Arashi Japan

After our show today, we went out to Arashi Japan.  I was really craving a bowl of ramen.  The owners of the restaurant had a place closer to our home called Sakura, but changed locations a couple of years ago.  I don't get to go there as often as I'd like, but it's definitely one of my favorite Japanese restaurants.

We had some Alaska rolls as an appetizer.

The meal came with salad and soup.  This is the house salad.  We chose the onion soup, which was quite tasty.  I forgot to take a picture of it.

I liked my spicy shrimp ramen, but I accidentally deleted the picture.  The restaurant was nice enough to split it into two bowls for us. We even had some for leftovers.

Steve had the shrimp hibachi.  The fun part is watching them prepare it (pictured at the top of this post).  They do this cool flaming onion volcano trick.  It's all very theatrical.  It comes with vegetables and rice, and a shrimp appetizer, which just happens to be the hibachi shrimp we ordered.   In other words, this dish was finished cooking when the other people were just getting their appetizers. 

All of this food was really easy to share.  If we had wanted to, we could have added additional vegetables and rice to Steve's meal for an additional 4 dollars splitting charge.   It was a fun night!

Guys and Dolls

Today we saw Guys and Dolls, a collaboration between the Key Bank Broadway Series and Great Lakes Theater.  We watched the pre-show talk beforehand, and it was described as a classic from the Golden Age of Broadway.  I was scared.  I dislike South Pacific, so my expectations were set pretty low.  However, I found myself really enjoying the show.

Like many classic shows (such as Anything Goes), romances abound.  In this case, there are two sets of couples.   A new couple is formed based on a bet that a gambler can get a missionary to fly to Cuba with him.  The other couple is an established one, a showgirl and another gambler, who have been engaged for 14 years.  This situation has caused the girl considerable psychosomatic ailments. 

The musical contains many classic tunes, such as Luck Be A Lady and Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat.   The comedy is excellent and the music really connects everything together.

Main Street Cupcakes: May Flavors

It's the first Saturday of the month, and I decided it would be fun treat to get some cupcakes.  This is Main Street Cupcake's flavor of the month, orange creamsicle.  I managed to get the last one in the case!

The Cassada Cupcake is my favorite flavor, hands down.  Vanilla cake and topped with strawberry preserves.  Yum!  If it's there, I have to get it.

Although, I think the Chocolate Cassada is pretty good too.   They had both today.

Today I bought a Bostonian, described as "Chocolate cream cake topped with marshmallow fluff and garnished with a boston baked bean."  This is the first time I've seen it, so I look forward to trying it.  I love marshmallow fluff.

Barroco Grill

 Last night we went out to the Barroco Grill for dinner.   It's a cute little restaurant.  We went there first about 2 years ago.  The place specializes in Latin American food featuring arepa, a sort of bread made of corn flour.   Pictured above are their sauces.  The orange one is spicy peanut, the one to the right that is half empty is pineapple, and the one to the left which is pale in color is garlic (my favorite).  I don't remember what the other two are.  Apparently their new menu is only 4 months old. 

We ordered a cheesy corn served with arepa fries as an appetizer.  It reminds me very much of nachos.  The first time we went to the Barroco Grill, the waitress described the cheesy corn as macaroni and cheese without the macaroni.  This is very true, and very delicious.

This dish is the Montanera served with tortilla chips as a side.  It is an arepa served open faced with melted mozzarella cheese, carne, and an over easy egg.

Steve got the Mexicana, a folded arepa with chorizo, frijoles, grilled onion, jalapenos, guacamole, and cheddar cheese.   It was really spicy.   The side dish is a bowl chili. 

Madge got the Reina Pepiada, a folded arepa with grilled chicken, avocado salad, and roasted red peppers.  That's the black bean soup in the background.

That was an extremely filling meal.  Each of us brought home leftovers.   I'm going to call it two meals per serving.  Next time I go back, I want to get the Hawaiian Arepa and maybe the Mango cake dessert.