A GREAT DINNER A GREAT CHINA

My Aunt Sherida's in town to help take care of my soon to be born baby cousin and her friend had told her about a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley that's famous for its Peking duck. She didn't know the name, but a quick search on Google and we found out that the restaurant is called Great China and it's located in the heart of downtown Berkeley. So while my mom was visiting last weekend, we decided to check it out.

Unfortunately, parking is really hard to find in downtown Berkeley on a Friday night around dinner time, so it took me a while to find a spot. By the time I arrived, I was cold and hungry, but luckily, all the ordering had been taken care of.

We started off with a very good seafood soup. It was perfect for me, cause I'm coming down with another cold (as is Tom- I'm telling you, little kids are germ factories.)

Next, we were served this lovely Peking duck. On the side were these super thin pancakes, but what made the duck so special was two fold. First, they had removed all the fat off the super crispy skin. The other thing was that they had removed all the meat from the duck, so that was served in the pile under the skin. It was really great and my aunt kept saying this was the best duck she'd ever had.

My mom and aunt had done some major over ordering, though. So the food kept coming. Luckily, it was all really great. A lof less greasy and oily than some of the Chinese food I've become accustomed to. And the flavors were a bit different. Here's some ground chicken in lettuce cups:

Another one of our favorites were these freshly made steamed buns with crab. The buns were really delicious, and even though we were stuffed, we couldn't help be eat more of them.

Lastly, my mom had specially ordered lobster. It was something the restaurant didn't normally serve, and they had to order the lobsters especially for us. Even though I've had lots of lobster with ginger and green onion, but this one was unique due to the rice wine they used. Also, the lobster was exceptionally fresh and sweet tasting. I really enjoyed this dish a lot.

So dinner at Great China ended up bring really great. Though the service wasn't so wonderful, I wouldn't mind going back for some more of the delicious duck and lobster.

A QUICK TRIP TO LA LA LAND

Last week Tom and I made a quick trip down to LA so we could pick up all the boxes that we had shipped back to my parents' house. Of course for me, any opportunity to go back to LA is an opportunity to fill my bell and make me happy.

Since we landed in the morning, our first stop of the day was breakfast. We decided to go to the Literati Cafe, which is close to my parents' office. I'm pretty sure I've written about the cafe here before, since I seem to make a trip there every time I'm back at home, but food there remind me just why I love being back in CA.

Here's my breakfast sandwich and it's extra special for two reasons:

As you can see, it's got avocado. AND I got have it with turkey bacon. It was yummy and fresh and very filling. I enjoyed in immensely. Meanwhile, Tom ordered this massive breakfast quesadilla.

He also enjoyed it, and amazingly enough, actually finished off the whole thing (which he would regret doing 15 minutes later). Sigh.

After breakfast, we went to my favorite local farmer's market. We didn't stay too long though, because as you all know, there were some wildfires last week and it wasn't too pleasant staying outdoors. Also, it was over 95F, so we ended up going home and resting.

For dinner that evening, we met my parents and the rest of the family at Nanbankan, a local Japanese restaurant that specializes in roboto grilling. We got pretty lost getting there, since the traffic was quite heavy, and the exterior of the restaurant was under construction, so we couldn't find it. By the time we made our way there, my om had already ordered for everyone, which was totally fine with me.

They start you off with some raw veggies that you dip into a homemade miso dressing, which is quite good.

And here's a list of a few of the dishes we had. All were quite good and I really enjoyed eating there. Here's a chicken meatball:

Here's some chicken thigh meat:
These are grilled rice balls. The ones in back are a house specialty and have seaweed and seasonings mixed in.
Chicken wings (my favorite)
Chicken skin:
I'm not quite sure what this is, but it is a part of a chicken:
Chicken gizzards (another one of my favorites)
Mini zucchinis:
Shishamo (aka smelt)- This was Tom's favorite dish of the night.
Agedashi tofu:

Like I said, everything was super tasty and we were all stuffed when we left the restaurant.

After dinner, we went to Katie and Dustin's house, so Tom could meet their new kitty. My friend Raj, and his wife, Naina, were also there watching Game 1 of the World Series. (of course, by now you all know that my team won. Go Sox!). By the end of the fifth inning, the Sox were up 13-1, so we thought it was a good time to get some gelato.

A new place had opened just a few block from Katie's house in downtown Culver City, so we walked over there. It was pretty packed when we arrived, but they were quite obliging in putting a couple tables together for us so we could sit down. Here's a pic of the gelato case.As you can see, they were running low on just about everything. It'd been a warm day, so they unexpectedly sold out of almost every flavor.

I ended up ordering strawberry and pink lemon.
The strawberry was pretty good, though not my favorite. I preferred the pink lemon, but I enjoyed both and if I had a gelato place like this near me, I would certainly be going more often.

This place was more of a restaurant, though, and they served other desserts. Both Tom and Katie ordered the tiramisu, served in this little chocolate cupThe tiramisu was surprisingly good- not all mascarpone like many tiramisus tend to be. The chocolate cup, however, wasn't very yummy, though Tom still managed to finish his off.

It was getting late and we had a long drive back to the Bay Area the next day. So after we finished off dessert, we said good bye to my friends and headed home.

MORE BREAKFAST OPTIONS

I'm sure you guys are getting sick of reading about breakfast posts, and believe me, I do have other things to write about. But Tom and I continue to look for different breakfast options in our area. One place just 3 blocks from out apartment that Tom wanted to try out is a place called Nations. It's a burger place, but it's open 24 hours a day and everytime we drive by it in the morning, the parking lot is packed with cars.

So we figured we'd give it a try. The minute you walk in, you realize you're not in for a fancy meal. You don't have many options for breakfast, but they're all cheap. No wonder this place is so popular. Tom and I ordered our breakfast, and paid around $11 for the two of us.

Here's a shot of the seating area.

As you can see, it's nothing fancy. And kinda bordering on ghetto. Here's a pic of
Tom's Giant two egger:

You get double portions of eggs, bread, bacon and hash browns. Meanwhile, I ordered just toast and hash browns.

Ahhh, take a look at my fancy plastic cutlery. The hash browns weren't bad, but I don't think we'll be coming back. When I mentioned to my coworker that we'd gone to Nation's for breakfast, he mentioned that a teenager had been shot there recently....great...

Another one of our local and favorite breakfast places is Daimo. It's a great casual Chinese restaurant in the Ranch 99 complex near our house and we like going here in the mornings for some simple dim sum and congee. Here's a typical samples of what we get:

In front you can see my order of duck congee. Mmmm, my favorite. and Tom also got some different varieties of ride noodles- one with shrimp and the other with roast pork. We actually just had breakfast there yesterday and Tom got a bunch of dumplings.

Lastly, I haven't mentioned my CSA membership at all, but I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a member of the Fully Belly Farm CSA and I pick up my order every Friday morning about a half mile from our house. It's a little different from our CSA in Boston in that our boxes are smaller, but we also pay less. The selection has been quite good and I actually pick up my box in front of someone's house, so it's kinda sad that I don't have any real person to person contact with the actual farm members. But every week that I go, I see all these boxes piled up at the pick up point, and it's great knowing that so many other people are also supporting local farms.

Here's a picture of a typical box: You'll see radishes, corn, Komatsu (a type of green), squashes, green beans and a few other things. I hope that this will inspire some of you to join a local CSA in your area.

A DAY IN BERKELEY

As I type this, I'm watching the Sox on the verge of winning the World Series. (maybe) This entire series has made me miss Boston, but to make myself feel a little better, I'll remind you of why I live in the Bay Area.

As you know, now that I'm working again, I don't have "normal" days off. My days off are now on Wednesday and Thursdays, and with Tom having Saturday and Sundays off, we never get to spend a full day together. But we do spend our half days together. So one Thursday, we decided to meet my old college friend, Eileen, for lunch in Berkeley. However, since we weren't having lunch until 1, and we get up pretty early, we decided to get a snack at our local Vietnamese sandwich shop, Bah Le (just 3 block from home).

I love going here to get a quick lunch to take to work. I don't know what it is about Vietnamese sandwiches that makes them so great, maybe the pickled veggies, the crunchy cucumber, spicy jalapenos or soft, crunchy roll, I guess the combination of it all makes them extra yummy. Plus at $2.50, it's always an excellent deal. Tom and I are both fans of the bbq chicken sandwich, which is what you see below.

A couple of hours after our snack, we headed out to downtown Berkeley we went looking for Cafe Panini, a small sandwich shop tucked away in a courtyard. You wouldn't know from the outside that it's there, but since we had looked up the information on their website, it wasn't too hard to find. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a bunch of outdoor seating, so we grabbed a table outside.

I decided to order a soup and half sandwich combo. To be honest, I'm really not sure what I ordered anymore (this was two weeks ago), but I do remember that the soup was pretty good, and the sandwich was kinda small. (though also good and made with very fresh ingredients). Also, when they say panini, what they really mean is a toasted sandwich, since when I think of panini, I'm thinking of something placed on a panini press and squished flat.

Meanwhile, here's Tom's sandwich. It was a pork loin sandwich and he thought it was ok. Again, it was surprisingly small, so he was still hungry afterwards. Luckily, Eileen is more familiar with Berkeley and suggested that we visit a gelato shop afterwards. (I guess it's common knowledge that I love gelato).

Here are some shots of the gelato case. They all looked very good and they were quite willing to give out samples. However, I ordered my usual- chocolate and strawberry.

I thought the flavors were quite good and I enjoyed the chocolate quite a lot. After lunch, Tom and I decided to head up to North Berkeley for their weekly farmer's market. Ever Thursday, the farmer's market in North Berkeley feature only organic farmers. And we already have our favorite stalls at the farmer's market.

We're big fans of pretzel man who makes these German style pretzels, but better.
We also like getting bites at Flacos, the vegan, vegetarian Mexican stall. Here's tom standing next to the sign. Yeah, it doesn't sound very good, but it really is. You can hardly notice that the taquitos are filled with tempeh rather than chicken. Ahhh, the miracles of frying. And here are some more pics from the market. Overall, it's great to spend an afternoon sitting the sun and enjoying some yummy snacks. I guess this California living isn't so bad afterall.

A DINER WITHOUT AN OCEAN VIEW

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Tom and I have found that there are a lot of great breakfast places near us. And in our continuing search for more places to dine early in the morning, we decided to try out a local favorite, Bette's Ocean View Diner. Bette's is a hugely popular local diner and it's located on 4th St., sort of a trendy, upscale shopping area in Berkeley. (Tom says it's like a mall but spread out on a street). And contrary to its name, it has no ocean view. All of the reviews I'd read mentioned long lines, so we knew we'd have to get there early.

We got out the door by and arrived to the diner around 8:40 am, and sure enough there was already a line.

I gave my name to the guy up front, and was told it would be a 30 minute wait. Luckily, Bette's has a take out side next door, where you can get a cup of coffee while you wait. (We over heard a woman who'd arrived after us about a 45 minute wait, even though they'd arrived at 8:45 in the morning). Since we'd never been to 4th Street before, we walked around and took a look at the shops (none of which were open so early in the morning) so we went back to Bette's where we were seated exactly 30 minutes after we arrived.

What we soon discovered is that Bette's is a small, bustling restaurant. They're famous for their pancakes and even sell pancake mix. But neither of us were in the mood. I got waffles with a side of chicken apple sausage and breakfast potatoes. Here it is below.

The waffle was pretty good, though not as crispy as the one at Fat Apples (my current favorite place to get waffles), but the potatoes were amazing. They were crispy and tasty and certainly my favorite breakfast potatoes out of all the places we've tried.

Meanwhile, Tom ordered scrapple with poached eggs and a side of Portuguese sausage. I'm still having a hard time figuring out what scrapple really is, but I think Tom enjoyed it. Oddly enough, his sausages were served fried up without the casings, but I think he still enjoyed them.

Bette's really is a great breakfast place, and we look foward to going back and trying their pancakes. The service is pretty cordial, but it's so packed, that you don't get a whole lot of attention, and it did take awhile for our food to arrive. Of course, the warning is get there early, or be prepared to wait upwards of an hour for a table. And if at all possible, try to go with 2 or less people. (They don't have many large tables there).

And I'll close with a pictures of thing giant slice of pie floating in the middle of the diner.

A MEAL TO SOOTHE A COLD

So Tom and I have both had colds in the last week. He blames me, but I blame Max, who's had a cold for a while now. The other thing you learn about kids is that they get sick all the time, so you gotta wash your hands around them and never share food with them. Since I was feeling too tired to cook, we headed over to our local Asian shopping mall for some noodle soup.

When I first moved here, I was pretty surprised at how suburban it is. Big shopping malls, freeways, etc. But I guess that's just really Californian, too. Now I've gotten used to it, and I really like where I live cause it's so convenient. One of the things I really like is how close we are to the Ranch 99- for you non-Californians, it's like Super 88, but bigger and better, because it's catering to a much larger Asian population. In addition to the Ranch 99, we have a bunch of Asian restaurants to eat at, including the noodle house we visited. I don't remember the name, but it really is the best place to eat when you're sick.

So I got a big bowl of seafood noodle soup with those fat rice noodles that I love. It was very tasty.

Tom also got a big bowl of noodle soup, but he chose to get egg noodles. They weren't as good as the rice noodles, but he'll know for next time.

We also ordered a side dish of fish cakes and served with some pickled veggies, they tasted great. Overall, it was the perfect meal to have when you're feeling a little under the weather.

CATHY'S VISIT: DAY 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Tom and I like going out to breakfast a lot. One of our new favorite places is Fat Apple's, a local cafe that's super popular with families and neighborhood regulars. If you wanna get a table on weekends without waiting, you gotta get there early- I'm talking before 8:30.

But that works out well for breakfast with Max, because I've learned that little kids tend to wake up early and don't really understand the concept of sleeping in on the weekend. So when the 7 of us headed out for breakfast, we were lucky to snag a table right away. Here's Max working on coloring in a picture they gave him, along with some crayons.
Fat Apple's serves regular American breafasty food, but they do a really good job at it. My favorite breakfast is the waffle special. They make crispy, buttery waffles, which is a favorite of mine. And I get it with an egg and an apple chicken sausage.Meanwhile, Tom ordered has with eggs. And he got one of the famous Fat Apple cheese puffs on the side. Strangely enough, the cheese puff was actually kinda sweet, so neither of us were big fans. But Tom did like the hash, though it took him a little time getting used to it. That's cause rather than using canned hash, Fat Apple's actually makes fresh hash and you can see the little bits of meat. Overall, we're big fans of Fat Apple's and we visit it regularly.

After breakfast, we took Ben and Cathy to our local coffee shop. It's just 2 blocks from our house, and it's the perfect place for me, cause not only is it a coffee shop, it's an antique store and it's filled with all sorts of crazy and goofy items and toys. Everything in here is on sale. For example, they have 2 life size Sully dolls (you know, from Pixar's Monster's Inc.) Here's Cathy posing with one of them.I've tried to convince Tom to get me one, but they're $3,000 each. Maybe for Christmas.... In the meantime, here's me posing with the Simpsons familyNeedless to say, I think this place is awesome. (and you can get coffee for .99 everyday before 10am)- it's not too bad, either.