I went from zero interest in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a King (wow, long title) last week to buying it last night and having to tear myself away from the game to go to bed.

When I first read about the game, I thought, “Ho hum, Wii-Ware. It’s going to be a low budget Final Fantasy game.” And then when I heard that it was a simulation game and you didn’t actually get to control the adventurers who were out fighting, I thought, “This sounds really boring. Even compared to FFXII.”

But as I read more and more about it on the forums after it came out, I knew I had to get it. I’ve played my fair share of Sim City and even The Sims, but this simulation game is even more addictive than those games.

I like that My Life As a King gives you a different perspective on the Final Fantasy universe. Instead of setting off with a band of adventurers on an epic journey to save the world, you stay in your kingdom and take care of the economic side of things as well as facilitate your adventurers by researching better weapons and items.

It’s hard not to get attached to the adventurers and worry about then when I send them out to fight a boss several evels higher than they are. I try to be a good king and meet them at the kingdom gates before they depart on their daily adventures just so I can talk to them and boost their morale. I feel bad when one of them slips through while I’m not looking and I couldn’t give them any words of encouragement. Sometimes I feel guilty when I read about them getting KOed in the morning reports.

I was surprised at how detailed the adventure log in the morning reports are. You can read about every monster encounter each adventurer has, how many hp they have left, and what skills they used.

The best part about the game is that it only costs $15. The production factors alone (especially the graphics) make it well worth the gil.

Dr. Pepper Lipsmacker lip balm Originally uploaded by vpasson

I’m not much of a make up girl so I don’t really have a routine in the morning but one thing I have to have with me all the time is Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker.

I love lip balm and chapstick in general, but I especially love this one. It glides on smooth, has a hint of color, and smells like Dr. Pepper.

Unfortunately, because I bring this everywhere I go, I end up losing it a lot. I think I’m on my third stick this year. Sometimes I get paranoid and wonder if I should buy 10 of these just in case they every discontinue this flavor.

Dinner tonight was pan roasted asparagus soup with fresh tarragon courtesy of Bittman’s recipe. It was easy to make, consisted of only 3 ingredients, and delicious at the same time. This will definitely be a repeat soup. I think it might even taste good cold.

I also baked some focaccia to along with the soup. I kind of winged the recipes again and this time the dough was pretty wet. I think I need to put more olive oil over the top because it was a bit dry after I took it out of the oven. Nonetheless, the thyme, garlic, and fresh rosemary I sprinkled on top still made it delicious.

I had dinner at Musha, an izakaya in Santa Monica, recently and wanted to highlight some or our favorites on the menu. The place is small and gets pretty crowded at night so we made a reservation a day or so beforehand just so we didn’t have to wait thirty to sixty minutes for a table. Some of the food is definitely worth the wait, but they have a very small waiting area so it’s nice just getting there and getting seated right away.



The pure tofu (vegan if you don’t put in bonito flakes) is something we always order. Its their home made tofu, which has a cottage cheese-like texture with some seasoning on the side: chives, sea salt, fresh grated ginger, and their special soy sauce. It’s rich, creamy, and the vegan boyfriend says that it reminds him of cottage cheese.

I also had the Butakim, which was pork belly sauteed with kim chi. The pork belly was tender, flavorful thanks to the kimchi, and delicious. This was the first time I had it and I’ll definitely order it again. The dallop of kewpie mayonaise on the side was a nice touch and added even more richness to the dish.

As a carb dish, I ordered the spicy fried rice. I forgot what it was called on the menu, but it’s in the rice section and the description said something about ground pork. It was decent, but I make better fried rice at home.

One of their specials was the rapini, which I think is under their menu as “rape blossoms”. They’re tasty and tender, but I think the price is a bit high for the portion you get.

Something we order everytime we go there is their stone pot rice. It’s rice mixed with preserved salty vegetables and some mountain vegetables all cooked in a stone pot. The stone pot makes the rice crunchy if you leave some in it for a few minutes after they bring it. Protip: ask for a cup of hot tea after you empty the pot and then pour the hot tea into the stone pot and drink it. Delicious!

Lastly, I have my favorite dish: aburi saba. It’s marinated mackerel that the server will scorch with a blow torch right at your table. Despite the cool-factor of a small hand-held blow torch, the marinated mackerel makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I think this time, it was even served with a side of real wasabi.

Musha’s a great place to go as long as you don’t have to wait too long for a table. They have some decent sake and the usual Japanese beers and even though it’s loud in there, I wouldn’t mind it if a date brought me there.

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Musha
424 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 576-6330

After hearing Trevor Corson speak on the radio about sushi, I picked up his book because I wanted to learn more about one of my favorite foods. The Zen of Fish follows a new student through a sushi course at the California Sushi Academy. Mixed in with the story of the student and her classmates are historical facts and other information about things related to sushi such as fish, knives, rice, and etiquette.

While I was reading the book, I couldn’t help feeling annoyed by the passages about Kate, the student going through the school. She’s inept, clumsy, ditzy, and just not that interesting. I was more interested in the actual tidbits of information about sushi than Kate’s classes.

I would have rated this book higher if it only contained the informational passages about the Japanese cuisine. Those parts were interesting and worth reading for anyone who likes sushi, but the other parts felt like a waste of time. Corson might have been trying to get readers to relate to Kate, but he would have been more successful if he had chosen a stronger student from the class to follow.