Who are you, Box?

I just realized I left you guys hanging about Box!

When I got home, I was so focussed on making that lentil salad that I just plopped Box on the couch and almost forgot about it. I made my bowl o lentils, poured a glass of vino and then remembered I still had to open Box. Oops.

French press! Unbreakable too! Very excited to test this out...with my decaf :)

I still had that strange sushi craving on Thursday, so I moseyed over to Sushi Hunter after work. Selin took me here once to experience the All You Can Eat special - me + all you can eat sushi = AWESOME.

For the reasonable price of $23.95, you can pick from a variety of appetizers, hot entrees, rolls and nigiri. It's a pretty decent sushi variety...no special rolls though. You have to order those off the regular menu.

This time around I just ordered off the menu - Miso Soup, 2 pcs Escolar Nigiri, Spicy Tataki Roll (Spicy Tuna & Cucumber Inside, Topped with Seared White Tuna and Garlic) and Futomaki (for some reason I really wanted futomaki...very strange craving).

The miso soup was okay, nothing compared to the miso soup at Kaz :(, I think the tofu was too firm or something. Whatever, it whet my appetite! Onto the escolar - oh. my. god. I love you butterfish. So for the longest time, I thought escolar and white tuna were one and the same. Incorrect. Escolar = butterfish; Albacore = white tuna. Monumental discovery.

Anyway, Escolar Nigiri was awesome. Perfect proportion of rice and fish. Futomaki was pretty good, satisfied my craving and wasn't too massive. The Spicy Tataki smelled phenomenal...I think the garlic and the seared white tuna combo sealed the deal. However, after a bite of the escolar, the white tuna just tasted blah. Sowwy white tuna.

Today I woke up and I was a whole year older. YEEEHH! Funny, I didn't feel any older...;p

Got to work and saw this:

Cute, yah? Best part of my morning - a coworker asked how old I was, I said 29, and she said 'NO WAY.' :D

Lucky me, my birthday happened to fall on a half day Friday! I love half day Fridays, except when it comes to getting home via public transportation. The bus I usually take only runs during peak hours so I had to wait for this sucker:

I'm just making the public transport rounds, aren't I? I grabbed some stuff for tonight's dinner, Skyped w/Jamie and then it was time for the festivities to begin!

We had a Siete de Mayo fiesta with some tacos

and Corn & Black Bean Fritters (a variation) with some Crack Sauce.

Corn & Black Bean Fritters (revised - measurements may be a little of)

3 c frozen corn, defrosted and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 c scallions, chopped

1 shallot, minced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 c eggs, beaten

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp salt

pepper

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 - 1 c flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce

1 c chorizo (or soyrizo), browned and crumbled

Combine first 5 ingredients and 1/2 c chorizo in a large bowl. Combine eggs, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl and stir into vegetable mixture. Sift flour and baking powder together and slowly add to the vegetable mixture until a thick batter forms. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Pour 1/4 c of mixture into the skillet, flattening the batter out a bit.

Cook for 3 minutes, flip and cook for another 3 minutes. Serve immediately with a dollop of Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce and a sprinkle of browned chorizo (or soyrizo) bits.

So the revision was that I tried making my own batter instead of falling back to good 'ol Bisquick. Then I looked back at my original recipe and realized I was missing cheese! AAAGGGHH. Cheese would have made these so much better!

Also, there was CAKE! Red Velvet Cake!! :)

YUMYUMYUM. Delicious birthday :)