jim's birthday conveyor-belt sushi dinner

To celebrate my husband Jim's birthday, a few of our friends gathered for a sushi at Frying Fish at the Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo. I made reservations for 20, so we didn't take up all the available spaces at the sushi counter, but in the end we were 16 diners strong. Diners included: Albert, Neonboy and the Gentrifier, Shannon, me, Jim, Angel, Helena and Garen, Jim, Gabrielle and Poppy, Camille, and Sandra.



We had plenty to celebrate besides Jim's birthday, but I'm still waiting to hear whether I can blog about the other things yet or not. In any case, once we were in full swing, I put my camera on a plate on the otherwise sushi-laden conveyor belt and hit the record button. Here it is:



I'm such a dolt, I didn't videotape us singing "Happy Birthday" drunkenly and loudly for Jim. Oh well. The management of Frying Fish were so nice and accommodating, serving up cake and ice cream for the birthday boy. I definitely recommend Frying Fish for sushi, especially the red dragon roll, and the prices were very reasonable.

Afterwards, Matt and Reena joined us and we all went over to cefiore for some frozen yogurt. Good times. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as Jim and I did, and thanks for coming out!

homemade

It was the day before my birthday and I still didn't know what was in those packages that Jim hid from me. Those were my birthday presents and I was determined to find out what they were - before my birthday.

I had a pretty good idea of where they were hidden. Most likely, he'd hide my presents up high, where he thinks I can't reach. But we have chairs and ladders, I just needed to get him out of the loft so I could search in peace.

"Don't brownies sound good right now? Don't they have brownies at JJ Sandwich Shop, across from Cole's?" I whined to Jim.

He shrugged and continued to stare at his computer screen.

Undaunted, I figured I should describe a brownie. After all, he's the one with the sweet tooth. He'll want a brownie, run down the street to get some for the both of us and while he's out, I would ransack the storage closet and the bedroom closet.

"I hope they have those double fudge brownies, or ones with chocolate chips in them. Or how about those brownies with the chocolate icing. Doesn't that sound good? I wonder if they have any left."

Jim continued to ignore me, so I went back to my computer and tried to figure out another way to get him out of the loft. He printed something out and when I looked up again, he was gone. I looked around, but heard him in the kitchen, moving pots and pans around.

Things looked good. I could see what he was doing in there, estimate how long he'd be in there, and figure out how to get the ladder out of the kitchen and into the bedroom without him noticing.

"What are you doing?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Making brownies."

"From scratch?" I asked, incredulous. I mean, who does that? Brownies from scratch?

Jim handed me a printout. He had downloaded a recipe off the Internet. "Yeah. We've got all the ingredients and you said you wanted brownies."

Damn. Forty minutes later, homemade brownies. And he still hadn't left the loft.

"Those look great! You know what would be perfect with those? Ice cream. You could go and get some from Ray at the Old Bank Deli. Wouldn't this be so much better with Dulce de Leche ice cream?"