Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The DH and I are marking the 12th year anniversary of our relationship. Actually, the date falls on the 8th of October, but we decided to celebrate it on the Wednesday after our walking date. Plus it worked great since it falls on buffet night at our favorite resto, Inaka! :)
It's not like a wedding anniversary because we've only been married for 4. But it's the anniversary of our relationship since we got back together...after a 4 year break which we call the "intermission"! So, the DH and I are now in "part 2" of our love story...while "part 1" was the 2&1/2 years we were together when I was in med school and he was in law school. Oh, I have to remember to write about our long-running love-story, one of these days. I promise you it will have a mush-warning at the top so you'll know not to read it if you'd rather not, lol!
Before I headed out the gate, I asked Mama to snap a few pix of me with Tilda. Needless to say, my Mama is not a techie, so the most that I got were 2 photos before the camera went into its power-saving mode and Mama was stymied! :) Better than nothing I say.
Tilda's flank is grimy since it was drizzling earlier that afternoon...and being Tilda, she was happy to walk around in the rain and lie in puddles!
Tilda may sit on command, but she can't be bothered to look at the camera at all, at least not while her rattly-ball is so tantalizingly close!
I dropped off my stuff at 20th, but the DH had gone ahead to the lagoon since he had to pass by his tailor to have his blue judo pants altered. I hated that my sweat pants didn't have pockets (what's up with that, huh?)...so between my water bottle and cellphone, I had my hands full. I had brought along my ankle weights that I had planned to use to tone my arms while I walked, but with my hands occupied, I couldn't do anything but strap them on to the extremities they were designed for... and headed the 14 blocks to the lagoon.
I had gone a round before I found the DH pounding the concrete. Between his recently healed foot sprain...and proficiency exams in judo the next night, the DH was taking it slow, and matching my pace for a change. It was nice having him to talk to while walking. And then he coaxed me into jogging a round, and sprinting a length, and walking a width, and more jogging and sprinting that I've done in weeks! I'm such a whiner...but
I'm glad the DH "forced" me the way he did. Coz it turns out I did have the extra lung and muscle power that he was goading out of me. Thank you Kiddo, you know me more than I do myself. :)
During the times I was gulping down painful gasps of air, I was also grunting "maki, maki, maki, maki" to keep me focused on my reward at the end of the ordeal, haha!
Oh, and he was wearing the weights himself too. I'll just wear them the next time, hehe.
We walked back to 20th for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Then we happily walked around the corner to Inaka, yahoo!
The DH had reserved us a table the day before, so our table was waiting for us when we got there.
Bypassing the other goodies on the buffet table, I headed to load up on my beloved sushi. I got an assortment of sushi, some I didn't even bother to ask the names of. I just knew I liked each and everyone of them! You should have seen me as I picked up my chopsticks to start eating, I was beaming so widely at my DH, he must have been fairly blinded by my blissful expression, lol! I was sooo happy to be eating sushi and celebrating with my honey!
The DH was mildly disappointed that they didn't have his Inaka favorite of wagyu beef. They didn't have it in stock, so I guess we'll just have to come back another time for that, wink,wink! Still, he managed to fill up his 1st plate with assorted sashimi [tuna and tanguigue, no salmon either :( ], teriyaki chicken, some grilled gindara (cod), and some noodle-cucumber-cabbage salad. At first we didn't know that the fish was gindara, but the DH became suspicious when he found it to be much too flavorful to be something else. He tries to steer clear of this fish because of its leery reputation for causing "nasty accidents"! His suspicions were confirmed when I heard another lady ask the waiter at the buffet table! I've never had cod before, so I was curious enough to try just 1 tiny piece. And it was indeed as tasty and meaty as the DH said. But like him, I didn't want to push my luck and overdo the cod, so that single piece was enough for me. :)
The DH likes to soak his sushi and sashimi in kikkoman and wasabi, so I got up to get him his own "soaking" bowl. While I was there, though, I saw that the chefs had prepared some kani sushi that I had to get as well. I love kani. :)
It seemed we had gotten the best table in the house when our waiter offered us some freshly prepared shrimp tempura on his way to refill the tempura platter.
The DH on his 2nd foray at the buffet. I took this shot from our banquette, so we were practically within arm's length of the table. Told you we had the best table, lol!
Some photos I took of the paper mat while the DH was filling up. I love the samurai illustration...it reminds me of scrapbooking clip art somehow, lol.
This was our 3rd and final sushi plate. The DH liked the crunchy stuff inside this sushi variety, so I had to get more of that, and of the california maki...and the fried egg sushi too.
The DH was raving about the unusual salad they served so I got my own bowl. I was pretty stuffed at this time, so I choose more of the veggies and less of the noodles. We're not sticklers for the traditional progression of courses around here, hehe! In fact the DH is known for saving his soups and salads for later in the meal. :)
Beware the kooky man with the chopsticks!
A handsome-r photo of my DH, in one of his favorite metal-shirts!
For desserts, they had fresh fruits and the non-Japanese leche flan! Which got us talking about the different types of flan and how different people like each type. My FIL, TVI likes the drier and paler variety, while the DH and Anoy Bill favor the creamier, moist-ier and yellow-er kind made with more eggyolks! Anoy Bill makes the second variety from a recipe his mom, Tita Menchu used to make...and I have to tell you, I can eat whole plates of that stuff! On the occasions that Anoy serves them at his house or bar, I always try to sneak some take-home for late night snacking! My Mama, who abhors any kind of dairy, has been known to enjoy a slice or two of Anoy Bill's sinfully special flan!
We asked our waiter, Romeo, to take a photo of us (before my camera conked out). I noticed that he was careful not to include a view of our table (which we wouldn't have minded a bit actually) so we ended up with a huge expanse of wall behind us.
But I had to take a self-portrait anyhow
After polishing off our dessert (I ate the pineapple slices after a bite triggered a gastric acid rush in the DH), we lingered over our tea made from toasted rice. :)
We were so satiated after our feast, gotta tell you that! But because I didn't have any meat save for the slivers of ham in the salad (and the fish of course), it was a guilt-free feast for me! Just one more reason to love Japanese food.
When we eat or drink out at our favorite haunts, but especially when we dine at Inaka, we always make sure to leave a nice tip for our servers or bartenders. Enough to make them remember us by name (or Doc, in my case).
My algorithm is this: grateful servers -> extra service -> happy diners -> bigger tips -> happy servers: win-win cycle!
Did you know that the word "tips" originally meant "To Insure Prompt Service"? Makes sense to me.
So, that's it for now, A bientot!
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