We finally made it to the Thai Brunch place in Berkeley that my sister has been wanting to take us since we arrived. Both Dav and my sister have blogged it and now it’s our turn. Nice to start off the day with a spice kick but be sure to arrive when they open at 10am. By 11:30 the place is teeming.
Tag: food & drink
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You can almost taste it
Izumi’s junior high classmate is an accomplished photographer and worth checking out for his unique ability to capture the essence of Japan.
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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving at the Yarrington’s – good company, food, drink, and (most importantly for the kids) – ice cream cake!
Happy Birthday Andy-boy!
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Fresh Fish
We made our way up to the 99 Ranch Market, in El Cerrito for a spot of shopping. The market is part of a larger complex which, once you enter the doors, transports you to what could be any mall in Hong Kong. Tanks of live fish, crabs, lobster, oysters, clams, even a white catfish which Tyler spotted, it’s all there.
We loaded up on good rice, oxtail, frozen squid, enoki mushrooms, Japanese sweet potatoes, persimmons, all sorts of good stuff that you can’t find at your local Safeway.
Later that evening, we went to Oakland for pizza and a movie at the Grand Lake Theatre with the neighbors.
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Fenton’s Creamery
Went back to visit an old college haunt with the Karp’s this weekend. Fenton’s on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland has been an institution and well worth the trip over from Berkeley. It looked newer than I remembered and was told the whole thing was redone after a fire in 2001. We ordered the Banana Special which is described below on their menu:
Banana Special – Watch Out! Tourists may takes photos of you with this Fentons tradition! HUGE scoops, we mean HUGE scoops, of Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry ice cream cradled by a whole ripe banana. Topped with pineapple, strawberry and chocolate fudge. Topped off with almonds, whipped cream and cherry. $9.95
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Expensive Tastes
Julia, who often sleeps between us, woke up this morning and let us know her breakfast wishes.
“I’m hungry. I want sushi.”
Yikes.
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Sharkbait
Just got back from a night out with some friends that took us to a pig roast in Bucks County, PA. The event was the first in a series of Summer parties put together by the “Guerrilla Grill” group and this one was to promote Dish Catering. Along with fine food was a setup of a beach in this farm field where they brought in sand, beach chairs, and towels and a movie setup where we could watch the film “Jaws” – the boys in the photo were relatives of some locals that were up visiting from Tennessee and took the time to get into costume.
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Pig Roast
Yesterday, the Cirullo’s held their annual Pig Roast. They grew up in the area and the Pig Roast is an excuse to bring all their far-flung friends back together for a day long gathering interspersed with games of Quoits, a raffle drawing featuring “expensed” corporate giveaways [Merrill Lynch T-Shirt, Mettler Toledo swiss army knives] and many mugs of beer. More kids this year than last so the late-night crowd was only a few. I turned in early but we could hear the clanking of the Quoits on their pins late into the night . . . the sounds of Summer.
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Strawberries!
The weekly harvests have begun at our local organic farm, the Watershed, where we split a family share that allows us to share in the food that they grow there. Most of the crops are harvested for you and all we need to do is drive down the road to fill up a couple of grocer bags full of wonderfully fresh and pesticide-free veggies. It’s fun to go with the kids because each week there’s always something that’s available on a “pick your own” basis. In May, it’s strawberries to be followed soon by rasberries and, *yum* blackberries. This week too were snap peas which are so sweet you can eat them right off the vine!
Summer is truly here as our neighbors, the Trasks, have yet again graciously opened up their pool which is unofficially known as the, “East Franklin Swim Club.” After a morning of picking in the fields, a dip in the pool is always welcome.
A bit of Fame touched our block this weekend as we heard the good news that the Trask’s daughter, Emma, who had been busting her butt for the last year on a Michael Moore film project not only was able to attend the Cannes Film Festival but also that the film won this year’s Palm D’Or.
Not only did Fahrenheit 9/11 pull down the world’s top film prize, it received a 20-minute standing ovation (a record in the film festival’s history) and was only the second documentary to win the Palm D’Or in 50 years.
As you may know, the film’s original backers have pulled out which prompted all kinds of conspiracy chatter and probably only helped boost the film’s profile. Disney’s recent punch in earnings was due, in a large part, to their theme park business and the most successful Disney theme park is in Florida. Some say that Disney didn’t want to jeapordize their cozy relationship with the Governer of Florida, Jeb Bush (the President’s brother) by distributing a film so openly critical of the President.
Disney just can’t seem to call any of the right shots in their film division. First they piss of Steve Jobs and send him, Pixar, and the Shrek franchise off in search of their own distribution channel. Shrek 2 opened last week to a “record shattering $125 million” for through this weekend. Now it looks certain that Fahrenheit 9/11 will be a money-maker as well. I recall Moore’s first documentary, Roger & Me, was extremely profitable because production costs on a documentary are so reasonable. Way to go Emma!