Oakland Museum of CA and Animal Keeper Me

The next installment of being a tourist in my own town: the Oakland Museum of CA! Also free the first Sunday of every month.

Two of my friends and I hopped on a bus, after waiting a long-ass time for one. Let me just say that AC transit is consistently never on schedule. Basically, you can always count on the bus to never come when it is supposed to. The rides to and from Oakland were each preceded by at least 20 or so minutes of waiting. Oh well, public transportation is always a stinky unique adventure.  

My ideal plan was to get some sort of dim sum takeout in Chinatown before heading to the museum, but I willingly followed my friend, an Oakland native, to Yummy Guide. Follow the link to get the details on this rather unimpressive dining experience; here is a photo of the waffle items we got:

Egg puff and strawberry ice cream waffle sandwich

On to the museum! I didn't expect the Oakland Museum to rival those in, say, San Francisco, but it is actually quite large with multiple floors and featured some more contemporary art pieces that I enjoyed in particular.

The two photos above are comical and actually made me laugh out loud. Typically, the intricate Japanese-style paintings depict very natural or pristine scenes, and I thought the artist clever for incorporating more current, consumerist items such as a hamburger and ice cream cone in otherwise delicate works of art.  

I also liked that the museum had a "local" vibe. For example, exhibits included quotes from Berkeley or East Bay residents, and overall the museum emphasized the presence and history of the surrounding community. 

It was definitely my fault for eating a measly egg puff for lunch, but I was faint with hunger by the time our bus brought us back to Berkeley. However, I managed to sum up the energy to make it to my car and drive myself to Razan's Organic Kitchen, a place I've been meaning to try for some time. My parents weren't going to be home that night and I didn't feel like cooking for myself.

I feel relatively healthy when I eat Middle Eastern, and its also the cuisine in which I really don't miss meat at all when I get something vegetarian. Their Lebanese Wrap includes hummus, tabouleh, tahini, sumac, lentil rice, and baba ghanoush. 

I was responsible for being the animal keeper of the day, which meant locking the chickens in their henhouse once it got dark and taking care of my dog, which I am more used to. The chicken task made me feel rather agrarian. Berry has been feeling sick lately and has been puking all over the place. She gets these bouts of nauseousness once in a while, but it always blows over eventually due to her insanely strong stomach.