Monday

Sunshine went to work even though she had the today off. Her language teachers were having a workshop in the District, and she was urged to attend. Like most Mondays, I had the house to myself. But like most weekend days, I went to town and hung around the Mall. I took some pictures of the Lincoln and Vietnam Veteran's memorials. Sunshine met me at Foggy Bottom, and we killed time until six: browsing an all-art bookstore and snacking on fancy mozzarella salad and mojitos. At six, we wandered over to Kaz Sushi Bistro,* where we'd failed to eat last Friday. We had better luck today: our two-top was all the way in the back of the restaurant--one curtain of dried vines away from the sushi bar. The meal was worth the wait. Kaz's menu* advises that the fare is mostly traditional, but will occasionally stray into foods prepared with local ingredient variations. These are segregated onto a photocopied sheet. The rest of the menu is just three small pages. This is the easiest way to illustrate the care with which each item found its place on the menu. Even with such a finite selection, the restaurant was still concerned that I might order something mildly impurely Japanese. What I did order was toro nigiri, masago with quail egg, unagi maki,* and something they called "calamari pasta". That's grains of marinated ika wrapped around uni with quail egg and shaved nori on top. It was not fishy, and the creamy egg balanced the slightly metallic taste of the urchin. My meal consisted of sake, excellent green tea, and exactly fourteen bites of food. It was far and away the best meal I've had in the District yet.* Afterwards, we made reservations to eat there again next week. [Cavin]