Bling

The Bank of America sent me a Visa card yesterday, and since my sweetie was feeling down, I thought it was a good time to buy her a big diamond engagement ring. When I popped the question I used a silver band, but I've always wanted to get a nicer ring.

I went to Charleston Alexander Diamond Importers in Bethesda and bought a gold band with a platinum setting. I purchased the biggest rock I could afford, because I love Lisa, and she deserves nothing but the best.

Although my sister wasn't with me when I made the purchase, the advice she had given me earlier was excellent. I made my purchase and maxed out my credit card in less than fifteen minutes flat. It was worth every cent when I saw the smile on Lisa's face when I pulled out the ring and proposed to her a second time.

Originally posted 8/25/07

A law office was my Yale College and my Harvard.

Formatting official legal documents is interesting. It's like being back in college again. Everything is single spaced, and paragraphs run from the very short (45 words) to the very long (180 words). There are two spaces left after every period, and as obvious from my blog, that's not how I roll on my free time.

I love the starchy feel of the red line paper used for court documents. The thin red vertical line running down the left hand side of the paper really brings out the bleached, snow like white color of the paper.

The head attorney at the office I work at knows The Elements of Style by heart. Yesterday she gave me back some documents I'd be working on without any revisions or corrections on them. I haven't felt that proud of something I wrote since Professor Arnason gave me an "A" for my term paper, Batman: A Semiotic Analysis.

Boo$ter Is Back!

Booster Gold, "52 Pick-Up Chapter 1: Secret Origins". Written by Geoff Johns & John Katz, layouts by Dan Jurgens, and finishes by Norm Rapmund.

The guys at the comic book store didn't sound too impressed with Booster Gold. The owner had been reading comic books since the sixties and had never heard of Booster, while his clerk incorrectly thought Booster's first appearance was in the pages of Justice League International. He was, uhm, wrong. Booster had his own series before he became a member of the Justice League.

The new series is as good as the old run. It looks like Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz are going to continue Jurgen's habit of dusting off really obscure characters, and in one sense I think they've outdone Jurgens. Booster's origin and concept are, well, kind of goofy. Giffen and DeMatteis recognized this, but it came at the cost of ignoring the character's sci-fi roots.

Johns and Katz have successfully managed to re-imagine the character without an unpleasant ret-con, which is a rarity these days. I haven't seen such an interesting take on a comic book superhero since Alan Moore deconstructed the Swamp Thing in the early eighties. The more lighthearted approach that Johns and Katz bring to the title is reminiscent of DC's better titles from that decade, without the major drawback of comic books from my childhood, which was a lot of superfluous exposition.

With Jurgens doing the artwork, the new series has the creators imprimatur. While I miss the little $ sign in the title, the infinity symbol was a clever touch, and if it was designed by the books letterer, the editor should give Rob Leigh a raise. I think I'll pick up issues as they come out at the comic book store. Usually I'd wait for the trade paperback to come out, but this series is good enough to warrant buying the title on a monthly basis.

The Zen of Fish:The story of sushi, from samurai to supermarket by Trevor Corson

Sushi was exotic and sophisticated when I first had it in Winnipeg. I loved watching the yuppie satire The New Age, and when Wasabi opened up in Corydon Village I finally got a taste of the lifestyle that had been denied me through an accident of geography. Later, after a month in Japan, sushi was as common place, and nothing more than a healthier alternative to McDonalds.

Reading The Zen of Fish by Trevor Corson was an eye opener. I've eaten a lot of sushi, but I didn't know how little I knew about the subject until I read this book. It's a history of sushi from it's beginnings in Asia, up to it's present day incarnation in America.

Corson deftly weaves together three different narratives. The first strand follows the story of a young woman named Kate as she studies at the California Sushi Academy. The second thread is a history of sushi in Japan and America. The final and perhaps the most fascinating filament in this tapestry explores the biology of the fish that are served in sushi restaurants.

The irreverent attitude that Corson possesses makes him a very congenial author. Consider the following passage:

Kate had no interest in eating an undulating clam that looked like a penis, but under Zoran's eye she slice a tiny corner off one of her nigiri. It felt like chewing on a rubber band. Zoran wathced her. She knew he was waiting for her to spit it out. She swallowed.

Gags like that put the book in the same category as Morgan Spurlock's documentaries. Like Spurlock, Corson educates his readers while carefully avoiding the tone of a know-it-all, professional scold like Michael Moore.

I'll think twice about ordering salmon after learning about all the nasty parasites that live inside them, but I'll feel less guilty about ordering a California roll now that I've learned that it avocado was originally used as a substitute for tuna in an American sushi bar that was patronized mainly by recent Japanese immigrants.

Corson may have inadvertantly stumbled into Eric Schlosser territory when he chronicles the decline in hygiene and proper training amongst sushi chefs in America. Since the demand for sushi is so high in the USA, there has been an unfortunate decline standards as restaurants and caterers scramble to fill positions because of demand.

It's a shame that such a wonderfully social dining experience is being put at risk by potentially poor quality control. Regardless of the future of sushi in North America, this book did bring back fond memories of farewell dinners in Japan and Canada.

Daisuke, my good friend in Osaka showed me what authentic sushi blended with a contemporary approach was like, and Ashley, Barbara, Dora, and Gord gave me a warm send off on a very cold winter night over sushi, sashimi, and tempura. May all your nigiri and sashimi be only the best parts of the sakana, and if you give this book a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

French Cuffs & Rep Ties

Lisa and I walked into Brooks Brothers today and we walked out with three dress shirts, three ties, and three hundred fewer dollars between us. I bought the shirts, and my sweetie pie was kind enought to foot the bill for my ties. For years, I've drooled over their catalog, and it feels weird (in the best possible way) to have their shirts and ties hanging in my closet. I've read a lot of American literature, and whether it's Faulkner at the start of the twentieth century, or Tom Wolfe at the start of the twenty first century, Brooks Brothers is an American fashion icon, and I've finally been able to try it for myself.

Bethesdan Cyclists: One of My Pet Peeves...

This link got me thinking. I've only noticed a couple of cyclists while walking from the station to my office, and they prefer to ride on the sidewalk rather than the road. Cowboy up gentleman, and try riding on the Rockville Turnpike instead.

I don't want this blog to sound all crotchety, so I'll give a shout out to my sister who stopped by the office to pick me up for lunch today. Little James, the least cuddly baby in the world, has gotten over his cold, so I had some fun tossing him up in the air.

I think little James had a good time too.

Bilbo Baggins, 208 Queen Street, Old Towne, Alexandria, VA

Lisa has wanted to go to Bilbo Baggins, a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, ever since our friend Nic pointed it out to her on a visit to DC three years ago. I got my first paycheck on Friday, and the first thing I did was call to make reservations on Saturday.

The guy who answered the phone explained that it wouldn't be necessary for two people. Which is a shame, because the food is so good there that I'm surprised it isn't filled to capacity on weekends.

The atmosphere is pleasant. It's like a cozy little hobbit hole. There are no circular doors, but it has that quaint colonial feel a lot of the restaurants in Old Towne seem to have.

For an appetizer we had Duck and Shiitake Spring Rolls with sweet Ponzu and spicy mango mustard sauces. Duck sometimes has a tough, turkey like taste which I've never really cared for. The duck used in the spring rolls was nice and tender, and the shiitake mushrooms were well done. The sauces worked well together. It was definitely worth skipping a safe appetizer like Mussels Mariniere for a dish that was a little more unusual.

I chose the Grilled Lamb Chops for an entree. The cuts of meat they used were very tender and juicy. Slicing the meat off the bone was like cutting through butter. The asparagus could have been grilled a little bit longer, but the butter nut squash and the yukon mashed potatoe were done to perfection. The mint basil emulsion and roasted chestnut garlic cream complemented but did not overwhelm the lamb chops.

My sweetie pie had the Andouille Chicken Breast. The portions were generous, so she couldn't eat it all. Which was good news for me, because I got to enjoy the chicken. I usually don't order chicken in restaurants; chicken usually tasted like chicken no matter what you do with it. This chicken was stuffed with andouille sausage and jalapeno jack cheese, and it was crusted with walnuts and pecans. The ingredients muffled the usually overpowering taste of chicken. The grilled vegetables it was served with were done just right - they had a nice crisp taste.

We were looking at the Saturday brunch menu because we would love to go back there again. For more information about the restaurant, please click here.

Bartleby

Tommorow is pay day at the firm, which means I've officially started the transition from the education field to law. I love my job! There is always lots of stuff to do around the office, and the time just flies by every day.

It's just a shame they don't hand out cool titles like scrivener anymore...