Sushi and Other Snacks c/o Doma

L. and I spent the majority of Saturday toiling away at a few large packing tasks. Basically my entire closet and dresser. It was incredibly valuable and important for L. to be there, as she actually enjoys a little organizing, whereas I probably would have thrown my hands in the air and been far more slapdash about it. Also, she was absolutely appalled by the amount of socks I possessed and implored that I get rid of at least some of the most worn out of my sock brood, which I did only reluctantly. It was not literally a Herculean task, but it was figuratively. The thing about L. is that even though it wasn't fun, the packing, having her help me and be by my side made it go by far more quickly and I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much accomplished without her support. So big ups to L. for being some a kind, patient and firm friend, willing to treat me like the stubborn child I can sometimes be. [caveat/spoiler alert: right now I am sitting in a hotel room on the Oregon coast and I just saw something that may or may not have been a corcormarant and then also a pelican...also ducks here look different, some look like they really could be itty bitty flying penguins, and that makes me happy]. So, to celebrate our productive day, to Doma we went for dinner. I decided that instead of having just one piece of the ankimo - monkfish paté - I'd have their appetizer version of it, which came with a smattering of wasabi tobikko and rested in a ponzu sauce. Delectable as always.

L. had a sashimi starter I believe, which consisted of crab, salmon and shrimp.

I had long been fascinated by their tuna/jalepeno tempura appetizer and decided that I wouldn't depart from Philly without giving it a go. Quite generous in tuna portions and presented wonderfully, I was glad to have tried it.

L. tried the gyoza and had an unpictured udon soup to round out her meal.

I went with a few extra pieces of sushi for my additional course: salmon, ikura, toro, and a yellowtail and scallion roll.

This weekend was a weekend of incredibly cold tempuratures and additional snow, but that didn't phase us on the whole. Though my hands did seem to get dryer and dryer by the second. After dinner we didn't do anything crazy, just went back to the apartment and watched the newest Star Trek movie, which we both enjoyed...but it probably would have been good to at least slightly check in on what the ending of the last movie had been, as there were a few plot points that we didn't really follow. Another lovely meal with one of my favorite people, and another step closer to my actually leaving Philly!

Tempura Shrimp and Chirashi c/o Umai Umai

In real time, I am no longer in Philadelphia or even the state of Pennsylvania. In fact, it has been nearly a week since I painted my room, packed up my stuff and bid adieu to Philly. But as far as the blog time line is concerned, I'm still very much ensconced in Philly times and meals. So many of which have an Asian theme to them. For example, after one day of packing and other moving tasks, I suggested that LW and I go get some sushi at Umai Umai. Usually I just get their chirashi, but I decided I'd also try their rock shrimp tempura. Once the dish arrived I realized that (well I was pretty sure) I'd had the dish once before. It was surprising because for a tempura dish it was not so crispy. Tasty yes, but I usually think of tempura as being crispy...and any crispiness that these little shrimp morsels had was made moot by a healthy coating of sauce. Again, still good...but not quite aligned with what you might expect.

I did also enjoy the chirashi, which came in a slightly different bowl and with lettuce instead of watercress. Satisfying as always.

It's a strange thing when your days in a place dwindle. I didn't really have that many 'bucket list' wants or needs as far as the city was concerned. A few last meals with a few choice folks, a long list of things to purchase or cleaning/packing tasks to do, but no nostalgic walks along Kelly Drive or first-time visits to any of the many museums I failed to ever visit. I'm currently stationary in Ohio for a few days and it's strange how quickly I have gotten accustomed to not being from anywhere. I went out to karaoke with Cuz K., A. and a few other folks the other night and when asked where I was from I just shrugged. I'm in between places and will continue to be for at least another week as I drive ever westward. Eventually I'll blog about the hand-off of Zul the cat, which happened on Saturday, but not today I don't think.

Solo Sushi Times c/o Doma

On my drive back to Philly I began thinking about what I needed to do about dinner...the responsible thing would, of course, be to actually go to a grocery store and get regular people foodstuffs. I opted not to do that and, instead, chose to go to Doma for a sushi fix. I decided to also try their shrimp dumpling appetizer, which was quite satisfying. Nice big chunks of shrimp perfectly wrapped and steamed. The pickled daikon (or whatever the pink stuff is) was a nice garnish that I actually quite liked...I would eat more of it if they put it in front of me.

For my main sushi meal I went with the sushi regular option, which comes with 7 pieces of sushi and a spicy tuna roll. The ones I remember are (from left to right) tuna, unsure, salmon, unsure, shrimp, seared white tuna and yellowtail (I think). I also ordered an extra piece of ikura and ankimo. If you like sushi and things like that, I'd suggest you try ankimo if given the change. I think it's monkfish liver or some such thing. Whatever it is, its texture and taste are, to me, quite satisfying.

I ordered one more round, which included eel, wasabi tobikko, ikura and another piece of the yellowtail...unless it wasn't yellowtail, in which case another of the fish I really liked and then forgot.

A very satisfying meal.

Chirashi c/o Umai Umai

At some point in the past I once again made my way to Umai Umai and sidled up to the sushi bar. I briefly looked at the menu, but I already knew I was destined to order the chirashi. And destiny cannot be denied. There were a few changes from the bowl I had last time around. Perhaps the most noticeable being the octopus wrapped around mint...or maybe it was a shiso leaf. In any event, it was just what I wanted it to be and I remained quite impressed with the quality of the cuts and the fact that I actually like raw scallop.

I had a brief conversation with the sushi chef (and I think owner?) about the restaurant's lack of social media presence, how moonies supply the restaurant (along with pretty much all other sushi joints in the U.S.) and that was really the crux of the conversation. He's a pretty chill guy and I hope that we will slowly become friends in the way that a customer and a chef can, which is to say that he happily takes my money and I happily give it to him? I'm not sure what I really meant there.

In any case, it was a delightful evening's meal.

Work Lunches Including Sushi and Sandwiches

More lunches came our way with another week of busy times. Here was my lunch combination from Kansai. Eel avocado and spicy crunch crab rolls.

A grilled cheese sandwich with tomato from Rybrew. The dragon felt strongly that the sandwich should not be eaten and, instead, should serve as a permanent cave-like shelter for himself. I argued against this and was ultimately successful. There are advantages of being alive and one of them is being able to have the final word in arguments with plastic dragons found inside Kinder eggs.

A spicy turkey sandwich with coleslaw and spinach from 3Js. The dragon wasn't entirely sure what to do here so he just started lurching around like a zombie. Which makes sense, given the loss of one of his wings. Not the dragon he used to be.

And of course a lovely looking Primo's hoagie. The dragon was too distracted by its love of flatware to even investigate, which made the eating of the sandwich quite a bit easier than it sometimes is.

Sushi Feast Time c/o Dad and Morimoto

On Labor Day weekend my father drove up to the Maryland State Fair and met up with a few other folks to see a horse he likes run in its first ever race. I was not among them, but it sounds like they had a generally good time even though the horse did not do terribly well. I was unable to make it down because the beginning of September is the beginning of madness in my professional life and three hour drives to state fairs for horse races are just too hard to balance with hours editing in an office. So my father came to me for a dinner meet up. I asked him what he might prefer and he suggested sushi. I debated taking him to a new place, but in the end we returned to Morimoto. When we went in the summer of 2011 we tried the Omakase meal experience, but I wasn't really interested in that amount of food and really was more interested in sushi. I touched base on how my father felt on that score and he seemed on board for a sushi-laden meal. I started mine with a sake martini. Morimoto is a huge space and I remain unconvinced that its aesthetics still translate as 'hip' in this day and age. It's kind of like being in the restaurant area of a space ship envisioned in the early '80s. And the lighting is just so wacky. Slowly pulsing neon lights come at you from all angles. So, the photographs I ended up with were a little hard to color correct...you'll see basically I failed.

We decided to 'go hard' and ordered one of the more expensive options for the Chef's sushi combination. It included two rolls, six pieces of sushi, and I think another six to eight pieces of sashimi. We also ordered ikura on the side. Of course this was a month ago and I really can't tell you much about the actual fish or my favorites, though on a broad scale, the fish was quite good and I liked it very much. There were a few pieces of types of fish I'm pretty sure I never had before, which I liked very much. Maybe something like golden amberjack? Maybe not.

We also enjoyed sake with our meal. Dad was definitely opposed to any sake that was described as having a 'stone fruit' element to it. He was looking for simplicity and I think he found it.

I got to eat both of the shrimp, which I enjoyed. And the tamago was perfectly sweet. Ikura will never do me wrong. It was a bit of a whirlwind meet-up. During my busiest months I really just have a hard time being a regular human being, but it was good to see him and I was glad to hear about the race firsthand.

Thanks goes to Dad for another great meal!

Sushi c/o Shiroi Hana

In the first week of August LW celebrated a birthday. She gathered a few of her folks together for a sushi dinner to commemorate her new age, which was held at Shiroi Hana. MP was among the attendees, which was nice because pretty much the next day she headed out of Philly for an extended stay in Michigan. She will be missed. But at the time we were all there. I was especially interested in having the ankimo, which I've only ever seen at Shiroi Hana's sister restaurant Doma. I'm telling you these monkfish livers or pate or whatever it really is...it's good. It's things like this that make me glad that I'm not an overthinker when it comes to food. If it's good, it's good and I'm not going to worry about the exact body part of the animal it is I'm actually eating.

LW, MP and I split a sushi platter that included a few rolls as well as salmon, tuna, white tuna, shrimp, eel, and a few other fishes.

Pretty good stuff. I think LW had a good time at the dinner and then I know she went out pretty hard at darts later that night. I basically went home satiated.

Sushi c/o Umai Umai

There was a weekend where I found myself in Philly with literally no plans. The option of a day at home with no commitments or activities was, in a sense, rare. I have been perking up my summer weekends with a fairly consistent number of trips and whatnot. But home I was. And home, it was good to be. Except that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in a long, actually just long but not really hot, second. Except that second was more like two weeks. So I was at home, hungry, and watching episodes of the David Chang version of a cooking show. You should watch it too. He'll make things you know are complicated seem, for a moment, not-so-much, and then more likely than not you'll go to a restaurant that somehow relates to whatever the episode is. In my case it was a delayed reaction. I had watched the Chang episode where pretty much it's all Japan, all the time. At the time, I restrained myself. But an episode featuring a Danish chef with his own experimental houseboat and weirdo farmer? Somehow it was too much. There they were with a 100 year old clam and freshly picked plants and rotten potatoes and all these other things, and all I could think of was the other Japan episode. I wanted real and good sushi and I wanted to try new things like it was just par for the course. And so for those reasons, and others, I decided to go to Umai Umai. Umai Umai is not terribly far away from where I live. I have heard many people really praise it. But I gotta say in the first few times I went? I always felt slightly like I wasn't getting it. Really I felt like I paid more money than I would consider reasonable without the pay-off of my eyes rolling to the back of my head due to the glory of the tastes on my tongue.

And that's the thing. If you're not paying with a company card or being comped, you have to decide on a few things and then you judge the place on them. And by "you" I mean me, trying to showcase information about places I can't truly explore as frequently as could lead to a good review on a budget that already dedicates way too much funds to the pursuit of good food. My point here is the fact that even though monetarily I had decided that Umai Umai and I wouldn't work out, I looked at the collective reviews one more time, and I thought about how culinarily turned on I got at seeing sushi,  and I decided to give Umai Umai one last chance. I looked only at the more sushi/sashimi centered options and really didn't even process any descriptions of hot dishes. I was going to eat the prepared fish in whatever form the chef thought was best. It was early. Senior citizen hour. And me sitting alone at the bar when tables were available, but without the chef readily being personable, and with me being extremely sensitive to the concept that someone would rather not talk to me. Well. It was quiet for a while. The chef and his sous chef? Apprentice? Stood behind the bar making conversation that made me think that the one guy was new.Or that's just how chef dudes talk in front of a random woman customer who opted for the sushi bar but then wasn't immediately gregarious? In any case. I ordered a miso soup and the chirashi. And if I wasn't a complete jerk, I could tell you what every single thing on this plate was. But I was a jerk and thought I could remember...but I was wrong. What I can tell you is there was: uni,  a quail egg, ikura, extremely tender magic salmon, escolar, tuna, scallop, and about seven other things I cannot lock down.

I'll tell you this: it was pretty. And the eating of the raw scallops was a new thing for me. But I did it with faith, and I was rewarded. Whatever I thought it might be like, it was better. I realized I had misunderstood the nature of a scallop. I liked and enjoyed the whole bowl, and of course some parts more than others. But the whole experience was wonderful.

I did witness a less than ideal interaction between another patron and the waitstaff, during which the woman complained loudly about the fact that her food was too hot. When her waitress suggested ways to fix the situation, the woman was having none of it. I thought the server did a pretty good job of keeping her cool, but the lady was clearly not a happy camper. As she and her husband left she made a big point of saying that they would never return because the service was rude and her food was too hot. If you know that lady, don't believe her. They were polite and tried to find a solution, but she was the one who was rude. Yes, when you're paying for a meal it should meet your expectations. But getting so snippy when the issue is that your food is too hot seems insane. Just wait and it'll cool off. Or, if you're asked how the situation could be favorably handled to please you, actually have a solution. I don't know. There is a sense of entitlement in the whole restaurant thing. When I go I expect certain things like prompt and friendly service, food as I request it, and the like. And if those expectations aren't met and I actually raise the issue of dissatisfaction with someone from the staff, I would hope that they would try to listen to my concerns and address them. And I would hope that I would not become someone who completely forgot what an appropriate response is vs. and inappropriate one. It was awkward for all in the small restaurant to have to overhear her complaints and increasingly impatient and rude treatment of the server. After the initial outburst there was a very quiet atmosphere where all diners felt as if they couldn't strike up or resume their normal conversations. I eventually asked the sushi chef a question about escolar, so that lightened at least my mood.

My overall thought and point is this: I was wrong to have given up on Umai Umai in large part because I was wrong in what I had been ordering. If you want crazy rolls or teriyaki, there are quite a few other spots in the neighborhood and in Philly, but for a really interesting and wide variety of fresh fish prepared with care and beautifully presented? Keep Umai Umai in your mind.

Bard College Commencement 2013, Dinner c/o Osaka

The next day was just as gloomy, overcast and not terribly warm as the preceding day. I woke up at a far more leisurely hour than I normally do...but then I don't usually go to sleep at five in the morning. L. and I knew that we wanted some delicious Dunkin Donuts coffee (the sheer amount of money, gas and time we expended on Dunkin Donuts coffee during our college years would be astonishing if quantified). I also felt a very strong need to go to the Bagel Shoppe. Of course there is no photographic proof of our doing either thing. But we did. I swear. Then there was a fair amount of lollygagging. C. and L. went to the library to find their senior projects while I tried to take a nap but really just took a lot of photographs of cicadas. Eventually it was getting close to the actual start of the graduation, whose commencement speaker was Gabby Giffords and her husband. That story and how far she has come and how much it reflects the ills of our current gun policies makes her an incredibly effective symbol. In any case, I stopped by the tent but it seemed like kids were still filing in and there would be much pomp and circumstance before the commencement speech. So I wandered on to the campus center to meet up with C., K. and L.

I could have told some stories about all the times I drove to Dunkin Donuts.

When I attended Bard the cafeteria had two sections: the smoking section and the non-smoking section. I can say with some regret and some weird pride that I ate in the non-smoking section a total of perhaps five times. It was a bigger room and the acoustics were weird and so I, like so many others, took up permanent cafeteria residency in "the paranoids" smoking section. Times change and for the better, so that enclosed smoky space has now become just another seating area...it is also where we gathered to listen to the commencement speeches while staying out of the icky weather. Gabby Giffords' husband did the majority of the speaking, and I found his point that he and his wife both are gun owners an interesting and valid one. My opinion on guns isn't going to change anybody else's, but I really just feel like there is a pretty easy balance to be made if crazy people on both sides just kind of shut their mouths. The Libertarian fringe compound guy in Montana needs to understand that while he certainly has the right to bear arms, he doesn't have the right to become his own personal army. The extremely leftist vegetarian activist needs to understand that not all gun owners are the Libertarian fringe compound guy (and that one could argue that hunting for one's meat is a far more noble method of being a carnivore than relying on factory farms). Easier said than done of course. My point is mainly the point he made: everyone needs to make compromises and see the greater harm that could come about if they are not made (like the attempted assassination of HIS WIFE). Moving on.

Then it was time for a more official reunion event at Blithewood. The weather continued to be windy, cold and altogether not to my liking. I also became overwhelmed by the additional new faces that were added to the mix from the night before. I like people and talking to them. But man alive there is a limit to just how many conversations I can enjoy with people I haven't really kept in touch with...especially if it's cold. I also just wasn't feeling like getting totally tanked again, so while many were enjoying the free spirits and beer at the reunion tent, I mainly stuck to one beer and cheese. None of which is photographed because I was getting edgy.

After our reunion photograph I was feeling a little spent. C. was feeling very cold. K. was making friends with everybody, but also wanted sushi. And so our three different states combined and it was decided that C. and I would walk back to north campus to get my car, which we would then drive back down to Blithewood in order to pick up K., and then we would all zoom our way to Tivoli for a meal at Osaka. This plan went well. C. and I ended up getting a bit of a lift from yet another golf cart. K. was about done making friends by the time we picked her up, and Osaka had no line for tables. We all got variations of a maki combination, which came with soup and salad.

I think I ordered the spicy combination, or maybe the special one? I should really track that down, but I am not going to.

So much sushi. So much fun.

After dinner we rushed back in order to see the always spectacular fireworks...but we really arrived just in time to see the end. K. and C. went to see who else was still hanging around, but my decision not to drink and overall tiredness from not getting a proper nap (oh my god I sound like I'm 95, next thing you know I'm going to be talking about the merits of prune juice for digestions) led to a desire to just go somewhere warm and dry. To that end I returned to north campus and the class of 2003 dorm, where I ran into J. and D. and S. and B. and a few other folks. S. insisted that J. and I take a photograph together but he was, shall we say, a wee bit tipsy and couldn't quite take the photo himself. So he asked D. to do it...but D. is like nine million feet tall and didn't really know exactly what S. wanted from a photo. So below are three of many more photographs of J. and I trying to please S.'s directions. 

J. and I were both in the photo program at Bard. We ended up sharing a dark room our senior year...except he printed almost entirely digitally, which meant that really I got a dark room to myself. His senior project was especially clever. I had a total artistic crush on him. No big deal. Now he and B. are embarking on a new venture that is just as much deserving of a crush.

It got kind of ridiculous.

B. jumped in on this one.

My night pretty much ended at this point. I went down to my basement room to regroup but never quite made it back up, though I did hear the ragings of a party for many hours afterwards. I kind of regret not rallying, but really I was pleased with the overall experience and didn't want to mar it by any new shenanigans.

Sushi Gluttony c/o Doma

I think it was last week that I found myself again unable to fight the desire for sushi. As fortitude, strength or self-discipline are none of my particular strengths, it was quickly agreed upon (in my brain) that I would go to Doma on the way to an event in Center City. And that, my friends, is just what I did. It was a little before six on a Wednesday or Thursday, and the place was still quite quiet. I think I was the first customer and then maybe 5-10 minutes later a few additional tables came in. I decided to try at least one small thing from their hot menu, and went with the Ssam Trio, which may have been a special. It was a combiination of small scoops of Korean-style cooked chicken, beef bulgogi and white fish. For ten dollars the portions were about right. The chicken was perhaps my favorite of the three. I found it interesting that the fish  was rolled, and in the center they'd squirted a fair amount of sriracha. I liked it, but hadn't ever seen it done before.

Then on to the sushi. This plate had two pieces of salmon, one fluke, one o-toro, mackerel two ways and ikura. Each fish cut was, to me and my still novice sushi self, generous and buttery.

I then ordered a second round. I'd always known that there were two kinds of eels, but usually stuck with the fresh water eel, which is the more typically consumed of the two - at least as far as I can tell. So knowing was one thing, but I decided to taste them side bye side. When the waiter came out with an extra piece I hadn't ordered I was momentarily confused, but he explained that the two eel pieces were really just one eel piece the chef cut in half for more ease in eating. I must say that compared to the more bite sized and toasted/browned look of the fresh water eel, I was a little afraid of this new version. But once I got over its slightly different look, I found that it was just as tender as its salt-free neighbor and almost as sweet.

And that concludes my early bird sushi gluttony.

Sushi c/o Shiroi Hana

Once I get sushi into my head,there's nothing to be done but to eat it. I must admit that of all the small hypocritical things I do in life, eating sushi is perhaps the one in which I take the greatest pleasure. In other words, I know that our world is falling apart and that fish of all kinds are rapidly disappearing from the oceans, which in turn lead to other fish struggling to survive, and yet ... goddamn if I don't like a good piece of salmon or white tuna. On this particular evening I planned to meet up with LW at Shiroi Hana to properly quench my sushi hankering. I hadn't been back since a similar meal with LW last year around the same time. Since we were only two, not three, people, we didn't order quite the same level of sushi, though we did split the Sushi Deluxe platter. We then added a few extras...I ordered ikura and white tuna while LW requested a passion roll.

I chose to accompany my meal with hot sake, which was an entirely enjoyable choice. Sidenote: I actually walked downtown a bit too early for our reservation, so I meandered for a while before stopping at Estia for a glass of retsina to kill the time. A few observations about that experience: it's got a live music guy in the sort of main lobby/vestibule area, which is neat...though he's playing with the accompaniment of a back up track, which was weird. When I sat down at the bar it there were about four other people there, all of whom with drinks or food in their hand. The two ladies behind the bar talked for quite some time before either even looked in my direction and I had to assert myself and ask for a drink as opposed to having one of them come over and ask me what I'd like. Just seemed a little off, especially after I got my bill. I didn't look at a wine list because I knew I wanted a glass of retsina, so it's no one's fault but my own that the glass was $14 without tax or tip and that maybe I wouldn't have ordered it had I known. But damn, it was a solid glass of wine. End sidenote.

We also ordered a spider roll that had the right crispiness of the outside with succulence of the inside to make me smile. I do think they messed up my request for a piece of white tuna...as it was nothing like any other piece of white tuna I've ever had. Now this may just be a reflection of the fact that we rarely get the fish we think we're getting, and what I have long considered white tuna is actually something else entirely. Hard to tell.

Shiroi Hana does it right. No pretense. A modicum of style in the decor. Generally friendly staff. A step up from the more discount sushi joint's fish quality. A pleasant meal. Then LW and I went on over to the Bards and played darts for a bit, which wasn't without its own comedy.

Random Round Up

The latter part of December was spent working, which, as we have already covered, meant subsidized lunches. This is a turkey sandwich on brioche c/o Rybread.

A day or two before Christmas I walked around Center City looking for gifts and ended up enjoying a sushi lunch at Aki. Nothing too spectacular, lunch special priced crispy salmon skill, eel and avocado and yellowtail with scallion. I also had green tea.

This Christmas was spent again with NC Catherine and J. Work is so crazy and the expectations of my bosses not entirely reasonable, so I ended up going down on a train Sunday and returning on a train Wednesday. The train allowed uninterrupted work abilities due to wireless, and was altogether far more pleasant the airport/plane experience has become. Though each way there were certainly some delays. On the way down, however, I was able to complete my work day and still have a few more hours of train living. With those hours I watched Sense and Sensibility, blogged about cheese and wine, and eventually made my way to the club car to pick up a snack and a stiff drink. Snack was hummus. Stiff drink was Jack Daniels and ginger ale. I'll say this for certainty: it's worth spending the additional $40 for business class on an Amtrak train, more legroom, a reserved/guaranteed seat, and just one car away from the cafe/club car. On the way back up there was even a proposal over the loudspeaker.

When I arrived in Greensboro, my father, NC Catherine and J. were all waiting for me. Also waiting for me? Corn chowder. Good stuff and start to a rather rushed holiday season.