Goodbye to comfy, cozy, sweet dreaming in my own bed for awhile.
Cindi and I are going on a Road Trip to Oakland/Berkeley to see all three of my kids on spring break!
Wish us safe and happy trails. 
y2 – Day 85 – Road Trip
1
Category Archives: Northern California
Y2-Day19 – Seattle goodies
Foodstuffs are always the way to our hearts. It brings back memories, enhancing your experience all over again with flavor, panache and punch.
Half the lure of New York is the restaurant scene. Berkeley is teeming with multicultural manna from heaven. Pasadena has the fortunate position of being home to a few culinary schools and chefs practice on diners every chance they get and diners get the benefits of their stand out or edgy trends. Let’s not even start in on cruises, Hawaii or Europe. I could write a travel diary solely focusing on meals.
I remember great moments in my life by what I was eating. I asked for ten homemade pizzas for my tenth birthday. I made seven for my son’s third birthday party although I am sure he has no memory of it. When my husband and I were dating, he always ordered lasagna and we scoured Long Island and NYC for Italian. We shared hot fudge sundaes at the Friendly’s in Commack and we were the first to try the ‘all you can eat’ promotion for breaded fried shrimp at the Sizzler’s in Smithtown, N.Y. in the 70’s.
My BFF in NY once brought garlic bagels and onion bialys on the plane with her and people on board were begging her and dying for a bite from the sheer intensity of the smell wafting throughout the cabin. At the bottom of her magical bag she had NY Italian cannolis stashed amid heavy cold packs. Now, that’s a good buddy.
I am sentimental about when I first tried this or when I last tasted that. My first onion was raw and eaten like an apple once I had teeth. I ate the lemon innards up until not too long ago. I first and last had escargots served with drawn butter, garlic and parsley on a family Baltic cruise. I had a field day tasting different animal meats for the first time but I swoon recalling about it now at Brazilian churrassquerias both in Brazil in my twenties and in the U.S.A. when the kids were petite and dared to dare me.
Every menu is an opportunity to celebrate like Thanksgiving and make it sacred.
For a few years, I threw themed luncheons sharing original, foolproof recipes demonstrating them in my kitchen.
Yes, food is vital and plays a big part in our lives.
So it’s no wonder that food gifts, food related products, gadgets or books are frequently exchanged in our family. My nephew just got into pie making – perfect opportunity for a few pie centered cookbooks for his shelf. My son’s girlfriend wanted to do some cast iron cooking, a nice Lodge specimen and cookbook followed. My husband loves popcorn (who doesn’t?) – hot air popper wrapped and under the tree.
I gladly visited Seattle and brought home food gifts and had tons of food stories (check in the Search box for Seattle to read earlier posts ).Thanks to my son and J, we have the best of Seattle that could be packaged and stuffed into luggage right here in our own Southern California pantry. The rose petal jelly was the only thing I even wanted for Christmas when asked. It is unmatched in quality. We visited the start up store and heard the story of Kukuruza popcorn on our chocolate lover’s tour. I spent hours tasting Quintessential oils and vinegars before concluding which flavors to ship back home. I munched and snacked on freshly roasted Ceres’ sugared pecans with M and J after visiting the needle and Chihuly gardens. Fifteen months later, we were gifted with a huge supply that ran the gamut and covered every sweet tooth.
Yup, that’s Maple and Coconut Balsamic vinegars.
day 359 – Pizza
My favorite thing in the world to eat is Pizza, then Peanut Butter. To consider them Trigger/ Downfall foods is to be polite. How do you eat pizza when you are a vegan? Easy, take a whole wheat or gluten free crust and top it with whatever veggies occur to you and with or without vegan cheez. I support Darya brand which is dairy, gluten and also soy free. Do you realize when you are vegan not one milligram of cholesterol enters your body? Just latched on to that thought. Hmmm.
You can also order a specialty pizza. I ordered a vegan pizza up in Berkeley’s Build (see post – search under build) and recently at Z Pizza here in So. Cal. I could have put together any number of combinations but I ordered the Berkeley Vegan right off the menu just to support UC Cal. I ordered the small on wheat. It came with marinara, vegan cheese, veggie burger crumbles, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions and bell peppers. Next time, I intend on ordering the organic tomato sauce with caramelized onions, Greek olives, roasted eggplant and pine nuts. Yummmm.
day 341 – Farewell to Berkeley
One weekend can turn into over a week of Blog material – can you imagine what one week away to any destination could turn into?
In our family, all goodbyes must end and be punctuated by a food memory.
On E’s Bday, we brunched downstairs (she slept on our couch) at the hotel restaurant which is aptly named FIVE as in five stars, I imagine. Executive chef Stephane Tonnelier and Sous chef Andre Arroyo man, arrange, create and execute a diverse menu, befitting of any acclaimed fine dining in Berkeley.
FIVE is located adjacent to the lobby of Hotel Shattuck Plaza, newly renovated, two blocks from the edge of campus and on the corner of a BART station (not that it mattered when the strike was on). It (FIVE) is in its own right, a destination bistro.
One can order the usual French toast, eggs benedict or pancakes for brunch or just as well order a chorizo omelet, smoked salmon or a bacon,spinach, fontina cheese omelet. Also, being brunch, one could chow down on a burger, turkey club, fettucini with vegetables, asian meatball sandwich with pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro, sriracha aioli or a prosciutto mozzarella panini with oven roasted tomatoes, piquillo pepper, basil aioli, arugula and garlic chips. There were twelve typical breakfast choices and ten solid lunch options.
My daughter elected to savor the duck confit hash with poached eggs (I had no idea she liked them served that way), confit duck legs, marble potatoes, caramelized onions and hollandaise for her birthday pick. If I wasn’t vegan this week, I would have picked this.
My husband chose the vanilla yogurt parfait with blueberry jam, granola and fresh berries.
And I had to ask them to switch out, please, the cream with soy milk as they cooked my steel cut oats (so as to remain vegan) with golden raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar and a bowl of fresh berries. 
And a birthday surprise finale of sweet proportions! Warm Homemade Banana Bread with ice cream, banana slices atop brittle, whipped cream, and swirls of caramel and chocolate sauce.
Farewell to over indulging and hello to strict noshing!!!
day 338 – Beauty, Brains and Sport
At Berkeley, there is much beauty and charm to amuse and please our senses. Fall colors and vistas from the hilly terrain overlook the San Francisco Bay.
At this educational establishment, there resides seven Nobel laureates, 28 MacArthur Fellows and four Pulitzer Prize winners on the faculty. It is home to the largest catalog of libraries and titles, only second to the Libraries of Congress.
Intercollegiate sports and programs serve the physically competitive and its fans. Evans field is specifically used for the Cal Bears baseball team.
Mascot keeping the peace and guarding the woods on campus.
day 337 – Saturn
There are seventeen!! strictly Vegan restaurants, cafes or bakeries in Berkeley. There are eighteen Vegetarian. That’s alot of choices. The vegetarian locations also serve vegan, so there are 35, thirty-five!! establishments that cater to non animal eating persons. I noticed that most places are big on organic too. I had my heart set on Saturn (check day 331-Berkeley Bound post) and we went there for breakfast, Saturday morningish. You can have breakfast anytime there.
I found the bathroom situation interesting. There are two bathrooms with stalls. You can enter either because there is a sign that promotes genderless use. Meaning, when I went in to use the facility, I could have been faced with washing my hands next to a guy or a girl. Fortunately, for this modest mouse, another gal was in there and the guy walking behind me went through the doors of the other facility. I don’t know how I felt about that.
Back to the food, it wasn’t as great as I had remembered it. Nostalgia can be unreliable.
Southwest Tofu Scramble (vegan). The guacamole was good, the fake white paste was inedible and the taco sauce was uninspired, under seasoned and left uneaten.
Gosh, darn. I tasted a teeny bit of my husband’s buckwheat pancakes and they were terrible, “So sorry I made you come here.”
I had a few beans from my daughter’s plate and it was ok. 
Bean and cheese omelet.
So, next time, no Saturn except for the shakes! I had a delicious vegan vanilla shake made from soy ice cream and milk and that was worth all the sugar it came with. It seems they are famous for their various vegan shakes.
Then, I had the audacity to continue eating by walking just a few blocks to Cream and ordering a vegan lemon pecan cookie. My two cohorts went all the way and ordered two warm butter, non-vegan cookies with two scoops of real creamy ice cream smushed between. I remember coming here when my son went to Berkeley and the line was around the block. It’s a big hit on a teeny corner location. Worth the walk and we must have hit it at the right time because the line was only inside.
Yes, the sign says Cookies Rule Everything Around Me.
day 336 – Campus
UC Berkeley unofficially serves as the city’s Central Park with its historic buildings, wide walking paths, art sculptures and general woodsy landscape.
Founded in 1868, Berkeley is the original campus of the University of California, hence the moniker used by alumni and students, Cal. 
The campus is an urban oasis, preserving and maintaining a genuine combination of young blood with early Californian statesmanship. 
Two hundred thousand acres of serene forests interspersed by an array of architectural vision, populated by some of our finest minds and innovative thoughts. 
My daughter’s favorite path and tree, coming into squirrel town where she delights in the activities of these furry inhabitants.
A very bright and accomplished squirrel attending the University of California and on a nut break.
day 335 – Build Pizzeria
To say that Berkeley is vegan, organic or vegetarian, sustainable, grass-fed, free-range, local, fresh produce friendly is an understatement. Alice Waters who started the whole California Cuisine and garden/school lunch programs lives here and her celebrated Chez Panisse restaurant resides right along Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street in North Berkeley’s “Gourmet Ghetto”.
At Build, our first gastronomic adventure of the weekend, you order personally from a selection of choices and the cook “builds” you a personal thin crusted pizza, sent into a wood burning oven and within minutes, it arrives piping hot to your table. 
The setting is hip Shattuck, downtown Berkeley, clean, new and bright.
I ordered a gluten-free crust with vegan cheese, tomato sauce, artichokes, baked red onions and sautéed mushrooms. It was spectacular! Crisp, flavorful and comforting.
I also had an organic mixed green salad with a tangy vinaigrette on the side, baked tomatoes and raw organic walnuts. It was divine. The greens everywhere wherever we ate were organic and local. The most immaculate pieces of lettuce I have ever witnessed or eaten. You could taste the richness of the soil (in a good way) in every bite. Every nibble felt like I was becoming one with the earth. “It was surely just picked,” I admired. 
day 334 – BART
Thanks to Bart’s (Bay Area Rapid Transit) shutdown at midnight Thursday night, we decided to drive to Berkeley and avoid long taxi lines at Oakland airport. It was weird to see the mass transit system shut down. It’s what moves the Bay Area around.
My daughter’s view of the San Francisco Bay is marvelous, her dorm tucked away and nestled amongst the noble pines.
Tune in all this week for the food and sports scene as well as the general beauty of Berkeley.
day 333 – Happy Birthday, E!!!!
Here we are at Berkeley, celebrating your 18th birthday! You were the youngest of three and always the youngest in school. Your kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Covington, assured us it wouldn’t be a problem because you were so bright. And here you are…
You comfort, cheer and support your friends and people are attracted to your nurturing, giving nature. You are wise and balanced. You are loyal and true. And here we are…
May this year grace you with educational pursuits that impassion you. May this year be one of growth and enjoyment as you spread your wings further, learn more about yourself and expand in awareness. May you be happy, fulfilled and realized. And here it is…
