YEARS ago, Amy Miceli left her home state of Nebraska for the offbeat Northern California life and took a job at a flower shop in Humboldt County. Her boss offered no health insurance, but she did provide massages for employees once a month. And there were other benefits, she discovered, when the boss' son, Kevin, arrived for a visit.

"I met him, and that was it," says Amy, 39. "We decided we're going to spend the rest of our lives together."

Today, "16 years and three kids later," the Micelis spend not only their domestic lives together, but their working lives, as well. The couple own and operate Ciao for Now, a homey cafe and catering service in the East Village, where Kevin, a gregarious Staten Island native who's worked as a Fulton Market fishmonger and a machete-wielding harvester on wildflower farms, greets regulars by name from behind the counter, while Amy, a former preschool teacher, plans the menu and arranges orders from a nearby office.

Insurers adding fire-retardant gel as policy option

Bill and Marisa Rastetter of Rancho Santa Fe are convinced that their 5,400-square-foot home would have been destroyed during the October wildfires if not for a homeowner's insurance policy that offers an extra level of protection in wealthier neighborhoods.

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Blaze heavily damages Rochester home

A pet bird perished, but a local couple was unharmed after escaping a one-alarm blaze at 8 Logan St., in Rochester Saturday. The fire, deemed accidental, began in the basement as a result of carelessly discarded smoking material.
(Rosenson/Democrat photo)