Lunch in Napa

Okay, we finally went. To Morimoto's Napa outlet. For lunch on an off-season Sunday. I was astounded.
This is showtime, big time, with a gentle food theme.
This is Cirque du Soleil - showy, elegant, expensive, take-your-breath-away spectacular.

The food is pretty good to great. I would call it asian/fusion. Asian origin with Western taste additions. We were both somewhat surprised. Somewhat pleasantly.

Mieko had Uni Carbonera. She ate the sea urchin, found the noodles too rich. I tried the noodles, and found them Italian delicious. Go figure.

I had the Washugyu carpaccio - absolutely wonderful, and very rich.

This restaurant has absolutely nothing to do with Napa. (Hence, my astonishment.) It could be in any world-class city. (They have branches in Waikiki, Philadelphia, and New York.)

The interior design will take your breath away. Solid woodslab table tops, glass ohashi, polished concrete floor, elegant wall decorations, wonderful murals.

We both want to go back, to try some of the menu selections we had to pass on, or to sit at the sushi counter and see what happens.

If, that is, we can afford the visit. Figure $70/person for lunch with wine, $110+/person for dinner.

Go to morimotonapa.com and browse. :)

Marvelous View From The Hills

ABC 7 posted this beautiful pic taken from atop the East Bay Hills of the Bay Area as a Winter storm moved out.

 

Click to enlarge.

Oaktown, if you believe

Fox News, and the New York Times, take a rosy look at our favorite Second City.

Cut and paste to link: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1411956369001/

Or, click here

Carousel

Leadership!

Okay, I won't leave this up for long, but I think it's a revealing picture of Jean Quan, the current Mayor of Oakland. I have a theory, but it involves the Good Old Boys, so I'll save it for another time.

Life's Little Lessons

Bacon is healthy. Bacon is awesome. Bacon throws off a lot of fat. When I was an impressionable kid, we were trained to save our meat fat and return it to the butcher shop to be made into bombs.

I learned that lesson well, and to this day... In addition, I suspect, not throwing the stuff down a hot drain pipe may extend the life of the plumbing.

Guam USA

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AMBUNHbVZIE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's truly astonishing, how much video about the island of Guam is floating around on the internet. If the script above doesn't load, try this:

http://youtu.be/AMBUNHbVZIE

Ostrich Watch

A bank in Amsterdam, Holland.
A bank with a sense of humor.

Japanese New Year's Food

It all tasted really good! Even the four kids had a ball. I think you can click to expand, if your stomach wishes.