Oakland

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What's in Oakland? The Holy Land Restaurant, a little hole in the wall off Grand Ave., with great fresh pita bread, yellow lentil soup, hummus, falafel, Israeli salad (cucumbers, cabbage, dressing, etc.). Also Noah's Bagels, with pesto and roasted bell pepper bagels with jalapeno schmear. Besides the food, there's the company: Robin, my beautiful daughter. We played a notably short game of War, a game you can play and talk at the same time. I lost badly.

One of Robin's roommates, Rashad, commenting on the bumper sticker on her car which declares, "War Is Not the Answer," said "That's not true! What if the question is, 'What sucks more than anything?' Then, 'war' is the answer."

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