After an intense day on Sunday, both Michael and I were
ready for some relaxation. Fortunately we had planned a vacation day into the
schedule, but first I had to pack up the leftover items from the show and ship
them back to Seattle. Lesson Number 3: If you know you’ll have to ship stuff
back from a show, pack a small roll of tape and pre-printed address labels to
go on the boxes. We had to start our morning with a trip to the Market Street
Walgreen’s to get tape. You might think a hotel would have some basic packing
supplies, but they did not, nor had they ever heard of FedEx. We ended up
taking the boxes by taxi to the nearest FedEx office after finding the address
online, and the whole thing was still much cheaper than checking two bags.
Free at last, we hopped on the BART and headed for Berkeley,
where it was likely to be warm and sunny. It was. We first went to visit the
Musical Offering Café, which combines a classical CD shop in back with a café
in front. Michael’s brother managed it for years when he lived in Berkeley, and
the same owner was still there. She and Michael reminisced a lot and talked
about the future of classical music, classical CDs, and CDs in general.
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We then went walkabout, enjoying the blue sky, sun, and just
being in a beautiful part of the world. As we walked past the Gelateria Naia, I
felt something calling my name. Being lactose-intolerant, I don’t usually eat
ice cream, and I don’t even like the taste of the sticky sludge put out by most
US ice cream makers, but I somehow had a quivering feeling that there might be
something here for me.
And was there ever. The case was full of the most enticing
array of sorbetto ever, and even the gelato seemed much less milky and sticky
than usual. They were happy to provide tastes of anything and everything, and
my only regret is not having tasted everything in the store. My first taste was
Earl Grey gelato. It was a wonderful mix
of tea and bergamot, just as aromatic as a cup of really good Earl Grey tea,
but velvety and cold. Michael the ice cream lover was immediately infatuated
with it and ended up with a big dish of the stuff. I went on to taste the rose
gelato. That’s right, a floral ice cream in the US. The last time I had anything of the sort was in India. It was true to the flower fragrance,
and I’m sure it was made with real rosewater. The aroma was wonderful, but it
was a little too creamy for my taste, and I wished it had been a sorbetto. Next
up was mojito sorbetto. That was it!! Fresh mint, lime, and no milk anywhere in
sight. I ordered a big scoop of mojito on a sugar cone, and had it topped off
with a tiny dollop of rose.
That cone was the best thing I’ve had since I was in
Florence, where I had fig and plum sorbetto, both of which were available at
Naia, too, along with things like mango, cranberry, watermelon, and even
prickly pear! Delicious.
I really love sorbetto made with odd things. I don’t mean
odd in the sense of “oreo cookies”, which is just disgusting, but odd in the
sense of using perfumey materials or spices as flavorings. Two of of my favorite surprises were having thyme sorbetto
in Spain, and the rose gelato and mojito sorbetto in Berkeley. Other good
flavors would be lavender, sage, saffron (popular in India), rosemary, violet, ginger, basil, oregano,
orange flower, cardamom, and lemongrass. Going way out there, how about
labdanum, musk, or wasabi?
We have had an ice-cream making apparatus languishing in a storage
closet for many years, given to us as a gift, and I’m halfway tempted to haul
it out and start experimenting with sorbetto flavors. If the weather ever warms
up this summer, it will be tempting.
After the gelateria experience, we walked about some more,
eventually ending up at a local microbrewery for dinner. Then, as we were
about to go back to the BART, Michael decided we should check out a game store
that we passed on the way. After browsing a bit, he became fascinated by the go
players at tables in the middle of the room. One of the players offered to
teach him the game, so he sat down, but fairly quickly got tired of it and sat
me down in his place. That’s how I learned to play go from Professor Herb
Doughty, the president of the Berkeley Go Club, who has been playing every day
for the past 50 years and is a master of the game. I’m not big on playing board
games, but it was kind of fun, and I now know the basics if anyone ever
challenges me to a game of go.
You never know what you’ll encounter on a walkabout.
[Photos from Wikimedia]
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