mostly about eating, drinking, and friends

I will never be a real foodie, because I just don’t have the necessary capacity for food and drink. But it’s fun to hang out with people who are sometimes, especially when they choose the restaurant and the wine. These folks, Brett and Erin, are in town (one of them works at my company, so we know them from our time in Taiwan). Ted had dinner with them last week, but we had to tag-team: I was in Japan last week, he’s in Taiwan this week. We ate at 1910. Ted and I had been there a year or so ago; they’ve got a small meun that changes every season, so it was deinitely time to a revisit. This is why it’s fun to hang with Brett and Erin; they’ve apparently been there enough to develop a relationship with the owner, so he chose the wines for us. They’d invited one other friend (I think they have more people to catch up with here than they have evenings to do it) so we had enough people to go through two bottles of wine on a work evening. My gazpacho reminded me of a very fresh salsa without the cilantro or the heat; it was OK but the one tempura shrimp on the side was really perfect – I think the reason I order shrimp so often, is because every once in a while you get a perfectly cooked one like this. My main followed the same pattern: the lobster was good, but they had somehow lightly roasted the tomatoes that came with it so that they were extraordinary. Of the two wines we had, the pinot noir was also extraordinary; somehow the aroma reminded me of dirt, and the wine was earthy yet still light enough to go with the fish courses three of us were having.

Last night was knitting group, but honestly it was kind of boring; it was a relatively small and all-Dutch group so I could only particupate int he discussion to a limited extent. On the other hand I couldn’t really knit much either; it’s still warm enough for us to sit outside in the restaurant’s pretty garden, but by 8:30 it was getting toodark to knit. SO I left and joined Brett and Erin, who were having dinner a short block away with another American expat, who is actually a knitter and a semi-regular at knit night, but she’d chosen to spend the evening with them instead. But she’d brought her knitting just in case and I was able to give her pattern advice! I joined them after their tapas dinner, we killed another bottle of wine, and I got home about 45 minutes after my normal bedtime. Bad influences, yes.

Tonight I’ll be seeing B&E yet again, because it’s Rib Night. Another of the local Americans organizes this on occasional Thursdays, for all the Americans here at work on a short visit or to live, at a place that’s known for its ribs. I don’t like ribs much (too fatty for me) but I’m told they are good; the place also has the best burgers in town, but that’s not saying much. This is a city with a lot of excellent restaurants, but two things they can’t seem to get right are burgers and Mexican food. I go because I enjoy the chance to have a few beers with a bunch of rowdy Americans. (It’s actually also good networking for me to hang out with people who work in the field at customer sites daily, but I try not to ask too many work questions.)

Oh, and I finally got done the baby blanket I’ve been working on for four months – or actually, not so much finished as decalred it done. It’s a bit small (just aver 2′ square) but then my nephew is a tiny baby. (Though at last report he’s up to 4 lbs 5oz, and is gaining noticeably every day. He’s been off oxygen for days, though he still has a feeding tube to supplement his bottles.) Last night I cast on for a Carnaby skirt. I hope this will go quickly; it’s in a worsted weight, so it ought to.