Friday around lunchtime…

Friday around lunchtime I went up to Berkeley and had a marvellous turkey-chutney sandwich on seeded bread at Panini, with a nice glass of chai, and read half of the Empson; it was so pleasant, sitting in that sunny courtyard, under the vines and flowers. Every time I go there it seems like a tiny bit of southern Italy, hidden in the heart of urban Berkeley. Not that I've ever been to Italy. It's just what I imagine Italy might be like. After lunch and reading, I wandered around for a bit; stopped at Other Change of Hobbit for book presents for David and Jed (the new Crowley novel, The Translator), wandered down to Andronico's (passing Karen's old street, sigh) to get groceries for David's birthday dinner. So nice.

That evening, made dinner (pasta and sauces) for David and Heather. Lovely evening; it was so nice spending time with them both.

Saturday morning, I got up and goofed off playing Civ for a bit; yesterday was an official day-off-from-reading. :-) Around 10 I started cooking; made some chicken curry spread for sandwiches (make spicy chicken curry, using boneless thighs, cool and then pulse in food processor until shredded -- nummy on toast!) to take down to Jed's party, plus a chocolate cake, which I actually managed to write "Happy Birthday" on, with some difficulty. It's harder than it looks, writing on cakes. I could have just bought a cake at the grocery store, but that wouldn't have been nearly as effective a demonstration of love. Possibly tastier, though. :-) But I liked mine fine. We'll undoubtedly be munching on the leftovers all day today.

Some photos in the next entry; it was a very nice party. Sunshine, happy faces, small children, good food. Yay, birthdays. Yay, Jed. :-)