The people’s republic of lemony fresh.

Apparently it's really hard to get a reservation but I just stumbled into one because we wanted to eat late with our friend Ian. Norman's Japanese Grill is the new "it restaurant" by one of our local Dallas restaurant empires, featuring a combination of Texas and Japanese foods. It's mostly small plates with the exception of their nigiri and hand rolls.

We had to wait for our table so we got a free edamame hummus, which was delicious, and then we went into some bluefish crudo and some skewers of duck meatballs and some octopus. Also some of the hand rolls, including the snow crab that was an off-menu special Then we tried the udon carbonara, which most reviews had raved about, and I would eat a bowl of on its own. After that we had a sushi course, with a variety of their nigiri, which was nice quality but they put too many additional flavors (sauces etc.) for it to be really great. Last, but not least, we tried out the ravioli and the dumplings, which were also yummy and I'm glad I made room in my stomach for them.

Things we did not try: the salmon and the steak, which are not cheap, but which looked good and in the case of the salmon, also got excellent reviews. They're on the list for the next time we visit.

Over the last fortnight I completed two items: I went to a new museum (Space Center Houston counts) and we took a trip to Houston, where we did a bunch of fun stuff like visiting with friends, going to museums, going to the pub, eating at favorite places, and going to a baseball game, which was not on this list but maybe should have been because it was a lot of fun.

( List under the cut to preserve your flist. )

I'm starting to get all my weekly items back online, which is a routine I've fallen out of. Political calls are still a bit rough with the state legislature out of session and my congressional district redistricted, which means I'm still in CD24 but I'll be voting in CD5, so both representatives (who are MAGA) feel free to ignore me. On the other hand, my city council member has been giving me a lot to complain about, so.

Also we're planning trips to Austin (for a memorial service) and NOLA (for a wedding) so those will come up soon. And I watched movies! So that was fun. I consider it a good fortnight.