New Year

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a nice time last night.

Last night Tammy and I went out with her friend Becky, and Becky's boyfriend, to the Jenpachi Japanese style steakhouse.  The afternoon had light freezing rain so the roads and sidewalks were slick.  I had to hold Tammy's hand so she didn't slip on the ice and fall when walking in and out of the restaurant.

The restaurant cooks your meal in front of you and nine other people.  The cooking is part of a show as the cook juggles his cooking utensils before beginning (with a lot of clanking and noise), starts the cooking with a large flash fire, tosses a small pieces of food in the air to some of the customers to catch with their mouth (I caught my piece of food), and juggles the rice bowls before giving them to the customers.

Maybe because it was New Years Eve but our cook let some people drink some of his Sake.  You had to open your mouth and he held the bottle above your mouth and poured it in.  Yum!   Tammy and the others got drinks, some of which were in porcelain pandas and Buddhas which one got to keep. 

Tammy has been to this restaurant a number of times and our cook recognized her.  My New Years Eve meal was a shrimp, steak and chicken combo and it was very good.

Below is a link to a video showing the cooking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-swXkYd7Vc

Rice bowl juggling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esu1amCBz0k&feature=related