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gurdymonkeyHe called me from Sacramento at 4:30 to say he'd be here at 6. I nodded sagely and said, "You get here when you get here," knowing (a) how I-80 can be on a Friday and (b) how he drives. He blew in at about 7:10 or so, apologizing, while I assured him of my psychotic powers. We watched the rest of "Real Time" on HBO (volume of 18 which he seemed to handle fine), marveling at the sight of Ashton Kutcher ("Who is that kid and where do I know him from?") being articulate and passionate about politics.
I suggested several options for dinner. He agreed to try Kamakura. OK, maybe my hints that I like Kamakura and that it was really, REALLY good didn't hurt. We had good parking karma, sliding into a space on Santa Clara less than half a block from the restaurant. Despite the fact that a largish party was cooling their heels by the door, we were seated immediately at a just-vacated table for two by a window. I got to be Japanese-cuisine-guide while I described various things on the menu for Dad, who had forgotten his glasses and was squinting through mine instead. He finally chose the chirashi dinner and I had the sunomomo and sushi moriawase appetizers. Their version of sunomomo is thinly sliced cucumbers, shrimp and octopus with a dash of toasted sesame seeds and rice vinegar. And my moriawase was different from when I ordered it withkarisu_sama and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
didjiman . I don't know if the chef saw the order and said, "She's already got octopus in her salad, I'm going to give her some toro instead." Or perhaps it has to do with what they got a good cut of at market on a given day. There was toro. There was aji. Maguro and sake obviously, and yellowtail, each piece more delicious than the last, hold the soy sauce entirely, just a dab of wasabi here and there and let the sashimi speak lovingly to my tastebuds. OMG, I LOVE THIS PLACE. Dad kept picking things out of his chirashi bowl (which I stole some fish roe out of) and asking me "What's this?" and raving about how sweet and delicious the rice was. I know he's had Japanese before. I have to wonder how long it's been or how good it could have been because If he weren't diabetic, I'd buy him a 5 pound bag of Kokuho Rose and a bottle of rice vinegar for Christmas.
We came home, he switched on the TV, stumbling upon the last 20 minutes of "Appaloosa." "Oh, I would have liked to have seen this from the beginning," he sighed. "You can," I said, taking the remote and pulling up the On Demand menu. Yeah, we had the "They're not mumbling, you're deaf" commentary at one point when he wanted the volume higher than 25, but it is a darned good movie. Well written, well acted, and the details are just so - if it's windy, you hear the windmill. There's a small Buddhist altar with incense burning on the sideboard of the cafe as Chin cries "No biscuit" because Mrs. French (Renee Zellweger) tries to order one well after breakfast.Hicks Hitch* (VIggo Mortensen) with his goatee and Buffalo Bill hat looks like he walked out of a daguerreotype, while Cole's (Ed Harris) seriocomic struggles with elevated vocabulary are revealed to stem from his reading habits. And Mrs. French, who succeeds in finding employment at the hotel playing the piano, plays with more enthusiasm than skill. If you like Westerns, give this one a look.
Dad should be airborne back to NJ right about now.
(*EDIT - found character's correct name while looking to see if the novel is available on Audiobook.)
I suggested several options for dinner. He agreed to try Kamakura. OK, maybe my hints that I like Kamakura and that it was really, REALLY good didn't hurt. We had good parking karma, sliding into a space on Santa Clara less than half a block from the restaurant. Despite the fact that a largish party was cooling their heels by the door, we were seated immediately at a just-vacated table for two by a window. I got to be Japanese-cuisine-guide while I described various things on the menu for Dad, who had forgotten his glasses and was squinting through mine instead. He finally chose the chirashi dinner and I had the sunomomo and sushi moriawase appetizers. Their version of sunomomo is thinly sliced cucumbers, shrimp and octopus with a dash of toasted sesame seeds and rice vinegar. And my moriawase was different from when I ordered it with
karisu_sama and didjiman . I don't know if the chef saw the order and said, "She's already got octopus in her salad, I'm going to give her some toro instead." Or perhaps it has to do with what they got a good cut of at market on a given day. There was toro. There was aji. Maguro and sake obviously, and yellowtail, each piece more delicious than the last, hold the soy sauce entirely, just a dab of wasabi here and there and let the sashimi speak lovingly to my tastebuds. OMG, I LOVE THIS PLACE. Dad kept picking things out of his chirashi bowl (which I stole some fish roe out of) and asking me "What's this?" and raving about how sweet and delicious the rice was. I know he's had Japanese before. I have to wonder how long it's been or how good it could have been because If he weren't diabetic, I'd buy him a 5 pound bag of Kokuho Rose and a bottle of rice vinegar for Christmas.We came home, he switched on the TV, stumbling upon the last 20 minutes of "Appaloosa." "Oh, I would have liked to have seen this from the beginning," he sighed. "You can," I said, taking the remote and pulling up the On Demand menu. Yeah, we had the "They're not mumbling, you're deaf" commentary at one point when he wanted the volume higher than 25, but it is a darned good movie. Well written, well acted, and the details are just so - if it's windy, you hear the windmill. There's a small Buddhist altar with incense burning on the sideboard of the cafe as Chin cries "No biscuit" because Mrs. French (Renee Zellweger) tries to order one well after breakfast.
Dad should be airborne back to NJ right about now.
(*EDIT - found character's correct name while looking to see if the novel is available on Audiobook.)
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 05:24 pm (UTC)If your dad liked Appaloosa, the movie
Date: 2009-08-15 05:34 pm (UTC)The books (Appaloosa, Resolution, and Brimstone) are marvelous, as is Parker's Gunman's Rhapsody about the Wyatt Earp legend.
Re: If your dad liked Appaloosa, the movie
Date: 2009-08-15 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-16 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 07:42 pm (UTC)I shall wake the clan for dim sum, if they were wakable, we shall see....
no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 07:55 pm (UTC)