CATHY'S VISIT: DAY 1

I got three separate complaints yesterday that I need to update my blog, and I suppose you guys are right. I have been here nearly 5 weeks now. I've eaten out plenty of times, and I've even documented a few of my meals. But Tom and I are still working on getting our place set up (still need a couch), so blogging hasn't been one of my top priorities.

But my little sister, Cathy, and her boyfriend Ben visited last weekend, so I took the opportunity to try out a few new places and even took pics of it! Tom and I have found some great breakfast places to dine out at, so breakfast is something we go out for quite frequently. When Cathy and Ben visited, we took them to a place called La Note in downtown Berkeley. It's a French restaurant that was highly reviewed on Yelp, so I figured we'd give it a try. (oh, and if you're wondering how I find places to eat up here, Yelp is an important resource. It was started in the Bay Area, so a ton of people use it and there are a lot of reviews up).

So when we arrived at La Note, the place was packed, with a bit of a line at the door. We were able to snag a spot on a bench and helped ourselves to coffee as we waited to get seats (who knew that Berkeley students would be up so early on a Saturday morning). We probably waited about 15 or 20 minutes before we were given a table. And turns out, we just came at the wrong time. By the time we were seated, a bunch of tables had opened up and the line disappeared. Oh well.

Here's Tom with his menu.

As you can see, they're going for this kinda rustic French country side feel. I think it's pretty cozy and cute. They're also really famous for their pancakes (which Ben ended up ordering), but I wasn't in the mood for that. I got eggs, sausage and some really great homefries.

And here's the thing I've noticed having breakfast out in CA, almost everywhere will have chicken apple sausage as an option (a huge plus for the non pork/beef eater that I am) and almost everywhere has excellent homefries. The ones at La Note were roasted with rosemary and garlic cloves and had lots of crispy spots, just the way I like them.

Tom ordered two sides of meat (figures) and also went for a basket of breads. He said they were pretty good (though they had toasted the breads and he isn't a fan of toasted breads), but I got to try the croissant and I liked it.

I think Cathy and Ben also enjoyed their breakfasts. And even though it's a bit farther from us, I wouldn't mind going back again in the future. The service was a bit rush, but was friendly over all and the food was pretty good.

After breakfast, I headed off to work. But everyone came and did a tour and chocolate tasting with me. I was able to leave work an hour early to join my family for dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby.

Now, if you're Asian and familiar with the Bay Area, you've undoubtedly visited the Chinese restaurant in Emeryville at least once. It's called East Ocean Seafood Restaurant. It's well known because it sits out in the bay and you have this great view of San Francisco. We got a little lost trying to find it, but when I spotted a giant building that looked like a pagoda, we knew we had arrived. This place is super popular for weddings, and we knew there'd be one going on when we made the reservation. But they had no problem seating a party of 16 (yes, please keep in mind that I have a large family), so we went with it.

Since there was a wedding going on, the normal diners were all place in a smaller, separate dining room. My Aunt Sherida did the ordering, so we just sat back, ready to eat a lot.

First, we started off with lettuce cups with shrimp:

and that was followed by a corn soup:

For some reason, my aunt decided to order lots of dishes with tofu. There were like 4 of them. So here's shrimp with fried tofu:
crispy skinned chicken:
seafood with broccoli:
green veggies with tofu:
and steamed with with black bean sauce and tofu:
The food turned out to be quite good, though the waitservice was shoddy, probably overwhelmed due to the wedding. Everyone enjoyed dinner, though, and it was a great place to go for such a large group. My little cousin, Max, especially enjoyed the tanks full of seafood.