Friday I mostly forgot to take pictures

 Friday I was very happy to reconnect with an old and dear high school friend, Christine who’s lived in Europe for many years. We had a lovely lunch, looking out over the Bay from the Berkeley hills and catching up. Too wrapped up in the conversation, I forgot to take pictures, but I'll have another chance later this week. 

One thing I enjoy while traveling if we have a kitchen, is taking the restaurant left-overs and making something new out of them. Friday, I used the braised lamb shank left over from Wednesday's dinner at Trabocco to make a lamb ragu (with gluten free pasta) accompanied by some yellow patty pan squash.  

You know you’re in Berkeley/Oakland when…

On Thusday we tootled around to some of our favorite spots in Berkeley and Oakland. We went over to the Fourth Street area where there are old warehouses and factories now tuned into shops and restaurants. We visited Builder's Booksource which has a beautiful collection of books about practical things, but accessibly written. So it’s the place to learn about how to build a composting toilet or a better roof, but also how to read weather signs, learn better cooking skills and understand color relationships. We always find interesting things there. 

This clothing store also struck me as an "only in Berkeley" (OIB) kind of thing:

Apologies for the less than perfect angle. The sun mad a straight on shot challenging. 

We grabbed lunch at Tacubaya, a Mexican place. Corn and veg tamal, tacos with pork 2 ways and roasted corn with cotija cheese. 

We also stopped into the toy and children’s bookstore, Five Little Monkeys which provided another OIB moment.  The inclusion of progressive heroes in the book collection seemed fitting

But we thought maybe this one was a step too far

Our final stop was Top Drawer which has an eclectic stock of "functional products for work and travel". It’s ridiculously priced and we rarely buy anything there, but they have beautiful paper and writing supplies, clever contraptions for transporting just about anything, funky slippers, reading glasses  and a whole lot of other stuff and we usually enjoy a good prowl through the store  

Before we returned home, we visited the Mariposa Baking Company shop in Oakland, not far from our house. Known as the best gluten-free bakery in the Bay Area, it did not disappoint  i got some fabulous  tea cookies that I brought to lunch the next day with an old friend (who pronounced them delicious) and a GF bagel that was definitely a step up from the crumbly bagel-shaped roll  that you usually encounter  

Visit with Jim and Louise in Alameda

Yesterday we scooped up my brother Jim in Berkeley and took a drive to Alameda where his partner, Louise has a beautiful home on a lagoon. She served us a beautiful lunch, including homemade crab cakes accompanied by roasted tomatoes- to die for (kicking myself that I forgot photos till they were eaten). We spent a lovely afternoon on the deck looking out at the water and then had dinner at a local Italian restaurant - Trabocco.  Again forgot photos of the fabulous food, but we did get the most important ones (Jim was more on task there than I):

Arcata to Berkeley/Oakland

Monday we left Arcata and drove down toward the Bay Area. We saw some smoky skies at times, but didn’t feel it where we were. We stopped for the night in Windsor, an almost too cute town that feels a bit like a movie lot marked "small town". But Linda had fond memories of the "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" sandwich at KC's American Kitchen there so that influenced our decision. It involves several cheeses, bacon, and sour dough bread  

2018

2021

Tuesday we drove the last hour or so to reach our AirBnB house in North Oakland. You do your research and sometimes you get a gem; sometimes not. This one turned out to be fabulous. Quiet street, comfy beds and beautifully decorated. 

It has a front porch for morning coffee and watching the neighborhood activity

And a back deck for evening wine and cheese  perfect for these gals who love to lounge  

Situated at the bottom of the Rockridge neighborhood that straddles the Berkeley/Oakland border and has lots of cafes, restaurants, and shops (most of which seem to have survived the pandemic).  

We might have to send for the dog and stay. 

Hatchet throwing in Arcata

Sunday Jo introduced us to the sport of hatchet throwing since these Brooklyn girls had never experienced such a thing.  Hatchet throwing is often combined with beer drinking, but we were happy to experience it without alcohol (hatchets and booze - what could go wrong?). We were outside the Hatchet House early Sunday afternoon when it opened.  Jo got me an official T-shirt so I could fit in.

 [Linda has one too, but she decided to wear her other gift from Jo - the Humboldt Crabs T-shirt  (the Crabs being a point of Humboldt pride as the oldest continually-operated summer collegiate baseball team in American baseball).] 

We got a lesson on throwing and safety from the Hatchet House staff and then they turned us loose. 

It’s all about distance, speed and keeping your wrist straight. Not easy, but each of us did get at least one in the creditable zone

You can see Jo got off the best shot  

Here’s Linda lettin' er rip

After all that we came home for a dinner of sausage, leeks, and peas pasta - with peas fresh shelled from Jo's garden. Sadly no picture. The peas deserved better. 

Arcata Farmers Market and Evening Wine Bar

Saturday is the weekly Arcata Farmer’s Market which is part market and part street festival. 

Humboldt County has issued a mandatory mask order for indoor gatherings and for large ones outside. Almost everyone was following it (except us in the beginning because we didn’t know about it at first, but we got it eventually). 

We saw some beautiful produce - this humongous rainbow chard caught my fancy

And these blow your mind mushrooms 

Later in the day, Jo had a social event so we were on our own. We followed her recommendation to visit the Septentrio Wine Bar that has a beautiful outdoor area served by a food truck called Nosh. 

Lovely spot to relax in the evening and sample the local wine. 

Skywalk, More Llamas, and Pie!

Friday was a beautiful sunny, clear day so we went off to the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka to visit the new Redwood Skywalk. 


Next, we visited some of the animals at the zoo, including the llamas, since few things make Linda as happy as llamas. 

We also learned that Linda's wingspan is slightly larger than a Chilean flamingo, but not as large as a bald eagle's

In search of lunch, we looked in Google and Yelp for outdoor dining in Eureka. The perils of Yelp were highlighted by this place recommended for its great outdoor patio

We didn’t get out of the car.  
We dd eventually find a breakfast/lunch place in downtown Eureka- the Greene Lilly Cafe

Jo also took us to a friend’s lovely gift shop where we purchased a blue giraffe (in keeping with the zoo theme) and some other items

Once we arrived back home, Jo set about baking with the dough she had made 2 days earlier. She made the best gluten-free pie I've ever had (with blueberries from a friend’s garden). Sadly neither of us remembered to take a shot of the whole pie, but here’s my slice

Linda had been reminiscing about how her mom used to make "roly-poly" cookies with the scraps from the pie dough. Our master baker carefully interviewed her about details, did some research and came up with these, which Linda pronounced exactly as she remembered 

After all the baking, take out from the excellent local Trattoria seemed like a good idea

We had to go easy on the dinner though because we knew those great desserts awaited us. 

Tacos and Llamas!

Thursday was a grayish day, pretty common in this part of NoCal. We had a lazy morning and then ventured out for lunch. Jo took us to her favorite taco truck and invited us to compare its food to the previous day's tacos. Both were very good. Linda preferred hers from the day before. I liked the new ones better because they were herbier (lots of cilantro), but both were excellent. 

The truck was parked in an interesting spot - an industrial park dedicated to businesses that make products from "shake" - the part of the marijuana plant that’s left after the buds are removed. 

After lunch, we "acted like Italians" according to Jo by planning our next meal immediately after finishing the previous one. Jo and Linda went off foraging and purchased some California-sized leeks among other things. 

After dinner, Molly took Jo and Linda for a walk to see the llamas at a farm nearby

Beaches and Comestibles

Wednesday morning Linda joined JoAnn and her dog Molly on the daily dog walk - a group of folks that meet with their dogs every morning. They alternate easier and more challenging walks so folks of different abilities can join in. Wednesday's walk was on a foggy beach. "A tired dog is a good dog" as they say.  Possibly true of the humans as well? 

Here’s Molly chilling later on in the day 

Back at the house, Jo gave me a lesson in gluten free pie crust making.

Jo is definitely a star baker. Her GF cherry turnover (with cherries from her own tree) was the best I've ever had. She managed to get the perfect flaky crust without wheat. 

For lunch, we hit one of the local food trucks for tacos which were fabulous (too tasty - forgot to take pictures of the food). 

While waiting, Jo led us in pre-taco stretches and silliness

We finished our culinary explorations for the day at Humboldt Pie, owned by 2 women who produce a wonderful variety of sweet and savory pies. Linda is a huge fan of chicken pot pies so we picked up some of those for dinner. My gluten free version was a little flatter than the regular, but still flaky and delicious. No suffering here for the gluten free eater. 

Petaluma to Arcata

Beautiful weather for our driving day. I've tried in the past to capture the beauty of this drive, but let’s just say, Ansel Adams I'm not. I never remotely capture my sense of the gold fields studded with wind-sculpted trees or the wide expanse of pine forested hills so I won’t try. Here’s a brief video though of one stretch through redwoods. What doesn’t come across is the twisting nature of the road. Linda handled the curves admirably, but noted that she had to peel her right hand off the steering wheel when we got through that part.

In the bigness of Northern California terrain, there’s plenty of opportunity to contemplate one's smallness in the grand scheme and also the magnificence of the natural world. And then there’s this:

Even as a young child I pondered the usefulness of this kind of sign. Is it really giving you information that’s useful? Should we be practicing our dodging-rocks-while-avoiding-oncoming-vehicles-skills? Or is it a warning to get your prayer life in order? Should we be recalling that life is short and our end time unknown? So much to consider on a long drive. 

Life's fragility acknowledged, we arrived intact and were met by a wonderful representative of joy in all things and especially for old friends. Our host, Jo had some other business to attend to so we were greeted by Molly Dog who made us feel most enthusiastically welcome

After initial greetings were taken care of, she offered me an opportunity to participate in the much loved butt-rubbing ritual and made sure I understood the requirements of my role

Jo arrived a bit later, but no photos were taken because we were too busy enjoying the deep goodness of being friends for more than 40 years, reunited after a mean pandemic separation.