ne(one)piphany

Oh! Spam musubi, how could I have forgotten you? No list of favorite dishes can go without.

Twenty-Five for $25 is over. We’ve now been to over twenty of the listed restaurants (though not all in this month!), so at this rate by the time December rolls around they’ll all have been hit. This March’s biggest hit has to have been Sazerac, whose complimentary corn pan bread was absolutely to die for — so soft, basically corn meal suspended in sweet butter — along with a wonderful entrée in cider glazed pork ribs (plentiful and oh-so-tender) accompanied by tangy green chile posole (if you know me, you know that’s all I had to hear!). Their gumbo was tasty, too, if unconventional; they used duck and other unexpected ingredients in the recipe. As far as gumbo goes, though, BJ’s will always be my first love.

Those who ordered chicken were less enthused, but. I mean, cider glazed pork ribs! They should’ve known better.

Other restaurants this month: Szmania’s (ordered off the regular menu, as I was in the mood for jägerschnitzel; very happy to have done so, though portion size was gargantuan), Nishino (pretty good, but think I’m becoming jaded by pretentious, haute cuisine sushi — give me fresh and simple any day), and Yarrow Bay Grill (everything sampled — calamari, crab cakes, asparagus soup, lamb stew, divers scallops — was quite tasty).

Have discovered Musashi’s in Wallingford, a busy hole-in-the-wall “Japanese diner” (to quote a friend), under weathered purple awning on 45th. Sushi selection is good, if limited; no frills, large cuts of fish, decently fresh. It’s no Shiki, but is decent, filling and cheap: a well-stocked nigiri plate goes for under ten dollars, while plump single pieces go for a buck and a half. Their bento box is even better, also under ten, but my favorite really has to be their onigiri (grilled salmon inside a rice-and-furikake-ball wrapped with nori) — big, tasty, and which give spam musubi competition in the race for best rice-based handheld snack (you get two for $2.75).

If you’re an Austenite (but don’t subscribe to the essential AustenBlog), you might want to know that BBC7 is broadcasting radio dramatizations of Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion over this and the next two weeks. Once they’ve aired, they’ll be available for on-demand streaming for seven days afterward.

I know it’s gross RealPlayer and all, but well, you might not let that stop you if you’re anything at all like me.

Incidentally, I finally watched the new Pride & Prejudice — yum, yum, yummy, yum. But honestly, what’s with the super-cheesy tacked-on ending? Still, one should not let such things get in the way of the yumminess.

(most of that last blurb applies word for word to V for Vendetta too)

Lish texted me the following priority-one fashion intelligence report, live on the scene from Hot Topic:

That is all.

Kyle tagged me on this meme ages ago, but I never noticed because he sneakily named me after the fact. Which should teach me about leaving snarky comments. Or something.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Graphic designer
2. Computer helpdesk
3. Library assistant
4. Cram school tutor

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Next Stop Wonderland
2. Shall We Dance?
3. Whisper of the Heart
4. Koyaanisqatsi

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts
2. Aurora, Illinois
3. Lisle, Illinois
4. Seattle, Washington

Four TV shows I love:

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Sports Night
3. His & Her Circumstances
4. Arrested Development

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Cairo, Egypt
2. Maui, Hawai’i
3. Edinburgh, Scotland
4. Seoul, South Korea

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Tojo’s smoked sablefish soup
2. Ikuradon, mmm!
3. Sticky toffee pudding
4. Spaghetti alla carbonara

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Bloglines
…and If it isn’t something I can read in Bloglines, I always forget to keep up.

Four places I would rather be right now:

1-4. With you, you, you and you.

Four bloggers I am tagging:

Everyone and her mother has already done this meme, so if you haven’t and are reading this… tag!

During the Olympics, Comcast added Universal HD to our channel lineup, giving us the ability to watch curling in glorious high-resolution (is it just me, or is curling so the best winter sport ever?). Only slightly lower on the radar was the fact that someone’s been ponying up the cash to re-master Knight Rider episodes from original film elements so that everyone can get their Hasslehoff fix in HD with surround sound (same goes for Quantum Leap, though Scott Bakula hardly has the same mysterious allure).

Did you hear that, Lia? Hi-def Hoff!

• obligatory link*

Speaking of curling, season two of Men With Brooms director Paul Gross’ Slings and Arrows has started airing on Sundance. Like most things from Canada (e.g. dill pickle chips, BioWare, & poutine), it is goodness.

Bleah, the weather’s turned bleak again. I want to go take photos!

I still have these things on the back burner, you see — our night of oysters and ahi* and gravlax, recent restaurant expeditions for Twenty-Five for $25, a story or two… but I’ve been finding myself immersed in Kameo, of all things**. That and fixing up house, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Whisper of the Heart, and Neko Case’s latest lovely, and… well, you get the idea.

Apparently, I am a

according to this. In case you’ve never noticed, I’m totally, irrationally in love with online personality tests. After all, if the internet didn’t tell me who I am, how would I know? And where would I be without all these labels?

You can take the quiz for yourself, or psych me (I have no idea what that means, but apparently you’ll need this receipt: e859946eaaed). Or, you can avoid the madness altogether. I won’t blame you!

Also, if you’re still here, thanks for sticking around. I mean it.