Up here in the foothills of the California Sierras, thousands hundreds of miles from the coast, we took a risk for our first Paradise kossacks meet-up and chose the new Japanese Restaurant in town, Ikkyu. None of the Chico kossacks were able to make it...this time.
Standing: Steve, Darryl House, Mrs House (Teri), smileycreek. Sitting: paradise50, chantedor, Shawn
Since good restaurants are so rare in our woods, a few of us had our doubts about this new one...
Paging Caddisfly....your order is ready....
...but it all turned out, as you will see under the piece of pickled ginger...
pNut staked out a table with our sign
None of us had ever met up in real life before, but we made the transition from digital to delicious without a single crash.
stolen from the interwebz
Because we all had lots to celebrate this week!
also stolen from the intertubez
Darryl House was just the gentle soul we thought he would be.
And he talked Mrs house (Teri) into wearing her Gulf Watchers T-Shirt. We discovered that she had taken care of the previous owner of the house we live in.
chantedor
chantedor brought her local friends Steve and Shawn, who she had just introduced to Daily Kos. She and Darryl House who are both old timers brought them up to speed on the site, including the Original Pie War.™ Shawn is a born networker who promised to introduce us to many Democrats any time we're ready for some activism, and Steve recalled fun times taunting Fox News Republicans. Good times!
The restaurant had some truly unusual offerings
stolen from the webz: Got Nemo?
Actually, the sushi was as good as any we'd ever had!
Actual excellent Ikkyu Rainbow roll, by paradise50
Sushi tacos with eggplant taco shell and spiced crab filling.
I can't wait to try one of these on our next visit!
and there's always someone playing with their food
Wasabizilla not Included
We're already making plans for the next meet-up!