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Photo: Dibsy Machta Photo: Anna Mindess Every day since March 17 when the shelter in place orders were instituted, Dibsy Machta has decorated her front door at 808 Shattuck Ave. with colorful construction paper cut-outs. The messages urge her Berkeley neighbors to stay safe. They also tally up the grim numbers of COVID-19 deaths both in the US and worldwide. To mark the number of days we have been in lockdown, Matcha has incorporated Roman numerals, scientific numbers and prime numbers. She’s used playing cards, dice and egg cartons. One might assume Machta is a furloughed math teac...

Plus: Super Bowl eats, Colusa Market owner is retiring; Alameda County passes 'Good Food' resolution for correctional facilities; more.

Takara Sake’s virtual tasting sessions are held over Zoom, but attendees get five bottles to sample at home during the one-hour class. Photo: Anna Mindess In the good old days, sigh, when my husband and I would go out to Japanese restaurants, like Kamado Sushi, Kiku Sushi or Sushi California in Berkeley, we would always order a bottle of cold sake to drink with our meal. We would ask the servers for suggestions (“not too dry, not too sweet”), and they would bring something that we usually liked, but, somehow, we never made a note of its name. (At Kamado, the sake is served in an elegant...

Supriya Yelimeli looks forward to visiting a crowded dining room at Viks Chaat for cholle bhature — then going back in line for sweets and seconds. Photo: Mighty Travels/Flickr Our final installment of year-end food reflections focuses on the future — hopefully, the not-so-distant future — when we can safely eat, drink and gather again in restaurants and with others outside our immediate households without masks. Below, you’ll find the hopes and wishes of Nosh, Berkeleyside, Oaklandside and Cityside contributors and staff on the topic, but we’d love to hear what you’re looking for...

The Peruvian chicken dinner from Michoz, a pop-up operating out of Hidden Cafe in Berkeley, was a memorable feast. Photo: Sarah Han Usually, around this time of year, we’re feeling pretty good. We’re buzzing with a sense of joy and relaxation, spending time with family and friends, gathering and eating meals together and looking back on the fun times we had over the last 12 months. After almost a full year of living with COVID-19, those halcyon holiday times seem so distant from our current reality. But while we didn’t get many opportunities to eat at restaurants or meet up for meals wi...