Clay Pigeon Restaurant

The Clay Pigeon restaurant is a tiny little eatery that makes very good meals. It has Northwest style decor and is open seven days a week.

I started with the escargot in pernod garlic butter. They are harvested in Quebec and come in their shells, which reminded me of my trip to France earlier this year. Delicious. My friend had the fried pigs ear with sweet chili sauce and he enjoyed it.

For a main I had Chive Gnocci with eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and red pepper ratatou. It was very tasty but a little small. My friend had the Chicken Confit with orange , onion and star anise marmalade, grilled zucchini and parme. He also enjoyed it and it was a very healthy size.

I would come back again.

Irish Times Pub

The Irish Times Pub has been open for many years any I've gone there many times, just not recently. They serve Guinness from the keg direct from Dublin and clean the hoses each keg. Yum. The decor is fantastic and both the waiters and waitresses wear kilts/skirts.

I stopped here for lunch and had the crab bisque with Guinness cream and a salad which is not on their web menu, greens, fennel, strawberries, goat feta and a nice light dressing.

An excellent meal and pretty much everything is tasty and filling.

About Time - Movie Review

About Time is a movie that takes place in Britain about a young man who, at 21, is told by his father that the male members of the family have the ability to travel back in time during their lives. They can also change events that happened to them. With this premise, the main character attempts to find a woman to love.

I saw this film as part of a sneak preview offered for free from my Scene card membership with my wife. We have seen the previous films that the director/writer Richard Curtis has done: Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, several Mr Bean and Blackadder episodes...etc. We really liked the film and its attention to the development of the characters and its lighthearted humor. The thread of the theme "live your life to the fullest" weaves throughout the movie and the main character's manipulation of the people around him by restarting events does not come off as creepy.

Highly recommended as a date film.

Postcard of the Interwebs - 17 Oct 2013

Peanut Butter can be used to determine Alzheimer's: Very cool study that determines possibility of the disease through smelling peanut butter at different distances with different nostrils.

History and Literature reading list: This person made a reading list for well rounded literature.

Agostic bonds create different colored crystals out of the same substance: Very cool concept. The fact that its how things are put together not their parts that reflect why humans are neat beings.

Negative Refraction used to see smaller than ever before: Great outside the box thinking.

Windows that control the light: I've heard about this kind of work being done for a long time but have not seen it in the hardware stores. Perhaps this will do the trick.

Labyrinth Halloween costumes: The whole family is dressed up!

Language Learning made easy: If you want to learn a new language, this little Reddit comment chain may help.

Ulla Restaurant

We have come back to the Ulla restaurant a few times since my first. Again this place does not disappoint.

I started with a drink of the Cranberry Casablanca, my usual (green mint tea, cranberry, lime, cinnamon syrup) and an appetizer of scallop boudin blanc with potato, peas, bacon, and pickled lemon. The scallops were soaked in milk and butter for a while, then put in a bag and cooked low in boiling water (Sous-Vide style). They were then cut out and lightly fried on each side. I swear that if I had put my fork on the scallop and put a pepper shaker on it, it would have pushed through the scallop, it was that tender. The taste was unlike any scallop I had before, and I come from the Maritime Provinces! The little sauces and such on the plate were also excellent.

For a main I had duck breast ham & confit leg with beets, farro, cocoa, sorrel, and concord grape duck sauce. Also equally delicious.

A great meal and there was no room for dessert this time.

Itami Sushi

On 708 View street is a new Sushi restaurant, Itami Sushi. Most would say we don't need another Japanese eatery but these people haven't eaten here yet.

I ordered their special sunomono salad (with octopus, shrimp and fake crab), seaweed salad, 2 mackerel nigiri, 2 salmon roe nigiri and a BBQ Eel and avocado roll. All were excellent and tasted fresh. The sunumono salad and mackerel was particularly delicious. This is now one of my new favorite Japanese food places.

Postcard of the Interwebs - 10 October 2013

Group wants to put an observatory on the Moon: An ambitious project that would have immense benefits. Not only in the short term but it would prove that non-governmental ideas have potential in space exploration.

A physicist's paper and proposal mixed into one: A very cute way to incorporate one's passion with another.

Cat in mid grab for a treat: Cute and scary.

Cornstarch can replace Cyanide in Gold extraction: A very cool article, from the more scientific article in Nature here, on using a much much less environmentally harmful method to get gold out of the earth.

Angry Baby: I hope its not a sign of things to come.

Creation of a Heart for Human Transplant: Very interesting article on what it takes to make complicated organs for people.

A kid, a dog and a puddle: Very cute little video gif.

Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

I recently finished "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. I give it very high praise.

This was my first Raymond Chandler novel and I find the language he uses to tell his mystery story very descriptive and engaging. The characters are flawed with noble traits that are just on the verge of being too unrealistic, which makes for an excellent read that makes you want to finish it in one go.