California was great. I went over with Eric for the Christmas holiday and we drove up to his cabin in Lake Tahoe. We got a lot of family time in with brothers and cousins, but I would have to say the best part was learning how to ski (and learning that I'm quite good at it)!!!!
There are a number of different resorts up near our cabin, and we mainly skiied at one called Alpine Meadows. Although not one of the newer ones, I would have to say it now holds a special place in my heart, now that I have learned how to ski there! I was able to surpass the green runs and make it down the blues by the second day!
Wildly excited by my progress, Eric thought he'd take me on a difficult blue run at a new resort that he's never skiied at (Eric makes wise decisions). We headed over to Squaw Valley Resort and I skiied the steep blue run. I unknowingly went down the harder parts of the run and was doing great until I had a pretty bad fall. I ended up going way too fast, twisted my knee, and then sat on my binding. I was not a happy camper. (I was also lying on the ground screaming in pain for a good 2 minutes)
So, long story short, to make up for it, Eric decided to make me happy and take me to Mamasake Sushi Bar. (I was pretty much sick of plain, american food and needed some asian in my life!) Quite excited to finally have some asian inspired food, I couldn't wait for lunch!- and I heard that the place was pretty good.....................
Meh. Maybe it's just me, but the west coast is weird. I find that the service there is awful and I dont really understand why. Is it because they are more laid back? Is it because there was no snow and there weren't too many skiiers? But from where I am from, servers can't ignore customers and congregate and have conversations and texting wars...
We got seated at the sushi bar near the back and immediately got ignored for a good 15 minutes. Impatient, dehydrated, starving and in pain, I needed some food/water pronto. We finally got our server and didn't hesitate to put our order in with our drink order in fear that he was going to forget about us again. The menu was pretty simple and short and so it wasn't too hard to choose from.
Eric got the Mama's Basic Sashimi and a Stop Drop and Roll sushi roll while I started with some miso soup then got a shrimp tempura roll and some Basic Salmon Sashimi.
Mama's Basic Sashimi- sliced hamachi with sesame oil, ponzu, and serrano chileMeh. Our sashimi dishes were both fresh (my salmon was pretty good)-Eric's hamachi was flavorful but the serrano chiles were very overpowering. Eric's Stop Drop and Roll sushi roll was basically a very spicy tuna roll, while my shrimp tempura was a plain ol' boring shrimp tempura roll. I would have to say that I started this meal knowing that this wasn't going to be anything special, and the price we were going to pay was going to be wayyyy too much. But I of course, was lucky enough to get a tuna scale stuck in between my teeth that cut my gums!!!
Squaw really does suck.
So it very well could be that I was in a bad mood because I could barely sit down thanks to my fall, but I would have to say that the next time I visit Squaw again (which won't be for a while), I won't be getting my sushi fix from Mamasake.
With a highly overpriced menu and poor service, I would have to say I am going to stroll over to the Fireside Pizza Co. for some good pizza instead.
Hey, at least I learned how to ski?
