To the East Bay
Written by admin on August 1, 2010 – 12:56 am -
There was a Berkeley Kite Festival that I had really wanted to attend so we booked a car and planned to spend the entire day in the East Bay. Also, I wanted to test out my really nice new camera
We called up Tosh and Michiko since it’s been so long since we’ve seen them to join. It turned out that way too many people went out for the festival so we headed to 4th Street instead…sadly, no kites for me.
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It was soon time for lunch so Tosh and Michiko showed us one of their favorite places to get some great Japanese lunch and sushi, Geta Japanese Restaurant in North Oakland, CA. This place is small but has the best chicken karaage we’ve tasted and is definitely worth the wait. Plus, the price can’t be beat!
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After our delicious lunch, we strolled around different areas between Berkeley and Oakland, had some ice cream, yogurt, and even visited a zen temple created by Yoshi’s Jazz Club/Japanese Restaurant, a very popular jazz club in the Bay Area.
We also drove around the Berkeley hills for some views.
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After some time, we parted with Tosh and Michiko and stayed around 4th Street until dinner time. Azusa had heard about a new izakaya, a food/drinks place mostly specializing in Japanese grill, so we were ready to check it out. Ippuku was what we’ve been waiting to find in the Bay Area and we can’t wait to go back. This is seriously some good stuff!
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More pictures >>HERE<<!
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Tags: berkeley, foods
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SF’s Oldest Wood-Fired Brick Pizza Oven and Friends
Written by admin on August 5, 2009 – 12:23 am -Two weekends ago, Azusa’s good friend, Kanako and her boyfriend, Wataru, visited us all the way from Japan! Wataru was running in the SF Marathon that weekend so we got a chance to see them for a few days.
On Friday evening, we went out to an excellent pizza joint in Little Italy called, “Tommaso Ristorante Italiano,” best know for “the first wood-fired brick pizza oven on the West Coast”. The line was almost 45 min. for us and it was around 5:45pm! It was well worth the wait and I can’t wait to go back. Most everything we had was delicious, especially the clams and definitely their famous pizzas!
I had forgotten my camera so pics are courtesy of Kanako.
On Saturday, Kanako, Azusa, and I went out to downtown Berkeley for the day. Wataru stayed in to rest for his marathon race early Sunday morning. We ate some lunch at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market and also some sushi later on that day!
See the rest of the pictures >>HERE<<.
*On a side note, Wataru ran the SF Marathon in 3:08 hours! Congrats!
Tags: berkeley, Farmer's Market, italian, pizza
Posted in Friends, SF | 1 Comment »
SF Taiko Performance in Berkeley 11/22/08
Written by admin on November 24, 2008 – 1:02 pm -
This Saturday, we attended a Taiko festival of the San Francisco Taiko and many other special guests with our friends Tosh and Michiko. We had the whole day so we spent our time hanging out in Berkeley before the show and Tosh and Michiko were very nice in showing us around town.
We picked up some lunch at a ridiculously famous place on Shattuck called The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective. This was a place that is all worker owned. No boss, managers, or employees! Besides that, their menu is a daily menu which is their only menu of the day. Each day, there is a different pizza. There are no other choices but this special pizza for the day! And you should see the line!
Of course, their pizza was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed their curry, potato, lemon zest today-only pizza. There was a live band and everyone was just enjoying the beautiful day. Wonderful place to try if you’re ever in the area.
Shortly, we left to a spot called the Fourth Street Shopping District, a really popular area for some outdoor shopping and strolling. Great look and feel in the surroundings. Spent some time browsing the stores and had some gelato. Such great weather to be out too!
Afterwards, Tosh wanted to show us some great views of San Francisco from the hills of Berkeley, Grizzly Peak. This was probably the highest point in the entire bay area. Cool and windy drive through the hills and the view was spectacular!
You might want to check this picture out in full size, I thought it turned out great!
From the top, we drove down the hills to UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall for the Taiko Festival Performances. The best performance was by far the group called O Edo Sukeroku Taiko straight from Japan. Their 6 person set was simplistic, harmonious, and tuned. Incredible speed and well coordinated.
However, I can’t say the same for the melee of 20-30 person set of the SF Taiko ensemble, leaving me with confusion from the random screaming and the overcrowdedness on stage. This is where it shows that bigger is not always better…
And finally, we had some late night dinner at a small Thai restaurant. Perfect ending to a pretty funfilled day with even some leftovers.
Cheers 
Berkeley gallery >>HERE<<.
Tags: berkeley, foods, taiko, views
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