Month: February 2006

From Eurogamer.net (full article here):

And then there’s cosplay.Boy, there’s cosplay.

To understand this aspect, you have to understand that Katamari Damacy occupies a special place in the world. Caught somewhere between Japanese eccentricity and videogames, it’s piqued the interest of a particular breed of dresser-up, and they’ve risen to the challenge of becoming a centimetre-high character with an admirable disregard for physics. Without a shadow of a doubt, the talent of this crowd was exemplified by a brilliant photographic post to Livejournal with the title “Private Photoshoot of Liddo and Sarah’s Katamari Fantasy Night”. There’s plenty of less aesthetically pleasing replications of the Prince and King, though.

I love that it’s been seven months and we’re still getting linked. Hurray!

Until I start cooking again, it’s restaurant reviews for you!

I went out with the MV crowd (well, there were only four of us this time) to Tsunami Sushi last night. We tried to go to Tomi, but it was too damn crowded. If you’ve ever walked along Castro Street in Mountain View and looked in the windows, Tsunami is the restaurant that has Finding Nemo on an endless loop.

Decor: Very nice. They’ve got a tatami room in the back for larger parties.

Service: Good. Drinks weren’t refilled with any speed, but the food came out quickly. They gave us free dessert (tempura bananas). One of our water glasses was cracked, but it was replaced quickly. We ordered agedashi tofu “for the table,” and it came out with three pieces, which caused annoying division of tofu blocks with chopsticks.

Food: Pretty decent. The miso was good but nothing special. Jer said the pickles in the seaweed salad were good. The salmon was really tasty, the snapper and eel less so. And hey, free dessert (which came in four pieces, so they did notice eventually).

Price: Too high, in my opinion.

Conclusion: Probably wouldn’t go there again. But on a Monday night, when Sono is closed, Tomi is full, and you don’t feel like driving to one of the other million sushi places in Mountain View, it works.

Oy, I really have to start cooking again! I’ve been going out to dinner too damn much. Or skipping dinner in favor of some popcorn. I’m lacking inspiration, sadly.

The family got together on Saturday night to go to Nora’s Cafe for some French bistro fare. Their steak frites is excellent. J, Barbara May, and I got it with the pepper sauce, while Mom opted for a bernaise sauce (which she said was good but only room temperature). Dad got mussels, which he and I thought were a little overdone. Oh, and the fries weren’t hot enough, which was sad, because they had a really nice flavor. Although the pate on the charcuterie plate was good, I wasn’t terribly impressed by the rest of the meats. However, the green salads that accompanied everything were really good. Very flavorful arugula and the like. Barbara May got some French onion soup (over there, I hear they just call it “onion soup”), but I didn’t try it. I hope it was good.

The desserts were kind of a mixed bag, too. I got the very disappointing Fraise, which didn’t actually have any strawberries at all, just an overly sweet gel.  J and Barbara May got profiteroles, which were tough. Mom got Rhum, which was rum raisin ice cream (her favorite) with whipped cream and what seemed like a fifth of rum in it. Seriously, this was über-boozy. If I were to get dessert there again, I’d get the Norvegienne, which is vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and Grand Marnier. I was debating between that and the Fraise, and I totally made the wrong choice.

However, the excellent steaks and yummy salads really helped to make up for the shortcomings in the rest of the meal. I would go there again, but I’d just order more carefully.

I went over to Jer’s yesterday to watch the Super Bowl. And by “watch the Super Bowl,” I mean “sit on the couch and play Dawn of Sorrow on Jer’s DS while he watches the game.” A couple hours after it was over, I had to ask Jer who won. I really was not paying attention at all. We got takeout phô. It was decent.

I had forgotten how much fun sixth level was. Dude, two attacks! It was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, we’re ending our time in the AU world for a while, so I won’t get to have the ceremony performed for my nifty new feat or my hawk animal companion until we pick things back up again.

We’re starting a new campaign, The Shackled City. This is an adventure that takes place in regular 3.5 D&D. It’s supposed to take us from first to twentieth level. Damn. That is going to be a LONG time. Jer’s DMing. We’re going to roll up characters next week. Rob’s pulling for us to be a party of clerics. I’m not entirely sure why, but I don’t really want to be one. I thought I’d try something new and go rogue. The hard thing about this is that rogues, with their mass of skills, are generally the ones to do a lot of actual RPing, not just “I hit it with my sword!” playing. I kind of suck at thinking in character, so hopefully this will push me to become a better player.

What’s this blog about? Food? Oh, yeah.

Um, we’re going to Fiesta del Mar Too for dinner. I haven’t been there in forever and a day. I need some adobo. And tons of their salsa. Yum.

We’ve been getting pizza and wings for D&D from Fast Pizza in Mountain View. Their wings are a little anemic, and the pizza crust is nothing to write home about, but damn, they have some nice sausage! Big chunks (not the rabbit-poo variety) and a hit of fennel. I love fennel. They’re decently priced and relatively fast, so I’d recommend them if you’re in the area.