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Monthly Archive for December, 2005
It came to my attention that the Asian Art Museum is open till 9 PM on Thursdays at the cost of $5 after 5 PM, and they were showing an exhibit on 18th-century Kyoto paintings. Plus, I’ve never been there, period. So, I bundled up and headed out to BART in the cold drizzle.
I grabbed a quick pot of tea to stave off the cold in the museum café and then checked out the Kyoto paintings. All were from the 18th century. Some were painted on silk and hung from strips of silk. Some were long scrolls of paper with landscape scenes so detailed that it was almose like looking through a window of time. There was a beautiful scroll of blue paper with the most perfect, accurate calligraphy in gold ink. Then there were the handpainted door panels and screens with scenes of pastoral life painted on them. My favorites were the black sumi-e ink brush paintings of taro leaves and the painting of the banana tree with the chickens.
I went upstairs to explore the permanent collections and was captivated mostly by the Chinese embroidered textiles. It’s amazing how much detail went in these hand-sewn works of art, and how shiny and luminous the silk threads still are after 400 years. I didn’t get to see everything because the museum closed while I was still wandering around in the room with the jade artifacts. I guess I’ll have to go back. I have no problem with this.
I’m definitely not a picky eater. There are a few things I don’t like, but I’m flexible. However, recently, I’ve noticed I’ve become disappointed with restaurant food. It just doesn’t satisfy me like it used to. I find myself saying things more often such as, “Mine is better” – meaning, if I cooked that particular dish at home, it would taste better. This definitely holds true for the black beans at Versailles – listen, I was born in Miami, and my Mom’s Cuban black beans are definitely twenty times better than the runny, salty, undercooked crap they serve at Versailles. I go there because they do a good garlic chicken, ropa vieja, and sweet plantains. But they do not do black beans very well. No, they do not.
Recently, we went to a “southern” restaurant in Orange County that served a meatloaf that I found disappointing. I remarked, “Mine is better.” S responded, “When did you become such a food elitist?” And he had a point. When did I become such an unbearable food snob?
In the past week, I’ve tried two San Francisco restaurants that have been on my List to Try; Blowfish and Luna Park. I was not moved by either. Blowfish is overpriced and the quality does not live up to the price. Luna Park was “meh.”
I think I’ve eaten in so many good restaurants that my palate has been ruined.
Shoot me now. I’ve become one of “those” people. Argh.
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