No matter how wonderful the place where you're going and no matter how prepared you are (or think you are), moving is stressful. For us, a balance between time with dear friends, quality parent/child time, and nature time makes for a powerful balm. Today, after a lovely lunch with friends and a good naptime, Eli and I spent the afternoon revisiting favorite spots.
Blake Garden in the Berkeley hills is one of those places I find myself thinking of often. I visited for the first time a few months after arriving in California. My mothers' group took a walk there, all of us with wee ones in arms. Perhaps it was the sleep deprivation of new motherhood, but there was something pleasingly dream-like about the experience. Whenever I go back, I still find a real peace there. Old growth trees. Flowers glowing in late day sunlight. A reflecting pool occasionally rippled by a water strider bug or a surfacing koi. Tucked away in a nice part of town so it feels secluded yet safe, Blake is a treasure.
We walked and climbed and worked up an appetite. Papa would be working late, so we were on our own. Off to the "Gourmet Ghetto" section of Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley! Inside the Epicurious Garden (which takes the idea of a food court to a whole new level), there is the Imperial Tea Court.
To get there, you pass through a lovely courtyard complete with a tiny stream and fountains -- enough to make you forget the urban setting.
Pick out tea from an amazing collection...
We chose Jasmine Pearls, individual leaves pressed in tiny, tight balls...
Even Eli loved sipping on a warm cup. (Mostly water, but he got a little of the flavor.)
What we really came for, though, was hand-pulled noodles. Once we put in our order, the staff got to work with fresh dough. The noodle strips are stretched by pulling but also snapping them against the countertop. Eli loved watching the deft motions of the cook but also hearing the sharp crack of dough on board.
How were the noodles? Ohhhhhh. Divine. There's nothing quite like them. They are a cross between chow fun noodles and dumplings, wide and firm and slightly chewy. The savory broth is rich with flavor and swimming with fresh vegetables.
Eli was impressed from the first bite.
Of course, the noodles did have their challenges. But Little Guy ate every shred of noodle without coaxing and downed a full plate of tiny shrimp dim sum as well.
The food is excellent. If you're tired of overseasoned and overcooked food at restaurants, this place is decidedly different. The staff is also quite friendly, welcoming a messy three year-old with broad smiles and inviting us to peek across the front counter to watch the noodle show. (I wonder if I could convince them all to move to Georgia with us?)
We left with full tummies. But even more, our afternoon left me feeling like the jasmine pearls -- fully steeped in happy memories and quality time, unfurled and relaxed like tea leaves resting at the bottom of the cup.
Gracious! Your recent posts are re-breaking my heart over leaving California all over again (but in a good way!). We were fixtures at Ciao Bella & Soop when we lived around the corner on Oxford Ave. Mmm... "take out" indeed...
Posted by: Amber | 18 July 2012 at 01:37 PM
Your photos of Blake Garden reminded me how much I love it and how I will now always think of you when I visit. I am sorry we didn't go together but I love the photo of Eli and the reflecting pool...
Posted by: Marci Severson | 20 July 2012 at 11:53 PM