We did a toddler paced visit to Cal Campus and Telegraph Avenue today.

Began with almond pastry and Noah's bagels in the garden of Caffe
Strada, on Bancroft looking right at the Cal Anthropology Museum.
Wandered campus long enough to tire out the children. Moved the car
(two hour meters strictly enforced), walked over to Naan N Curry on
Telegraph, one of a chain of Pakistani tandoori and curry places. This
branch is not the tidiest of them all but the food is delicious.
Unfortunately the kids won't eat anything but the plain naan - even
the meat naan is too spicy for them. We brought in milk from the
grocery store across the street. Thoroughly enjoyed the chicken tikka
masala (my techie husband called it CTM - he eats it all the time with
his colleagues and they seem to have programmer acronyms for this
food). Naan N Curry sells spiced tea in some locations but I drank the
free water, didn't think to notice if they have this. If you are
visiting SF or Berkeley and you like tandoori and naan, you really
must visit N-n-C or one of the other similar Pakistani joints. Many of
them are in SF's Tenderloin, I understand - I've only gone to Pakwan
in the Mission and N-n-C on Irving (near UCSF). Read this for further
info: http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide...nderloin.shtml

After lunch we moved the car again, split up to go to non-food errands
(Rasputin records for hubbie, Berkeley Hats for me). I then visited
Lhasa Karnak Teas, the Telegraph branch. I could buy up the whole
store - they carry herbs and spices and all manner of ointments,
unguents, lotions as well as every tea imaginable. You leaf through a
binder full of single spaced multi-column pages of herb and tea
listings. I am no connoisseur of tea, I just can taste the difference
between black loose tea from Safeway, cheap Indian market, and Lhasa
Karnak - the latter is much the nicest. I bought a lovely Darjeeling
and some Earl Grey, as well as an ounce of cardamom pods ($2.50 an oz.
- I didn't check the prices last time I was in an Indian market - I
need to comparison shop)

At home I used a print out of this post
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e... f9l%404ax.com
to make chai masala (spiced tea), using cardamom. So yummy.

Just an opinion here - I don't understand buying chai masala in a
carton or bottle. What could be easier to make at home? I don't do
things that take time or fussing in the kitchen, but chai masala is
too easy to outsource. Cost benefits over purchased chai masala are
extreme. (Same goes for vinaigrette - I don't even like the taste of
bottled anyway).

A real foodie Saturday in Berkeley would have involved a stop at the
Farmer's Market downtown, a stop at Lhasa Karnak, and then maybe a
dash into one of the Indian markets on lower University or the Spanish
Table on San Pablo. When the kids get older...

Leila

Leila A. wrote:
> listings. I am no connoisseur of tea, I just can taste the difference
> between black loose tea from Safeway, cheap Indian market, and Lhasa
> Karnak - the latter is much the nicest. I bought a lovely Darjeeling
> and some Earl Grey, as well as an ounce of cardamom pods ($2.50 an oz.
> - I didn't check the prices last time I was in an Indian market - I
> need to comparison shop)
>
> to make chai masala (spiced tea), using cardamom. So yummy.
>
I adore cardamom in tea. Sounds like you made a delicious treat after the
long walk

> Just an opinion here - I don't understand buying chai masala in a
> carton or bottle.
(snippety)
> Leila

I don't get that either. It's one thing if you're in an airport and want a
beverage, but at home? Glad you had a fun day

Jill