Battle Without Honor Or Humanity

Yesterday one of my best friends and I went to his favorite sushi place in Quebec City, Nihon Sushi. I think it is an okay place, but half of the time, I find it disappointing. Their rice varies from night to night. The restaurant is located in one of the city's more upper-class districts. It is not a particularly heavily decorated restaurant, and it lacks a bit for ambience. They lower their prices from Sunday to Thursday and at all times for students. I had an avocado hosomaki, a salmon hosomaki, a butterfish sashimi and a "Soleil levant" (rising sun) maki, which is made with scallop tartare, mango, apple, orange, avocado, lettuce, honey, tobiko and sesame seeds. They also gave me three extra pieces of avocado, which was nice. The next time my friend and I eat there, we will probably share a dish filled with makis chosen by the chef.

The Way You Look Tonight

Yet another old movie. Love with the Proper Stranger, with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen. I had been curious to know what Natalie Wood looked like, because Lorelai Gilmore gets compared to her at one point. Well, Natalie Wood is so beautiful, she literally made me look twice at the screen the first time I saw her. She's got incredible eyes. I think she looks more like Amy Acker than Lauren Graham, though. Steve McQueen is supposed to be the prince of cool or something. Physically, he is not really my type, but he does have some attitude. The movie is about Natalie Wood getting pregnant with Steve McQueen out of wedlock. It gives us a look at Italian inmigrants in New York and at how difficult it must have been to get an abortion in the 60s. We also see gow chaotic Macy's seems to be in that time. I've never been to the one in New York, but as I recall, Macy's is kind of on the down low. The music of the movie is pretty wonderful: I found it really old-timey. Natalie Wood has a crazy breakdown just when she is about to get the abortion. It also gets pretty dramatic in one scene where Natalie Wood invites Steve McQueen to dinner. Just before that scene, there is a weird moment where Natalie Wood tries to cover her cleavage. The end of the movie is pretty cute.

Face aux étoiles

One of my Christmas gifts to F was Enki Bilal's latest, La couleur de l'air (the color of air). It is the last of a trilogy. F later bought the first book, Animal'z. I had already read it before, and I reread it after reading La couleur de l'air. I'll start with Animal'z.

The title of the book is related to a few of the characters who can hybridate themselves with animals using packs of some sort. The technology is the product of Ferdinand Owles' research, one of many characters who are all attempting to find safe haven after a planetary event, the "coup de sang" (blood hit). The hybrids aren't the most interesting characters, though: there is a guy who says mostly interesting quotes from famous people who is involved in some kind of duel and there are also cannibals.

La couleur de l'air reunites the reader with characters from the first two books from the trilogy, Animal'z and Julia et Roem, and new characters appear as well. Since I read La couleur de l'air first and had read Animal'z a while ago, I didn't remember the characters from the first book too well. The end ofthe trilogy is pretty surprising and sends a powerful environmental message. I read a review that said the characters lacked emotion, but I believe it is because they are all on a survival mode.

Bilal's drawings, as usual, are very anatomical, and he still uses a lot of blue. At some points in the third book, there are more colors, and those moments are pretty striking. I will be getting the missing second book soon.

Starlight

Last week F and I decided to get a reservation to that restaurant we had a gift certificate for. We took the reservation for last night. The gift certificate was for the Ciel! restaurant (Sky!). It is the restaurant that took the place of the old turning restaurant of Quebec, ehich had existed for some time. This is the kind of view you can get from the restaurant:

F and I started with a white wine frim St-Sévère, in Quebec. It was surprisingly good, light and refreshing. I then had smoked salmon on a blini with blood pudding sauce. There was a lot of smoked salmon, so that was a definite plus. The blood pudding sauce qas also excellent. It was a bit unexpected with smoked salmon, but it worked well together. The blini was a bit big, though. F had mackerel gravlax: his portion was smaller than mine, and it was a bit too spicy for him. He got to compensate with the next course, though: cheese. It might be unsusal to have cheese as a second course, but oh well, the Gilmores have it with cocktails. (I am rewatching "Gilmore Girls" on Netflix, in case you were wondering.) We told the waitress we would like three pieces of cheese, anything but blue cheese. She didn't tell us what we got, but she said they served a lot of cheese from the Charlevoix area, not too far from Quebec City. The cheese was great, even though we didn't know what we were having, and it was served with beets and candied nuts. I believe there was a bit of ginger in the nuts. We also got warm bread at that point. Some critics say warm bread is a restaurant gimmick, but it is always appreciated. 

By the time we were done with the cheese, we were also done with the wine, so F had a beer from the Sherbrooke area, we believe, and I had a cocktail, the Général Montcalm. It was made with bourbon, maple syrup, lemon juice mint and apple juice. Judging by the ingredients, I thought the cocktail would be pretty similar to the one I had at L'Atelier, except for the apple juice. Well, the apple juice complemented the bourbon nicely. It made the cocktail sweeter, but I could still taste the bourbon. The drink was surprisingly refreshing for a bourbon cocktail.

For the main course, I had wild boar osso buco with beans, kale and orrecchietes, which are round pasta. That dish is usually served with rapinis instead of kale, but the kale was fine. The meat had a pretty strong taste. The sauce was great and tasted of herbs I couldn't manage to identify. There was a bit too much pasta for the amount of meat, but the whole dish was quite a satisfying portion.

After our main courses, F and I were too full for dessert, so that will be for another time. I would perhaps come back there in the day, to have a different view. However, it isn't a restaurant I will be going to regularly, because it was a bit expensive. The rhythm of the service is nice, though, for an evening when you want to take your time. A reservation is probaby essential, because we went there on a Sunday, which is usually a slower night, and there was a good amount of people, especially for a January night, when less people go into restaurants. Perhaps it will be less crowded as  the "new restaurant" factor fades out.

Rock And Roll Music

I watched another old movie recently: Teacher's Pet. It is with Clark Gable and Doris Day. I had only seen Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, and I had never seen Doris Day. Clark Gable makes a lot of funny faces in Teacher's Pet. The movie is a romantic comedy, but it manages to talk about serious topics, such as education and journalism. I enjoyed this movie more than Houseboat.

Almost In Your Arms

I watched Houseboat a few days ago. I like watching old movies, especially ones with Cary Grant. I find him incredibly charming and surprisingly funny. With this movie, though, he didn't have much to work with. The premise of the movie is a bit ridiculous: the character played by Cary Grant, Tom Winters, and his kids decide to move into a guesthouse next to Winters' deceased wife's sister. The guesthouse gets moved around by a truck, and the truck stops right smack in the middle of some train tracks because the truck driver is mesmerized by Sophia Loren's beauty. A train wrecks the guesthouse, and so the Winters family moves into a houseboat. Every character in the movie has a weird tan. The movie is cute enough, but I look forward to some better Cary Grant movies.

All of the Lights

This weekend, I went to L'Atelier for a friend's birthday. It is a restaurant that specializes in cocktails and in fish and meat tartare. I started with a Kentucky Lime, a drink made with Old Forester bourbon, lime, maple syrup and cinnamon bitters. I tried it at first without any lime and it tasted strongly of cinnamon, but once I put some lime in, it became much more enjoyable. I then had tomato and red pepper soup. I love tomato soup, even though some people think eating tomato soup is like eating spaghetti sauce. For my entree, I chose a salmon tartare with lobster oil. I had a choice of fries or salad. I went with the salad, and they gave me a huge portion. The people who had chosen the fries didn't get many of them. The other cocktail I had was made with Beefeater 24 gin, apricot juice, green cardamon, lemon, simple syrup and soda. It was good, but I preferred the Kentucky Lime. I had a fun evening, but in my opinion, the restaurant is a bit too expensive.