Lunch at Berkeley: Bear's Lair

It's still raining.  It hasn't stopped raining since last week.  To say the least, I'd prefer it to stop.

This is by far the worst view I've shown in my series of lunches on campus.  You can see Zellerbach Hall, though, which is a lovely place that is often filled with schoolchildren on weekday field trips.  However, if it wasn't apparent above, my displeasure with the weather has grown quite substantial.  The real indicator, though, that I'm at my limit is the coffee in the photo's foreground.  I rarely drink hot beverages let alone hot coffee.  I wasn't even in need of the caffeine.  I just wanted to feel warm again.

The coffee tasted about as good as a one-dollar coffee can - harsh, not particularly strong.  I didn't help it by adding artificial sweetener.  My hope was to make it palatable, but I wasn't willing to wait or stir long enough for real sugar to dissolve.  In the end, I had a rather unpleasant coffee to badly accompany the turkey and salami sandwich that I had packed earlier in the morning.

Give me sunshine, and I'll give you UC Berkeley.  Pray, conjur, dance, whatever, just do something to help me get out of this gloom.

Lunch at Berkeley: Rainy Day

Two things to fess up about right away:  Yesterday's photo was taken with my phone because I didn't want to take my camera out in the rain, and this photo was taken yet again from the Daily Cal newsroom.  Rain really gets me off my game, and yesterday was no exception.

To be fair, I don't dislike the rain.  I like being warm and in bed on a rainy day, and I wouldn't be the only one in trouble if we went through a drought.  But I've worn glasses since the second grade (yeah, that's a while ago), which have kept me from enjoying being in the rain from then on.  I used to wish that those gag glasses with the windshield wipers were real, but it wasn't meant to be.  A few spots of rain are usually no big deal; any more rain and my corrected eyesight is basically nullified.  I prefer not to carry an umbrella because I have a tendency to leave them behind, but I really don't have a choice if I want to keep my glasses dry.

And then there's my desire not to get wet and not to eat a cold lunch.  No umbrella can keep you entirely dry from the wind-angled rain, and apparently that's the norm up here.  I actually intended to go out on Sproul Plaza since other news staff members were going to be out there tabling, which I would have done if I had packed a sandwich or something else I could have eaten cold.  What I had, though, was Kraft macaroni and cheese with bacon, and that definitely needed to be eaten warm if not hot.

So I stayed inside.  I took the photo in front of a window near the news editors' desks, one that overlooks Lower Sproul Plaza.  Even on a gray day, the campus is gorgeous.  The expanse of buildings gets lost into the fog, and the hustle and bustle below dissipates into a pitter-patter chorus.

A new frontier

Apologies again for today's picture.  I took it before I had decided that I want this blog to be more about my experiences with food instead of the food I'm eating.  Also, sorry that this one is a little stale.  I'm working through a back log of photos so I can tell the stories I'd like to.

Saturday night was not the night on which I would break in the kitchen at my new apartment.  That's probably the only time the word "new" will be associated with this apartment - every time a fire engine drives up Dwight, I wonder if it'll be stopping here.  Oddly enough, the kitchen was new.  It was one of the first things that caught my eye when I first got in that door.  The granite countertops and range still adorned with plastic protectors were far more appealing than the big bedroom or airy balcony.  But there was no way I was going to get any cooking done.  Aimee and I left from Los Angeles at 6 a.m. and got into Berkeley around noon, unloaded box after box, ate late lunch and bought a bed and mattress at Ikea, picked up the rest of my belongings in San Francisco, unloaded those damn boxes, built my bed, then went to sleep.  Nowhere in that schedule was there room for going to the market let alone cooking.

The next day, Safeway was the only place I wanted to go.  Of course, I had to go back to Ikea to get the desk I wanted the day before but couldn't get because it was out of stock, but I enjoyed my time among the refrigerated cases.  I bought with reckless abandon fort two reasons:  I had a vehicle with which I could transport my purchases, and my parents gave me a Safeway gift card before I left.  Food filled my shopping cart, ideas for meals for the week filled my thoughts.

I bought a rotisserie chicken because it was on sale, and I knew my time in the kitchen would still be limited because of all the minor tasks I had to get done (It never seems done when you move in to a new place, does it?).  When I got back and unpacked all of my purchases, I realized I had some taco seasoning left over from last semester, so I decided to make soft tacos with the chicken.  The parts that required work were the beans and rice, though those weren't particularly difficult.  A little bell pepper and onion here, a little garlic there, and it was done before we knew it.  The chicken was even easier - Aimee shredded it off the bones, and I threw it in a pan and after cooking down some of those veggies listed above (They go well in everything, right?) then tossed on the seasoning.

The picture will tell you that we're not entirely settled yet.  It was taken on our coffee table, which I'm pretty sure is a patio table given its stone-tiled top, because we don't currently have a dinette set.  It's not so terrible - the TV is there, after all, and a fairly comfy couch - but it screams of incompletion.  Perhaps that's why it was so satisfying that the dinner plates were so composed, everything in its place:  tacos with the proper accoutrements, beans adorning the rice, my fork ready to dig in.

Lunch at Berkeley: Daily Cal balcony

Here's the first in a series I'm planning for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays:  Lunch at Berkeley.  I'm going to pack a lunch, probably in this little bento box I bought yesterday, and eat it somewhere on campus to showcase all of the amazing places available for people to take in their midday repast.  Like I said in the previous post, I plan on using my DSLR for photos from now on, but I forgot today (on the first day, of all days), so here's an iPhone photo:

The focus is all off.  It's supposed to be on the food, not the scenery, but to be fair, the scenery is pretty spectacular.  I decided to eat my lunch not far from the place I'm going to be storing my lunches - in The Daily Cal's refrigerator.  The newsroom is on the sixth floor of Eshleman Hall, and it has a balcony that overlooks the entire bay.  The balcony is only a few paces away, so it's not uncommon for any of the staff to eat while taking in the fresh air and the view of the bay.  As should be obvious if you read yesterday's post, I had leftover grilled chicken and zucchini over steamed white rice.

Although I fully expected my lunch to be just as pleasing as it was last night, in the way simple, well-seasoned food is pleasurable, the experience lacked that same sensation.  And I couldn't blame the view - the chilly air kept the air clean and clear enough to see right into San Francisco.  As I sat there, looking out, forking the meticulously sliced pieces of chicken, I pondered what I was missing.  I stretched my legs across one of the other chairs on the balcony, and it struck me - I was missing company.  It shouldn't have taken so long to dawn on me.  I despise eating alone unless my brain can go on autopilot while watching TV or something equivalent.  I like having someone with whom I can talk about the food and other odds and ends of the day.  My distaste for solo dining goes so far that I can't eat in a restaurant alone.  I either pick up the food and eat it in a private space (my apartment, most likely) or bury myself in a book.  Then again, if the food isn't conducive to eating with one hand, the book thing is pretty much impossible.

The conclusion I arrived at upon finishing my lunch is that I'll either have to get over my aversion to eating alone or find someone to dine with three days out of the week.  If you're hungry and free from 2-3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and/or Friday, we could make beautiful photographs together.  And eat.

An apology

Dear blog,

I'm so sorry for neglecting you for the past month.  Finals consumed me in the middle of December, leaving me with no time or energy to post.  Believe me, blog, I continued to eat.  In fact, even during those hectic days and nights spent slaving away at the keyboard cranking out page after page of research essay, I somehow managed to cobble together turkey sandwiches, chili rice, and scrambled eggs to sustain me.

Then I went home, and because of my gluttonous nature while at home, I didn't feel I could come back to you.  Did you want to see photos of Baccali's curry chicken noodle soup, In-N-Out's double double, or The Hat's pastrami sandwich?  Maybe, but even if you wanted to see, I couldn't overcome how guilty I felt eating out so much.  Is it my fault that my family either likes to eat out or cook for me?  I wanted to get back in the kitchen, but what's a guy to do when everyone's serving him food left and right?

I'm back, though.  New apartment, new kitchen (new in the sense that I haven't spent much time here, not physically new, though the range is brand new), new attitude.  That's right - changes are a-comin'.  Over the break, I read a lot of food writing, and I think I want to take you in a different direction, dear blog.  I no longer need to prove to anyone that I can feed myself without eating out (or at least that's how I feel about it).  I want to start telling stories about the food I make and eat, beyond the little anecdotes I'd provide before.  I also want to put better photos up.  I love my iPhone, but the photos that come out of it aren't always great.  It's time I step up my game, and you're coming along for the ride.

As a parting farewell to your early days, here's what I ate for dinner at Ikea a few days ago as captured by my phone. 

This amazing smorgasbord includes Swedish meatballs, baby back ribs, macaroni and cheese, a garden salad, apple cake, and lingonberry drink.  The entire meal was essentially free since I spent over $100 on furniture.  It wasn't exactly free - I paid for it, and the amount I paid was deducted from what I spent on a new bed.  They get me to try the food and give free publicity, I get a meal that had me wishing I could go into food coma instead of having to schlep all that stuff from Emeryville to Berkeley.

You and I are making a comeback, friend.  I hope you're hungry.

Sincerely yours,
Chris

P.S. Not ATE OUT because it was free!