(E:Terry) and I went to the new Tokyo Shanghai Bistro at 494 elmwood for yesterday for dinner.



They did such a fantastic job with the interior
design. Its hard to even believe it is the same place that was Rice
Paddy. The restaurant has a really extensive menu of Japanese and
Chinese food at really reasonable prices. They also have a sushi bar.

I ordered a piece of Saba (mackerel) sushi as an appetizer which was
delicious, well presented and had the beautiful skin texture I love.
It's hard to find it so pretty and at $2.00 it was a great deal.



Then I had a bowl of wonton soup with three wontons in it for $1.75.



(E:Terry) got c14 mongolism beef for $10.95 and it was freaking
delicious and well presented.



For dinner I ate c17 - seafood in sizling platter. It's described as
"lobster, crabmeat, shrimp, scallops sauteed with broccoli, straw
mushrooms, baby corn, and snow peas in a sizling platter." and cost
$15.95.



While the entree was delicious it had imitation Krab meat not
crabmeat. I feel like there should be a law against that. Imagine if
you ordered steak and got immitation steak. At $15.95 I think they
should either give you the real deal, call it imitation krab in the
desciption or leave it off the menu - it's such a shifty trick. It
made me not order the crab sushi I was going to get because getting
fake crab sushi would have sent me over the edge.

The other place that does that is Guercio's with their crab (krab)
salad in the deli.

The lobster was also overcooked and chewy as though it had been cooked and reheated. However, the scallops and shrimps were delicious. It would have almost just been better without the fake crab and just with more shrimp.

In general, it was great and I would definately go back again, just
don't order anything crab if you expect real crab.

I am very interested in going to lunch there and trying the lunch menu this week one day.

Last week I added an additional canister of protein/ weight gainer to
my diet in hopes of finally getting to 170, ha.



I also worked out everyday at home in the morning and at the gym at night and although I now fit in my size 31 pants again and have some more definition, I gained 0 pounds. It almost seems impossible but I think it's because the stuff has ginseng in it and I am so susceptible to stimulants making me lose weight.



So basically I lost a tiny bit of fat and gained a tiny bit of definition but it was not worth $20 and having to chug an extra thick milkshake per day.

It's kind of crazy. I was hoping it would be the key ingredient to looking like the man in the pic, I guess not.

It seems like everyday that I learn a new skill about reconstructing
parts of the house. Today (e:Jim) gave me a lesson in glass cutting.

I had some old glass in windows I rescued from my parents house when they had new windows installed in the spring. I wish I had kept more.



Although extracting the old glass was a pain, it makes the panels
being replaced reflect the sun the same. New glass doesn't do that.
Plus the whole recycling aspect and that a part of the house I grew up in will now be part of my house.

It so neat to see how each piece of glass was cut. There is a story
in each panel. I couldn't help but wonder why some of them were
replaced before as indicated by the modern glazing points.

The windows we are rehabbing have three types of shapes, two types of triangles and diamonds - none of them are 90 degrees do every cut was tricky.



I think I am now a master glass cutter. The secret it appears to be
using torch oil on the wheel and to press hard on a clean class
surface when cutting.

Then the snap needs to be one single quick snap. I cut twelve
replacement shapes from my parents old windows and still have some old glass leftover.

Afterwards we removed all the remaining glass and putty and sanded all the old paint off. Then (e:Terry) primed with oil paint. Tomorrow we
reglaze, reputty and paint.

For the first time in three years our kitchen sink actually works and
consists of all the same material pipes. I am so happy. In reality
it took us only about 2 hours to cut and fit everything which makes me
so mad considering we had a leaky sink and bucket under there for
three years.

You would think they have the parts to fix this.