Food is great. Everyone loves food. Some might call it an essential to survival. But not all foods are created equal. Some are lame and bland and tasteless. Some are Brussels sprouts. Some are chocolate eclairs.
And then there's Japanese food.
"So what?" you might say. "Who gives a god-damn doodly bugger bollocks?"
Well, okay. You may take Japanese food for granted. But it's still a relative rarity in certain parts of the UK that aren't London. And even then, YO! Sushi isn't really Japanese food. Or perhaps I should say "authentic" Japanese food.
Tonight I went to a place in Southampton that I'd always wanted to go to but never had done for some reason. That place is Zen, a Japanese restaurant at the far end of the High Street. I was gently encouraged into this course of action by my very lovely dining companion for the evening, who was a big fan and certainly didn't need much convincing when I suggested we give it a shot.
Inside, the décor is a curious blend of Japanese and Western cultural influences. There is Japanese artwork on the walls, but the heavy chairs would look more at home in a banqueting hall than an Eastern-style restaurant. Also, there is a glitter ball, the presence of which was never fully explained.
The place is bathed in a soft red light from the lights on the bar and the candles at the sides, and the ambient light is dim, but not annoyingly so. It's a very pleasant atmosphere in which to dine, marred only slightly by the distinctly Western pop music playlist.
Then came the food. It came very quickly, for starters, which is a good thing. Also, it was delicious.
You want more details than that eh? All right. I had a "Teriyaki Salmon Set", which included several generous chunks of beautifully-cooked melt-in-the-mouth salmon in gorgeous, sweet teriyaki sauce. Then there was a simple salad with tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce with a mild yet tasty dressing. There were some pickled vegetables (cucumber and carrot strips) that had been pickled in a very sweet vinegar. There was a mound of sticky rice. And there was a bowl of very tasty miso soup, too, containing tofu which dissolved into nothingness pretty much the second it hit your tongue.
There was not one thing on that plate that wasn't delicious. Even the simple "side salad" tasted great thanks to the dressing. But the highlight of the show was the salmon. It was magnificent.
Dinner was followed with a look at the sake list. We opted for "Kushi" (I think), which is a plum wine which tastes dangerously non-alcoholic and is served cold. It was fruity and delicious, and had a bit of a bite to it, but not in that sometimes-unpleasant overly-alcoholic way. The bite in this was from the tartness of the plums, and it was a pretty delicious way to cleanse the palate after the yumminess of the main course.
I later told my experiences to a friend, who claimed that an actual Japanese friend of his didn't rate it much. This was a surprise. So maybe it's not that "authentic" after all. But it was certainly delicious, and I'd definitely recommend it. So who are you going to listen to? A Japanese person or the guy whose blog you're reading right now?
Actually, don't answer that.
I love gadgets. Anyone who knows me in "real life" will not be surprised by this revelation. But I'm always impressed by quite how much we can do with various little portable implements these days. And even not quite so recently, too.
Of all the items of technology the human race has ever invented, the humble phone is surely one which has the greatest hold over our lives. It can make us drop what we're doing and run off somewhere. It can make us laugh, make us cry, make us scared. And it can make us wait. Wait for hours.
I took my first steps into the night. Coming from the brightness I'd left behind me, the inky blackness looked impenetrable, a solid wall of darkness into which I'd vanish, never to be heard from ever again, were I to take one step further forward.
It's funny. I've never particularly thought of myself as an outdoorsman, despite growing up in the country and despite semi-regular trips from primary school and Cub Scouts (yeah, deal with it) to various campsites. This is largely to do with being a nerd, of course, because everyone knows that nerds, like vampires, tend to shun sunlight in favour of the glow of a TV or computer screen. Or sometimes candle-light and books. But books don't glow. Unless they're on an iPad.
Yeah. I know. Don't look at the timestamp. But technically I haven't broken the rules as I haven't gone to sleep yet. Therefore it's still yesterday.
Take a minute, now, to take stock of yourself. Specifically, take stock of the skills you have. And don't say that you don't have any. Everybody has skills of some description, whether it's the ability to make the perfect Angel Delight without the use of a measuring jug, the ability to excite women simply by looking at them, an understanding of the various wires, pipes and bendy things that make up a car engine or being able to do something awesome like play the piano.
From left to right, said icons indicate that I am less aggressive than average, less ambitious, less compassionate (not sure I'd agree with that one), more attentive, more pessimistic, less spiritual, more loving and more scientific. The magic robots have spoken. That is me. Until I answer some more questions and prove them wrong, of course. Apparently I need to grind my spirituality and compassion stats a bit.
I hate reality TV. Loathe it with a passion. I actually want to throw things at the TV if The X-Factor dares to show its face. And Big Brother just makes me want to… also throw things at the TV.
It's weird, the things you remember over time. Perhaps it's just me. But I've found over time that I have a fantastic memory for completely pointless crap and yet I can quite easily forget the things I need to buy from the shop in the space between stepping out of the house and reaching said shop.