In keeping with this week’s Japanese theme, here’s a picture of a sign in our local sushi joint, I love that little guy with his sleeves rolled up. He just sliced up fifteen orders of sashimi and he will kick the ASS of the next freshwater eel that dares to cross him.
I have no idea what the writing says, though.
We had to make him take off the rings when he started trying to use them like brass knuckles. Card courtesy of sockzombie.com.
I took Jackson to the Nikka Market in Goleta over the weekend. His friend Luna had brought him some Japanese candy from her trip to visit family there over the summer, and now he’s hooked. We were pleased to find rice candy (with the wrapper you can eat), soda candy (very fizzy), and whistle candy, which is the size of a Lifesaver but when you place it between your teeth and blow through the hole, it whistles.
And Pocky!!
First of all, I apologize to any vegetarians who see this and go bluck.
Second of all, would anyone else like a delicious recipe for lamb?
Buy one rack of lamb. The ones from New Zealand are THE BEST, if you can find them — they’re about $17 at Trader Joe’s, maybe $13 at Costco.
Get a big knife and slice between the ribs, you’ll end up with eight little chops.
Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and if you want put some of that fancy Williams Sonoma pork rub on there, it’s lovely.
Do you have a stovetop grill pan? So you can fry things and leave dark grill marks across them, perhaps in a harlequin pattern? Heat that mother up, maybe put a little PAM or olive oil on it. I’d say a medium-high heat.
Arrange the chops on the grill and keep an eye on them, it’s usually something like four minutes a side. I like them to have a little pink in them but to essentially be cooked through.
Serve on a bed of white beans (canneloni or Great Northern) — before I even put the lamb on the grill I put two cans of beans in a pot with a hefty splash of white wine, salt and pepper, then add crispy, crumbled bacon and let it all simmer. I toss in a handful of chopped Italian parsley a minute before I take it off the burner (parsley looks pretty). Arrange three or four chops on top of the beans, sprinkle with a little more parsely, and then you can die and go to heaven, amen.
“Let’s watch Jungle Book.”
“I don’t want to watch Jungle Book, it’s dumb.”
“No, it’s not, it’s fucking brilliant and we’re going to watch it.”
Pouting. Then embarrassment, then complete transfixion. Eventually he put on the big boots so he could dance along with the king of the swingers, King Louie, the jungle V.I.P. (Here’s a link to a great clip of that scene and some background on the hep cats behind it.)
A cart full of fake hair at the Paseo Nuevo mall yesterday afternoon in Santa Barbara. This was after I’d gone to Lululemon to return some yoga pants that were too long (I hate stepping on hems), and they were all, But we offer free tailoring! Tailored yoga pants: you heard it here first. I’ll get them back next week.
Jack squished his wedding band the other day when he was sliding closed his closet door a little too fast so he used his hand as a bumper between the door and the door frame so it wouldn’t make a big bang! and wake me up. He didn’t realize he’d semi-flattened his ring until the end of the day when he finally took it off, his finger was hurting so badly; it took him until the next morning to piece together just how he’d done it.
So, until he has time to get a jeweler he’s just wearing the ring on a necklace I made for him last spring.
