Douglas Adams speaking at UCSB

Sad that this is a posthumous post.  The man was a genius with a unique perspective, but that goes without saying.

Here is the youtube, it’s over an hour long just to warn you.

If you aren’t the predator,

then you become the prey.
Some poachers found this out when they entered a game preserve and were met by pissed off hippos and lions. Oh My.

TOMO SUSHI is a jewel encrusted in strip mall banality

Tomo Sushi, located on Parmer Lane in Austin Texas is a jewel of a sushi restaurant stuck in a strip mall.  With only a handful of tables and an expansive sushi bar, this is the place to find fresh, well-prepared, delectable sushi.

Steve (pictured below with a tray of fresh otorro) orders his fish fresh from Japan and has an array of specialties daily that are worth the drive if you are a southie.

The decor is spartan and pleasant with white walls, select minimalist art, black booths and chairs and an open sushi kitchen as it’s centerpiece.

Steve, the head chef was friendly and inviting, sending out one selection at a time, pacing our meal perfectly.

We began with the live scallop, tomoviche style with sea salt, yuzu juice and dots of chili sauce.

Next we had Ankimo, one of my favorites, which will be sorely missed.  Ankimo is monkfish liver.

By way of discussion with our neighboring sushi lunchmate I found out that monkfish is not sustainable, is over-fished, caught by gillnets and is going to be placed (if it hasn’t already) on the Endangered Species list within days.  Our neighbor, whose name I have forgotton (but will add as an addendum to this posting when I find his business card) is creating a documentary about the global sushi trade and is very invested in his project.  We had one of the most interesting meal time discourses with him that I’ve had in recent memory.  He had an application called Seafood Watch on his iPhone which I am going to recommend to you.  It allows you to see what fish are clean to eat, which are to be avoided due to overfishing, pollution, etc. and provides sustainable alternatives when available.  It’s also sponsored by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.

Personally, I would prefer to have a sustainable sushi eating practice, that is to say, sustainable eating practice for myself overall but sometimes that is not possible without guidance.  Please look at and upload this application if you are a seafood and/or sushi fan. I researched some of our discussion topics that day and found that the information that this gentleman provided was founded in fact.  I was somewhat disappointed to find that seafood watch wasn’t available for the Palm Pre (on that day at least) but my S.O. has an iPhone so we will use his.  Already known to me were the dangers of farmed salmon and mercury-laden shellfish and swordfish.  What I didn’t know was the extent of the list of fading species in our oceans or that the majority of edible fish species will be eradicated in approximately 3 decades if we don’t do something about it.

So, this will likely be my last cavalier sushi adventure.  For this reason, I am documenting the rest of my meal.  I must offer that Tomo is the best sushi restaurant in Austin for freshness and presentation without pretension.  Please visit and partake of their amazing fare…. while practicing sustainable sushi-eating.

Please excuse the marginal photography as I am very much the amateur and I’m learning how to use a macro.

Here are the rest of the courses:

Masago with quail egg.  Sweet, crunchy and rich with a wonderful nutty finish from the Nori.

Aji is a Spanish Mackerel. It’s an oily fish, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Presented with sea salt, chopped scallion and a strong herb (I can’t remember the name but I will add it later) leaf under the fish, it is not eaten with soy sauce.  The flavor is quite lovely.

Sake Toro, or fatty salmon, served seared with fresh wasabi root was a rare treat.  Pillowy and rich, the searing evolved the flavor and texture past what I have experienced before.

A type of snapper served with scallion, dipped in soy sauce.  A sweet, light fish with a pleasant after taste.

Fresh, live eel.  It does not have a fishy taste.  It’s served lightly broiled and is lacking the typical sweet, thick brown sauce that most unagi is served with.  This is

the only type of eel I will eat and the only place that I will eat it is Tomo.

FreshBluefin Tuna. lightly seared and served with fresh wasabi root, compliments of the chef, since I made the comment that I do not typically care for tuna. Although he didn’t really prove me wrong, he did give me a new frame through which to view tuna and added a new nicer, fresher, more meaty texture and a more metallic but fresh flavor.  I had told Steve I was used to a mealy texture in tuna and an undertaste of chemicals.  Neither of them were evident in this tuna.

All in All Tomo Dashi Sushi is well worth the expense and the drive.  My opinion is to sit at the sushi bar, talk with Steve or his other chefs and learn what it is, why it is prepared as it is and have an overall healthy, educational and delicious meal.

TOMO Daschi Sushi

4101 West Parmer Lane
Austin, TX 78727-4167
(512) 821-9472

Spiced Butter and a new foodie blog

I just found the website for A Life of Spice and I was bowled over by it!  The author even has an article in Saveur.  Check it out!  Below is her recipe for Spiced Butter which I intend to try this weekend.

Spiced Butter

Makes 1 1/2 cups

This butter will solidify when chilled, but it will become liquid again when left at room temperature. Adapted from “The Soul of a New Cuisine” by Chef Marcus Samuelsson (Wiley & Sons, 2006)

1 pound unsalted butter

1/2 medium red onion, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

One 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

8 basil leaves

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. As foam rises to the top, skim and discard it. Continue cooking, without letting the butter brown, until no more foam appears.

2. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cumin, cardamom, oregano, turmeric, and basil and continue cooking for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from the heat and let stand until the spices settle. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve before using.

Interesting website find for mourning artwork.

So I am a fan of macabre art.  The S.O. once objected so vehemently to a set of  ‘seven deadly sin’ wall sculptures that I thought we wouldn’t be on speaking terms for at least a week.  When I saw the site entitled The Art of Mourning, I just had to pass it along.  It satisfies my inner-gothic tendencies. Please note that this is not an online shopping mall.

Here is a sample picture of jewelery:

Two new recipes: Bacon cheddar beer bread and guilt-free chocolate cupcakes

Straight from JulesFood blog is the Bacon Cheddar Beer Bread.  It was simply too good not to post here.  I use my own blog as a recipe book at times which is why I repost recipe posts that may be reposts from other sites.

3 cups whole wheat flour (or WW pastry flour or spelt flour*)

1 cup extras ( optional)

2T raw sugar

1T baking powder

1t salt

1 (12oz) bottle beer (Yuengling, or any other)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl, making sure to lightly spoon the flour into measuring cups to avoid using too much. Whisk together all the dry ingredients.
2. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 bread pan with butter or cooking spray. Pour beer into the dry mixture and stir to with a wooden spoon. Use your hands to mix once it becomes difficult just until all ingredients are combined. Transfer dough to your bread pan and press down gently so it spreads out evenly. Bake for 1 hour. Let sit for 5 minutes in the pan.
3. You can freeze the loaf for several weeks.

MY NOTES (Jules Notes)…i added 1/3 cup oatmeal and used 2 3/4 cups WW flour instead of 3.

i added a rounded 1/2 cup crumbled bacon and a large 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese,

sprinkle with black salt and raw sugar before baking.

and also from Jules Food come the Guilt-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12)

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup splenda blend for baking

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup Hershey’s 100% Cocoa Special Dark

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

dash salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips (i used semi-sweet chips)

1 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp powdered sugar to dust cupcake tops

Preheat over to 350 F

Mix apple sauce, splenda, vanilla, beat in egg. In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon. Add flour mixture to wet mixture a little at a time, stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into 12 silicon muffin cups (or lightly greased cupcake tins)

Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are firm to touch. Dust with cocoa/powdered sugar mixture.
MY NOTES (Jules Notes)……..i used 6 baking cups (should have used silicone) and 2 mini loaf tins.

things i added…

approx 2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped roasted, salted virginia peanuts

AND 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (maybe a touch more)

My picks for favorite Oscar dress

Sorry this is a little belated, I’ve been experiencing difficulties concentrating on the written word. Yes, I get that I’ve largely chosen similarly shaped dresses but it’s what I had to work with, not to mention so many of them were simply bad.  I was pleased to see some prints and some navy blue.

And now for Petite Heretic’s nominees for best Oscar dress:

And Vladimir Putin agrees:

Fair thee well, Facebook.

In my quest to be more honorable, more put-together, more educated and more positive, I deleted my Facebook profile.  I felt that it would be a smart move for the anti-procrastination movement of 2010 that I’m also undertaking.  So far I’ve not missed it.  Before deleting, I asked several friends to send me their email addresses so I could add them to my gmail contacts but I regret having missed a few people.

The interesting part of this is the reactions I’ve received.  People have attempted to delve into my personal life assuming something is wrong, others have assumed I was specifically being stalked or that my profile had been hijacked.  None of the above.  It feels nice to be unchained from the soul-sucking piece of pop culture that is social networking.  No more superficial posts hoping that others are entertained by them.  Now if people choose to speak to me, they will receive an honest conversation and vice versa.

The first show of our shadowcast

Last week we completed our first shadowcast of Repo! The Genetic Opera which went off smashingly well.   The low points involved one of our cast members missing due to a DUI, the theater not letting us load in until 15 minutes prior to seating and the wings/staging area being an absolute and utter catastrophe.  People saw parts of me that I didn’t necessarily want them to see.  It was interesting.

Nonetheless, it went off well, we were over-sold and received a partial standing ovation.  Hopefully we will streamline the wings issues because we were literally walking on top of each other, losing costume pieces to the dark, losing props, things went skittering across the aisle, it was kind of a mess.  We need hanger stands, a shelf, cubbies, something.  Oh, yeah, and we need MORE SPACE.  We were changing in approximately 5 square feet and there were at any given time six to 15 of us in there.  Literally people were sitting on laps to change.

Rumor has it that we have another show mid-month to combat (er, I mean celebrate… er, I mean combat…. er, I mean to make money off of…..Le Sigh) the release of Repo Men which is based on a book based loosely on the play that the creators of Repo! The Genetic Opera wrote.  It’s out and out plagiarism if you ask me but lawsuits have come and gone to no avail.

Unlike the rest of the cast, I don’t feel some strange pull to ridicule or loath the other production (Repo Men).  Of course, I’m not much for allegiances to things of this type.  I don’t feel strong ties to any alma mater, to any particular city, etc so it may stand to reason that I feel Repo! The Genetic Opera and Repomen should have their own turns to shine.  But then, I didn’t write it, it’s not my baby.  I’m just content to be part of a shadowcast ….. for now.

I’m already trying to plan the shadowcast….

There is a new Rock Musical with Vampires!  The cast is a veritable pantheon of Rock Icons so it has to be interesting, nay at least it has to be campy.

Give the trailer here a look-see.

Personally, I think this would be fun (uber-difficult, but…nothing worth doing and all of that) to shadowcast.