birthday party

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Originally uploaded by louieallison.

miguel and i threw a birthday/housewarming party for ourselves. yeah we moved in 6 months ago, but we like to take our time with things. i stuff for people to eat: pissaladiere (carmelized onion, olive and anchovy tart), baba ghanouj, hummus, french chicken liver pate with accoutrements for serving. we also had some cheese and sangria!

durante la fiesta

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Originally uploaded by louieallison.

karla is enjoying some sangria and a celery.

the aftermath

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Originally uploaded by louieallison.

what was left of the sangria. i used 10 bottles of wine (there was a lot more fruit). it was all gone!

my birthday dinner

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Originally uploaded by louieallison.

miguel took me here for my birthday dinner. it was absolutely the best sushi i’ve ever had in my life. i can say that because although i love sushi, i’m poor (or rather i can’t afford to spend a hundred dollars on a sushi dinner) so we can’t afford to go out to fancy sushi bars like nozawa or urasawa, etc. other places we have enjoyed sushi are haru ulala (not strictly sushi of course) and sushi komasa. we’ve even been known to go to noshi sushi for really cheap stuff; it’s kind of hit or miss. so anyways, this was a real treat for me because we got to sit at the bar and do OMAKASE. i tried many things i’ve never had before. here’s what i remember (i didn’t take pictures because i wanted to just relax and enjoy the experience but now i wish i had):
grouper sashimi: this was in a bowl with ponzu sauce, green onions and some sort of grated red stuff
the rest of the sushi was nigiri style
toro: this was the best thing i’ve ever tasted! it was so buttery
maguro: bright red where the toro was more of a pink color, it’s kind of moot after that toro
kanpachi
yellowtail
snapper
amaebi
fried shrimp heads: they were very tasty, but how can you go wrong with fried?
albacore:
mackerel: the albacore and mackerel were served with some kind of sauce and shredded things on top
uni: sea urchin, this was the first time i’ve had this and it was unbelievable. my second favorite after the toro. very creamy, almost tasted like liver, it melts in your mouth. if only it didn’t look like yellow tongues.
salmon: this had some sort of clear seaweed thing on top with sesame seeds. tasted sweet
unagi: grilled eel, miguel’s favorite

we stopped there so as not to over stuff ourselves. i have to say i think what made this nigiri really special was the rice, it was very flavorful and chewy as compared to other restaurants. woo hoo! i can’t wait to go back

we got take out because i was lazy

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Originally uploaded by louieallison.

Mae Ploy is very close to my house and they deliver! That alone would make me consider ordering from them. However, it’s the fact that their food is delicious that makes me want to order from them frequently. Also, I’m lazy and don’t want to do dishes. Here’s their description of the salad:
* 36. Papaya Salad Sliced papaya spiced with chili, nape juice, sugar. your choice of salted crabs or dried shrimps & prawns.
5.95

Actually there was a choice of dried shrimps or no dried shrimps and I went with the dried shrimps. Man did I enjoy this refreshing combination of papaya, fish sauce, shrimp and peanuts. I couldn’t get Miguel to even try it though, so that means more for me! We ordered other things with this meal but they were boring so you just get this blurry picture of the salad.