Folk music. I've been playing Irish traditional music as a hobby for years and it has always been an excellent gateway to making friends with like-minded people.
Pursuing a hobby seriously and finding others who are also into said hobby is a great way to make meaningful connections with others.
For me it's jazz, but similar deal. Actually, I like the fact that jazz musicians come from all walks of life: Professional, working class, even homeless. And that they don't give a rat's ass about the drama of my day job, so I can leave it at the door.
Lately I've been going to "old time" fiddle jams (with my cello or double bass). It's a super chill community, welcoming of strangers, with a rich heritage to learn from even if it seems superficially simplistic.
Throwing in the "restaurant" part for a grocery product makes this logic hard to follow. That and the misspelling makes whatever joke you're doing completely incomprehensible to me.
I think us programmer types need to be careful about overanalyzing major decisions and completely ignoring our gut feelings. When choosing a life parter for example, you can find someone who "looks good on paper" and ticks certain boxes on what you think you want, but maybe they aren't a good partner for you for simpler reasons. Unless you are self-aware enough to know what will actually make you happy, you shouldn't discount your feelings. Derek Siver's "Hell Yeah or No" comes to mind here.
It's not all roses. We are on year 2 after hardscaping/xeriscaping our central Oregon yard. We took out all grass and put in about 40 native plants and grasses, mostly on our easement. Our main lawn is mostly mulch. We ran into a few issues. 1 - one time a freak wind storm with 40+mph gusts blew some of the mulch away and we had to get about 1/2 yard more to replace it. 2 - our yard is on a slope and we did not account for proper drainage. During a huge storm, part of the yard washed out. We have since put in a drain/sink and it's fine now. We still have to weed and touch up the mulch. So just know it's not a maintenance free thing. I'd still do it again though for the the following reasons: 1 - much lower water usage. 2 - one less asshole on our street running lawn equipment. I absolutely hated maintaining/cutting grass. 3 - Really nice curb appeal. It actually looks great and we've had neighbors ask about it.
