Random

[oyceter]

1. I think I am renaming the rats so that the brown rat is Ed-rat and the white hooded one is Al-rat. They're both still very shy, but the brown one runs around and sniffs at everything and jumps away and jumps back again and runs around more when the white one likes snoozing under the blankets until dragged out by his brother or me. They are still so adorable!



2. I have finally started taking advantage of academic library access! JSTOR! BAS! Access to back issues of Publisher's Weekly! I already have several books out on ILL so I can try and catch up with manga scholarship, particularly anything that focuses on gender.



3. Any book recs for books by POC about food? Fictional or non-fictional is fine, have already read Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Serve the People, and plan on reading Madhur Jaffrey and David Masumoto.



4. East Bay people! Tell me about your favorite restaurants!

Comments

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen?

[oyceter]

Oh yeah! I should reread that some time, although only if there is a good katsudon place nearby to satisfy cravings...

this is more a book pointer than a rec

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

This is on my To Read List, so I have no idea if it's good or not, but--

The Barbarians Are Coming, by David Wong Louie

It's about a Chinese-American man who's a fancy French food chef, his dad who's disappointed in his career, and there's supposed to be dark humor and the usual conflicting cultures bit. I've been putting it off because I'm not a foodie, and not in the mood for something mainstream.

Re: this is more a book pointer than a rec

[oyceter]

Oooo French food, thank you!

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Recovering Our Ancestors' Gardens (problematic in that she goes for a weight loss approach but other than that excellent)!

[oyceter]

Ooh, thanks!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

You finished Serve the People already! What did you think?

[oyceter]

I did! It was hard to put down once I started. It made me so homesick and hungry!

I liked it a lot; I thought it got into a lot of issues without taking the focus away from the food. More blathering here. Thanks for the loan!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

How did I miss that post???

The book made me crazy-hungry, too, especially for dumplings. Maybe we need dim sum next month? Can you get xiao long bao in the Bay Area? ::drools pathetically::

[oyceter]

Ooooooo I agree about dim sum! Or there's a really good Canto place in Millbrae that does tasty fish and fish congee. Along with other things, of course!

I sadly haven't found a great xiao long bao place in Bay Area, though that is probably because I keep comparing them to Ding Tai Fung. But I should check Yelp because I want some now!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Fiiiiiiiiish! And yeah, see what Yelp has to say. (: I'm happy to go wherever you pick.

[oyceter]

Ooo, I have a suggestion from an EBay person in comments that was also recced by a classmate, may try that...

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Excellent. More information. (: I'm hungry again!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Would Claudia Roden count?
Claudia Roden was born to a cosmopolitan Jewish family in Cairo, where she grew up eating – and questioning the origin of – food from all over the Middle East.
Has written on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food.

[oyceter]

I have no idea, but I will definitely look that up... that sounds great.

[(Anonymous)]

Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda ?Bobois? (not sure about the last name) A novella about summer in an adolescent girl's life in the Phillipines. Fiction that (among other things) features lots of descriptions of Phillipine food.
TNT

[oyceter]

Ooooo, that sounds good, thanks!

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

I've written reviews of a few PoC food books here:

http://www.sequentialtart.com/reports.php?ID=6253&issue=2008-10-20
http://www.sequentialtart.com/reports.php?ID=6241&issue=2008-10-20
http://www.sequentialtart.com/reports.php?ID=5450&issue=2008-10-20

[oyceter]

Links, yay, thank you!

[cofax7]

I had a great meal at Bellanico on Park Avenue in Oakland with oracne recently. I'm also very fond of Spettro on Lakeshore in Oakland, for their funky decor and amusingly varied cuisine. Kirala in Berkeley has awesome sushi, and Ichiro on 14th X Broadway in downtown Oakland also has great sushi, much cheaper. The Indian food at Breads of India on Sacramento in Berkeley is excellent. Everett & Jones does great BBQ. Fonda Solana on Solano Avenue has wonderful small plates with a serious Latin American focus, and brilliant fun cocktails. And Barclay's on College has an awesome beer list and the best salads and burgers around: last week I had grilled salmon over spinach, green beans, and roasted red peppers. Yum.

[oyceter]

Oooo! How are the price ranges for these? Am trying to figure out which ones are viable for normal lunch and which are more treat type places. And I really need to go to Kirala sometime; I've heard everyone talking about it. And mmmmmm buuuurgerrs....

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

*takes notes* :P Seconding Breads and Fonda; I haven't been to Kirala since the mid-1990s. oyceter, Breads is broadly within most student budgets. It's been a while since I went, since to avoid waiting one should arrive right when they open (5 or 5:30), but I have a vague recollection of $10 entrees.

Re: upthread, one can have slightly CA-cuisine-ized long bao at Kirin, on Solano x The Alameda (MLK), which has very good if not necessarily authentic food? I dunno at all about the authenticity.

Other things: Angeline's (New Orleans Cajun) in downtown Berkeley, Sura and Sahn Maru (both Korean) on Telegraph near 45th-ish, Cafe Colucci (Ethiopian) on Telegraph x Alcatraz, Bette's Diner (breakfast/brunch) on 4th St in Berkeley, Jodie's (breakfast, and great fried chicken) on Masonic x Solano in Albany, Saul's Deli (good chicken and matzo ball soup, etc.) on Shattuck x Vine near Black Oak Books (and if there before 6 p.m., visit Masse's Bakery next door, mmmmm), Lalime's (French Med--same owners as Fonda) on Gilman between Sacramento and Santa Fe in Berkeley, La Note (French Med) on Shattuck x Channing (too noisy for conversation when they have live music, though). darkforge has butted in to mention Top Dog :) and, though it's not splendiferous food, the Cerrito Theater (near El Cerrito Plaza BART), where one can have a decent dinner while watching a film.

Okay, that was way too much, sorry.

[oyceter]

No no! There is no such thing as too many food recs! Really! Keep going!

Also, yaaay recs! Another classmate also recced Kirin, so I think I should definitely check that one out, and I am glad to hear Saul's is good! I have passed by a few times and wondered because I want tasty deli food.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

:)

I think that not everything at Saul's is great (whereas everything I've had at Fonda and Kirin has been tasty and well prepared), but the chicken soup is definitely awesome.

[oyceter]

Excellent! I am still recovering from being sick and it is chilly out, which is perfect chicken soup weather.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Forgot--good vegan Japanese place, reasonably within student budget, which is good in its own right as well as a place to take vegetarian visitors (at least, I'm always pleased to see them blink): Cha Ya, on Shattuck x Virginia. A few of its dishes taste a bit boring but some are very good, and they use plausible types of veg (rather than, e.g., western broccoli as the eternal substitute).

[oyceter]

Oooh, yes! Third rec or so for that place; I really need to try it.