Hinoki & the Bird... & Some Celebrities

My girlfriend, AG, and I should have known that we were committing to a scene when we tried to make a reservation for two on a random Tuesday night at 7 PM and had to accept a reservation at 7:45 PM instead. 

 

Before our dinner arrived, we saw Matt Feuerstein, lead actor from "Royal Pains" (USA), on his way to his table and Cat Deeley, host of "So You Think You Can Dance" (FOX), at the bar. AG had the vegetable curry, an off-menu option, and I had the fried oyster with black garlic aioli appetizer with the coconut curry mussels, sausage, and cauliflower entree. The food was good but I didn't think anything was spectacular. The restaurant vibe was hip and trendy and the plate prices reflected it. As we were paying our check, Marlon Wayans, from the movie "White Chicks" and "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra", strolled in for dinner.     

4th of July Harvest

Our summer garden is doing well and three out of the four vegetables we planted were ready to be harvested: eight ball zucchini squash, Kyoto ball eggplant, and bush lake green beans. The last of our planted vegetables, purple beauty bell peppers, will be ready to be harvested in a couple of weeks. I can't wait. I love the freshness and flavor from our farm to table veggies. As an added bonus, it looks like an old tomato seed sprouted so we will have tomatoes by the end of summer. Even though I don't like eating raw tomatoes (and get queasy at just the thought of it), they are still fun to grow to cook or to give to family or friends.

MH has been putting in long hours at the office in preparation for a few new projects, so we took it easy and spent the day resting and relaxing at home. In the evening, we took the train to Exposition park to see the firework show. The park was very crowded but there was plenty of open seating in the parking lot, and we were pleasantly surprised that the show was even better than last year. This year, music was played through speakers and the finale was one to remember. There were so many fireworks going off during the finale that I almost felt like there were too many fireworks at some moments!