Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fasters Unite!

My lunch options are severely limited during Lent. One of my favorite places around my office is Zankou Chicken, which is hands down one of the best chains in LA for shawarma and roasted chicken, Armenian style.

The ladies in Zankou know me pretty well for ordering the "1/4 plate dark meat" special for lunch. When they see me they just ask "Number 5?" Today I had to say no. Since I know for a fact these ladies are Armenian and therefore more likely than not Armenian Orthodox, I told them I was fasting for Lent.

Well Lord have Mercy did that get them going. They, of course, are fasting too. Armenians kinda all fast the same way, vegan style, as opposed to western Christians who give up everything from swearing to Coca Cola to chocolate for Lent. I ordered hummus and tabouli for lunch. The ladies informed me that the bread they serve has milk, told me to order the rice instead, and gave me 5 extra falafels cuz apparently they feel a camaraderie with me now.

Then they told me to come in the day after Easter for a kabob feast. Now THAT's what I'm talkin' bout. I love you, Zankou ladies.

Who will be going to Zankou for lunch alot this Lent? I think that's a rhetorical question. Oh yes it is.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

And We're Off!


It's the beginning of Lent! I don't know why I put that exclamation point there, because it's not like its Christmas or my Birthday or some other exciting holiday. In fact, Lent is so ascetic, I guess I shouldn't be "celebrating" it at all. But I digress.

Today is Ash Wednesday. Luckily my bangs are long so the mangled dirty cross on my forehead will remain mostly hidden. (While putting a big cross on your forehead is obviously designed to advertise that you're participating in Lent, most people just think my face is dirty. The worst of it was at BYU, where when you explained it to them they were just shocked and abhorred that a Catholic was on their campus. Might as well have been a "666").

From here on out, for the next 40 days, I'll be doing what I do each Lent. Fasting. It started with my Jordanian friend/roomie in college, where we Catholics banded together and fasted Greek Orthodox sytle, i.e. vegan, because that was how her mother raised her. Eventually I decided that vegan was a little too hard core for me, so now I eat seafood, but still no meat or eggs or dairy.

More than anything, it's a good yearly challenge. Can I do it? And it's not like a diet where you can cheat, or like a promise you can break. This is LENT. God sees all, ya dig? No hiding from him. I can proudly say I haven't knowingly cheated in 10 years. (I'm going to go ahead and ignore mistaken consumption of gelatin or butter or some other hidden ingredient now and then).

And I would just like to say that I've never had as nice a cross as the dude in the picture. I mean, you can even tell that it's a cross! Usually mine is a mangled blotch. Lucky bald dude.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I Love The Music In My Ears

Last 10 songs that just played on my ipod:

1. Long Distance Operator-The Band

2. Let Me In-Wings

3. Take Control-Weezer

4. Old Enough-The Raconteurs

5. M.E.X.I.C.O.-The Kills

6. Eleanor Rigby-The Beatles

7. Rag and Bone-The White Stripes

8. No No No-Yeah Yeah Yeahs (that's funny!)

9. Hell Yes-Beck

10. Against the Wind-Bob Seger

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hmmmm. Maybe I Don't Want To Be Fashionable.

I know I've talked about this site on this blog before. I love the Fug Girls and their typically appropriate commentary on "fashion," particularly of the celebrity kind. With New York Fashion Week here, they have had plenty of fodder. Including Kirsten Dunst, above. (Holy God what is that thing she's wearing??)

But when I saw this photo I didn't even see Kiki. Nope. My attention was immediately pinpointed upon the gentleman to Kiki's left. Specifically his wrists and lower hands.

What in the holy hell are those things? Wrist warmers? Fashionable apparel for those inflicted with Carpal Tunnel? An attempt to hide a botched suicide attempt? If it's warm enough to wear short sleeves, why do the wrists need extra protection?

So many questions. And as an aside, I can't even knit, but I'm pretty sure my high school home ec project came out better than that monstrosity she's sporting. And the sleeves weren't even the same length.

You Go Girls!

Seriously, have you guys checked out this website yet? Shorpy is awesome. I could browse it for hours, just archived photo after photo of the old days. Five year old kids working in factories, super old war photos, all kinds of cool stuff. That is, if you think old pictures are cool. Luckily if you're on my blog in the first place chances are you're into dorky stuff like that too.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Our Insanely Good (and Huge) Dinner at Sakan

Two nights of our trip to Japan were spent at Sakan, a hot spring hotel outside of the city of Sendai which is a couple of hours north of Tokyo by Shinkensan (bullet train). Our stay at Sakan included all dinners. When we arrived at dinner the second night, this is what was already at my place. For those that have never eaten Japanese it's very confusing, so let me explain. Clockwise from left, the first is a basket with crab, glass noodles, tofu, and vegetables, all raw. The contents of that basket are meant to be placed into the large metal lidded pot above the basket. On the top right is uncooked rice with the bowl in which it will be served overturned on top of it. On the tray is a series of appetisers and next to it is shoyu sauce for the sashimi. Once you sit down they start bringing out the rest of the food:



First a lightly fried fish served with grated cucumber and lemon,


Then a serving of anago sushi (Truman's grandma would only let me eat the eel, cuz the rice would supposedly fill me up too much);


Next was a light poached white fish served on top of soba noodles;


Sashimi plate, half eaten, including ama ebi, squid, tuna, and scallop;


Once we sat down the hostess light a fuel canister under the metal pot and heated the broth inside. When it boils, you place the contents of the basket in one by one, starting with the crab. A big part of Japanese cuisine is cooking the food right in front of you;


Finally about halfway through dinner the hostess comes in and lights another fuel element under the uncooked rice, which has just been soaking in water since we sat down for dinner. The rice cooks and bubbles while you work on the hot pot and the sashimi. The rice is amazingly good, shiny, and tender. They serve it by itself at the end with pickles. When I told Truman's mom's Japanese friends that in American Japanese restaurants the rice is served with dinner, they thought it was very weird.

Finally for dessert we were served orange sorbet in an orange peel. Honestly, this is a frozen orange peel with sorbet in place of the fruit. Those damned ingenious Japanese! Thank God we wore robes to dinner so there was room to loosen our belts! Holy crap do I love Japanese food.

Yatta!!!!

Finally we have some Japan pictures! Still no camera cord, but the friendly folks at Walgreens got all kinds of technology such that I got all my pictures for the low cost of $2.99. And I didn't really do anything, I just wanted to bust out Hiro-style with one of the only Japanese phrases I know.


Right outside our hotel in Tokyo was Shinjuku Central Park, which has gardens, walking paths, workout areas, a temple, and a large homeless community. This is one of the fierce dogs guarding the temple. Look at them teeth.


The blue tarps indicate a homeless community. They are extremely well organized, have clothes lines and little huts. However, they are literally cordoned off in the corner of the park. It is interesting, weird, and not what I expected to find in Tokyo.


We left Tokyo for only two nights, and during that time we headed north to Sendai and the hot springs that surround Sendai. The hotel that we stayed in provided us with a private dining room where we dined Japanese style. Hot spring hotels in Japan provide yukatas, the robes that we're all sporting, to all guests. Pretty much everyone runs around the hotel in a robe. It's awesome and very comfortable. Of course, we had to specially request a giant-size for me so that I wasn't sporting high-waters, robe-style.


This is the river that ran right alongside our hotel. The hot spring hotel was in a small town that was not touristy at all.



First time through Japan I thought these were graves. Not so. They are markers from the shogun era denoting what samurai ran this area during what time.



Speaking of samarui, can you imagine hauling yourself around in that outfit? Damn! Our hotel had a small museum inside with some relics of the shogun era.

More pictures coming! Food posts next!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Ug

Just got back from Japan and what do I have to show for it? Nada. Can't find my cord to connect the camera and the computer, so for the time being I can only view my 400 pictures of Japan on a tiny little camera view screen. And I so wanted to share them with you.

The question is how long I will search for the damn thing before I break down and buy a new one. I can already feel my will breaking. Want. Pictures. Now!