Week 2, Day 3 Continued

Trip to Berkeley was a great success. Turns out the bakery is right off Highway 13, across from the Claremont. I could have found it myself - I'm not completely inept at Berkeley directions - after all, my OB/Gyn was in Berkeley for years; the kids were both born in Berkeley; I've driven myself to one of my deliveries (well, I met J. there to be induced); I've had multiple doctor appointments, etc. So if I'd realized it was so 'close' to the part of town I am familiar with, I probably wouldn't have needed to have J. come with me. But I'm so glad he did.

We went to the bakery first thing - 8 loaves of SRB and various assorted other delightful pastries - cinnamon crisps, shortbread cookies (star shaped with red and blue sprinkles for the holiday weekend), ginger cookies, macaroons, and Mexican Wedding cookies. YUMMY! It's the tiniest 'hole in the wall' place, near a Pete's Coffee. The bakery was wonderful - so many artisan breads to try. Made me wish we lived closer so a trip there weekly would be possible. I've got five loaves in the freezer (took out something for dinner tonight to help make room) and three sliced loaves ready to consume. I thought of shipping some to my sister, but it's the holiday weekend and I don't know if it would get there still in good shape. Next trip there, I will head home and pack some up and ship it.

I think it's the 'real thing' though I'm not absolutely 'positive'. The loaves are smallish, like I remember. The tops don't look particularly 'domed' - but they don't look particularly 'flat', either. It tastes like I remember and the 'crumb' is like I remember - it's not an 'airy' bread - it's dense. I can't wait to toast some tomorrow morning (or maybe that's what I'll have for dinner tonight). And I can't wait for grilled cheese sandwiches made with it tomorrow.

After J. expertly extricated the car from the teeny tiny parking lot (where cars were 'stacked in' three to a space - and a car had just parked into the slot next to us - the THIRD car in that space and it was sticking out so far into the lot, I wasn't sure how we would back out - but J. managed brilliantly), we headed up to the UC Berkeley campus, up the frat house row. Admiring the homes and the campus buildings - and then headed up to Kensington. I've always heard of Kensington and never been there, so we drove there. Beautiful 'older' homes - but if I'd blinked, I would have missed the 'town'. J. was reminiscing about 'when I used to deliver drugs to Kensington when I was in college' - referring to his days of driving a VW bug with a mortar and pestle on top for a pharmacy that delivered. He has a lot of good stories - including the one where he forgot he was driving a car with a mortar and pestle on top and drove into an underground garage that was too low - thus tearing up the car 'decoration' on top. Those were the days. Then, we drove through El Cerrito where I found my next 'dream home' - on a hill with a bay view - huge, and spread out with great space for gardens, etc. It's a beautiful city - as is Kensington.

We headed home via Hwy. 80, since that's where we ended our 'tour' of towns - and stopped in Pleasanton at Chef India for a delicious lunch. J. had never been to this place before and I've only been a couple times - it was great Indian food. We both did a good job of trying lots of things but not over eating.

Arrived home just in time to help ('help' being probably not the best word to use but the only one I can think of) get the boys out the door for the church Wakeboard Wednesday activity. I'm sure they're having a ball. I'm not sure how much sleep the got last night - they were both 'grumpy' and hard to communicate with. But then again, that's pretty much the norm these days, so lack of sleep probably had little to do with it.

I'm going to get a couple starters going tonight and see what happens. We don't have any plans tomorrow other than working around the house - so I can let them ferment longer and see if that changes anything.

Going to grab another cookie. So yummy! Man, I wish we had a bakery like that place here in Tracy. Kandi's is pretty darn close, but she's not open everyday and she doesn't bake bread. Maybe next time I see her, I'll ask her if she'd give SRB a try!