Happy and not-so happy hours on the Peninsula

Last week, I was felled by food poisoning from my favorite restaurant in Sunnyvale.  I am hopeful that it was bad shrimp  (which can happen to any kitchen) and not poor food-handling.  However, we threw out our leftover lamb and pumpkin, just in case.  So this will be a shorter food post. 

Brian worked in Palo Alto last week, so we checked out some happy hour spots on the Peninsula.  The first place we tried was the Fish Market on El Camino Real near Portage.  If you order before 6:30pm, you can feast like royalty on 95 cent oysters, $2.95 garlic cheese bread, $3.95 grilled shrimp, and $3.95 mahi mahi sliders.  I liked everything but especially enjoyed the sliders with pickled ginger and wasabi mayo. Each order comes with two hefty sliders and Asian slaw.  Add a cocktail, and that could be enough dinner for me!  Brian wasn't as enamored of the wasabi mayo (just get it on the side) and preferred the extremely tasty grilled cilantro shrimp.  We ended up with waaay too much food, but it was so inexpensive....we didn't care!  The Fish Market is conveniently located near Fry's Electronics, (perhaps a ploy on Brian's part?) and we walked over after dinner to get our geek on.

My next recommendation is Xanh restaurant on Castro Street in Mountain View.  We were introduced to Xanh a few  years ago by our friends, David and Christine, and we have been eating here ever since. We had only eaten dinner here before and discovered that Xanh has a great happy hour menu too.  All of the HH food before 6:30pm is $4.00, which must be the magical price everywhere. You can get:  three types of satay, three different fresh rolls (tofu, shrimp, or kobe beef), papaya salad, and garlic noodles.  I may be forgetting something.  I was pleasantly surprised by the ample choices.  Their food is always yummy, so you can't go wrong.  We have tried everything except the papaya salad, because we ALWAYS get the Xanh salad.  And so should you, if you like beef!  It is my favorite dish on their menu.  It is a tower of mixed greens, beef, apples, avocado, mango, and huge slabs of won ton crackers. 

I tried to savor it as long as I could, but I finished Stieg Larsson's The Girl who Played with Fire.  It's a very taut kickass thriller and escapist fun.  I liked it even better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I am bereft until The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is released in May.....unless I can get a copy from the UK before then!!!  Very tragic story about Larsson and his partner of 30 years, Eva Gabrielsson. Check it out, if you love the books. 

I saw Sherlock Holmes at the movies yesterday.  It was fun and entertaining, and yet, NOT Sherlock Holmes.  Even though I think very highly of Robert Downey Jr. as an actor, I was never convinced that he was Holmes.  Or that beautiful Jude Law was Dr. Watson.  Holmes will forever be embodied by the late, great Jeremy Brett.  When I watched Brett on screen, he brought Doyle's pages to life.  Rachel McAdams was feisty and less problematic as Irene Adler. (probably because I had only seen Scandal in Bohemia once and was less invested in her as a character.  Unless you count Kim Dickens as Gloria Sullivan in the much under-appreciated 1998 film,  Zero Effect.  If you haven't seen it, rent it!)  Overall, the cast of Sherlock Holmes is good, but the modern reinvention is not as good as its performers.  Another Guy Ritchie film that's worth a matinée though.

Random thought:  Have you ever really thought about what Plugra translates into?  I mean, besides some of the most delicious butter you've ever tasted...and an expanded waistline and higher cholesterol.  Plu or plus is more.  Gra or gras is fat.  Those Dairy Farmers of America know what they're talking about!