Sunday, February 17, 2002
Anniversary day. Breakfast with Amy in our kitchen. Patrick and I go to a matinee showing of a silly play called "The Mystery of Irma Vep" by Charles Ludlum. We return two DVDs to Superstar. They are 2 days late, so we're expecting to pay a little extra, but we didn't expect $23. We feel burned. We go to Spike's today, which is exactly two years since the day we first met in person at Spikes. There are no seats, so we try Starbuck's. Full there also, so we end up at Castro Tarts where we read, me from "Best New American Voices 2001" and Patrick from "Acts of Worship" by Yukio Mishima. For dinner, we eat at Ma Tante Sumi. The food by chef Brenda Buenviaje is excellent in taste and presentation. The restaurant's service is likewise impressive. Sake poached lobster crepe with enoki mushrooms, braised leeks, and shiso; ginger pork dumplings in roasted garlic soy broth with bitter greens and daikon chiffonade; grilled ahi steak with truffled edamame, shitaake butter, and yellow squash; miso roasted chicken with mushroom gravy, potato puree, and Asian vegetables; a 1998 Sancerre; Asian pear upside-down cake; trio of creme brulees: vanilla, lemon verbena, dark chocolate; coffee.