Saturday night we got to hear my brother Jim play with Karen Sudjian and their ensemble at Rigger's Loft in Richmond. As the name says, it’s a big loft space and not well heated. We were gladfor the wine and our coats, but the music warmed things up
Jigsaw puzzles promote vacation mind. Slow down, use your right brain, chat, maybe drink a warming beverage...
First attempt was a beautiful puzzle, but devilishly difficult - 1000 pieces and all the same few earth tones. Couldn’t finish before we had to change location
Second one was too easy - done in no time
Third one was just right- 1000 pieces, but all different and with enough time to work it out
Well first there was lunch with Julie Schwartzberg- sadly I was once again too involved in the conversation to remember to take a photo. Good to catch up though and hear about her time in Berkeley (past 5 or so months).
I visited the Farmer’s Market finally in our neighborhood (last week it was suspendedfor the holidays). Made myself laugh because I was pondering that the must have different rules here about the necessity for produce tobe local - there was so much citrus fruit.
Then of course I realized "duh" I was in California where much of the US citrus is grown.
That night we had our second best meal (after Great China) at a Laotian/Thai restaurant called Dara on Shattuck. Most unusual dish was mieng kham - spinach leaves with onion, ginger, lemon grass, lime, peanuts, coconut and tamarind dipping sauce. Fresh and so many layers of flavor
For the main course we had spicy lamb kebabs and eggplant stuffed with minced chicken, prawns, and green onions. Both delicious and different. One review said the writer was obsessed with the eggplant dish i can see why
Yesterday we had a walk around West Berkeley in the late afternoon....
...and then ended up at Skates restaurant which is right on the bay, for drinks and appetizers. Just in time for the sunset
I asked Linda to report on her travels in SF:
On Wednesday and Thursday I went into San Francisco on my own to do some wandering — and of course photographing. First stop was the Leica store to see a photo exhibition by Rachel Cobb, Le Mistral (the amazing winds in Southern France) —one of my favorites is below.
I also went to SFMOMA ...
which recently did a major expansion — absolutely stunning space. Among many delights there was discovering a new artist (to me). Ethel Adnan - very simple, beautiful abstract paintings that really spoke to me. She is also a poet — and in doing a little more research after I got home I discovered she recently got a Lamda Literary award — so it seems she’s family. Here is one of her paintings (wish it was larger- not sure how to do that)
[Here’s a link to more of her work https://goo.gl/images/rMTEzJ]
I also visited Pier 24, a small, beautiful art museum right under the Bay Bridge that only does photography exhibits — changing the exhibit once a year. You have to have an appointment to go — a 2 hour slot shared with only 30 others in an 18 room museum. While the type of photography they tend to feature isn’t my favorite, it was still an amazing experience to be in that space with so few people.
All in all a very fun 2 days of wandering.
Wednesday Linda headed off to the SF Museum of Modern Art. I hopped on the a Telegraph Ave. bus to visit Mariposa Bakery which was recommended by a friend as the best gluten free bakery in the area. They have a pleasant shop and cafe in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland.
Found fabulous GF bread - even a batarde style loaf. While there I stopped for a guilty pleasure tuna melt. Did not disappoint. Crunchy sourdough - Something I haven’t had been able to eat in several years.
After lunch I took the bus back to Berkeley to the Telegraph Ave. of my youth, though of course it wasn’t. There are a lot more chain stores, bubble tea shops and much (though not all) of the grunge is gone. Newer Amoeba Music keeps company with the old Rasputin Records
Reassuringly, Moe's Books remains. My family used to have a ritual visit pretty much every weekend to peruse the used books and music scores it’s smaller than it used to be, but has survived. Still "Four floors of books"
That night Linda and I checked out Da Lian on Shattuck whose pictures of soups with homemade noodles beckoned to us on a chilly night. Linda had the braised pork brisket noodle soup. I had pickled cabbage soup with barbecued chicken. and they were kind enough to substitute rice noodles for me. Both were delicious and warming.
Jim and Louise invited us for New Year's Eve dinner at Great China (a James Beard nominee). We'd noticed a line down the block as we drove by a few days ago. Now we know why. Might be the best Chinese food we’ve ever had. Happily we had a reservation and didn’t have to wait in the line on what was a chilly evening.
The highlight was the Peking Duck, but it was all delicious
And the company was wonderful too
Perhaps it’s travel or maybe the newness of unstructured time as retirees, but the days are a bit jumbled. One recent day, we started in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland and made our way up College Ave. to Elmwood, the Berkeley neighborhood where my family lived and where brother Jim still lives.
In Rockridge, we noticed shared bikes like we have in NYC, but also shared electric scooters which you unlock by scanning a QR code. You find them with an app and it seems you can leave them anywhere. This apparently has been a source of trouble since residents get riled when people leave them on their yards, blocking driveways,etc. Still an interesting idea
Elmwood is very different from when I lived there in the 1970s. Gone is the 5&10 type store and the drustore with soda fountain (though the latter has been replaced with a cafe that tries to have some of the old feel). More restaurants now - my favorite is Trattoria La Siciliana .
There's a bookstore (Mrs. Dalloway's) and an Italian food shop complete with fresh pasta "performance " in the window
There’s even a milliner's shop
And they've spruced up the old Elmwood Cinema where I spent many an hour as a teenager
Back at home base, we decided to eat in so we stopped in at The Local Butcher where it seems a beard is a requirement of employment. One such hirsute fellow was happy to pose for us as he rang up our our Tuscan White Bean Soup.
On Saturday we had tea with an old friend of mine , Christine Moran, from Berkeley HS days who actually lives in Cologne, Germany, but happened to be in town for Christmas with her family. She saw my recent Berkeley blog post and texted me. Sadly I forgot to take pictures, but we had a great time catching up
Later that day we had lunch with my brothet Jim and his girlfriend Louise at Louise's house in Alameda. Despite the fact that I lived in Berkeley for a number of years, it was the first time I'd ever been to Alameda. What a lovely spot! Louise has a house on a lagoon with a deck overlooking the water. Once again my porous memory failed me and I forgot to take photos. I especially regret not taking a picture of the extraordinary cioppino Louise made. Really delicious- the taste is still playing in my head.
I guess it’s not the worst thing to be so absorbed in the conversation and food that the phone never comes out even for photos.
Sunday Linda and I decided we'd like breakfast out so we decided to try the Tomate Cafe in West Berkeley
We both had the Harvest Breakfast (but full disclosure we declined the 塞 kale). Along with eggs and zucchini potato cakes, it ncluded fried apples which was new to me. Quite delicious and seemingly easy to make
Next stop was Fourth Street which is an area that used to be light industry, but now has been converted to shops and restaurants. It’s definitely gotten more upscale since we were there last.
You won’t be surprised to hear that we skipped the high end fashion establishments. Our favorite shop was called Top Drawer. It had a combination of quirky travel gear and stationary. Linda declared it the best shop of its kind that she could recall
After the required perusal of Sur la Table and a stop at the little market for cheeses and Buddha Bleu tea, we headed back home. But first a quck check in with Zoltar for my fortune in view of the new year and all (picture Linda's eyes rolling)
After our visit to Locke, we drove to Staten Island (yup, no kiddin' - same name as in NYC) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Denise used to be a docent for tours there so she led us into areas where they feed and roost. It was a beautiful day to be out there even if we’d seen no birds
But we saw lots of birds too. Sandhill Cranes definitely (though it’s very hard to get close to them and even Linda’s camera couldn’t get a tight shot).
But also flocks of swans, Aleutian, White Fronted, and Snow Geese,egrets, ducks of several kinds and many other more solitary birds.
Denise and Caleb brought a spotting scope so we could see their beauty closeup
One of the more striking sights was the flock of snow geese (I think that’s right) which would change colors as they turned around, going from dark to white. This video doesn’t do it justice, but maybe you can get the idea if you watch it on a larger screen.
We did not see the massive fly-in (that requires figuring out just where on the island they'll choose to settle for the night which varies, but we did see and hear large numbers coming in as the sun sank lower and set
Denise explaied that they spread out during the day to feed, but then gather together at night for safety. They roost in shallow water so they can hear predators coming. Not too deep because they also need to get traction for take off if they need to fly away.
When the sun was very low, the sound of the honking geese and trumpeting cranes was impressive
On Friday, our friends Denise and Caleb took us to a very different part of Northern California. We drove about an hour and a half to our first stop - the town of Locke. Founded in 1915 during the time when it was illegal for Chinese immigrants to own land in California. There were many Chinese workers in the area who were originally brought in to build the railroads and then shifted over to build the levees that created farmland in the Delta. A Chinese neighborhood had grown up in Walnut Grove, but was decimated by a fire. So a group of Chinese merchants negotiated with George Locke to lease the land and built a town in Locke. It’s fairly well preserved and some people still live there, but it also has the feel of an old Western "ghost town" in someways. It's now a historic site with several small museums that tell the story of the town and the folks who lived there. Some familiar themes about immigrant workers and how they have been (are still) exploited, but who created community despite harsh conditions.
The old boarding house - now a museum and visitors center:
The main street:
The old gaming hall
An interesting intersection - apparently the town is a popular stop for bikers who frequent the local bar
The dollar bills on the ceilng are placed by throwing a bill with a thumbtack and quarters. The quarters drive the thumbtack in.
After our tour, we had a lovely picnic lunch including tangerines and olives from Caleb's trees (he cures the olives himself)
From the memorial garden
Some ofthe current residents have a more laid back modern California approach to business
