Wow! It's been forever since I blogged. Sorry about that folks. Wish I had something terribly witty for my return to the blogsphere. So about my absence.
First there was the flurry of activity getting the house in order for Sunny's visitation. Much dusting, clearing of out the garage, a run to the dump following said clearing out of garage. No Sunny wasn't going to be staying in the garage, in point of fact she barely went downstairs but her visit was great motivation to get things done like the hell hole that was our garage.
In addition I spent at least 12 hours gardening. By gardening I mean clipping dead things and pulling weeds, a tiny bit of laying the meager amount of mulch I could afford to purchase. I also swept, rearranged the "patio furniture", and hosed down the cement in the back yard area. Did we sip tea back there during the visit? No. I don't believe she ever even went out the back door. Again, it was a good push. After pondering it for months I hosed down the walls and ceiling of the front porch, and actually scrubbed the porch and steps.
There was also the furious attempt to finish her socks, which I did but just after she arrived. She gleefully received them and I hope she wears them often. They came out quite lovely (details and photos will be in a separate post - okay GWF?).
Being the good daughter that I am, I checked her into her hotel room before heading down to San Jose to pick her up. This included stocking the room with the groceries she requested, nice silverware, paper plates, and a small bouquet of irises.
It was a total whirlwind of eating out (what a treat I tell you!), shopping, showing her various local sites. There was also a party (more details in a separate post as well) to introduce her to (our) society, as it were.
Some of the places we ate at, and thus recommend:
Meal Ticket (Wednesday breakfast)TGF thinks this place is so so and expensive. I really like it and the coffee makes mine taste weak. 10 points just for that. Sunny like it a lot.
Gilman Grill (Thursday breakfast) TGF loves this place, thinks the food is good, price is right. I like just fine but the coffee lacks. Sunny seemed to like the food just fine.
Doyle Street Cafe (Monday breakfast) We both adore this place, though I honestly cannot remember the last time we were there. Lunch here is quite tasty as well. Sunny loved this place. Though it's been a long time the head guy recognized me, which is a touch bonus.
Filippos (Friday lunch) Sunny and I lunched here at their College Avenue location. She loved the decor and since two of the colours were similar to our bedroom colours I enjoyed it as well. She was delighted to see that their menu specified a gluten-free pasta substitute. Made the decision quite easy. Sunny was very happy with her spaghetti alla bolognese, though technically it was penne. I enjoyed capellini vernazza (with shrimp, asparagus & tomatoes with a garlic wine sauce).
Cafe Colucci (Thursday dinner) My favorite Ethiopian restaurant. During Sunny's last visit to the area (April 2004) I took her here and it was on her list of places she wanted to go to this time. I got the Veggie Combo, Sunny ordered her favorite - begue tibs, and TGF was very brave, ordering a chicken dish which she found too spicy but she liked a couple of the veggie dishes on the platter. As Sunny said, TGF went beyond the call of duty. If you are a newer reader TGF is not the most adventurous of eaters and I very much doubt I would have gotten her to this place had it not be for Sunny. She actually ate enough that she did not come home and gobble some Jif on Wonder.
T-RexBBQ (Monday dinner) We had been here once before and greatly enjoyed it and thought Sunny would as well. Their macaroni and cheese is an absolutely unctuous, decadent side that is a meal in itself. Sunny declared their burger perfect.
Pyramid Brewery & Alehouse (Saturday lunch) We attempted to go to Jimmy Beans, a place we like a lot but it was terribly crowded. TGF suggested this place to the great enjoyment of Sunny. A comfortable but noisy place. Basic pub fare with some California flair here and there. Sunny greatly enjoyed soda sampler, made her day.
Gregoire's Takeout (Friday dinner) We adore this place but haven't gotten food from there in forever. Absolutely some of the best stuff. Really. Everyone should go there. Nuff said.
I am probably forgetting one more place (like Wednesday night?!) but there you go, a quick guide to some good to excellent food options here in Berkeley. TGF definitely scored bonus points with a number of her food suggestions, adding to the success of this visit.
I am grateful that there was a pleasant enough hotel across the street from us so that all of us were able to get space and that she had enough room to spread her nest. I am happy that she was comfortable coming over when she wanted and seemed relaxed in our home. The animals and Sunny had a huge love feast which was lovely to see, she made up songs and rhymes for several of our beasts - quite fun.
Overall it was a successful visit even while stressful. It was good to see her, for her to get a glimpse of our life here (she has visited once before but my life here was very different at the time), and to chat at will.
Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Trying to find balance
Casa de Cedar is still grieving, all of us having a little in some moments and a great deal in others. Friday morning is when we found Saana, that night Atticus did not eat dinner. Marcelle, her sister has been very cuddly at night, snuggling into me, then TGF, then between us, touching whoever she was least close to. The other day Atticus emitted a cry that TGF says is the one he does when I am gone and he crawls the house looking for me.
At the end of our walk with Ruth (piccolo's mom) on Sunday I had to say the words out loud, tell someone who didn't know for the first time. Ruth has been very invested in these kittens as well so it really sucked to tell her. The up side is she is someone who really gets the connection one can have with an animal and absolutely knew how important Saana was to me.
Sunday night I dreamt that Saana came back and my joy was huge, my nightmare over but she wouldn't let me hold her. Doesn't take Freud to figure it out. I woke up, I guess in frustration because some part of my head knew it was a dream and thus wanted it over because the false hope was more unbearable. Or something.
On Monday I took Joia (Delta Burke of the cat world) to the vet (spending way more money than we have but not as much as their initial menu selection of tests would have cost) and had to tell them to pull Saana's file. Of course I met the tech who took care of Saana and Marcelle during their spay, the one who thought they were so cute she had to take a photo, thus my third time in two days telling of our sad story. Somehow I was able to dissociate enough at the vet office that I barely teared up.
TGF and I have been very quiet, not talking too much, for better or worse. We have both been alternatively introspective, cranky, and sad; not a good mix, not at all. Can you tell what's coming next? It is rather embarrassing to report but we argued today. The upside is that we had some good conversation afterwards about some of our patterns. Another good thing is I created an hourly 5 day week schedule for myself to add some structure in order to get some control over my life - at least I hope so.
As part of our breaking up some of the tension we splurged and went out to a real dinner out - you know a place with cloth napkins and everything! We checked out a place called Mangia Mangia, which I had checked out on Yelp (I {heart} Yelp) because we had just been talking about finding some Italian restaurants. The original conversation was about one of those little mom 'n pop places which doesn't exactly describe where we went because this was a little more upscale than we were imagining. The service was quite good, the garlic-parsley spread for the bread was spectacular - TGF asked me to figure out how to make it. It was hard to not burst out laughing, I mean really all it is in minced garlic, a tiny bit of parsley and some olive oil. "Are you sure?" was the response. Our entrees was quite tasty. The glass of wine I ordered was far from wonderful but it was decent - a Riesling from Australia, what was I thinking?
During dinner we bantered, chatted and even laughed - it felt like the first time since Friday that we had any real levity. It felt like the tide had began to shift a bit, finally. Just a bit ago I called Marcelle "Saana" by mistake and we both teared up but the moment passed. I expect I will keep thinking I see her, mistake one of the other cats motion, sniffing, or meows for her, for a very long time.
At the end of our walk with Ruth (piccolo's mom) on Sunday I had to say the words out loud, tell someone who didn't know for the first time. Ruth has been very invested in these kittens as well so it really sucked to tell her. The up side is she is someone who really gets the connection one can have with an animal and absolutely knew how important Saana was to me.
Sunday night I dreamt that Saana came back and my joy was huge, my nightmare over but she wouldn't let me hold her. Doesn't take Freud to figure it out. I woke up, I guess in frustration because some part of my head knew it was a dream and thus wanted it over because the false hope was more unbearable. Or something.
On Monday I took Joia (Delta Burke of the cat world) to the vet (spending way more money than we have but not as much as their initial menu selection of tests would have cost) and had to tell them to pull Saana's file. Of course I met the tech who took care of Saana and Marcelle during their spay, the one who thought they were so cute she had to take a photo, thus my third time in two days telling of our sad story. Somehow I was able to dissociate enough at the vet office that I barely teared up.
TGF and I have been very quiet, not talking too much, for better or worse. We have both been alternatively introspective, cranky, and sad; not a good mix, not at all. Can you tell what's coming next? It is rather embarrassing to report but we argued today. The upside is that we had some good conversation afterwards about some of our patterns. Another good thing is I created an hourly 5 day week schedule for myself to add some structure in order to get some control over my life - at least I hope so.
As part of our breaking up some of the tension we splurged and went out to a real dinner out - you know a place with cloth napkins and everything! We checked out a place called Mangia Mangia, which I had checked out on Yelp (I {heart} Yelp) because we had just been talking about finding some Italian restaurants. The original conversation was about one of those little mom 'n pop places which doesn't exactly describe where we went because this was a little more upscale than we were imagining. The service was quite good, the garlic-parsley spread for the bread was spectacular - TGF asked me to figure out how to make it. It was hard to not burst out laughing, I mean really all it is in minced garlic, a tiny bit of parsley and some olive oil. "Are you sure?" was the response. Our entrees was quite tasty. The glass of wine I ordered was far from wonderful but it was decent - a Riesling from Australia, what was I thinking?
During dinner we bantered, chatted and even laughed - it felt like the first time since Friday that we had any real levity. It felt like the tide had began to shift a bit, finally. Just a bit ago I called Marcelle "Saana" by mistake and we both teared up but the moment passed. I expect I will keep thinking I see her, mistake one of the other cats motion, sniffing, or meows for her, for a very long time.
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