My parents came up to Berkeley to spend my birthday with me and were here Wednesday and Thursday. It was really fun to show them around my neighborhood but I am not used to navigating Berkeley as a driver and giving directions. Also I drove my dad’s car which felt so different since I am used to being on foot or bicycle. My mom and I shopped around on Wednesday and I took her to 4th street and showed her my Pasta Shop where we ate alfajores cookies. They are definitely the best thing that we sell! My dad went to Golden Gate Fields, racetrack that is right on the bay, where you can see the Golden Gate bridge from when it is not foggy. For dinner that night we went to Temari with maiki and they ate Japanese food for the first time. They seemed to really enjoy the food and hopefully they will find a place in L.A. to eat at when they return.
The next day was my birthday and I woke up super early with excitement. We went to Ihop for breakfast because I love their butter pecan syrup. Then my mom and I took the Bart from Berkeley to the Montgomery station in S.F. I wanted to show her my school buildings and the area around there that I frequent. We went to Anthropologie on Market and I got some flower rings and glass bear shakers. We had lunch at ‘wichcraft and shared a piece of Schoggi hazelnut chocolate and an vanilla eclair from Beard Papa’s. It was the best b-day dessert ever. We went to the MOMA store and both immediately regretted not having time to go to the museum as well. It was a lot of walking and more standing around would have been too much for my mommy to handle. We had lots of fun though! It was funny to me how since my mom is left handed that she held on (with a death grip) to the left side of the railing on the escalators and stairs. People are used to passing on the left and she was definitely throwing a wrench into that system. We do live in right handed society. _
When we got back to Berkeley we had dinner at a Chinese place on Shattuck called King Dong. It is a favorite for their hot & sour soup and mu shu vegetables. Afterwards we said good bye to my parents and walked back to Cloud Ninth where we drank Pyramid Hefeweizen and watched a week of the Daily Show. It had been a wonderful two days off work and I was happy to be with my mom in person rather than being on the phone with her doing those things like I normally would. We really are pretty close now and I call her almosr everyday to say hi and check on her. Now she has seen the area places that I’m always talking about. _