Skip to main content

Eclectic Temescal

Oakland is a city in the east bay, as in east of the San Francisco Bay.  As a family we had trepidation about visiting this part of the universe.  Geographically so close yet seemed not to click in our conscience as something we would enjoy or feel safe or clean.  Lot of negative press stems from this part of California and it has not been on our radar like some other towns.  Not being fan of any ball games also precludes a visit to the Coliseum or its neighboring Oracle Arena where basketball is played.

Uncertain is how we felt about visiting and hanging out and exploring things we cherish like history and food.  Food, which to us is the whole purpose of being.

That changed this weekend.  A few more tips from the social circle (or is it social polygon given we do not have that many friends to make a circle?) and we decided we will take the plunge.  Some strong ethnic hunger lured us in.  It was to be either great Korean Galbi or the goodness of some Berber spice in the form of Ethiopian or Eritrean cuisine.

So the food we sought was in a part of northern Oakland known as Temescal.  It is a train ride away and that is how we got in.  Took the BART.  Now that in itself is not a very desirable mode of transport (I take a bath each time I use it - no kidding).  Got off at MacArthur station which may be named for the General who fought in the Pacific in WWII..

A sign urging people to check out the local vibe of Temescal

Marketing Temescal

 Temescal happens to be home to a large percentage of immigrants from the north east African country of Ethiopia which recently has had wars within that resulted in creation of an independent Eritrea to their north.  Culturally the cuisine of the people is the same which primarily consists of a crepe like bread made of teff grains.  The bread is spongy and is used as a base to pile the curries -meat or vegetable preparations that contain a spice mixture called berbere which contains chili powder and a host of other spices including some African herbs.  We had researched a place that is named for the capital of Eritrea (Asmara) and checked it out.  The walk to the place and back to the station was equally flavorful as the meal.

Here are some samples of what we saw...from enjoying some small batch ice cream to wondering if I needed my noggin checked there were a multitude of distractions and smells (weed was a constant theme but it mixed with ammonia, vanilla, sandalwood burning, dog dander depending on which block you were hanging out at)...



get a haircut while your dog has their caffeine fix


drink enough and you end up like that

bohemian and green .. seemed like a theme for the outdoors loving gentry

if all else fails there is always this


BART going home
Promptly discovered a homeless dude passed out in the seats on our ride home..
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

Greasy Dra'ch'ma

With all the furor in the media around Greece for the past couple of years I thought it would be good to list all things Greek that people use in common parlance - 1. Some of us are familiar with Greek history as being where the world's largest organized scam was born - called the Olympics. At the time this courier delivered a message by running a large number of miles and that got converted into a spectator sport. Nobody thought about what this implied? Fedex does not use any of the marathon runners instead relying on bio diesel trucks so not sure where we went from courier delivery to extracting money for tickets to watch people balance themselves on a pommel horse - which by the way is quite different from a Trojan Horse - 2. which brings me to the next invention from Greek mythology that finds use today - except used in the computer virus arena. This innocuos program is accepted by a computer since it looks friendly only to unleash undesirable effects leading to loss of s...
2 comments
Read more