Oakland

The only times I had ever been to Oakland before was for jury duty, one visit to a Kaiser Permanente, and going to the airport.  So Ben agreed to explore Oakland a little more in-depth with me today, even though he'd already been to Oakland a couple time and described it as a run-down cesspool (my phrasing).

We had lunch at Arizmendi's, at the recommendation of a mom in my Tuesday mom group.  It's philosophy and style sounded a lot like the Cheeseboard in Berkeley, and when we got there, the counter dude explained that it was started by the same people and they share most of the same recipes.  The yellow things on the pizza are corn, and the green garnish is cilantro.

We finished lunch in time for the 12:10 mass at the Cathedral of Christ the Light.  The priest gave a homily that included stories about the pains of labor, and when I went up to receive Communion, instead of "The Body of Christ" he asked "Was my homily accurate?"  I was discombobulated and almost answered "Amen," which I guess would still have been an appropriate response.  He then asked what our son's name was, and I answered "Michael Francis," and he replied "I'm Michael Patrick!"

We then took the Cathedral tour.  Our tour guide was impressive in her recall of trivial details about the exact number of [X]'s that went into constructing [Y] and names of architects and artists that I never heard of before and will never hear of again.

Among many of the beautiful pieces of art at the Cathedral was a replica of Michaelangelo's Pieta, along with a replication of his signature, which is, FACT: apparently the artwork Michaelangelo ever signed.

We ran into one of our Catholic friends who works at the diocese.  (We go to the same prayer group.)  I offered Ed a "pocket cookie," which Ben says was a weird thing to do.  (Ben reached into his pocket for a pen, and pulled out a cookie, which neither of us have any memory of going into the pocket.)  I couldn't have the pocket cookie laying around my purse tempting me all day!

Here are Ben and Michael in front of Lake Merritt, in front of the Cathedral.  We got out of the car just for this photo opportunity.

Me and The Boy in front of Lake Merritt/The Cathedral.

The other moms in my mom group told me to check out Jack London Square, named after some local yokel.  Ben and I were wondering why Oakland loves Jack London so much (a city as big as Oakland has had to beget other famous people, right?), but a plaque in the square described him as a socialist, so, you know... mystery solved.

As you can see Jack London Square is a very lively place.  This is close to 5 p.m. on a Friday!  Probably half of the storefronts were shut down and had "for sale" signs, and the rest were were just closed.  We went into an overpriced candy shop and that was it.  Pretty much the only other people we saw were security guards patrolling other security guards.  We were debating how many quarters to put in the meter, worried slightly that 45 minutes wouldn't be enough time, but we got back with 14 minutes to spare, including time trying to find our car.  Back to Lake Merritt for dinner.

We did our Yelp homework and decided to try an Ethiopian restaurant called Enssaro.  Neither of us had Ethiopian before, and I was a little hesitant after seeing the unassuming storefront in a not-very attractive part of town (according to Ben, it was actually one of the nicest parts of Oakland... yeesh).  We decided to be adventurous and got Tej, which is a honey wine with a "beer-y" aftertaste, as well as some appetizers called sambusas (one meat and one vegetarian for each of us).  The best way I know how to describe a sambusa is like a fried spring roll.  It's not entirely accurate, but it'll have to do.  We enjoyed both the wine and the appetizers.  It was the first wine I'd ever had that I liked, so now we have to try to track some down in Texas.  ;-)  (I couldn't drink too much before the taste of alcohol started to overwhelm the sweet taste of honey that I was enjoying, so Ben happily consumed most of the glass.)

We ordered the vegetarian combination and meat combination for the main courses, which arrived on one plate, so both of us sampled a little of everything.  The veggie combo included Messer Wot, Kik-Alichi, Ata-kilt, and Gommen, while the meat included Doro wot, Ye sega Wot, and Gommen Besega.  I can't tell you what was what, and I wish I took a picture of our food, but absolutely everything was heavenly.  It was one of the tastiest meals I had in a long time.  Similar to Indian cuisine, yet... different.  The biggest difference, in my opinion, being the "utensils" -- sponge bread that you use to scoop and mop up everything on the plate!  In fact, the whole dish was served on one giant piece of sponge bread (injera) that collected all the juices of everything leftover.  Delish.

I asked Ben to stop at the nearby Whole Foods before we went home.  They had a Cafe Gratitude inside and I wanted to pick up a dessert, as well as get a preview of what I'll have available to me in Austin since Texas doesn't have a single Trader Joe's.  :-(  Cafe Gratitude is a raw, vegan, organic, hippie restaurant.  I enjoy raw desserts (because they don't have flour or refined sugar) and have made modifications on a couple of their desserts based on their recipe book I checked out of the library.

Here is my loot from the day.  (Not pictured:  some ground cardamom I bought at Whole Foods.  Sorry, I know that you all would want to see it.)  I bought a bunch of prayer cards at the Cathedral gift shop.  (I collect prayer cards.)  I also got some info on the Cathedral and this week's bulletin, and my Cafe Gratitude ice cream.

I asked the girl behind the counter how much the ice cream cost, and then I decided to purchase some ground cardamom and come back to Cafe Gratitude so the ice cream would have a little more time to sit in the freezer.  The girl was like "So you decided to go for it?"  I told her about my internal debate concerning whether I should buy the ice cream because I'd have to drive it home forty-five minutes or so away, and she assured me it would be fine and then added "You Are Deserving!"  Now Cafe Gratitude has this hippie thing where every dish is named "I Am [X]" where [X] is some affirmation, and then when the waiter gives you your plate, he recites back "You Are [X]!"  So I was like "Oh, is that what this ice cream is called?"  And the girl says, TRUE STORY, "No, the spirits just thought I should tell you!"  I thought it was weird and cute.

The ice cream has a small fraction of organic, vegan Love.  And agave nectar, which I don't use myself (I prefer honey if I have to use sweetener in my raw desserts, otherwise I try to derive sweetness naturally from dates and other fruits).  I didn't have any tonight because I was stuffed from Enssaro's.

Michael was fine for most of the day, EXCEPT IN THE CAR.  Good golly, he screamed and wailed in the car ride to Oakland, and from the Cathedral to Jack London Square like he was in serious pain, but I can't even begin to imagine what was just SO bad that he screamed and cried and turned red for fifteen minutes but was fine as soon as we got him out of the car.  He used to love car rides!  And I was even sitting in the back with him, trying to play with him!  Lots of people in the Cathedral tour and restaurant commented on how well-behaved Michael was, and Ben and I were thinking, yeah, we're just as surprised as anyone else.  He was absolutely quiet and taking in the 80-or-so minute tour, he sat in his stroller quietly in the restaurant... but yeesh, I hope he behaves himself on the plane better than in the car.