Just as predicted, the nice weather didn’t last and this week has been awash in shades of gray and just literally washed with buckets of rain.

I’ve spent several days feeling a bit moody at being trapped indoors with the memory of sunny walks into town that took place such a short time ago. I’ve used the “opportunity” to practice a few extra-long yoga sessions in the dining room, trying not to fall out of pose onto one or more curious cats.

But sometimes you just gotta get out of the house!

We hit up Garlic Thai again this week for a spicy little reminder of approaching spring. I got the fruitiest, springiest cocktail I could find on the menu; one with lychee, ginger, and sake. It was fruit-tastic. The maraschino cherry makes it fancy. 😉

Jeff got a barley shochu that was a bit lighter than he was wanting, but it was still good.

We both shared a plate of the prettiest spring rolls I’ve ever seen.

Love the basil leaves pressed perfectly between the layers of soft and chewy rice paper.

I got a miso soup. This one was pretty salty and inauthentic. Pretty sure it was a powdered mix or something and it had the wrong kind of seaweed in it; tasted like thick lettuce.

I got a glass noodle salad called Yum Woon Sen that had minced chicken and grilled shrimp all in a spicy lime-flavored sauce.

Unholy gates of hell! This was the single spiciest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth! Jeff asked for his curry to be Thai hot, and my dish was listed as mild on the menu. I think they got switched because I was sweating and breathing hard and my lips were huge and painfully red.

Jeff’s panang curry, on the other hand, was sweet and delicious. It had some heat to it but not nearly as much as my little salad did!

Still love Garlic Thai though. I can’t wait until it’s warm out again so we can drink fruity cocktails on their nice patio.

Tonight we got out again for sushi at Sushi Avenue. It’s not the best sushi place ever but it’s only a mile from our apartment so I can’t complain.

I had an Asahi Black beer which I love. It’s so roasty and malty, tastes a bit like toasted buckwheat or roasted barley. We both got seaweed salads to munch on. I was telling Jeff how much I like the sound it makes in your head when you crunch on the seaweed! Yeah, he thought that was weird.

Of course we ordered takoyaki, and it was just as awesome this time as it always is.

For sushi we got 2 inari, a crunchy eel roll, a spicy tuna roll, and a scorpion roll. Sushi Avenue is bad about cutting their pieces too large and packing too much rice around the rolls. It all tastes great though.

And here’s something I made at home earlier this week…

Miso-glazed salmon with stir-fried bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. It was so, so, so good! I love this dish, it takes so little effort to prepare.

Well, the weather is supposed to perk up a bit for this weekend, so maybe we can get out a bit and not feel so cramped up in the house.

I’m excited that I’ll get to attend an Atlanta blogger meet-up at 5 Seasons this Saturday!

What are your weekend plans?

The 6 of us, Jeff and I with our friends John, Emily, Marshall, and Kelly, arrived at Hashiguchi Jr. last night for a sushi explosion.

Jeff and I had a moment of pause when we, arriving at the restaurant first, noticed a sign on the door saying that they were unable to sell alcohol at that moment.

No sake! No shochu! No beer! No matter, we just gulped down like 5 or so cups of this great green tea each. It was nice and grassy and full of swirling matcha particles. Maybe that sounds gross, but that’s exactly how it should be and exactly how I like to drink it. Success!

First we ordered two plates of takoyaki for the table, fried balls of batter with a hidden piece of octopus lurking inside and covered with nori powder, sweet sauce, and bonito flake. Bonito is so weird-looking, it’s paper-thin so the steam from the takoyaki was causing it to curl and flail about like a living thing!

Then we had beef tataki. This had been slightly seared on the outside before slicing, so it had a nice contrast of cooked and raw textures.

Each couple ordered a bowl of noodle soup, ours being a ramen with pork and egg. The broth was very unusual in that it tasted heavily of sesame, it was almost like peanut butter in flavor!

And then the first round of sushi: In the very back is fatty tuna, followed by ikura (salmon eggs,) then 6 pieces of hamachi (yellowtail,) and tamago aka sweet egg omelet.

Samurai roll…

Various maki rolls…

And a plate of freshwater eel nigiri in  a lot of eel sauce…

We started the next round off with a grilled dish…

And then ordered two special appetizers of ankimo, which is monkfish liver.  It tastes kind of nutty reminding me of a really bland peanut butter with a slightly salty oceanic flavor. Sounds weird, but it’s actually pretty good.

Even more sushi!

I was so full by the end of all this, we always seem to order too much at sushi restaurants. I still managed to have dessert at home which was a box of strawberry Pocky.

Ahhh… a nice night of cracking jokes and stuffing our faces full of raw fish. That’s what I call a good time!

Mmmmmm….sushi.

I wondered the other night exactly how many days it would take of eating sushi every night before I got tired of it. I’d guess it’s well over a month, possibly longer. I’ll have to try that experiment sometime.

Saturday night we went out for sushi with a group of friends to a restaurant called Ege. It’s always a good sign to walk into a sushi joint and hear “Irasshaimase!” being called out to you as a welcome.

Check out the cute handwritten specials menu with all the adorable sea creatures on it!

I especially like the little octopus at the bottom with another octopus on his head. I think it is a zombie eating his brains!

We ordered A LOT of food, starting with some edamame…

…teriyaki salmon…

…and beef tataki that I couldn’t snap a picture of before it was devoured!

Then came the sushi. Here’s what was shared between the 6 of us…

At that point I loaded up my first sample plate, knowing there would be lots more coming and we needed to clear these out!

Turns out I wasn’t the only one snapping photos that night. Emily has a pretty new toy she was testing out…

On to even more sushi…

Apparently I didn’t get a picture of the last plate, which was tamago (egg omelet) and anago (sea eel). Here’s my second helping…

That buttery soft anago is one of my all-time favorites! I had more than what you see here too.

So after all that sushi and 4 caraffes of hot sake, we wanted dessert! Off to Cafe Intermezzo for a slice (or 6!) of the best cakes around and some yummy cocktails.

It was dark, but I got the best photos I could. This picture came out crazy with the ghostly figure in the background. That’s John, Emily, Marshall, and Kelly; Jeff is to my left but he got cut off.

We started with a round of drinks. I got a Manhattan Deluxe…

Intermezzo has an enormous menu, but everyone seemed to stick to the classics…white russians, mojitos, old fashioneds.

After drinks were on the table, it was time to go pick out cakes…

I got a huge profiterole type thing. It was filled with Nutella whipped cream and topped with chocolate!

I laughed at Jeff for getting plain cheesecake with so many interesting choices available, but it was so good that I ended up eating more of it than he did!  Wise man, my husband.

Here’s a pic of Johns’ 7 Layer Amaretto, another one of my favorites…

I actually used to work at Cafe Intermezzo back when I was 19, so I get warm fuzzy feelings every time I go in there. Also, I know which cakes are the best, as I’ve tried every single one of them.

Another great night out. Can’t argue with sushi, booze, and cake!