Hello there and Happy 2004!
Kazuko and I just got back home from enjoying our third-anniversary dinner. We visited a new sushi restaurant in Crystal, Minnesota. The name of the place is "Wild Mint." While we were there, we enjoyed some fried mackeral i‚³‚ñ‚ÜAj baked scallopsi‚Ù‚½‚ÄAjand a ten-item sashimi dish. We were pretty pleased with the food there. I think that it is the second-best place for Japanese food that we've been to in the Twin Cities area (the best being "Origami" in downtown Minneapolis.)
The only drawback of "Wild Mint" was that the menu seemed a bit limited. Since it is a brand-new restaurant, I'd bet that with time they'll expand the menu to include some more Japanese favorites. We left the restaurant wanting more and more Japanese food. I am looking forward to the next time that we go there.
Maybe I am especially hungry for Japanese food these days because we've gone to Japan at this time of year for the past two years. Since our baby is so young, we'll have to wait for the summer to go next time. (It'll be So Hot; but fun!)
Last night, Kazuko and I had some friends over. Rob and Nancy came to visit us. (I went to graduate school with Nancy. Rob is her husband.) We had a happy evening. We chatted, we played Dance Dance Revolution, and we sang karaoke. We also were able to enjoy a nice dinner of: green bean salad, some crablegs, and an apple-cinnamon-walnut cake. (By the way, I really recommend that cake to those of you who live relatively close to a Sam's Club. For $5.00, those cakes are absolutely delicious. -As a matter of fact: I had been eating a piece of it as I wrote the first paragraph of this entry.) We also enjoyed some beer, and some wine. I really like entertaining guests. It is nice to have people in the house.
Here are a few photos of Rob and Nancy enjoying karaoke:
This is Rob. He seems to be "Rocking out."
Nancy pleases us with a tender love-ballad.
I suppose that's all for today. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my weblog. You're all so nice.
OH! By the way, I heard that Kurt Nilsen won the "World Idol" contest. I am pretty happy about that. Of the few songs of his that I've heard, he seems like a really talented young man. I look forward to hearing more of his songs in the future. I am so stoked for the next American Idol starting on January 19th. I hope that it will be as much fun as last year's American Idol!