Authentic Japanese

I met up with a former work colleague, Mukai san, for dinner this week.  My only requests were that we go to an authentic Japanese restaurant and that he do all the ordering.  Success!  We went to Cocoro and it was fantastic.

Mukai ordered a bunch of "tapas style" food....which I failed to photograph...that included eggplant, bamboo root, fried chicken, oyster stew, and dumplings.  Then we had a beef hot pot - delicious!

I had to photograph the great origami skills of Mukai who made a "chop stick pillow" out of the paper that had held the chop sticks.

The craziest thing about the evening was that there was a big party at the table behind us and I looked over and said "that guy looks a lot like Nishina san (another former colleague)" and it was!  So great to see him too!

And who doesn't love a restaurant where green tea ice cream is included in the meal :-)

My chubby Valentine :-)

It doesn't get much better than having this little guy as your valentine :-)  I headed to Ann Arbor this weekend to visit Melissa and Elias and had a fantastic time!

We had a great dinner watching the Olympics (main purpose of the trip!)

 The cafeteria at the UBS building was making personalized cookies and I couldn't resist having one made for Melissa...thankfully she shared!

After Melissa and I went to an amazing spinning class at Ryde Cycling, we came back to have breakfast with Elias.  He's already taking shots of water in his Michigan shot glass.

 We then headed to Zingerman's - a classic spot - in Ann Arbor for lunch.  It was incredible!

 We were a little too late for the Farmer's Market.

 And then Melissa took me to two amazing card shops...and I went a little crazy (like my Eastern Market days in DC)....I swear I won't have to buy cards for 5 years!

Saturday night was another fantastic meal eaten while watching the Olympics.  Melissa seriously missed her calling in life to be an Olympics announcer...she knew all the facts and stories.

After a great church service at 242, we went for a little pampering :-)

 A wonderful way to spend Valentine's Day weekend...I miss my Valentine already!

Happy Birthday Ashley!!!

You only turn 30 once and Ashley celebrated in style at La Madia!

Sharon, Kyley, Tahani, Molly, Lynne, Shannon, Ester, and Caroline were all able to join in the celebration making it a wonderful night of celebrating the birthday girl and catching up with each other.

Happy Birthday Ashley - we love you!!

A fun night in the kitchen!

My lovely friend Elese had a dinner party last night where her friend Suresh joined a bunch of ladies to cook for us.  Roast chicken was on the menu.

Bridget was Suresh's student in the kitchen.  

We were also celebrating Stephanie's new job!!  Congrats!

While we were waiting for the chicken to cook, we enjoyed an amazing cheese plate.

Cheers to the chef!

 Carving the bird - it was delicious, roasted with lemon, garlic, and thyme.

And Bridget did a great job on the brussels sprouts.

Thanks for a great night Elese!! 

G.T. Fish & Oyster

On the first day of my new project for work I was walking around and ran into Cliff, who had been in my training class.  He'd been on this project since October and hadn't made it to the city once.  This had to change obviously, and restaurant week was the perfect occasion.  Cliff said he liked seafood, so G.T. Fish and Oyster was the natural choice....and it was amazing!

Our appetizers were tuna poke and a shrimp bruschetta.

Soup and salad course was clam chowder and seared tuna nicoise salad.  

We both got the mahi mahi with black rice for our main.

And topping it off for desert we devils food cake and a coconut cake with pineapple reduction.

Definitely a night of great company and great food!