Mmmmmmmmmm, sushi

Geez, I sound like danabren ....
syele and I had been talking about a sushi and sake night for months. We finally had time to do it last night at her favorite place. Kirala in Berkeley was spendy, but worth it.

Dewazakura Dewasansan (at the bar)and Nishida Kikuizumi sake (at the table) were both smooth with fruity notes. The Kikuizumi was a bit bolder than the Dewasansan,

Ground chicken wrapped in shiso leaves and beef with asparagus from the grill were both great and having a couple of the grilled items provided a nice contrast to the nigiri sushi we chose. That  included, hirame (halibut), sake (salmon), toro (fatty tuna), kani (shredded Dungeness crab), and because I like to be a bit adventurous and try something new when at a place one can trust to prepare it correctly, ikura (salmon roe with raw quail egg).  Everything was delicious and the ikura was, despite the fact that it was "staring" up at us off the plate like a pair of weird, cartoon eyes, a revelation. The creamy egg yolk cut the saltiness of the roe beautifully.

Upcoming STUFF

Is anyone interested in any of the following cool stuff that's going on?

1. Thursday July 16 at the Asian Art Museum, a Special Kyogen Performance (6:30 PM in the cavernous neoClassical Samsung Hall)
$5 members, $22 general (includes general admission and entry to Lords of the Samurai). Tickets available June 16 online.(Note, I can get one other person a ticket at the member price!)

"AsiaAlive resident artists Izumi Junko and Miyake Tokuro will be joined in this special performance of Japanese comedy-drama by their brother, Izumi Motoya, the 20th generation head master of the Izumi School of Kyogen. One of the two schools of Kyogen in Japan, the Izumi School has a history of 571 years. Also appearing on stage is Izumi Kyoko, the daughter of Izumi Junko, making her US stage debut at the age of six." http://asianart.org/samurai/specialevents.htm#kyogen

2. Friday July 17, photographer/calligrapher Richard Man is signing copies of his new book Full Circle at Modernbook Gallery in Palo Alto. I got a peek at a proof copy last week. http://rfman.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/full-circle-my-first-book/

3. Saturday July 18, performance by Maze Taiko in Alameda. Never seen 'em before but layla_lilah found this one and they're right in my neighborhood.
http://www.rhythmix.org/content/09events/090717.html

4. Weekend of July 25, The 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is being celebrated at the USS Hornet with a variety of activities, including a talk by astronaut Buzz Aldrin on Saturday. http://www.uss-hornet.org/posters/splashdown/index.shtml