So, I started out leaving a comment in my list, but decided to write this up as a Blogazine entry and expand it a bit when I realised it was getting pretty long.  :)

So, as I had no plans for the evening, in the morning I checked all around Open Table to see where I could get in for dinner on short notice.  After discovering lots of fully-booked restaurants (which wasn't unexpected for a long-weekend Saturday night), I found a 9:30 reservation at Ame.  Sweet!  Table for one, please.

I ordered the tasting menu and wine pairing sight-unseen.  They give you the full menu that mentions the tasting menu and when I ordered and the waiter asked if I wanted to know what I was going to be getting or wanted to be surprised, I went with surprise.  Heh.  Anyway, the food was...

Really, really good.  Probably the best tasting menu I've ever had.  Not so much food you're miserable by the end, sitting there for thirty minutes, trying to choke down the last couple of courses, hardly able to enjoy the it. 

The tasting menu was broken down into three smaller courses, one larger main course, and your selection from the dessert menu (so, a full-size dessert).

First Course: Sashimi three ways.  It was soooo good.  I can't remember specifically what each was, but they were rockin'.  Paired with a brut champagne.

Second Course: Leek soup with pear puree.  So incredibly good.  The pear taste wasn't super-strong, but it sweetened up the soup perfectly.  Paired with a dry Reisling/Chardonnay combo, which matched really well.

Third Course: This is Ame's "signature dish," and a full portion is available as an entree on the menu.  It was broiled sake-marinated black cod and shrimp dumplings in shiso broth with shitake mushrooms.  This was paired with a really nice flowery pinot noir.  This too was really tasty.

Fourth/Main Course: Squab on a bed of fava bean risotto and savoy cabbage with a foie gras sauce.  This was paired with another red wine (it was Spanish, I remember that), which I can't recall.  It was good too.  The texture of the risotto did well with the squab.  I was getting full towards the end, but normally full, not uncomfortably full.

Fifth Course: I was expecting a dessert selected for me, but the waiter brought over the full dessert menu and let me know that the chef was leaving the dessert selection up to me.  Curses!  How can I choose between an assortment of cheeses and something sweet?!  I want both...and, like three desserts.  Heh.  I settled on something light(er) - the rosewater panna cotta with strawberry granita and a tres leches cake.  It was paired with a sweet, Spanish wine, which was awesome (I love sweet wines).  The panna cotta was served in a martini glass with the granita over it and the little cake was on the side.  So, basically a strawberry shortcake done differently.  The panna cotta was really good.

So, good job, Ame!  You guys totally deserve your Michelin star.  I'd still put the Gary Danko experience (taking all things into consideration) above Ame, but Ame was better than Michael Mina.  (Seriously, I think I need to go to Michael Mina again and order off the menu and try and see if I can figure out why they have two Michelin stars.)  I'd definitely go back, both to do another tasting and to order off the menu.  I'd like to try everything off the sashimi menu.  Mmm!

Also of note, I arrived early so I had a couple cocktails in the hotel bar (the restaurant is in the St. Regis hotel) right outside the restaurant.  I had this drink they called the Sweet Heat.  It is made with Herradura silver tequila, Thai chili pepper-infused syrup, Thai basil, and lime juice.  It's served up with a basil leaf in the glass.  The chili pepper syrup adds just the right amount of heat and they were really tasty.  I'd go back just for those. 

At the grocery store the other day I found myself in the "promotional" aisle.  Since it's back-to-school time, the aisle was full of school supplies.  And, what did I happen to find there, you may ask?

Trapper Keeper!  And horsie folders!

When I was a kid, back in the 80s, I somehow managed never to have a Trapper Keeper.  I had canvas binders and PeeChee folders, but never a Trapper Keeper.  So, I thought I'd make up for my deprivation in the 80s by buying myself a Trapper Keeper.  Alas, the "new and improved" model for our modern age is not so improved. 

Gone is the little clipboard clippie thing in the back of the folder.  Gone too are the plastic rings with the little slider thing that opened and closed the rings.  Now it has plain, ol' metal rings you have to manually open and close.  There is no Velcro to keep the cover closed and there are no funky designs.  No unicorns, no horses, no 80s paint splatters.  Nope, just your choice of six different colours (I went for the purple).  There is a clear plastic cover allowing you to slip in your own photos or other pictures, but, dude, I want pre-printed unicorns!  Mead, I beseech you, bring back the designs!

I did sort of make up for the lack of Trapper Keeper awesomeness by buying some horse folders.  I wasn't ever a girl into horses and I'm sure as hell not into them now (Kind of scary, aren't they?  The big teeth and all.), but the ridiculousness factor of a grown woman buying horsie folders just cracked me up.  How cool will I look rolling into a meeting with my Trapper Keeper and horse folders.  Aw, yeah.

Vinyl records.  Remember those?  Some of you do, I imagine.  Others don't but might be music nerds who still buy records when you can find them.  (Request of the Anti- record label - Please release Joe Henry's and The Frames' albums on vinyl as well as CDs!)  Anyway, so, records.  Yes.  All my life I've had a record player.  The family had the ol' hi-fi when I was young and I had my little Fisher-Price plastic turntable.  You know, the brown case with the orange insides?  Exactly.  When I was seven or eight I finally got a proper stereo thingie of my own.  Sad as it may seem, I've been using that for the past twenty years.  It had a dual cassette deck and a turntable up top.  I got a CD player years later when CDs replaced tapes and I've been rockin' on that ever since.  Now, I've been meaning to replace it for years - Get a proper receiver, new turntable, etc.  However, as time went on, I realised I really only listen to my iPod and vinyl.  So, sad as I am to replace my old stereo (despite it being...well, crap (sentimental value, you know)), I decided to pick up a new turntable and a new iPod dock for my bedroom. 

I looked around.  I considered a couple different USB turntables but realised I didn't want to convert my records to MP3s, I just wanted to listen to them.  I considered some pricey, fancy-pants turntables, but realised I didn't want to go that route either.  Then I started looking at the Crosleys.  They look super-swanky and ye olde tyme and the reviews were pretty good.  I thought about getting the single player, since it was a fair bit cheaper, but this Stack-o-Matic version was the one I decided on.  It can stack up to six records and play them (well, once side of each album) in order automatically.  Rock, rock on.

I got it home today (it came this morning and I ran out to the record store at lunch to buy some new records) and I must say, I really like it.  The sound is...OK.  Good enough.  The speakers are on the side of the unit so I'll probably have to turn it sideways when I listen to it from now on, but the sound coming out of the speakers isn't bad.  It's not audiophile quality sound but it's perfectly fine for the average user.  And it looks awesome.  What more can you ask for?  :)

I remember when Blik first came on the scene.  Back then there were basically a few different dot designs, some squares, and some circles.  Even those were awesome, though.  Especially for me, living in a white-walled apartment.  Six years later, Blik offers all kinds of awesome designs.  They now produce various designs from Threadless and they just launched their line of super-cool Nintendo decals.  Seriously, you can turn your house's walls into a giant Donkey Kong or Mario Bros. screen.  Very cool.

Amazingly, despite wanting to order some Blik for the past six years, I've never quite gotten around to it....until now.  I picked up a black chandelier design at a local boutique recently and decided to class up my loo.  I mean, what says "classy bathroom" like a faux chandelier?  Exactly.  Seriously, though, bathrooms can be tough from a decor standpoint.  I mean, it's just a bathroom, but, unless you have kids, chances are you don't want to get too silly and fill it with little fishies and stuff.  Still, it's a bathroom and not exactly the most serious room in the house.  My apartment is pretty nice, but I like to keep things from getting too serious (hence the stump).  To that end, what could be better than a chandelier in the loo. 

Blik can be tricky to put up (the more intricate the design, the harder it is), but after we put up our custom decal in the office, I could put up anything.  I have textured walls in the apartment, though, and that's not the best thing with Blik, but it's staying up pretty well, despite the moisture you're going to have in a bathroom with a shower.  I like it so much I'm going to get another for the wall opposite.  Hurray Blik!

So, I'm old now.  Heh.  I turned 30 in March.  A couple years ago I stopped wearing the wacky makeup.  Not that I'm actually old or anything, but I just started to think, "OK, maybe bright blue eyeshadow topped with green glitter isn't the way to go anymore."  I still have hundreds (seriously hundreds) of eyeshadows, dozens of pigments, blushes, hundreds of lipsticks and glosses, and on and on.  I used to spend the bulk of my disposable income on makeup.  Nowadays, I wear the same makeup every day. 

One of the things I wear each day is this Head Shot eyeshadow trio from Smashbox.  It rocks.  Smashbox makes really nice eyeshadows.  They're pigmented but still layerable and really soft and blendable.  This particular trio consists of a rosy pink with the slightest hint of shimmer, a more shimmery pale butter yellow, and a medium-toned coppery brown.  I tend to go with the rose on the lid, the yellow in the crease, and the brown as a liner, smudged upwards.  It's noticeable but still natural and subtle - Perfect for a woman of my advanced age.  :)

So, (amusingly, all my blogazine entries thus far have begun with, "So..." and so now I'm going to try to make them all start that way forever and ever)...  Anyway, so... 

I saw this black jersey dress from Susana Monaco on someone's (maybe Kristi's) list here on Kaboodle a month or so ago.  The model in the dress on Revolve's site is just crazy-cute and looked fab in the dress so I went to order it.  It was out of stock at Revolve but I manged to find it on Bloomingdale's site.  I was all kinds of stoked for it to come, hopeful that it would look as cute on me as the model.  I mean, how many of us have ordered stuff that looks great in a photo but looks like utter crap on us.  Right?

Happily, this dress rocks!  It's a little shorter on me, as you can sort see in the photo, than the model, which kind of bums me out, since I prefer a below-the-knee length, but the fit in the waist is perfect.  Like, seriously perfect.  As in the best fit off-the-rack of anything I've ever bought perfect.  W00t!

With a push-up strapless bra underneath the nearly-straight, slightly scooped neckline gives me a little Scarlett Johansson shelf o' boob action (as much as my 32As are going to be) and because of all the seaming around the bust (which you can't see in the picture of me because it's really hard to photograph details in black clothes) I'd say you really don't even need a bra unless you're over a B.  But the fit sort of helps keeps the strapless bra in place anyway. 

The jersey fabric is fairly substantial (not thin crappy, Forever 21-quality jersey) and keeps a good line on the skirt.  The fit around the waist it really close to the body while the hips are more accommodating, which is perfect for my body shape.  The fabric keeps the dress from being either too dressy or too casual, making it a really good go-to dress for most occasions.  So far I've worn it to Mother's Day tea and a swanky dinner.  Pretty versatile.  For $162, a really good purchase.