Caviar & Bananas

After I moved out of Liberty dorms, my weekly trips to Caviar & Bananas ceased. This assignment gave me the perfect excuse to return for some coffee and “southern style” sushi.

The space itself feels like more like a storage room than a restaurant, but that might just be the IKEA shelving. The grey, white, and silver color scheme makes me feel like the Apple store has begun to serve food.

It’s relatively busy, but not packed. I can at least hear myself think. My latte is decent in that it contains caffeine, but I’m a picky coffee drinker. My sushi, though, is amazing as always. The “Southern Roll” is strange at first – shrimp, pecans, and a sweet red pepper sauce – but incredibly delicious once it touches the palate.

I am sitting by the shelves of groceries, mostly organic small-brand foods and sauces. The wine rack is a sight to see, but unfortunately I have a few more months before I can legally gaze at it. There’s a sign about wine and cheese tastings held weekly, but I try not to look for fear of shedding tears in public.

Before I leave, I’m going to pick up some succotash to take home. It’s been too long since I’ve had any relatively healthy food in my apartment, and I have a deep love for lima beans. Hopefully I’ll return sooner rather than later, since I need more food of this quality in my life.
But wait – they deliver. Caviar & Bananas just doesn’t stop getting better.

Restaurant experience: Graze in Mount Pleasant

Graze, located in Mount Pleasant, is a diamond in the rough. I certainly didn’t expect fine dining next door to a Staples in a strip mall. Once through the door, however, I was miles away from the business of highway 17.

A peppy young waiter escorted my mother and I to our table, covered in a dark tablecloth and topped with a candle. The ambiance of the restaurant is artsy and modern – what my mother called “yuppie”. Dark greens and neutrals abound, faux bamboo dividers separate the dining area from the bustling bar, and strange paintings of giant fruit hang on the walls. Contemporary track lights and studio lamps give the room just enough light to enjoy the surroundings. Classic jazz and mellow electronic music is the soundtrack for the evening – a great blend of old and new.

The crowd in the restaurant is certainly happy to be there. Besides the nicely sized bar crowd, a group of female co-workers have moved three tables together for a girls’ night – and the woman at the end is at full volume, laughing up a storm and yelling stories across the table. I would be terribly peeved if I hadn’t done the same thing countless times. Clearly, this place has some fans.

As we pored through the menu and wine list, I knew I was already in love. When our waitress offered samples of any wine we were curious about, I could have cried tears of joy. We split a bottle of Chardonnay – perfection – and an appetizer of thin pommes frites drizzled in truffle oil. As amazing as it was, it didn’t stop there. My meal of grilled salmon glazed with balsamic reduction and various, delicious spices, was mind blowing.

Dessert was out of the question, sadly, although their selection was quite tempting. I was absolutely stuffed. After we had received our checks and paid, we made for the door. But as we were walking out, a plate of chicken and waffles passes me, with such an intriguing aroma that I vow to return the next week…and many more times after that.

A Good Lead is Hard to Find

Romney's outsider message at odds with deep D.C. connections

He paints his rivals as creatures of Washington, but he enjoys establishment support.

I'll admit, there weren't many good leads to choose from - most were just bare-bones information. This one, from msnbc, at least used a bit of imagery to set the tone. The "establishments" are not named, but they are presented as the main point of the article. A reader gets the main idea of the article by reading the headline & lead, but in order to discover the specifics must read beyond that.

It isn't limited to the cold hard facts. The language used sets the scene, and it's not the prettiest one - "outsider", "deep connections", and "creatures" make Washington DC akin to Gotham City. The lines point out hypocrisy in Romney's campaign, and the image of a corrupt Washington applies to him as well without being stated outright.

Media Response #4

I'm pretty sure Allie (of Hyperbole and a Half) and I have some sort of spiritual connection. There's not a post of hers I haven't read without thinking "I relate to this. I relate so hard."

The tale of the Alot was the first thing I read.

I laughed. I cried from laughing. I spammed my friends with links.

It changed my life. Mainly by preventing me from ever typing "alot" outside of discussions about mythical beasts.

I am anxiously awaiting her book. It'll be the first unassigned, non-digital-actually-printed reading I will have done in quite a while.

I must add, for those who haven't read her entire blog yet, the Simple Dog stories are by far the most impressive. Those, or "Shower Products for Men".

Media Response #3

First of all, I love the man's voice. Feels like I'm listening to the radio in 1950-something. It's a great departure from the stereotypical fashion reporter's voice. The piece is especially credible and more insightful than most, probably due to the fact Cunningham himself is not directly participating in the trend of form-fitting legwear and booties (I hope). Nonetheless, he's obviously been observing the dynamics of fashion closely.

I agree that the trends are set by the consumer rather than the designer - it's rare that something goes directly from the runway onto the public. Someone's got to buy it.

Designers are human, too. They might well be inspired by passerby wearing some old thing from their mother's closet, and later incorporate it into their line. Of course, it's difficult to tell where trends come from. Fashion is an art, not a science - it's better left a mystery.

WWWWW

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399861,00.asp

Who: Facebook, and Google sites, versus India’s government and 100 million internet users.

What: The sites removed objectionable content upon the Indian government’s request. Anti-social or anti-religious content was the main target

When: Over the past year, but the removal that prompted the article occurred recently.

Where: India and the US, where many sites are based.

Why: India has more strict laws regarding online content than the US. Content offensive to religious or social groups is not permitted. The laws require sites to abide by the country’s guidelines, prompting the recent removal of content.

A blog post in which I pretend write like someone that isn't me.

Here is my beautiful inspiration. Sadly, my cheap imitation won't include pictures...yet. Maybe.

On any given morning, I have three alarms set. I'm still not sure any of them actually work. I've rarely heard them go off, and I chalk this phenomenon up to either some amazing sleepwalking talent I never knew I had, or my room being haunted by lazy ghosts. Perhaps it'd be more logical to say I just don't get enough sleep, but that's ridiculous (and incriminating). Thanks to always sleeping through the buzzers, I get way more than enough sleep. I've gotten fourteen hours in a single night before.

But it's never enough. I'm like a hopeless addict. Upon waking, I'm already craving more. My bed looks so seductive in all that satin and fur. That Tempurpedic technology caressing my body. Oh, baby, behave.

If I manage to fight the urge until I go about my daily business, by evening I find myself riding a wave of accomplishment. Sleep? Sleep is for the weak. I know what you do to me, sleep. I've wizened up to your tricks. I'm not attracted to you at all, anymore. I have a new lover, and his name is Consciousness. He has a job. He gets shit done. You don't pull your weight around here, and we are over.

Consciousness and I have great adventures together for hours on end. Too many hours. And he ages very quickly, and soon enough he's just not that attractive anymore. I come crawling back to sleep around 3AM, planning to sneak out in the early morning unnoticed. That never happens.

I wasn't always addicted. I had a life before sleep. I used to wake up at 4:30 every morning, go for a mile run, cook breakfast, and finish my homework. I never missed the extra three hours of sleep I could've gotten. How I did it, I have no idea, though the espresso machine right outside my bedroom might have helped.

I've read about sleep deficit before, but no one has claimed it can last over six years. I am proof that it does, and it has a steep interest rate. All those sleep loans I got in high school for "getting shit done" purposes became impossible to pay off once the recession hit. I'll go out on a limb here and create a new conspiracy theory - there are sleep banks. And the government didn't give them a bailout. It's the only logical explanation.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get out of bed.

Media Response #2

I know a handful of languages, but sportspeak isn't one of them. Reading this article felt quite similar to opening a Shakespeare play three-quarters of the way through, with no knowledge of the characters, setting, plot, or Old English speech. Where are the Colts from, again? No idea. The amount of research I'd have to do to understand the article as it was intended to be understood is staggering.

And then right in the middle of it, he makes a golf reference? As though that metaphor would help me grasp his point!

My lack of knowledge aside, I could see I would enjoy his writing style were it about any other topic. Fun, casual, and humorous.

Alright, back to my blissfully football-free existence.

Media Response #1

This Jake boy is giving me the warm-fuzzies. Usually these love-themed magazine articles are written by women gushing the same-old same-old about their latest affair, or an anonymous "expert" giving step-by-step instructions on how to unintentionally repel men. Jake, however, has given us a better glimpse into the male mind in love - and it's not that much different from a female's. Although that doesn't really surprise me, it's not every day you get the whole story without any obvious pretense. "Strawberry" is a lucky lady, and I wish them the best!