WombatNation

A friend of mine here in the East Bay had four bikes stolen from his garage recently. If you see any of the following bikes at a too good to be true price, please let Jeff or me know:

1. Moots Compact SL 56cm with Shimano Dura-Ace 10
2. Habanero Team Issue 56cm with Shimano Dura-Ace 9
3. Habanero hardtail MTB 17″ with a Marzocchi X-Fly 80 fork and Shimano XT
4. Giant Allegre 48cm with Campy Veloce

About six months ago, my Capresso C2000 super automatic espresso machine started having problems. First, the expelled pucks of used coffee grounds were very crumbly and wet, when they had used to be fairly dry and, well, puck-shaped. Then, more coffee went into the coffee grounds disposal box then into my waiting cup.

I looked up into the machine with a flashlight and spotted a torn O-ring around the screen. Unfortunately, Capresso wouldn’t sell me a replacement O-ring. Over the following months I purchased several plumbing grade O-rings, but they were either just too small or just too large. Finally, I gave in and decided to spend the money to have Capresso fix it for me. For all I know, there could have been more wrong than just the O-ring. I’ll keep telling myself that.

The last time I sent it back, it cost $150 to be repaired. Since that covered shipping by UPS both ways between California and New Jersey for a fairly large kitchen applicance, that seemed fairly reasonable. They also fixed a few other minor annoyances that I hadn’t even mentioned to them. Whether due to inflation or the fact that the machine is now nearly 10 years old, the flat fee for a repair on a C2000 is now $200.

Given that I bought the machine at a big discount from Whole Latte Love, the $350 that I have now spent for repairs and general maintenance over all these years doesn’t seem that bad.  Especially considering how much enjoyment I’ve gotten from the great cups of coffee it makes.

After bicycling about 35 miles through some of the hilliest parts of the East Bay hills, I had a massive craving for pizza. But not takeout. I wanted to maximize the flavor by eating pizza in a restaurant while it was still hot and crispy, preferably accompanied by tasty beer. A friend at work mentioned last Friday that he was going to Lanesplitter that night, so it immediately came to mind.

I knew there was a Lanesplitter in Berkeley and in Albany, but I was even happier to learn there was a relatively new location in Oakland in the Temescal. Despite the name, there is no bowling at the Oakland location, just delicious crispy, thin crust, New York style pizza.

We started out with a salad (nice assortment of greens with garbanzo beans and kidney beans) and some garlic bread stixs (registered copyright??) with red sauce. The red sauce was good, but a little thin and cold. It would have been much better if served heated in a ramekin instead of cool in a shallow plastic cup. After tasting the pizza, I realized it was the same sauce. Again, it was much better warm/hot than cool. The salad gets a thumbs up; the jury is still out on the stix.

We had a 15″ Neapolitan with the four cheese blend, pepperoni, mushrooms, and spinach. The cheese tasted a little sweet. Not cloyingly sweet, but a bit sweeter than I expected. I would probably still order it again instead of just mozzarella, though. The pizza as a whole was delicious. The crust was exactly as advertised, though maybe a tiny bit overcooked. It’s a really fine line between getting a cracker-like crispy crust versus blackening the edges. They probably struck a reasonable compromise, as only one or two slices got a little burnt on the edge. I certainly don’t think I would have done any better. The pizza gets a big thumbs up.

One thing they need to do is raise the hanging lights in the kitchen. While I was watching a cook toss dough, the dough glanced off one of the lamps above him. He seemed to get a little more conservative in his tosses after that.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the tasty beer. After sweating over making the perfect selection to complement the pizza, I chose an Iron Springs Oatmeal Stout on nitro pump. It was a good oatmeal stout with a rich malted chocolate and coffee flavor. It was a bit hoppier than other oatmeal stouts I’ve had, though. Lanesplitter also had many other excellent beers, including one of my all time favorites, Boont Amber. They even had Lindeman’s lambic framboise and kriek. Though I love Belgian ales, I’m not a big fan of framboises and krieks. Nonetheless, I’m impressed when they show up on a beer menu. Next time I’ll have to try the Death and Taxes Schwarzbier.