Thanks to everyone who followed our trip. I had such a good response, that I decided to keep posting about our travel and dining adventures. I will continue to post about food I've made at Susan Can Cook. Here, you'll get to see what we eat when we're out and about. We will continue to search out and enjoy Triple-D sites too.
Last weekend, we went to visit Madelyn and hear all about her fabulous European vacation. Here she is with her boy friend, Robb.
We decided to try Bette's Oceanview Diner. This was featured on Triple-D and they featured a puffy pancake souffle. We've been wanting to go here for a while, but it seems like every really good place in Berkeley either has a line out the door or a months long waiting list for reservations. This day, we bit the bullet and decided to shop while we waited an hour or so for our lunch. Here's Mr. Dwayne, waiting anxiously for his bockwurst and potato pancake feast. He was starving, but once we started eating, he admitted it was worth the wait.
I really wanted to try the pancake souffle, but I've also been on a corned beef hash quest for some time. I can't tell you how many times I've ordered the corned beef hash and had it come to my table fresh out of the can. I do like canned corned beef hash, and have made it for myself at home. But, if I look around your dining room and see some people eating a Reuben, and some other people eating hash browns with their eggs, DO NOT bring me corned beef hash from a can. There's just no excuse. Happily, my menu dilemma was resolved by the lovely Madelyn. She is one of my favorite eating partners because we both like to try lots of different things and we don't mind sharing. What you see above is half of the order of corned beef hash with poached eggs and sourdough toast. This hash was meaty and the potatoes inside were fluffy while the outer crust was super crispy. Yum! This hash is highly recommended!
Here is my half the the pancake souffle with yummy apple filling. The only weird thing is that they did not bring maple syrup for this, and it really needed it. It took a while to flag down our server and she brought some for us. They were extremely busy. Robb had Reuben with coleslaw and reported that it was very tasty.
We spent the afternoon looking at Mad's vacation photos, then decided to get some dinner before heading home. Madelyn suggested Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe. They usually offer great sweet potato fries, but were out on our visit. Check out their cool sign.
Their other claim to fame is a milk shake flavored with stout and espresso. I was skeptical, but this was delicious!
I'm playing catch-up with this post. This past Thursday evening, we were both hungry and I had an appointment at 7, so we decided to do something we haven't done in a long while - we went to Squeeze Inn. We haven't been able to eat there since they moved from their old location on Fruitridge. We can see that they've really expanded their business and have hired lots of new staff. However, we also saw some of our favorite old faces. Due to light eating earlier in the day, I didn't come out too much over my calorie limit for the day. What you see above is my hamburger with cheese. Believe it or not, this is a lot smaller than the squeeze with cheese.
Here is a peek inside Dwayne's squeeze with cheese. I don't know of many sandwiches where you have to have a strategy to eat it, but the presence of a cheese skirt necessitates this. Dwayne usually folds his skirt in and eats it with the burger. I usually eat about half of it by itself then fold the rest in. You have to do something to get at the burger!
Look Ma! No stains. I was very proud of myself because I'd had a spinach and beet salad for lunch and a squeeze burger for dinner, both with no mishaps. (If you've never had fresh beets with baby spinach, the stems of the spinach act as tiny catapults and can lob bright red globules of beet-stained salad dressing all over you. The little red heart on my shirt is a sticker that I awarded myself for giving a successful training session. We make our fun where we can!)
And now, here is the driving part of this post. My cousin, Genny, invited us on a fun run this weekend. She and her husband, Bob, have belonged to a Miata club and have planned lots of runs similar to this. I have to say that Genny has a great deal of organizational flair. Here I am, ready to enjoy. You can see Larry and Barbara behind us. We took a beautiful route to Indian Grinding Rock park. We each packed a picnic. As we ate, a large gathering of families near by serenaded us with beautiful singing. I think they were singing in Russian, but I'm not sure. There was beautiful harmony.
This structure provided shade for our lunch.
There are many enormous oak trees. A posted sign said that some of these are estimated to be about 400 years old.
See...it's a BIG tree.
Here's the gang walking on the nature path.
Genny, creating a photo-vortex with me.
Some of the fields were covered with fluffy purple flowers.
Here's the name sake of the park. It is a fascinating piece of history. We also had fun watching the lizards run around on top of it.
Here's my driver and some beautiful country side. After seeing a lot of the rest of the US, I appreciate the beauty and variety of California even more.
So much fun! Thanks Genny, Bob, Barbara and Larry!
