I make you fish ball soup! Fish Ball!

Hm, I wrote about my bad eating experience from the weekend, so it’s only fair that I write about the good one to balance things out. Saturday evening we went to Spices in Cleveland Park. I’d been there once before, as part of a first date, I believe, with the eerily skinny vegetarian boy. I sometimes think that one of the best things about dates, whether bad or good, is that they help you discover new places that you’ve probably just walked past a million times before without noticing. That was definitely the case with Spices and it was yummy. I generally play Asian places, especially with Thai dishes, pretty safe my first time around and I think I just had pad thai, but it was still delicious.

This time around, I decided to be a little adventurous and order… wait for it — sushi. Among my close friends, there’s a bit of a joke that I love sushi (say this with extreme sarcasm so that the exact opposite meaning is conveyed). This has never been true, though the concept of it turned me off way back when I first heard of it, I’ve actually never had a sushi education so I don’t know what to order, don’t know what it will look or taste like, etc. I took an ex to Thai Chef for his birthday and got him a huge sushi platter and I did not partake because even he couldn’t tell me what was what. Another former LJ-acquaintance, before deciding that we weren’t friends anymore, told me that for my birthday he was going to take me out for a sushi dinner – even after I advised him that I really wasn’t all that interested in sushi. My first real introduction to what I’d call “harmless sushi” was vegetarian sushi while on vacation in Bethany, we did cucumber, red pepper, avocado and tempura sweet potato. It was delicious (and unexpectedly filling), but I didn’t feel like I was a convert yet.

So when we ate at Spices I ordered their Alaskan King Crab roll – once again, sticking with things I felt were in my comfort level. They looked different than sushi I’d seen before, oh no! Very much like the California Maki roll shown here with the rice rolled to the outside rather than inside and I believe then rolled in tiny fish eggs. It looked gorgeous, I mixed in a bit of ginger and wasabi into my soy sauce and it was really tasty, I didn’t even drop anything with the chopsticks. I ordered a Malaysian chicken dish for my entree and about 3/4 of the way through it realized that I was getting really full. I also realized that when Spices says they’re making something “mild” — don’t believe it for a second. I was sweating, coughing at a few moments, slurping at the Saketini we both ordered and drawing more than a few grins from my dining companion as I assured him that I was “just fine!”

All in all, it was a lot of fun, my only beef with the restaurant was that the server was extremely attentive. We had barely had time to look at the menu when he was back asking for our orders, and this would be repeated a few times as we first put the drinks, then appetizer, then the sushi and then finally our entrees in. I can’t blame them for being attentive, but it felt a little too eager to me. But I’d go back.

Super Happy Fun Random Link Smile Time Hour!

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Dinner | NYT – Nora Ephron discusses her usual dining out experience and compares it to times gone by.

A Deep South Sushi Fusion | What We’re Eating – Tonight we’re eating sushi with a southern flare. Our sushi was made with blanched collard greens (instead of seaweed paper), sushi rice, slowly-smothered chicken thighs, and oven-roasted okra. The sushi was served on a bed of spicy onion gravy. I don’t know how it tasted, but it looks delicious!

Cereal-on-the-Go includes a cereal bowl with a spoon tucked into its lid. Spillproof milk jug keeps its cool thanks to a freezer pack sandwiched in-between. — I definitely want one of these for the office!

48-Hour Sale at Amazon Kitchen & Housewares – time to use those gift certificates!