May 1, 2006
I recently Netflixed George Clooney's homage to Edward R. Murrow, "Good Night and Good Luck". I found the movie to be fascinating, first in it's authentic evocation of the early days of television in the 50's and second, in how real it made the insidious evil of McCarthyism in what I had thought of as a time of less danger and more innocence. I was a very young child then, but I dimly recall that there was some talk about a Senator McCarthy and I do remember this guy Murrow who I thought was really boring compared to Howdy Doody and Kukla Fran and Ollie. Understandable at the age of 6, I guess. Watching this movie, I realized how close our country had come to actually becoming a police state. How ironic that the freedom we had recently finished fighting a long bloody war for had become so threatened in such a short period of time and by such a horrible demagogue. Thank God for the brave souls in the media like Murrow and his staff who were willing to stand up to the man in the face of loss of support from their network, CBS, innuendoes, and outright lies about their past. What a sad shadow of itself the media has become in our own day and age. But back fifty years ago in the youth of television those guys were harbingers of what might happen and the voice of truth. Luckily they prevailed, or we might have a very different society today. I cringe to think of what might have happened. The movie was excellent in all respects. In black and white, as was all television in those days, the sets and the costumes all worked together to put you back in time. The acting was superb. David Strathairn playing Murrow was totally believable and as driven and tightly strung as as Murrow appears in old clips of his programs. Clooney as his producer Fred Friendly had a true fifties beingness and did a superb job. Frank Langella as Bill Paley, President of CBS is truly torn between his desire to support the good guys and the corporate pressure put upon him to keep things cool for the sponsors. All in all this movie is extremely thought provoking. I couldn't help thinking while watching the clips of the real McCarthy, who doesn't appear crazy really, but certainly was, that he was using the power of the media to foster something called "contagion of abberation". This is discussed in the book Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard.
Posted at 09:49 pm by shopper maven
Apr 5, 2006
I joined Curves in July 2004 after having some trouble fitting into my clothes. I didn't think that I was a couch potato, I took a walk every day, on some pretty hilly streets. But that was not doing the job for me. I'd done aerobics and jazzercise and liked them, and I'd gone to gyms and felt sort of self conscious because I didn't exactly have the babe image that my husband seemed to often admire. The biggest problem was finding the time to exercise. The gym took well over an hour out of my day, and although I used to go to the Y after work for aerobics, I wasn't working in that area anymore so that wasn't an option. Then I heard about Curves. I noticed an ad in the local paper and had driven past one or two or these sort of funky looking storefronts. But I liked what I read, (for women only, not only babes, no mirrors, and only 30 minutes out of my day). That last was what convinced me to give it a try. The coupon I had offered 50% off on the start-up fee of $150, and a free month. After that it was $39.99. Not too terribly expensive considering that it was close to my house and I could go as often as I wanted to. So I walked in and talked to the nice ladies. They explained the concept behind Curves to me. This is a combination of resistance training and cardio in alternating segments of I believe 30 seconds each. This is done by having a circuit of approximately 14 machines (this differs depending on the locaion). These machines are hydraulic machines so you don't have to ever change weights, which can be hairy if you don't know what your doing. The more you push or pull, the more the resistance. This allows these machines to be used by everyone from 15 to 90 because they adjust to your strenghth and gradient of workout. Between each machine is a small platform called a recovery station on which you jog, walk, dance, or just sway. This is the cardio portion of the workout. So you alternate with a machine and a recovery station. The idea is to go around the circuit twice without stopping to keep your heart rate up at it's ideal fatburnig level. After the 30 minute workout, there is a stretching routine that enables your body to take the fullest advantage of the workout. There is a soundtrack of music that is just the right beat for working out and it tells you when to change stations. Every 10 minutes the lady telling you to change stations tells you to take your heart rate while she counts off 10 seconds. This is to ensure that you are in fatburning range as defined by a chart on the wall showing your age and the ideal zone to be in. It's very easy to follow and great fun. Hours are from 6:00 A.M. for the off to work crowd to 8 or 9 P.M. for the after putting the kids to bed crowd. The thing that amazed me from the beginning was the varied sizes, shapes and ages of women who show up week after week. There are the babes who look toned and trim, there are the obese who are at least trying to do something about their problem and there are the elderly ladies who are amazingly spry, and some who aren't but who are doing their exercise nonetheless. All ages, sizes, colors, and shapes. All women who are getting their exercise and having a good time making friends. There are incentives for showing up at least 3 times a week, games, prizes, and the joy of meeting some really nice people. I recently got my Elite Member tee shirt for having passed the 200th visit mark. Did I lose a lot of weight? No. But my clothese fit me much better. I am a size down. and I feel much fitter. I don't need a midafternoon nap. I've recommended Curves to all of my friends and everyone is in agreement. This is not the place to go if you want to become a babe. But it is definitely the place to go to lose inches, pounds, and to gain friends and feel energetic. Highly recommended! Posted at 04:08 pm by shopper maven
Apr 4, 2006
This doesn't have much to do with shopping unless it is the hope that an inmate in a California prison may some day have the opportunity to go out on the street and shop to his or her heart's content. I have had the privilege and good fortune to be involved with an organization that enables men and women who have made mistakes and ended up incarcerated to have that opportunity. It is called Criminon.
Criminon (which means “no crime”) is an international non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to addressing the causes of criminality and through effective drug detoxification, education and common sense programs restore the criminal’s self-respect thus making them responsible for their actions so that they may become ethical and productive citizens.
Criminon utilizes the research discoveries made by American author and humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard, who personally worked as a Special Officer for the Los Angeles Police Department in the late 1940’s. Mr. Hubbard discovered that every criminal career began with a loss of self-respect. When man could not longer trust himself, only then did he become a real threat to society. (www.criminon.org.)
Based on this concept the purpose of Criminon is to restore self respect to criminals. This is done through an extension course based on The Way To Happiness, a secular moral code based wholly on common sense. It was written by L.Ron Hubbard as an individual work to aid mankind and is not part of any religious doctrine. You can find out more about the book at www.twth.org.
Criminon sends a copy of the book along with course materials to inmates who request the course free of charge. They do the lessons in their spare time and send them to a volunteer supervisor (I am one of many around the world) who then grades them and sends them back to him with the grade and usually a letter encouraging the inmate to continue. Often it is necessary to request corrections and clarifications as the whole idea is for the inmate to thoroughly duplicate the data in the course. I have been involved in supervising these students for the last nine years and have seen many of them change letter to letter, and lesson to lesson. The Way To Happiness course truly does enable them to make changes in their values, attitudes and outlook on life. They become less angry and are more willing to communicate with others including their supervisor. I have had many students over the years, some of them lifers and some hoping to be paroled. Last week I got a lesson with a new address on it from one of my guys. He had been released and was continuing his lessons at home. I was so happy for him.
In the last nine years due to the existence of Criminon, I have grown as a person, more tolerant and aware thanks to my interaction with my students. They have grown, as well, becoming more tolerant and patient. Some of them ended off on gang activity in prison and started to learn a trade and do college courses. And Criminon has also grown. There are now Criminon chapters in many parts of the world, including South Africa, Germany, Hungary, France, the UK and Mexico.
I feel that Criminon is a very sane and practical way to fight crime. In my small way I believe I am making a contribution to that battle. We're not stopping criminals we're turning them into moral citizens who want to contribute to society. Posted at 02:27 pm by shopper maven
Sep 23, 2005
Back in the late sixties there was an innovative and extremely original TV series called The Prisoner starring the excellent english actor Patrick McGoohan. The show lasted only one season but it has a large following as a cult classic even today. I recently found it on Netflix (I adore Netflix, but more on that later) and got my DVD containing the first episode. I remember the show well as it fascinated and, I must admit scared me a bit, while giving me a lot of food for thought. (There are many interpretations of the story and it's content). When I originally saw the show, it was in black and white, as color TV's were not wide spread then. Turns out that the show was actually in gorgeous, often psychadelic color that comes across with a bang on the DVD. If you saw it, you may remember that The Prisoner, whose name you never find out, he is always known as #6, is a disgruntled undercover agent for some unknown government (most likely Great Britain) who immediately upon resigning from his post, is kidnapped by the other side, and ends up in a place called The Village from which there appears to be no escape. The Village is a lovely self sufficient seaside Englishlooking resort town where everyone lives in great comfort and all is taken care of for them. The only catch is that they can't leave. should they try to leave they are followed and prevented from doing so by what looks like a big white balloon. The balloon (I believe he is called Rover) seems to always be there and overtakes the malcontent encircling and sort of enveloping the victim with some sort of terrible painful sensory experience as the victim screams in terror. (Reminds me a little of J.K. Rowling's dementors). The other catch is that you are never alone. That is to say, there is always someone watching your every move. There are cameras all over the Village. (Shades of Farenheit 451). These are monitored by a staff in a huge control room where TV cameras are swinging around scanning the entire perimeter and interior of the Village several times a minute. The Prisoner is a lot more sophisticated in it's technology than other science fiction of the day such as the original Star Trek. It is very British, but quite enthralling. #6 spends his time trying to find out how he got there and how he can escape. His nemisis is #2 whose mission it is to find out what the ex-agent knows. He would like to find it out by being nice to the guy, but if he doesn't cooperate he is not averse to some major mind control via drugs, electric shock, brain washing, etc. In each new episode there is a new #2 as the one in the previous episode would have failed (obviously) as #6 is still fighting. When they fail the #2 disappears mysteriously in ignominy, perhaps to be fed to the sharks, or maybe Rover. #6 is way too smart for them and always manages to foil his oppressors but never quite manages to escape in the episode you are watching. During each episode he runs across varied and sundry other characters from beatiful women to strange characters and interacts with them to get them to help him to escape. The musical score is very good, quite 60's jazzy, a bit Mission Impossible like. It adds a lot to the show.
This 40 year old show is most important and ahead of it's time in that it is very anti-all knowing government, anti-psychiatry and pro-individual. The protagonist is fighting for his indivuality not just his life. He wants his privacy. He wants his right to decide. He will not be broken. During the first episode he yells at #2, "I am not a number, I am a person!" The writers were certainly concerned about the direction our society was taking at that time and this concern perhaps, is even more very timely today. This landmark TV show is a paeon to the individual and his power to choose his own determinism. It sends a powerful message and a riveting TV experience. I am looking forward to my next episode even though I have seen them all many times. Posted at 10:21 pm by shopper maven
Jul 29, 2005
Seems that Abercrombie and Fitch (way too rich for my shopper maven blood and not recommended for any true bargain hunter) have taken to selling T-shirts ridiculing my religion, Scientology. Now I realize that we live in a screwy world, but this is simply not acceptable. If you're going to make fun of something you really ought to know what the hell it is about. Otherwise you are really making an ass of yourself. In our politically correct environment, this is a very bad move on the part of A & F. Would they sell a T-Shirt ridiculing Catholicism? or Judaism, or Buddhism, or for that matter even Mormonism? I doubt it. But because Tom Cruise has the guts to get out there and make his opinions about psychiatry (go to www.cchr.org to find out how evil that branch of pseudo medicine really is) known in a big way, the ridicule and abuse from uninformed jokers starts flowing like a river. Perhaps Mr. Abercrombie and Mr. Fitch didn't hear about the enormous contribution that Scientology Volunteer Ministers made to the rescue effort after 9/11. Perhaps they didn't see the praise and thanks which flowed in from the firefighters and rescue workers. Perhaps they don't realize that Mr. Cruise has paid for a de-toxification project for firefighters who were stricken with severe health problems due to their exposure to toxic materials during the days following 9/11. This project has helped hundreds of heroes and is run using the technology of L. Ron Hubbard the founder of the Scientology religion. Maybe they don't know that hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers travelled to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Tsunami to aid the devastated population there with the Assist techniques of Mr. Hubbard and with their own tireless efforts to organize and aid the people there and in other stricken countries. Abercrombie and Fitch are so busy selling enormously overpriced gadgets and geegaws to affluent idiots who are only interested in themselves, that they would never have taken the time to find out if Scientology should be respected rather than ridiculed.
My Shopper Maven suggestion is to steer clear of this overpriced, anti-religious emporium and tell your friends to stay away as well. Any company that sinks so low as to market anti-religious slogans of any kind does not deserve our support. Posted at 03:48 pm by shopper maven
Sep 24, 2004
What about those Dodgers?
When I was a kid back in the fifties and sixties I loved to watch the World Series. I lived in Long Beach NY and the city of New York had three teams at that time. The New York Yankees, the Giants (up in the Bronx) and the Brooklyn Dodgers. I sort of divided my loyalty between them, they were all pretty cool. It was a golden age of baseball and I would plead illness to stay home and watch the Series. Sometimes, I was able to prevail, sometimes not. In any case, only the Yankees remain there today, the Giants and Dodgers, both having made the journey west to California, as did I. I wasn't athletic at all, I was much more of a geek, although an artistic one, but I knew the names of all the players. I think I actually had a baseball card collection at one time. Mickey Mantle, Don Dreisdale, Yogi Berra, I loved them all. I can still hear the Gillette theme as if it was yesterday. But those days are gone. Today, the Dodgers are right here in L.A. and the Giants are big rivals from San Francisco. It looks like they may come to blows in the playoffs and maybe the Series, oh. joy! I have gotten hooked all over again with the Dodgers. They are my guys, my baseball family. I yell at them, cheer them on, laugh at their antics and thoroughly enjoy it when they are winning. I have trouble watching when they are losing. The other night things were going so badly against the Padres that I had to turn them off. It was just too pathetic. But tonight they played a stunning game against the Giants. Barry Bonds notwithstanding. It was very much a cliffhanger up to the last pitch by our hero Eric Gagne, the great saver himself. The score was 3 to 2, the Giants had the bases loaded and 2 outs. How exciting could you get? Bonds had been intentionally walked. The crowd in San Francisco was hysterical. Eric prevailed and I cheered and all was as it should be. It's funny how excited people get about sports. Now I understand it. Baseball is still the Great American Pastime. It's an awful lot better than those rotten reality shows and the violent CSI's and other crime shows. If more people were watching baseball our country would be a lot more entertained, and a lot less crazy. At least, that's my opinion.
Posted at 11:02 pm by shopper maven
Aug 25, 2004
Inn of The Spanish Garden - Day one
We recently took a trip to Santa Barbara for our anniversary. Since both of our cars are aging BMW's we decided to rent an auto to drive up there, and why not a convertible, just for the hell of it? So we went to Avis and rented a silver Chrysler convertible. Never having driven one I had no idea of what to expect. We left around noon on Monday and took the coast route, (no freeways for us). What a blast!. We were living the California life, driving on PCH in our convertible, with the top down and the sun warming our skin. The only problem with the convertible is that you get a lot of glare from the sun even with sunglasses. A baseball cap is definitely necessary, so we stopped and bought one at Nordstrom Rack in Oxnard, along with a few other goodies which I couldn't pass up. Highway 1 turns into the Freeway for awhile there, but they are widening it, and the detour signs are designed to confuse you, so it took us an extra long time to get back on the road. Finally, we reached Montecito, where we stopped at Starbucks for a pitstop. Then, on to our hotel, the Inn of The Spanish Garden. Although we have been to Santa Barbara many times, (my husband actually grew up there, the lucky bloke!, I was tired of our old favorites and wanted to find someplace special to stay for this trip. I found out about this "boutique hotel" on the internet, through the "Trip Advisor" website. It is the top ranked hotel in Santa Barbara, but not the highest priced, and I was very impressed by the many stellar reviews from guests who had stayed there. So I decided to see if I could reserve a room on our chosen dates. We were out of luck for that date, but were able to get resevations the following week which enabled us to combine the anniversary with a birthday celebration, thus saving some money in the long run. The Inn is a new property, only two or three years old, but it is designed to look like a vintage Santa Barbara hotel. With only 23 rooms it is larger than a Bed and Breakfast, but intimate enough to not be touristy. Our room, the Executive King was really smashing! Simple, but elegant, with tall ceilings, a sitting area, comfy King bed, gas fireplace in front of the comfy bed, and an enormous bathroom, with see through shower stall and bathtub built for two. No detail had been ignored. The toiletries were not too perfumy. The linens (Frette) were smooth and cool, and we had a lovely little balcony which overlooked the courtyard and was made quite private by some huge Banana trees whose leaves shielded us from the view of others but still allowed us to look out. The only thing I felt could have been included for the price of $285/night was a welcome bottle of wine This would have been a nice touch and would have made the arrival just a bit more memorable, but I really could not complain about anything else.
So we set out to find a good first night restaurant. The weather was glorious and after perusing the several dining and wining magazines and area restaurant guides, we walked up to State Street to check out a few choices. The Inn is within walking distance of the entire downtown area, but a bit distant from the beach. We settled on The Cafe Buenos Aires, an Argentinian/Brazilian restaurant with a gorgeous patio, candlelight, soft music, and heaters as it does get a bit chilly there at night. This will definitely be one of our regular stops in SB, as it was quite exceptional. They bring a little bowl of Chimichurri (an Argentinian sort of dipping sauce made with garlic, parsley, vinegar, olive oil, and some other spices) and excellent bread to get you started while deciding on drinks or wine. This was already addictive. We proceeded to several appetizers, all excellent, and Charles ordered the Mohecheta, a Brazailian seafood dish with coconut milk sauce which was to die for. My seafood salad on a roasted artichoke was quite beautiful, and the piece de resistance was the flourless chocolate cake which was rich without overwhelmingness. We returned to our room, in excellent spirits, looking forward to the continental breakfast served on the patio which is rumored to include several kinds of quiche and espresso drinks if desired. Stay tuned for day two of our Santa Barbara adventure.
Posted at 10:10 pm by shopper maven
Aug 2, 2004
I do not believe in the Anti Christ, but I do believe in the Anti Squirrel. If there isn't one, I am going to volunteer. Squirrels have become the bane of my existence. They are of the opinion that this is their property and that I am here to provide food for them. I am the farmer of record. I am their mother earth. My tomatoes are their nectar of the gods.
Before I left for Florida in June I had been nurturing my tomatoe plants and they were quite healthy and beautiful. When I returned 5 weeks later, there had already been a good supply of the red globes for my husband and I was looking forward to taking advantage of the crop. Little did I suspect that the squirrel population had other ideas. A few days after Iarrived home I noticed small holes in the nice red ones. Actually they weren't holes they were little round bite marks, the size of a dime or so. The next day I noticed a whole tomato on the ground half eaten and then discarded for other more exciting treats I guess. I had my eye on a beauty which was almost ripe, it just needed another day. The next morning, ----- it was gone! No where to be found,--- the breakfast of an earlier riser than myself. Slowly, the crop which I had been anticipating was disappearing, either by being consumed on the vine, or by being carried away in little tiny paws to a lair where perhaps some young whippersnapper squirrels waited. I began to get peeved. Actually, I started screaming at the little bastards. They just scampered away cheerily.
They cause mischief all over the yard. The more I water my potted plants, the more they dig in the dirt. I don't know if they are checking the pot out for some forgotten nut, or whether they just want to annoy me. In any case, they get the potting soil scattered all over the place and make ugly holes in the soil. The plants have told me that they feel that their roots are threatened and I can certainly understand their concern.
I bought some $17.00 squirrel repellent crystals at the nursery, made of garlic oil and other supposedly unfriendly ingredients. What do you think they did? Had a party and while munching on tomato hor d'eovres tittered about the stupid lady who was wasting her money on such ineffectual solutions.
So, what to do? I saw a recipe for a red pepper and detergent cocktail which might make them think twice. I don't appreciate the fact that I need to spend time concocting something to stymie them. Not only do they steal my tomatoes but they force me to use my valuable time working to repel them. But, what the hell, maybe it will work for a day or two, long enough to harvest the few remaining fruit. In the meantime I have ordered the biggest, baddest, meanest machine I could find on the internet which hopefully will blast their little eardrums to kingdom come with it's high frequency wail and cause them to run and keep running until they have reached Santa Monica and maybe beyond. If you see a squirrel with ear plugs and an expression of terror on his face, you will know that he is escaping from my backyard with only the shirt on his back and what nuts he could carry in his knapsack.
Posted at 08:41 pm by shopper maven
Jul 3, 2004
Recently, I had occasion to fly to Tampa Florida. As I go there often I am always looking for the best flight buy. For awhile it was ATA, a newer discount airline which fly into the Clearwater/St. Petersburg airport. This is a great little airport where you deplane down a flight of stairs onto the Tarmac and walk into the terminal. It always reminds me of the airport in the movie Casablanca, which I believe was filmed at the Burbank airport, another of my favorites. But, alas, ATA's nonstop flight (I always try to fly nonstop, it takes less time and is a lot less worrisome), was no longer nonstop. It required a stop in Chicago or some other non-direct place. And, what's more, the price had doubled. I was not happy with this turn of events so I turned to the various travel sites, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Price Line (my personal favorite, because I love the Bill Shatner/Leonard Nimoy commercials currently running). I knew that the only other nonstop flight to Tampa was Delta, and that without a pretty good advance in the booking it could be expensive. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Delta now has a "discount" spinoff called "Song". The only difference between the Delta Song flight which I took and a regular Delta flight seemed to be that the food (which I can certainly do without) was not included. Instead, they offer food for cash. The cost for the flight was exactly the same as the ATA non direct flight and there was no penalty for booking within a week of the flight. I was able to do this on line, an advantage in not having to wait on the phone for a representative. I could see which seats were available and actually changed my departure date so that I could get the aisle seat I coveted rather than being squashed in the middle seat.
The flight itself was to be highly recommended. The plane has leather seats, and while not as much leg room as the new American planes, it was not too uncomfortable. Each seat has it's own little video screen with Direct TV available as well as music. For another $5.00 you can watch the in flight movie which I spurned as I like movies on the big screen. I watched an A&E movie that turned out to be a good way to spend the time. The menu offered was very impressive. They actually had healthy food! Had it been morning I could have gotten a breakfast burrito but the plane left at 10:00 A.M. so only the lunch choices were available. They had sandwiches, salads, a pasta and various snack plates, like fruit and cheese. It all sounded quite gourmet; a lot better than airport food, and far superior to the slop we have come to expect from airline food. I ordered a vegetarian sandwich with feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. It was huge, and delicious. I couldn't even finish it. The price: $8.00, a bargain for a hungry traveller who is trying to maintain some semblance of nutrition while travelling. I highly recommend this airline. The staff was courteous and helpful and the plane arrived on time with my digestion intact.
Posted at 09:15 am by shopper maven
Jun 3, 2004
The Best Little Sushi House Around
Tokoro opened early in 2003 and has been a favorite of ours ever since. It is a fairly small Japanese restaurant nestled close to a Papa John's Pizza takeout on Fair Oaks in small town South Pasadena. There is another Japanese restaurant in South Pas which has been there for 20 years and which is very popular with the locals. They like it because they have great beer on tap and anyway, it was the only Sushi place around. The only problem was the food was really mediocre, sort of 80's style teriaki chicken, and boring California rolls. So when Tokoro appeared we were pretty stoked. During their first year they have gone through some growing pains but they have been preparing extremely high quality food from the beginning. They specialize in Sushi Rolls and something called Katsu, which is various meats broiled on a skewer. It is the spectacular rolls which we keep returning for. My favorite is the Spider Roll. Doesn't sound good but boy does it taste fine! The Spider roll is made up of soft shell crabs which are fried to a crisp in tempura batter. Some of the crab lies within the rice with cucumbers and possibly avocado and a large piece is left on top of each section. The blend of textures and tastes is truly divine. Another wonderful treat is the Dragon Roll. If you like fresh water eel as they serve it at sushi bars, you will love this roll. Each roll has several layers of yummy ingredients. The Dragon has avocado and crab inside, with broiled eel on the outside. It is a taste treat. Another roll which contains eel is the Catapillar Roll. This one has the avocado on the outside so that when it arrives, it is all bright green on the surface and looks a lot like a real catapillar. It doesn't taste like one (I've never actuallhy had the pleasure of eating a real catapillar), but if they taste anything like this gem, I may start eating them. The Dynamite Roll is a hot roll with scallops and crab meat. It tasted a lot like the Coquille St. Jacques that you get in French restaurants. Very rich and creamy. Another favorite of ours (non roll) is the Spicy Tuna or Salmon salad. This is a huge salad made up of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, slivered carrots, onions, sprouts and many little squares of tuna or salmon sashimi all tossed with a superb spicy dressing. This could be a light lunch in itself and it comes with the ridiculously low price tag of $3.95. A steal! Indeed, the prices here are so reasonable that we have become regulars, dropping in at least once a week. The restaurant itself is very pleasantly decorated, with booths and tables and the ubiquitous Sushi bar. There is a TV located above your head with no sound on, usually turned to a sports event. At the same time they have some music going, which tends to be a bit surrealistic but fun. We havn't sat at the bar yet, but the sushi chefs are always very friendly, so it might be fun next time. All of the staff is extremely polite and friendly. The prices are great here. They have very reasonable lunch specials and you can get away with dinner for two including a large bottle of Kirin for under $40 easily. Last but not least, the have a frequent diners card on which they note how much you spent. After ten meals they give you a gift certificate for 10% of the total. When I got taken there on Mothers Day, my daughter-in-law had a coupon for $30 based on her discount card. You simply can't beat that kind of value nowadays. It is worth the drive from anywhere in the Northeast area to visit Tokoro. Be sure to be hungry, because this is a truly fine food bargain!
Posted at 10:09 pm by shopper maven
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