An Indonesian in Mississippi. Not as catchy as "An Englishman in New York"
Appetite for Jackson
We made it to Appetite for Jackson after all, and I’m glad we did. Fun event that can be completely free if one so chooses, good food and music, a celebrity appearance, and a warm (by winter standards), beautiful day–what’s not to like?
Ciao Bella--a hidden treasure
I’ve got a healthy backlog of food places and family stuff to post about, which is very much par for the course, but I thought I’d go ahead and get this post about Ciao Bella written up while the memory is still fresh. As a new business I think they’re doing a great job and deserve as much good pub as they can get.
“Why do you have a picture of Piccadilly as the lead photo for a post about Ciao Bella?” you ask? I don’t really. See that door with “6B” above it and a white rectangular sign with the Italian flag on it? That’s the door to Ciao Bella. They’re painfully aware of the lack of signage and are working on getting a sign. I post this picture in case they still don’t have a sign and you’re having as hard a time finding the place as I did. I ended up going elsewhere the first time I tried visiting after I had driven 4-5 times around the Lefleur’s Gallery parking lot looking for it and couldn’t get anybody on the phone. Turns out I was calling the catering number and not the restaurant number, duh. Called the right number, they told me where to go, problem solved. » Continue Reading…
China Express Restaurant at closing time
Score another local find for Denise. A couple months ago she noticed that China Express Restaurant had taken up residence in the old location of the by-then-defunct Euphoria Smoothies and said that some Asian folks were eating in there. I remember her saying that but for some reason it didn’t register in my consciousness that this could be the first solid Chinese place in Clinton, so we didn’t go until recently after being reminded of its existence by a friend from church (thanks, James!). Maybe the name made me dismiss it right off the bat, but whatever the reasoning at the time I was sorely mistaken. Oh, China Express… please forgive me for neglecting you. I prone myself before you both begging for mercy and basking in your magnificence, for you are truly a marvelous restaurant–to my knowledge the first and only authentic Chinese restaurant in Clinton.
Moon cakes inna bag
I have to admit, despite being of ethnic Chinese background I’m very nominally Chinese. I speak and understand very little Mandarin and am almost entirely illiterate, and I don’t observe most of the customs and holidays. About the only thing I’m very Chinese about is food, and I crave moon cakes at least once a year. Problem is that they’re served on and around the Mid-Autumn Festival, which because of the lunar calendar upon which it is based the date always changes. As a result I’m always craving moon cake when none are available.
Fortuitously, because Denise signed us up to be a host family for a foreign student this year and we are hosting a student from China, this time around the Mid-Autumn Festival came up in conversation a day before it was to happen and as a consequence I was able to pick up some moon cakes before I missed them again. Thanks, Samuel! Yes, he got some too, entirely by serendipitous way of my own selfish craving.
Bed bug
Mischief
Tiger Roll and Tsunami Roll at Edo
Just a quick public service announcement reminding everyone that Edo is still the best sushi restaurant in Jackson.
Sofia's sushi
Sofia and her chipmunk cheeks agree.
Denise feeding Penelope Chicken Teriyaki
So would Penelope if she had sushi. Not quite ready for that yet, so she had Chicken Teriyaki instead.
Sofia's first sparkler
I’m late as usual, but happy 4th of July. Hope you had a great long weekend. We went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a couple days (more on that in the coming days) and came back in time for the 4th. We thought we would catch the fireworks here in Clinton on the 4th but they did them on the 2nd instead. Lolwut???
Sofia got to play with her first sparkler, which she enjoyed immensely. We also got a few other tame fireworks to play with, all of which were a big hit with Sofia and Penelope.
Going to town on a fruit bar
And of course there’s gotta be something food related. Saw these Edy’s fruit bars on sale at Kroger so I picked up a box. We got the non-Splenda sweetened Lime, Strawberry, and Wildberry assorted flavors. Sofia is pictured here gnawing on a strawberry one. They’re so good–made with real fruit. The lime is refreshingly sour, and the strawberry tastes oh so strawberry-y. Definitely getting the bigger ones soon (we tried the small ones this time).
E-P3 black no lens with pop-up flash
As anticipated, the Olympus E-P3 was announced today. They also announced the E-PM1 and E-PL3 (“Mini” and “Light”), which aren’t as interesting to me due to lack of physical controls–much more touchscreen oriented. Among the E-P3′s headliner improvements over the E-P2:
Compared to the E-P1 you can also add the accessory connector to allow use of the very nice VF-2 electronic viewfinder. So on paper it ticks all the boxes in terms of what I was looking for in an upgrade to the E-P1. For me the big question marks are:
Pending answers to those questions, I’ll start drooling from now until I can try one out in the store. You hear me, Deville Camera? You’d better stock some of these, and soon!
Second but just as exciting are the new 12mm f/2 (24mm equivalent) and 45mm f/1.8 (90mm equivalent) lenses. These lenses are ones that many Micro 4/3 users have been clamoring for since the beginning–the 12mm because it’s a high grade lens with a beautifully made metal barrel (and I’m assuming stellar image quality too), and the 45mm because it’s the first lens to fill the common portrait focal length and aperture. 24mm equivalent isn’t a focal length I use much, but if the 12mm lens is great and can also be used for silent and quick AF during video I might have to retrain myself on it. The 45mm lens I’m more immediately excited about since I’m familiar with the short telephoto focal length and have some good uses in mind for it. Both of them look to be terrific additions to the Micro 4/3 family.
E-P1 family portrait
So I’ve been rolling with the Olympus E-P1 for 2 years now–time sure does fly. I’ve used it and discovered its various joys and flaws along the way, so I figured I’d share a few thoughts from having used it and the Micro 4/3 system for the past couple of years. » Continue Reading…