Eleven Great Places for Coffee

1. Coffee Society - Cupertino, California
2. Daibo Coffee - Tokyo, Japan
3. Cafe Borrone - Menlo Park, California
4. Martha Brothers Coffee - San Francisco
5. Sweetwaters - Ann Arbor, Michigan
6. Blue Bottle Coffee - Hayes Valley, San Francisco
7. Basement of Elliott Bay Book Company - Seattle
8. Upstairs in the Prairie Lights Bookstore - Iowa City, Iowa
9. Caffe Strada - Berkeley, California
10. Peaberry's Coffee - Rockridge, Oakland, California
11. Ogawa Coffee - Kyoto, Japan

Bakejizo of Nikko

Market Street from Twin Peaks

Tuna in Tsukiji

Golden Gate from Above

Ten great local (Virginia, Maryland, D.C.) restaurants

1. Duangrat's - Thai - Falls Church
2. Rabieng - Thai - Falls Church
3. Gom Ba Woo - Korean - Annandale
4. Five Guys Burgers
5. Aji Nippon - Sushi - Bethesda
6. Bob's Noodle House - Taiwanese eats - Rockville
7. Vegetable Garden - Macrobiotic and vegan cuisine - Rockville
8. Vace Pizza - Bethesda
9. Amsterdam Falafel - Adams Morgan, D.C.
10. Cuban Corner - Rockville

DOB in NY

Peyroux and Wainwright (and Bush too)

We went to see Madeleine Peyroux perform this evening at the Lisner auditorium on the George Washington University campus. Martha Wainwright, who opened for Madeleine, was quite passionate. In the spirit of jazz, she sang a Cole Porter tune ("Allez-vous-en"). The highlight of the evening was when she belted out "B.M.F.A." from her latest album, Martha Wainwright, in dedication to our esteemed current President. It was very well received! Obviously a very left-leaning audience tonight... Madeleine's performance, however, was a bit disappointing and much less dynamic. Although she is a very talented artist, she did not deliver the best performance. We are looking forward to seeing Coldplay this Friday, who we hear are excellent performers!

Calder Fish

View from above

Ninnenzaka, Kyoto

Ten superb non-English albums

1. Luciana Souza - Brazilian Duos
2. Morelenbaum (2)/Sakamoto - Casa
3. Benjamin Biolay - Rose Kennedy
4. Paris Combo - Living Room
5. Smokey and Miho - Two EP's
6. Souad Massi - Deb
7. Coralie Clement - Salle des pas perdus
8. Ego Wrappin' - Any album
9. 2046 Movie Soundtrack
10. Lisa Ono - Questa Bossa Mia

Somewhere in a department store basement in Tokyo

Shibuya Intersection in the Rain

Ten great recent films from Asia

1. 3-Iron
2. A Taste of Tea
3. Oldboy
4. A Snake in June
5. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
6. Vital
7. Three Extremes: Dumplings
8. Survive Style 5
9. Twilight Samurai
10. 2046

Picture from an exhibition

This piece "Untitled" was recently at the NY MOMA and done by Fang-Li Jun, a member of the Cynical Realist movement.

Dumplings (not the movie)

Too many posts in one day. Today we tried out China Bistro and Mama's Dumplings, a small take-out Chinese restaurant in Rockville specializing in fried or steamed dumplings. For about $7.50 you can order a dozen dumplings in various combinations, including pork and chives, pork and dill, pork and napa, and Mama's special, comprised of pork, shrimp, napa and chives. Quite tasty and illustrates an important key to restaurant success: Keep it simple. Check out Amsterdam Falafel shop in Adams Morgan as another great example.

Hakata station

A single step...

Oh boy, this looks very addictive.