when parents are away, the kids will play

Can your body adapt to a specific cuisine? What about like one restaurant? One specific Indian buffet that is kind of a weekly requirement. As Andrew so accurately put it, "I'm pretty sure Flavors has changed my microbiome." Support for this claim? The first time I had Flavors, I almost passed out did pass out at my desk at work. And now, while I get quite full, I'm still functional in lab. So maybe it's not changing my microbiome, but it's definitely changing something in my body. Or my body is changing for it.

I cannot say the same thing about anything else we have for lunch. Like Drake's. The tots and beer combo definitely puts me in a sleepy mood. I never thought pipetting could be a challenge.


Important people want to wine and dine other important people. It's too bad Eppendorf got stuck taking the Plebs out to lunch at Horatio's on the water. We'll call this my first important work lunch. During which I felt kind of bad for ordering fish and panicked when the waitress asked if we'd like drinks or dessert. Nope, no thanks, I'm fine, no. *whispers* Except I always want dessert.


I think we can safely say we all hate having to go up to Berkeley. Except Moiz. Because that means he can get KoJa Kitchen. And that means he can savor the short rib koja with sesame vinaigrette lettuce and katsu aioli between fried garlic rice buns. And kamikaze and umami fries because porque no los dos? Life's too short to make tough decisions. I need to figure out the best way to take a nap standing up. Bonus points if I can do it while poised with a pipette in my hand at my bench.

I did spend a lot of quality office alone time during that last week of December, but even Nick was around in the afternoon then. There was one random Friday when Moiz was home for the week, Andrew was away for an interview or something, Nick had to go down to LA for work, and Monica/Bryce/David were up at Berkeley, so I was left to fend for myself. I would tell you that I was sad and lonely and didn't know what to do, but we're taught not to lie from a young age. I let myself get a bowl of black garlic oil ramen at i-Tea. There were so many ways I could make a perfect bite, and I had to explore all of them... so it really only took me like 10 minutes to finish the entire bowl.

Fridays can be nice. Especially when a little field trip into Alameda is on the table. And then the sound "burgers" rings over and over again in your head. And then you find the most enticing food pictures on the Yelp page for Scolari's. And you realize you can't let go, you can't settle for anything else, you might either pass out or start crying from hunger... but you know the end will be worth it.

What is that majestic tower of sustenance with the luscious pile of greens and pepper-studded patty? Why, it's the Blueberry Bacon Bleu cheese Burger with au poivre patty, basil aioli, red onion, and arugula... and she's beautiful. Just oozing appeal in the form of blueberry sauce. So vibrant, so juicy, so delicious.

And as if that wasn't enough. We sprung for the spicy and garlicky scampi fries. Dying dying dead. I'm not ashamed proud to admit that I carried the leftovers away with me and polished them off as we walked on over to Tucker's.

Where I got a frozen chocolate banana because I've never had one of those before. And when it's unseasonably nice out and you feel like a five-year-old with frozen treat in hand, what else do you do but walk up and down Park Street to avoid dripping chocolate in mess-averse Moiz's car? No one's complaining.

By the way, this photo is me in a nutshell.