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Action Packed Weekend!

Boy oh boy, it was an action packed weekend of fooding, driving, and walking.  To recount:

1.  Relay for Life - thanks for Koklynn for setting this up! Koklynn, Nelson, Wysz, Charlene, and I joined Team Google for the 3AM to 6AM shift of the 24 hour walk to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  The course was a small oval around Roble Field, which was surrounded by luminary candles with bags commemorating loved ones lost to cancer or inspirational messages to all the walkers.  Since we did a late shift, there weren’t many people on the field, but we did some jogging around the track (Nelson did 1 hour’s worth), and at 5am, switched directions from walking counter-clockwise to walking clockwise.  All in all, a good time.

2.  Cheeseboard Pizza - went here for an early dinner/late lunch after sleeing in from Relay4Life.  Nelson recommended this cooperative pizza parlour if I ever made my way up to Berkeley, and it did not disappoint.  $2.50 for a delicious slice of “Four Cheese (Mozzarella, Asiago, Gorgonzola & Grana Padano Cheeses), Three Onions (Yellow, Red & Green Onions), Garlic Olive Oil, Basil” pizza was well worth it.  We even ordered 3 slices and ended up with an extra one when we unwrapped our pizza.  That definitely is the worker coop sticking it to the man!  Plus, we ate the pizza while drinking some Mumm Champagne and eating strawberries on a grassy field near the Lawrence Hall of Science.

3.  Found my old house - since Jenny and I headed to Sausalito shortly thereafter, we stopped in Corte Madera, where I once lived circa 1990.  I used to live at 40 Echo Drive, which has a wonderful view of San Quentin prison.

4.  Sushi Ran - this is apparently one of the top 5 sushi places in the Bay Area, so of course Jenny and I had to check it out.  Driving to Sausalito was kind of eerie, since the roads are incredibly narrow and steep, and there was hardly anyone out at night.  That all changed when we neared Sushi Ran, which appeared to be the only happening place in the sleepy downtown area.  As expected, the sushi did not disappoint - some of their fish comes directly from the famed Tsujiki Fish market in Tokyo, including some wonderful fatty blue tuna and octupus.  It wasn’t a meal that fills you up, and I don’t believe sushi should stuff you, but it’s a far drive, so I’ll be lucky to come here again.

5.  Gulzaar Halaal Restaurant and Bakery - Charlene organized a lunch here on Sunday, and her five-star review lived up to expectations.  I got the chicken biryani, which was just as delicious as you might imagine.  The neighborhood it’s located in looks right out of the 1970s, with a Babyland retro-looking store and old-school Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket outside of the KFC.

**News flash - this was a conversation we had at lunch about this - did Kentucky Fried Chicken change their name to KFC because of criticism that they did not use real chicken in their food?  According to Snopes, this rumor is false.  The decision was primarily marketing based - KFC wanted to offer a more varied menu, shorten their name like other businesses, and appear more health conscious to consumers.  The last point amuses me greatly.

6.   Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - Jenny had been talking about going here for many weeks, and the weather finally cooperated.  The beach was packed and we went on the Great Dipper and Fireball, our two favorite rides on the boardwalk.  We also devoured a funnel cake (instead of the deep fried Twinkies at the next stand over).

7.  Some Highway 1 driving - with some beautiful weather, I decided we would head home via Highway 1 to 84.  The drive itself is quite scenic, and I would recommend driving on Highway 1 to whoever has not done so before.  Surprisingly, only 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, the clear skies suddenly become incredibly foggy and misty.  It was like we had entered another world!  The temperature had dropped almost 30 degrees Farenheit, according to my car and visibility lessened to less than 100 feet.  And, as soon as we headed east on 84, the skies suddenly cleared, as those darn clouds can’t make their ways over the mountains that protect the Bay Area.  So if you’re ever curious why there’s never any clouds in the summer, you know where the find them.

So that was my weekend.  Didn’t get much sleep, so I might just have to catch-up on some at work.  Just kidding!!!