Well, dear readers, I finally had a good meal, thanks to Kabuki, the restaurant and not the Japanese theater style. Of course, my original attempt to have Kabuki was a disaster due to getting someone else’s order and then not being able to reorder because the lunch special’s time had expired. So, yesterday was the day. I had it in my DoorDash cart and ready to go. Kabuki isn’t cheap – it’s not that expensive either, but with fees and tip it was a nice chunk of change due to the distance. But I had a big credit built up, so it only cost me ten bucks. And while they estimate an hour it actually go here in forty minutes. I ordered the Ninja lunch special, fried Ninja in a Ninja costume – I’m kidding. The Ninja special is a great deal – chicken teriyaki, white rice, miso soup, salad, mixed tempura, and three pieces of California Roll. I also ordered the chicken hibachi rice, so I’d have something for later. Obviously, the lunch portions are smaller. The only thing they didn’t get right in the order was not including the extra teriyaki sauce, but there was plenty so that wasn’t a problem. I don’t really care for the miso soup, the Kabuki’s is very good so I had three small sips of it. I didn’t touch the salad as I don’t like that kind of dressing. The first thing I had was one piece of the California Roll and I have to say it was hands down the best California Roll I’ve ever had. Then I had a couple of pieces of the tempura – fresh and great. Then I moved on to the chicken teriyaki and that was also fresh and great. I ate everything all up except for the white rice – I only had a tiny bit of that. So, what a pleasure it was to have a properly prepared meal with all fresh and tasty ingredients. The Hollywood location was one of my favorites – to dine before seeing a show at the Pantages. I’d get there at four-thirty or five, park in the lot next to the Huntington Hartford (I’ll NEVER EVER call it the Montalban), walk a block south and have my meal at Kabuki – instead of the hibachi rice I’d have the fried chicken nuggets appetizer there, and that was amazing. I’d end up taking home most of that. Then I’d walk to Amoeba and peruse, then at seven-thirty I’d walk back to the theater. It was a sad day when it closed – I think it was just before the pandemic, actually.
Later, I had the hibachi rice and that was excellent and not too much, just the right amount. I also watched the first forty minutes of a movie I’ve always wanted to see, The Running Man, with Laurence Harvey and Lee Remick, because basically I could watch anything with the latter and she looks so beautiful in this movie, photographed by the amazing Australian/British cameraman, Robert Krasker (Olivier’s Henry V, and a few other little known movies like Odd Man Out, The Third Man, Brief Encounter, Trapeze, El Cid, Billy Budd, The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Collector, you know, stuff like that). The director was Carol Reed (Krasker shot most of Reed’s classic films – The Running Man was two movies prior to Oliver). I’m enjoying it so far – hard to see where it’s going at this point, but I’ll stick with it. Alan Bates is the other star. A 1963 film, Columbia clearly thought it was old-fashioned even then and tricked it out with Maurice Binder (the Bond films) main titles and they brough in Ron Grainer to compose main title music that was “hip” even though it’s the only time you hear that music and the rest of the score is by Reed regular William Alwyn, of whom I’m a big fan.
Yesterday was okay. I slept a bit under eight hours, got up, answered e-mails, tended to some things that needed tending, ate, and after I had the hibachi rice I got in bed and took a three-hour nap. I got up, wrote three pages on the project with David Wechter, which means I’ll be done with my sequence in about three pages, so that’s good. Then I began watching the movie and now I am writing these here notes and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll write, I’ll eat, I may go to Ralph’s for some Diet Coke and a few other necessaries (I may just get food there rather than order out or pick up), and then I’ll just watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is, of course, Thanksgiving, so I’ll sleep until noon o’clock or thereabouts, then get ready and join dear reader Jeanne for a Mexican Thanksgiving dinner over by her. I think that happens fairly early in the day, like two-thirty. Once I get back home, then I’ll just take it easy. Friday, we convene at the theater at two-thirty to have either a line-through or a walk-through of the show, and I’ll see how the new staging of Do We feels. I do know it’s a hundred times better than it was. Then I’ll probably dine with the Pearls, then I’ll probably stay and see the show. Saturday we play again, and then we do the Sunday matinee and I’m happy to say that Richard Sherman and company are coming.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, write, eat, maybe go to Ralph’s, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that Kabuki came to the resuce.