Since I’ve been in Berkeley, I’ve…
- Eaten, a lot. Twice at Chez Panisse, plus some quite indulgent staff meals; matrimonio and other tapas at Cesar; the famous Caesar salad at Zuni Cafe; pizza and salad at Cheeseboard Collective; many a time at Ramen Shop (4 times already and I’ve only been here for two and a half weeks, embarrassing); Penrose for lamb tartare and uni butter toast; a simple, delicious lunch at Boot & Shoe Service; Tartine for a sandwich and pastry; ridiculous carnitas & beef tongue tacos at the wonderfully cheap and aesthetically pleasing Taqueria Cancun (hehe so fun); Mission Chinese; burnt caramel ice cream at Ici, an ice cream shop owned by a Chez Panisse alum; had drinks at Prizefighter, and so on. And now, I will look my budget square in the face. While chewing.
- Interned 9 days in the kitchen at Chez Panisse, learning learning learning. Taking copious notes. Trying to soak it all up. Something I have wanted to do for quite a long time, and it’s really crazy wonderful that I’m where I am right now. Really crazy wonderful. I’ve become quite good at falling asleep at an embarrassingly early hour after work, but hey, what are ya gonna do. I made soup a couple times (carrot ginger soup photo above), which was really fun to be involved with the start to finish of a menu item. Oh, and I briefly met Jamie Oliver in the kitchen! So cool. I can only imagine what I’m going to learn in the next seven weeks…
- Spent time with a couple friends from home/work, who are also out here to get a little work experience and explorations in for a week or so. A little East Coast reunion on the West – so fun to see familiar faces.
- Explored the area, from Berkeley to Oakland to SF. And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. Miles. Walk walk walk. Snap snap snap. Read read read. Chew chew chew.
- Next on the list is a drive up the coast, Napa and Sonoma, and Muir Woods!
