cards for sale at bargain prices; typically 20% off.  A $55 annual Costco membership fee can quickly be recovered if you use these cards. Here's a summary of what several (Oxnard, Westlake Village and Simi Valley) local Costco stores either currently have on hand or have carried in the past.

• Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: $100 in gift cards for $79.99 (also available online)

• Buca di Beppo $100 in gift cards for $69.99 (in store)

• CPK $100 in gift cards for $79.99 (online)

• P.F. Chang's $100 in gift cards for $79.99 (online and in store)

• Roy’s $100 in gift cards for $79.99 in store

• Marmalade Cafe $100 in gift cards for $79.99 in store

• Build-a-Bear Workshop $100 Gift E-Cards for $79.99 (available online)

• 24 Hour Fitness discounted 2 year memberships

• Cold Stone Creamery $100 in gift cards for $69.99

• Yogurtland four $25 gift cards for $79.99

• Krispy Kreme 4 $15 gift cards for $44.99 (online)

All of this of course is subject to change and availability.

Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop in Thousand Oaks and Ventura for Local Bird Fans

Wild Birds Unlimited Thousand Oaks is located in the Whole Foods Market plaza at Moorpark and Wilbur Roads. The store offers bird foods of all types, bird feeders and an assortment of other items for backyard bird fans. Owners Richard and Catherine are knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Open 7 days a week. Consider stopping by this fun little store. There's also a location in Ventura at 4020 E. Main Street near Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Thousand Oaks location thousandoaks.wbu.com. (805) 379-3901

Ventura location ventura.wbu.com (805) 765-4594

Cookie, Candy and Sugary Snack Food Based Cereals Seem to Be Trending

In a recent visit to the local Walmart Neighborhood Market, I walked down the cereal aisle and noticed what appears to be a new trend…numerous cereals based on other products…cookies, candy and other snack foods. While we generally don’t buy sugary cereals, the sighting of these cereals kind of brought me back to my youth and my days of Cocoa Pebbles.

And speaking of Cocoa Pebbles, I Wikipedia’d (I’m assuming Wikipedia can be used as a verb, like Google) it and learned that Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles, introduced in 1971 and based on The Flintstones, is the oldest surviving cereal based on characters from a TV series or movie. And there you have it.

Oreo O’s were originally launched in 1997 and discontinued in 2007. They were re-launched by Post Cereals in June 2017.

Nilla Cereal is based on Nilla Waters, with the flavor of banana pudding. This was launched in 2018, along with Golden Oreo O’s Cereal.

The iconic Chips Ahoy cookies were brought to market in 1963.. Chips Ahoy Cookie Cereal came to Walmart in early 2018, along with Nutter Butter Cereal.

And here is an example of another icon product turned cereal. Walmart started exclusively carrying both Frosted Strawberry and Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts Cereal in January 2019, fully 55 years after Pop Tarts toaster pastries were launched.

Reese’s Puffs Cereal is made with “real Reese’s peanut butter” it says on the box. These have been around awhile though, having launched in 1994.

Here’s a family size box of Dippin’ Dots Cereal. Launched in 2018, 30 years, if you can believe it, after Dippin’ Dots was invented.

And last but note least for this compilation is Hostess Donettes Cereal. Why one would prefer donut shaped cereal to an actual donut with milk is beyond me, but to each his own. Hostess Donettes Cereal as well as Hostess Honey Bun Cereal were launched in late 2018.

Whole Foods and Amazon to Start Offering Lower Prices on Grocery Staples on August 28th

Amazon and Whole Foods Market recently announced that Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market will close on Monday, August 28, 2017, and the two companies will together pursue the vision of making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone.

Whole Foods Market, which will continue to operate under its own brand name, will offer lower prices starting Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples across its stores, with more to come.

Here’s what will be new in Whole Foods Market stores on Monday and what can be expected over time as the two companies integrate:

• Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices on a selection of best-selling staples across its stores, with much more to come. Customers will enjoy lower prices on products like Whole Trade bananas, organic avocados, organic large brown eggs, organic responsibly-farmed salmon and tilapia, organic baby kale and baby lettuce, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, creamy and crunchy almond butter, organic Gala and Fuji apples, organic rotisserie chicken, 365 Everyday Value organic butter, and much more.
• In the future, after certain technical integration work is complete, Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods Market’s customer rewards program, providing Prime members with special savings and other in-store benefits.
• Whole Foods Market’s healthy and high-quality private label products—including 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch—will be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now.
• Amazon Lockers will be available in select Whole Foods Market stores. Customers can have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local Whole Foods Market store for pick up or send returns back to Amazon during a trip to the store.