urocanic acid

Good golly gee whiz, there are some country music listeners in the city! This other person was blaring Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" from their car.

Iron Man got a good review?! Surprising, since the lead actor also chose to star in a comedy with Ben Stiller this summer.

Dinner with Drab at D____ Sushi. Well, first of all, I was doing situps when Drab called. He was trying to tell me to pick up my reference letter today instead of tomorrow, but the way he sounded was strange. Either he wanted to have dinner, or he was unsure if I wanted to have dinner with him, and was just white boy dancing around the subject- awkwardly. So instead of telling him I would have just picked it up at his place, I just wait and let it play out to see what he's going to say. He gradually asks if I want to eat at a burger joint.

THEN when I get there, he wants to have sushi because he wants to eat light. But what's the first thing he orders off the menu? Well, besides the alcohol. A fried appetizer! So much for trying to eat light. Oh, and the restaurant itself. Well, we WERE supposed to go to another sushi place, but the place was busy. So we ended up retracing our steps along the street to the sushi diner at the corner. The interior? Dark, with black tables and bright purple lights. First hint that this place wasn't going to be so great: Cantonese speakers behind the kitchen counter. Second indicator: only one waitress working the place who doesn't know how to manage her time between tables. Third indicator- Drab picked the place.

The song we couldn't figure out at the place: "What's up?" by 4 Non Blondes. HEY-ee-AY-ee-AY-ee-AY. Hey hey hey hey.

The complimentary fried lotus root- thinly sliced, but too greasy. Tasted like (sweet) potatoes. The salad that came with my meal was decent, but how can you mess up greens and bottled salad dressing?

Drab's fried tofu- even though I like piping hot food, the fried bits wouldn't absorb any of the sauce that accompanied this dish, and the tofu lacked any discernible flavor.

I decided not to get fish, because I had already eaten 2 pounds of salmon earlier in the week.

The chicken katsu I ordered- chicken was fine, fried to almost perfection. The sauce, on the other hand, was borderline sour/bitter, something I wouldn't expect of the dipping sauce for chicken katsu. Bitter in my coffee, bitter in my personality, fine. But NEVER fine in my chicken katsu sauce.

Sukiyaki- the song by Kyu Sakamoto, which was originally titled "ue o multe aruko," is nice. What was it- the protagonist walking and looking up at the same time so that his tears don't cry? I might have to do the same so that Drab doesn't see my crying over this dish. The beef and vegetables were alright, but the soup tasted like a watery version of the chicken katsu sauce, and yet still just as sour/bitter!

Drab- scratching his head. Good thing he wasn't doing that while food was in front of him. I'd worry that he might not enjoy garlic salt on his sushi.

To top it all off, when Drab and I were walking outside afterwards, the song "Just the Two of Us"- the original version by Grover Washington/Bill Withers, not the Big Willy style one- was stuck in my head as we walked. "Just the two of us, building castles in the sky"... UGH!!!

In short, Drab hasn't lost his touch. I guess the previous week was a fluke. And the cap he puts on food expenses each month- I almost fainted!