|
|
Carving Pumpkins 29Oct08 On Saturday, my friend SY hosted a pumpkin carving party at truth about enzyte her house. Since I had worked all day, I didn’t really feel like carving a big ol’ pumpkin. However, CC brought two small ones and was nice enough to let me carve one. I decided to make an angry jack-o’lantern, but some thought it looked sad or exasperated. What do you think? (Pardon the quality of the photos; they’re from my camera phone.) "GRRRR!!" Unbeknownst to me, there was contest. My pumpkin came in at a distant third (yay me!), and there was a tie for first place. I voted for this one because it was really cool, and also because I intend to vote for this guy on Tuesday: The Barack-o-lantern SY also made a chocolate cake with marshmallow ghosts. Her friend decided to make the ghosts less gender-neutral. Gonad-enhanced goblins Happy Halloween! Filed under: photos | 0 Comments It was my birthday last week. Tuesday, to be precise. Now, I’m not one of those people who celebrates on the weekend before or the weekend after. The birthday celebrations MUST happen on my actual birthday; anything less is unacceptable. Being that my birthday fell on a weeknight, I decided to play it low-key and local. Dinner with a small group (that ended up being 14) at Fellini’s, a no-frills Italian place within walking distance of my apartment. The perk of going to Fellini’s on a Tuesday night is that they waive the corkage fee. Being the thrifty drunk that I am, I showed up with 6 bottles of wine! (Don’t worry; I shared.) After dinner, more revelers joined in for drinks at the Albatross, a great pub in Berkeley with darts, Connect Four, popcorn, and relatively nice bathrooms. Hiding behind my indecision... I was put in charge of ordering appetizers for the entire group, and decided on bruschetta, calamari and a green salad. Everything was great, but I have to say that the calamari was the best. It’s nice when the breading isn’t so overwhelming and you can still taste the squid — which, in this case, was fresh, chewy, and tasty. Bruschetta & calamari (the photo doesn't do the food justice) Next up: main course. I ordered one of their specials: turkey and fennel meatballs with linguini. While it was good (and very filling), I have to say that R&J ordered the BEST PIZZA EVER. It was a shittake and oyster mushroom white pizza that was bursting with garlic, olive oil, and deliciousness. Everyone seemed pleased with their food, which made me happy. Linguini with turkey-fennel meatballs (not quite as big as my head but pretty close! Just kidding...) Digging in... The shittake and oyster mushroom pizza was outstanding. Finally: dessert. I ordered the Chocolate Crème Gateau, which they describe in the menu as, “A moist layer of chocolate cake topped with a white chocolate mousse and finished with a creamy mocha mousse.” Chocolate, with chocolate, with more chocolate? Sign me up!! A tiramisu was also ordered and shared. Both were great, though I favored the gateau which was airy and sweet without being too over-the-top. Major bonus: they brought it over with a candle on it! Chocolate Crème Gateau Tiramisu But you know what was the best part of this meal? My friends who were there to celebrate with me! Because the greatest meal in the world wouldn’t be quite so delicious without good company, and I definitely had some delightful company on hand that night. Thanks guys! Filed under: Berkeley restaurant, photos | 2 Comments Last week, JY and his housemates had another bbq. Unlike the grill warming, the weather this time around was perfect — 75 and warm, despite it being mid-October. For potlucks, I like to try new recipes. This way, if it’s good, I can share the deliciousness with everyone. And if it’s bad, then it’s less for me to suffer through. For the bbq, I decided to make “Mediterranean Salad” from Giada De Laurentiis’s book Everyday Pasta. (A great cookbook, by the way. Highly recommended, with a dedicated post coming soon.) It turns out that Mediterranean Salad is just a fancy name for couscous. Couscous with toasted almond slivers, dried cranberries, chopped basil and mint, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic. It turned out to be super delicious! |