food, japanese, korean

i had some interesting food experiences lately that i want to share with you, few but dear readers of my blog.
first: japanese
my old friend joe is in town at the moment, which is very exciting, since i only see him about once a year. for those of you who don't know the story: i used to work in a souvenir shop in berlin and joe, who works as a drumtech for the band tool, was one of my customers, in fact he bought postcard and then came back later because "he had forgotten to buy stamps". anyway, he took me out to a very fancy japanese restaurant in hollywood (on sunset/la cienega), which was indeed so fancy that the valet parking of the restaurant alone cost me $18. but dinner was on joe, and he did his best to please my palate. the restaurant does sushi, but their specialty is little skewers with all kinds of stuff cooked on a charcoal grill. amazing. and i had the best eggplant in my entire life, cooked to perfection with some sweetish japanese sauce on it (the stuff that you also sometimes get on unagi). so that was definitely good.
now: korean
strangely enough, although i'm dating a native southern californian guy, my sweet brian, i get lot's of korean associations when i think of him. on the day when he first kissed me, we had been to a great korean bar in koreatown (where smoking is permitted!!! or at least everybdy does it). the bar is actually so korean that they don't have an english menu, so without brian i wouldn't even have been able to order. (brian lived in korea for a year and therefore speaks some korean). and yesterday, he cooked me a surprise korean dinner, which was very good but also very spicy. it was pancakes with red peppers and scallions, a soy-sauce-sesame-dip, cucumber salad, radish and eggplant. very impressive, expecially since my asian cooking skills don't reach further than the indian subcontinent. we conclude: at least in terms of cooking skills we're a good match!