Mashiko, wheeeee

Oren and Carl and I went to Mashiko for the omakase (chef's choice dinner) tonight. It ruled. I have finally gotten back at Carl for Kevin's kaiseki birthday dinner in April.

Seriously, though, if you're going to spend $55 and 2.5 hours at a Japanese restaurant, you might as well do something like this. Like last time, I took notes on the courses we got. We specifically said "No oysters or mussels, please", so these were the courses:

1. Rockfish sashimi with tobiko and sunamono in ponzu sauce
2. Tako, um, "suviche"? I don't know what that is, it was basically essentially octopus salsa. I'm not kidding.
3. Hawaiian albacore tuna tataki with green onions and shiso
4. Nigiri Sushi -- Bluefin tuna, Aji, and Geoduck.
5. Mushroom sautee
6. Chiai - some sort of tuna-like steak, grilled in spicy sesame sauce
7. Tempura shiso with fish on top and a three layer thing with tako, ankimo, and cucumber
8. "Dessert roll" with eel, avocado, kabocha, egg, etc.
9. We ordered "dessert", well, I ordered plum wine sherbet and Carl ordered a nigori sake called Hitori Musume because the name amused him.

The octopus salsa was actually tasty, but weird. The albacore tuna tataki was FANTASTIC. And oddly, the Aji nigiri sushi, which is sort of like mackerel, and I hate mackerel, was actually really good - a function of both the fish, the sauce on top, and a shiso leaf between the rice and fish, maybe. The mushroom sautee stuff was just that -- mushrooms stir-fried. It wasn't bad, but sort of a waste of a dish, and I'd rather have had something else that wasn't boring. Chiai was fabulous, like chunks of spicy tuna steak. The dessert roll reminded me of the snowflake roll I got last week, and the plum wine sherbet was just great again.

I'm not sure what I would have rated as my absolute favorite thing. Probly the tuna steak and the albacore tataki.

Anyway, it is the last day of the year. I honestly don't know what I'll end up doing tonight -- sorry to those throwing parties, but my first priority is to spend it with Carl since he's my best friend and all, so I'm going to defer to his expert opinion.

I did write another song, but it isn't to new music. I will go post that now too and further clog your friends page.

The 2005 Mariners, in song

(A sequel to the 2004 song)
(The chorus comes from the Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus, well known for his "MY OH MY!" yells when calling out exciting plays.)


Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2005 Seattle Mariners
To the tune of "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel
New lyrics by Deanna "Marinerd" Rubin


I am just a fangirl, and my story's pretty dull
I have wandered all through Safeco
With a scorecard full of scribbles, such are summaries.
Games won and lost, still the team appears like it did last year,
In disregard to cost, hmmm...

When they started this season's tragedy, things were looking pretty good
With a couple big free agents
And the rookies from Tacoma seemed so talented.
Then, oh no! Dan's leg twisted, Bobby's arm blew out, and Miguel Olivo
Hit about as well as freakin' Spiezio.

My oh my...

Asking only for replacement, we go looking to trade Winn, but we get no offers
Just a prospect and a catcher named JoeJessica
I do declare, of the moves done at the trade deadline,
I think we got screwed there

Now the crowds abandon Safeco, an attendance drop you'll see,
They are smaller than they once were, and larger than they'll be, that's not unusual.
Yo, it's pretty strange, after bringing up King Felix, we are more or less the same
Roster changes, and we're still completely lame.

My oh my...

And we're calling up our minor leagues, Betancourt and Morse, Dobbs and Doyle,
'Cause our players have been plagued with inability... and injury, whoa-oh...

Out on home plate stands a catcher, after twelve years he has played
He's our very last reminder of the Mariners that made it to the playoffs
In the nineties
And they brought Seattle fame
Now we're scheming and we're dreaming
But the cold fact still remains:
We lost tons of games.