Recently in Friends Category

Rich and Sara were in town this weekend, so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity and went to a local favorite for dinner: Sushi Sam's. Sam's is the sort of sushi place I love - fantastic quality without being pretentious. In addition, Sam gets all sorts of things from Japan that you can't find anywhere else - Saturday night's treat was a special unagi (barbecue eel) flown in that day. Phenomenal.

Three of us decided some sake (the drink, not the salmon) would go well with the meal, so I ordered a bottle. Mel, of course, abstained. (I should point out that Mel was only eating cooked fish as well - stop looking at me like that!) The waiter seemed only slightly surprised that I was ordering a bottle, and came back holding four traditional square wooden cups and our sake - all 1.8 liters of it. Eep. Well, the menu says it's only $16.50, so it must be some serious rotgut , but what the heck - it's a party, right!

Actually, it turned out to be the second-best sake I've ever had. Incredibly smooth, with a very light herbal/floral bouquet and just a hint of fruit. Fantastic. Also, fairly strong. At the end of the meal, there was still a fair amount of the bottle left, and the waiter asked my name so they could save it in the back for the next time we came in. (Warning bells should've been going off at this point, but like I said, strong sake.) Then we got the bill.

Seems that $16.50 was per glass. Thankfully, the bottle price was slightly discounted from the per glass price, since the bottle probably held twenty to twenty-five glasses. Still, the cost of my lovely bottle of sake was just slightly over the cost of a meal of fine sushi. For four. Oops.

So, anyone want to grab some sushi this weekend? I'll bring the wine...

I know exactly three now-doctors from my college days, and this chart nails two of them. A third is a close fit, though I don't know if Shawn (a pediatrician) actually hates adults so much as he really loves kids.

So Rich and Sara Just moved into a new place, and I'm feeling a bit jealous of them at the moment. For whatever reason, I really enjoy the act of moving. Maybe it's because we did it so frequently when I was a kid. Or maybe it's because we've been looking for someplace new for the last six months, with very little success.

In any event, congratulations guys! It's way overdue. Here's hoping you can find the floor of the old place before the landlord stops by.