Fish sticks…

…and Rice-A-Roni? No, dad, I’m cool. No thanks. Knock yerself out, though. I’ll find something else to eat.

Fish sticks and rice-a-roni was one of my parents staples. I’ve always hated this crap, ever since I was a kid. Frozen fish always tastes like old, rubbery chicken to me. I don’t see how they could have eaten this crap. Bleah.

At any rate, I’m not eating that crap for dinner. I was kinda thinking Japanese again, but was unsure of the restaurant. To be safe I decided to go to Berkeley: there are lots of good places to eat in downtown.

And I didn’t feel like driving either. I’ve been in a mellow mood all day and I almost didn’t leave the house. So, BART it is.

Taking BART is such a pleasant experience. You see, I hate *HATE* driving in traffic. I was leaving the Stack (Haystack, aka Hayward) at around 5pm so I knew I’d hit the bad stuff. On BART I don’t have to do a thing–except sit by the window and listen to music and read my paperback.

As the train sped past San Leandro and Oakland I thought of how nice it was to be above all the filth below me. But, I digress. The train was clean and free from undesirables and surprisingly empty. Thirty minutes after leaving Hayward I was getting off the BART in downtown Berkeley.

OK, I know I said I was undecided but that only lasted a split second. As soon as I parked my truck at Hayward BART I knew what I wanted: Ryowa. I could taste that large Asahi, the gyoza, and the cha shu ramen with extra noodles. Mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmmmm!

Dinner was great, as always. I took a little walk around, noting all the students carousing and such. The sidewalks are very full tonight of people young and old.

And now I’m sitting at a little cafe on the corner of Shattuck and Hearst called Berkeley Espresso. Free wi-fi? Thanks, guys!

And now I’m going to wrap this up, finish my cup of decaf, and get moving. I’ve got more sights to see before I need to catch that last train back to Hayward…

Edit: here’s my amazing, fantastic, super-cool video of the BART.

0 replies on “Fish sticks…”

  1. So I’m wondering if that Ramen you had was “Cha Shu” or if it was Char Siu. Char Siu is pork and usually comes in strips or little medallions. You can tell it’s Char Siu by the little hint of red around the edges of the meat. Just wondering…

  3. Char siu is Chinese. Cha shu is Japanese. I don’t know how char siu is prepared, but I do know that cha shu is simmered–no BBQ sauce, no red around the edges of the meat.

  4. Wow, that brought back some memories. I used to take BART every day to work in Downtown Oakland and actually enjoyed it. I hated driving in traffic! Watching BART arrive at the station just made me smile and miss riding it every day.