A Queer Mobile

March in the garden

It's been alternating drizzle and part-sun for the past few days. We had a weekend in the 70's: just right for gardening. I cleaned up dried stuff from the herb beds and John reworked our rose hedge to keep it from spreading across the sidewalk.

Click here for a portfolio of our March garden of bulbs and forsythia.

A very special dinner

My special treat to John for his birthday was a visit to one of our favorite restaurants, Kaygetsu, an small and exquisite Japanese restaurant in Menlo Park. Kaygetsu serves a special prix fixe menu in the Kaiseki style. I placed my reservations two weeks in advance - and it was a good thing, too, because it's hard to get in. A stellar review in one of the San Francisco publications (Ten Best Bay Area Restaurants...) and a Zagat survey result that's just one point behind The French Laundry have packed the place.

The seven course menu went as follows (I took along the menu so I could get the items correct!):

• Sakizuke (starter): Snow crab, fresh tofu skin, thickened dashi sauce, skewered tuna roll with vegetables, shimeji mushroom sauce
• Takiawase (slow cooked dish): Turnip, mizuna greens, wheat gluten, shrimp, shiitake mushroom, carrot, and japanese taro in clear fish broth
• Tsukuri (sashimi): A generous assortment of incredible fish
• Mushimono (steamed dish): Tai snapper andnapa cabbage wrapped with wheat gluten, topped with sea urchin, served with spinach/dashi sauce
• Yaki mono (grilled dish): Roast disk with apple/tamari soy sauce, soft boiled quail egg; burdock, avocado, and arugula salad
• Gohan mono (rice dish): Rice cooked with salmon, fried tofu, and daikon, topped with salmon roe; clear soup with minced white fish and seaweed
• Dessert: soy milk green tea mousse; strawberry sauce; fresh fruit assortment

The menu cannot convey the incredible elegance, beauty, and astonishing taste we experienced. It is truly a revelatory experience. We paired the meal with a pouring of four rare sakes.

If you're in Menlo Park, we highly recommend visiting Kaygetsu!

We both headed west

John came with me for my trip west in February. He's not been away from Cedar Rapids much since we visited my father and sister's family in North Carolina last July - and I didn't want to abandon him on his birthday by traveling when he was stuck at home.

We had a good time, but a very wet one. John's Gore-Tex came in very handy for trekking around a sopping wet San Francisco while I sat through more meetings than I thought it possible for someone to schedule. He did make it for SF MoMA's new exhibit, Picasso and American Art, which he thought was a stunning experience. And he visited his favorite bookstore haunts - at least those few which have not yet closed.