Heads Up!

Sometimes the most unlikely themes develop during the course of a weekend. In my case, heads seemed to be a prominent motif. You heard me: heads.

I suppose it began with my invitation to Nicki Ludwig's baby shower. Whenever babies and gifts are involved you can bet that I will be heading to Gymboree. The store didn't let me down. Almost immediately I spied the makings of a very cute little outfit. It was pink and brown and featured a mushroom theme. From their website I know that David and Nicki like to garden so I thought it was fitting. And...it was too cute to pass up.

So here is another one of my confessions. Every once in a while, despite the fact that I don't have children of my own, I buy something for myself from Gymboree. Until that day I had only caved once before when I bought a tiny bib that had a lion and the word "Roar!" on it. I have a habit of roaring, so it just seemed right at the time. This time I could not resist a little hat with a chipmunk on it. I love the lawnsharks (so-called because when they are in the grass their fierce little tails seem to cut above the blades like a dorsal fin...to me, anyway). And I just couldn't part with it. So it is in my drawer of no-longer-so-secret shame. Could you have resisted?



Maybe you could have, but I tell you I was powerless. Surely no one would begrudge me the happiness to be found in a tiny chipmunk hat. Luckily the hat itself didn't have ears. I would still be in some sort of cute induced coma if that were the case.

It was hard enough to get through the shower--the cuteness was thick, I tell you. I almost swooned from it. So many little outfits (including some redonkulous pink baby high tops), so much joy. The fun was worth being subjected to the "identify the baby food" game. That stuff is rank!

While Mari and I were at the shower, Adam was watching some football. That seemed to be the activity of choice for many of the men that day. Given that it was the big Louisville vs. UK game day, I am not surprised. It turns out that our Boilermakers won, Notre Dame and U of Michigan were competing in some sort of slapstick exercise of ineptitude, and that the "big game" was exciting...lots of reversals of fortune. And head banging action. And another look at the player with my current favorite name in college sports: Peanut Whitehead! Awesome.

The Hammers indulged me in my choice of restaurant for dinner. I have been curious about Kimi's Asian Bistro for awhile now and Saturday was the night to try it out. The indulgence continued when Adam agreed to get the Love Boat for 2 with me. Mari tried to thaw out with some hot tea and hot and sour soup. Joe checked out the egg rolls (he says they were bland). The Love Boat started with Miso soup. It was different, but tasty. In addition to the usual tofu and seaweed, this had some extra vegetables and a bit of what I think was pork. The salads were dressed with a lemon ginger vinaigrette which was nice and went well with the apple slices and mandarin oranges. I do admit that I like the more "traditional" dressing a bit better, but that is just my preference. When it came time for the entrees, Joe got his bowl of udon and Mari her scallops.

And Adam and I got plate after plate of food. We started with sashimi, then moved to nigiri and then to rolls (which I think is the traditional way). There were some old favorites: tuna, salmon, snapper, a cucumber heavy California roll (yummy), and crab roll. There were some I have had before, but don't love: squid and octupus. And there were some new experiences. I tried superwhite tuna sashimi which was interesting, but not my favorite. I tried yellowtail which was yummy. Adam tried some kind of clam.

But the real test came with our introduction to sweet shrimp. I have never had raw shrimp before. It wasn't bad, really. The texture is a bit strange, but it tasted better to me than the usual cooked shrimp nigiri (which I usually skip because it just isn't "special" to me). Apparently, when you get the sweet shrimp, you also get another shrimp preparation. And, in my case, you get the....cap to the theme.



Your eyes are not deceiving you. With the sweet shrimp you get the deep fried heads, beady little eyeballs and all. Now I do like softshell crab. And spider rolls featuring said crab are delicious. But this was a challenge. Our host was kind enough to tell us we could eat the whole thing. His direction was very helpful because I had no idea how to approach it. I followed Adam's lead and approached it from the back, sort of like we were sneaking up on it. I took a good-sized bite. It was crispy and sort of...shrimpy. It was definitely fried. It didn't taste bad, but after the initial crispiness there was still some distinct chewiness of the shrimp shell. I felt like it was getting stuck in my teeth and throat. So I nibbled on the little legs, but didn't go in for much more. Yes, I totally wimped out and couldn't get myself to eat the real head part. I am sure that connoisseurs will tell me that by succumbing to my culinary wimpiness I missed the best bit.

I can live with that.