Kaiseki at Kaygetsu
misa and neb took us to Kaygetsu in Menlo Park for kaiseki, which is like Japanese prix fixe. I think misa or neb would be better able to describe, but I’ll do the best I can.
We got there first, so I had time to take pictures of the table setting:)
This is the saki zuke (starter). The description says that it’s “vinegar/gelatin coated seafood” in the green leaf wrapped thing. I know it doesn’t sound appetizing, but it was good:) The next thing is “steamed chicken, asparagus, red and yellow bell pepper with black sesame sauce.” The chicken was like any other chilled chicken, although v. tender and good, but the black sesame sauce made it more than that:) Then it’s “red crab with edamame jelly” and lastly “squid with spicy cod fish roe, rolled with seaweed, deep fried with spicy rice cracker” which was amazing! They didn’t mention the shiso but there was shiso and it was ever so delicious. This last one was our fave:)
Suimono (clear broth) consisting of “hamo fish with noodles, yuzu (no idea), plum.” This felt like swanky comfort food to me when I was eating it. The next day, even though I thought the appetizer thing was so good, it was all the brothy dishes that I craved.
Tsukuri (sashimi): “daily selection of sashimi” I think the sashimi under the shiso leaf was amber jack (yum!), then striped jack (Yut liked this one), then the red one was maguro, and then two pieces of salmon. I think that salmon was super good, and usually I’m not a salmon sashimi fan.
Yaki mono (grilled dish): “dried and grilled ayu (sweet fish) served with tade (water pepper) vinegar, pickled hollowed burdock, grilled manganji pepper, sansho flowed baby sardines.” This was amazing!!! Yut and I both cleaned off both of our plates, bones and all. The fish was really good with that green vinegar. We also talked misa into eating the fish tails:) I liked the rest of it too, but the fish was the best.
Taki awase (slow cooked dish): “kobe style beef, cooked with sweet soy hirousu (minced and fried tofu), green bean, Japanese potato, carrot, spaghetti squash, eggplant, cooked in fish broth.” This was good, I especially liked the hirousu:)
Gohan mono (rice dish): “salmon [sic] with clear broth, topped with salmon, pickled vegetables.” When Yut saw the description, he was pretty curious about the salmon on salmon, and took the cover off right away to check it out. But it was just a misprint — should be rice with clear broth. This made me think of all the times I put soup (especially miso) on my rice and ate it like a ricey soup and my mom told me I was eating it pig slop style and now it turns out I’m just a gourmand and my run-on sentence capability is pretty good, too:) Anyhows, it was delicious also:)
Last was the house-made original dessert: “fig compote, condensed milk sorbet with red bean topping, green tea syrup” which reminded me of red bean condensed milk slushy which I always eat bushels full of in Taiwan:) Well just the milk sorbet and red bean topping part. The fig compote was really good. “That was one yummy ass fig” is how Yut put it:) I didn’t even know I liked fig:p
Anyhows, by this time, we were all really full, so luckily dinner was done:)
The Longest Day
Saturday (to me, it’s still today:p) has been a v. long day.
Today was Tyler’s birthday party. For him, we woke up earlier than we wanted to:p But still, it was actually pretty fun. Dooooood though, so many children! We ate tons of really good kalbi and chapchae (I think that’s what it was:) ) and spinach stuff and seaweed stuff.
Then the games began. This pinata was so strong, it took a while to break:p Look at all the kids! Was like Munchkinland, nice place, ok to visit, but we’re leaving and going to Oz. Something like that:p
Afterwards, we drove around a lot looking for a Nintendo DS. But that story later:p Then we had dinner with misa and neb, but that story also later.
I am soooo tired right now, so I am going to bed:p
Sim Spammers
Everyday, in my work email account, I get a bunch of spam from people like Crump, Dolan, Freeman, Hedrick, Kyle, Pelletier, or Richey. Yes, evidently, I’m on a first name basis with these people. But I also get spam from people like Aaron McCullough, Adelheid Darden(!), Afua Ball(!), Alba Pittman, Alcoa Lambert, and Alejandro McIntyre (teehee). I couldn’t make this stuff up:p
So I was checking my mail, and I suddenly realized, my spam is like a treasure trove of names for my Sims! When I’m playing the Sims 2, I meet all sorts of random non-player characters (NPCs, I think) with names like Cherry Straight, but I always have a hard time making up names. But all I ever had to do was check my email:p
By the way, in case you can’t tell, I am so over this week. I been over this week since Tuesday. This week has been too long. Gawd, weekend, I need you.
My Hand Hurts
Gawd, it’s been a long time since I had to do a lot of writing.
I was taking some notes today and by the end, my hand hurt.
My handwriting started to get smaller and closer together and squigglier and generally crabbier as I went on.
This hurts more than when I’ve gamed too much and my mouse hand (which coincidentally is my pen hand) starts to hurt.
So the moral of the story is, gaming is better than studying.
I’m like some kind of Aesop:D
Better Whiner
Have you ever heard your computer beeping really loudly and insistently out of the blue? Oh my god it’s the most irritating thing imaginable.
Well it’s even worse when it’s a server (not a domain controller or anything like that, just a small standalone). Them server-making people evidently decided that if something is wrong with a server, everyone in that wing of the floor should be able to hear it whine about its pain, even behind closed doors. How do you fix it when you can barely think?! Geez, I thought I was a good whiner:p
But you know, for once, I’m kinda glad my cell phone is semi-broken. I got called about the server, and I was like, “So what’s up?” and he incredulously said, “You can’t hear it?” and I insouciantly replied, “Nope! My phone is messed and I’m sitting in a loud bus besides.” Hahaha:) I’m just lucky my cell didn’t decide to hang up on him before I figured out there was a problem. Technology:p
(Guess it’s an adverb kind of post:D )
Movie Watching
We saw Kung Fu Hustle today:) Soooo funny. A lot of fun to watch. Much better than Shaolin Soccer (starring and directed by the same guy, Stephen Chow) to me.
Lately we’ve been watching so many movies that Netflix (or similar) would finally be worth it. But the thing is, we’re not like this all the time. And Nintendogs comes out today!!! Oooh yes. We are going to get a Nintendo DS just for that. I’m excited, it looks so cute:D So yeah, after that, who knows:) Also, Civ IV is out this year. And DDR Mario Mix. Hopefully, anyways. So after I get my hands on Nintendogs, we’ll see how much movie watching we do.
Wikiwiki
We had lunch at Wikiwiki Hawaiian BBQ which just opened today. It replaced this rotisserie chicken place but the decor didn’t change much. I mean, they repainted and hung some cool Hawaiian stick figure theme lights but it didn’t do enough to alleviate the cafeteria feel of the space.
Anyhows, the menu has stuff like loco moco, kalua pork, pork lau lau, chicken katsu, beef curry, mahi mahi, bbq short ribs, and musubi, etcetc. A lot of Hawaiian stuff:) Since it was our first time, we decided to try the loco moco and the kalua pork & pork lau lau plates.
The loco moco had more of a slightly sweet teriyaki based gravy than a regular gravy. I think loco moco is better with gravy. It was fine, but it definitely doesn’t compare to the loco moco we had at L&L in Hawaii:p
The kalua pork was actually pretty yummy, nice and tender. The laulau was a disappointment though. Even though the taro leaf package looks pretty big, there’s actually not that much stuff inside. Also, I’m not sure if they just didn’t properly steam it or what, but the pork inside was tough and dry. Oh well.
All the food seems to come out in these paper boxes regardless of if you are getting take out or eating there. And also, it is only just the first day it opened, so things probably need time to settle down. And I would go back to try some of their other stuff, and maybe even the kalua pork again, but definitely no more lau lau:p
On our way home from Wikiwiki, we stopped by Blockbuster cos we got these coupons in the mail from some class action lawsuit or something. Cos of those coupons, we’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. We’ve seen Sideways, which I actually thought was pretty good. It definitely had its moments. A lot of people I’ve spoken with have said that they thought it was overrated, cos of the hype you know “the best indie movie yadayada” but I felt like it was a really charming movie, with its loser main leads. Yesterday we watched Mystic River, which was amazing. Really heartbreaking good stuff. It was just great all around. I don’t even know what to say more about it. Today we rented African Queen on VHS(!) cos it’s not available on DVD. I don’t get why not, but I guess Blockbuster’s not a great place for seeing old movies:p
Oh and Lingo wanted the top left pair of sneakers (the blue ones) and the bottom right pair of loafers (is that what they’re called?). So K and I were both sort of right:p
Lingo’s Shoes
We have a lot of Lingo’s shoes around, just sitting there for years now. So Yut took a photo of them and Lingo is going to decide which one(s) he still wants. Now I have more shoes to post up! :)
Most of Lingo’s shoes are boring. I’m just not into sneakers, but clearly, he is:p The brown shoes on the bottom right are the nicest, albiet dusty.
So that’s my guess for which one he’ll pick:)
Trivia Night
One of the local restaurants around here has a Trivia Night going once per month (I think). A group of my co-workers decided to try it out this month. Well, all I have to say is, there is a lot of stuff I have no clue about. Geeeeeeezus.
We started out tied for last out of six teams, but every round we went up a level, so by then end we were tied for first (!!!). But we lost in sudden death.
Drank some drinks, ate some food, tried to answer some questions, was fun:)
Hmmmph
Did y’all hear about the South Korean dude who gamed ’til he dropped? Yeah, so did I. In fact, a lot of my friends emailed me the article. What are y’all trying to say?!
