Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot, and Old Lang Syne? That Is the Question.

2-0-1-3 is ready to be dropped on by a huge lit ball.

The gates are ready to pen people in.

December 31, 2012 9 a.m.

Times Square

Where Market and South Street Intersect

The other day we were craving dim sum,

so we drove down to Chinatown and had lunch

with Jon's PorPor.

We parked on Cherry Street.

Score!

After lunch, we walked over to the river

and enjoyed the few rays winter allows.

There were an inordinate amount of men fishing. 

What're they hoping to catch?

Bubble Tea Holiday

Kwanzaa and Christmas and Chanukah

Done.

Kyo-ya's Version of a Doggie Bag

 

As I mentioned,

the best part about Kyo-ya's kaseki is that they aren't assholes

about taking home your leftover rice.

They wrap it up for you.

The menu is big; the rice is filling;

they totally get that.

I love them for it.

And that they don't just shove your leftover rice 

in an ugly plastic container is even better.

It's the prettiest gift.

And it comes with pickles!

Score!

Frittata, Tatta-ta

Eggs, scallions,

mozzarella, red peppers

Mmm-mmm good.

A Very Solazzo Christmas 2012

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Cards and other collectibles on my office door.

Christmas Lights

Rock Center Tree

St. Patrick's Choral Concert

Fifth Avenue Lights

My Old Man's 30th Birthday Dinner

On November 25, 2012,

Jon turned 3-0.

He's officially my old man.

We knew each other back when we were seventeen.

Now that he's thirty, it's just crazy.

Where did the time go?

How did we get so old and fat and gray?

WHY???!

We went to Kyo-ya

for his birthday dinner.

Well, his official on-his-actual-birthday dinner.

We've been celebrating this birthday with dinners

all over the place all year long.

There were eleven courses,

and tons of delicious food.

We were the only ones at the bar for a while,

but once the other Japanese couples at the bar settled in and started taking photos

and the service started slowing down a bit with the influx of the dinner crowd,

I whipped out my camera phone to kill some time

while Jon thought about how old he was getting.

Jon's menu got splattered with fat oils from cooking

his meat on a grilled stone.

Yum!

My old man.

The best part about this meal is the huge bucket of rice

with other stuff.

They serve you as much as you can eat,

then they wrap up the rest in bamboo leaves for a meal another time.

The beauty of kaiseki and other Asian banquet meals,

besides it just being beautiful and tasty,

is that if you didn't fill up on all the more expensive ingredients

you get a huge thing of rice (and noodles in Chinese banquets) to help you feel full.

Oh those pickles were a miracle.

I want to eat so many of them until I feel sick.

It was such a great meal!

We think the sorbet was definitely kyoho,

but the grapes on top look like finger grapes.

It was so good.

Definitely something to think about making at home.