Immaturity at its best

Q: What are we reacting to?












A: The cookie that Amanda and I created for our birthday gathering!

Sushi in Northern Virginia

During my brief stay in Northern Virginia I dined at two sushi establishments:
Yoko the first weekend and Todai two weeks later.

Yoko
Typical sushi restaurant interior: there is a sushi bar to your right, light-colored wooden seating to the left and IKEA-style lighting. One of the more innovative items on the a la carte menu was the Japanese Lasagna, a baked California roll with special sauce. I must say I wasn't very impressed with the sushi overall. Taste-wise it was acceptable, but the construction of the sushi was rather shoddy. The pieces would fall apart midway between the plate and my mouth.

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Todai
Sushi as far as the eye could see!

There were plenty of choices at Todai. This restaurant is actually located in Fair Oaks Mall. The fluorescent lighting does not make this place conducive for a romantic first date. The atmosphere was really open, not too many nooks and crannies. Ambiance aside, the sushi was pretty good, quality wasn't too shabby and the desserts! Oh my! The desserts. Very delicate, tiny portions of cake and cookies waiting for you to sample them all. My favorites were the mango ice cream and the green tea cake with red bean frosting.


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Cheesecake Factory

I frequent the Cheesecake Factory more than I should. I figure I might as well write up a review of some dishes and cheesecakes I've tried (this includes ones that have undergone Karen taxation). The atmosphere is a little cheesy, but good attempt.

Entrees:
Chicken Marsala: The only dish I've ever been disappointed in, would not recommend it
Honey-Maple Pork Tenderloin: The meat was tender and the flavor was subtle. Nice touch of sweetness! The broccoli was crunchy and not mushy which is often the case when vegetables that are served as side dishes.
Louisiana Chicken Pasta - This is one of my favorite dishes and usually my fallback dish! It's a bit spicy (fair warning for those that are extremely sensitive). The chicken is breaded and fried and tossed in cream sauce, what's not to like?
Tamales - Delicious! They're wrapped up in cute little corn husks.

Dessert:
Khalua Oreo Cheesecake - Could stand to have more oreo chunks, but still tasty
German Chocolate Cheesecake - Much lighter than normal cheesecakes. Most of the coconut is on the top of the cake and can easily be scraped off ;)
Carrot Cake Cheesecake - A checkerboard pattern intertwining cheesecake and carrot cake
Kahlua - Khalua flavor is apparent and the cake itself is pretty light
Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake - Every bite is a bite of heaven.



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