Eating our way through Berkeley

So one advantage to not being able to use our kitchen has been going out to eat more...

Saturday night we we walked over to my favorite Ethiopian restaurant... ever, I suppose. There is a big Ethiopian community along Telegraph in south Berkeley / north Oakland. Cafe Colluci is the best restaurant of the ones I've been to, although I hope to eat my way through more of them. It is about a ten minute walk from us, if that! Normally I've just ordered the Veggie combo. This time, though, we tried a couple of dishes not on the combo: Shuro (a thick soup made with chick pea flower) and Eggplant tibs. I thought they were were incredibly good. Alison didn't care for the shuro.

On Sunday we went to Berkeley Bowl, the legendary grocery store two blocks from us. When we tell people where we live, the most common reaction is "wow, that's near Berkeley Bowl!" It was nicer than I remember. The had some high class stuff we are used to for cheaper prices (like our cow-spa-milk). The produce, though, is always the most amazing part. We got some really, really great raspberries for 1.40 a container. The potato varieties were sold by grade (care for a grade three yukon gold?). Anyway, it is going to be an incredible place to be near. The one problem with it is limited parking, but we can easily walk.

On Monday Alison went to her interview in San Jose at Evergreen Community College. The campus seemed quite nice and I think the interview went quite well. Unfortunately, it turns out it is for a Spring semester job. But anyway, it is an iron in the fire. When we got home we were starving and it turns out that almost no restaurant is open on Monday in Berkeley. First we tried Vik's, the incredible Indian Eatery. Then the Cheeseboard pizza. Then Cha-Ya, vegetarian Buddhist cuisine. We ended up going to the student eatery area along Telegraph and eating at Smart Alex's, a healthy burger and fry sort of place. As I remembered, it was extremely good. Homemade veggie patties and by far the best non-fried french fries I've ever had.

That night we went to an Indian restaurant that was recommended to me: Udupi Palace South Indian Vegetarian Cuisine. It wasn't anything special by our very high standards. The Pongal (rice and lentil porridge) was good but the rest of the food was just okay.

The apartment is definitely coming together but still needs work. Alison pointed out that I am not just collapsing from the move, but from my dissertation as a whole. That makes me feel a bit better...

PS: It is cold here! It's been 59 every morning and cloudy. And there is sprinklings of rain! We aren't in southern California anymore...