Fooding and shopping with the dad!

My dad is here on his quarterly business trip, which means free food for me! We first went to a so-so Japanese place. I've now become the ordering person and tried very hard to persuade my dad that he wanted to get the beef tataki instead of a more boring bento combo of tonkatsu and yaki niku. Alas, no. I think we would have been better off with the beef tataki. We also had a very strange roll with something like General Tso's chicken on top. Again, quite odd. But I also got hirame usuzukuri, which I adore! It's very thin slices of hirame with a tangy ponzu sauce poured on top. It wasn't the best I've had, but I never get to have it much anyway. And agedashi tofu.

After that, I desperately wished that I were in LA so I could go to Furaibo and have real izakaya food, as opposed to a somewhat pale imitation of it. I need to find out if there are any izakayas around here, because for some reason, it feels more "real" than sushi places do. I also need to find a good Japanese curry place as well. It's just funny, because when I did homestay in Japan, we ate more of that type of thing than sushi, largely because we were trying to save money.

Then I complained to my dad for a good four hours about work! Poor dad.

( Weekly market run )

After that, my dad and his friend for some reason decided to have brunch at the new Four Seasons hotel around here, and I gladly tagged along (read: leapt at the opportunity). It was very tasty. ( More food babbling )

Then I went shopping and ended up getting two cute new coats (one is red crushed ... something that looks like fake fuzzy velvet) and a very girly short-sleeved fitted coat with a sort of deep, round collar, and a pair of pants. I can't decide if the pants are pajama pants, exercise pants, or just very trendy, because they are made of super casual material but flare out like a giant skirt. But it was on sale, so I figured for $9, it could work as any of the above, and I wouldn't feel bad. Everything was super on sale!

I have also discovered my deeply coveted item of the season: vampy red peep-toed stilettos like this (Nine West has a red suede-ish one that would go with my new jacket too!). They would be the most painful things ever to wear, but they are so cute! And I could actually wear them a lot, since most of my outfits are black and white, and a touch of red would be nifty and fun. Oh well! I shall wait till the new season comes in and see if any are left on the sales racks.

For dinner, I had carpaccio, some warm goat cheese salad, a bit of poached fish, and pesto pizza. And then pistachio and tiramisu gelato for dessert! Not all by myself, of course: I stole a ton of stuff off my dad's plate and his friend's.

So I am well-fed and happily imagining myself in black and white and red. For some reason, that is my new color scheme, though for a while I veered away from it to go more toward baby pink and grey (I am sure this is because of the subliminal brainwaves that the fashion industry has been injecting into my subconscious, but I will pretend it is because I am actually stylish). I still avoid the browns in general, for no real reason that I can fathom. Well, except for pretty brown fifties-style halter dresses with white polka dots. But then again, I will go for any fifties-style halter dress with polka dots. Fun!