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)
