Review: Thai Bistro in Des Moines, WA

Down in Des Moines, in one of those "location might suck" kind of corners (everyone coming into the town can see the place, but figuring out how to get there, around triangles, traffic islands and even a roundabout, can be tricky) is an inconspicuous little place called the Thai Bistro. From this unassuming name with an unassuming front, you'd assume it was one of those gazillion or so Thai restaurants that dot the Puget Sound landscape.

You'd be half-right.

Inside, you quickly come into something different: a home that has been converted into a restaurant, but with the architecture intact. It feels nothing like a restaurant. Then the other details hit you: every table has a unique and beautiful tablecloth, and where there aren't 19th century wooden dining chairs, the ordinary black four-footed chairs that would have served you in any diner have been clothed in hand-sewn silk covers that not only hide their ordinariness but give the place a bright, cheerful sheen that will make you smile. Each placing is equally carefully chosen and assembled with exquisite care, ending with a seven-inch decorative... thing... of wrought iron that holds it all down while looking like a cross between godzilla's letter opener and the Kaiser's war helmet.

Omaha ordered the Ocean Surprise, with a Mango Lhassi that she later said was completely up to her standards. I ordered something called the Basket of the Sea. (Des Moines is an old fishing boat harbor, now turned over to wealthy people with enough money to buy yachts, but not enough intelligence to live with them sanely.)

The Ocean Surprise consisted of scallops, shrimp, wontons, leechee, avocado and mango in a green curry that was utterly delicious. Everything was cooked perfectly. The Basket of the Sea was a surprise: on oven-baked husk of aluminum foil, inside of which I found mussels, shrimp, scallops, squid, with basil leaves and spinach in a red curry paste so thick it was almost grainy, and so soft it melted to satin when it touched my tongue. With a side of jasmine rice, both meals were delightful. I haven't had red curry like that before, and I will definitely have it again.

There is a family altar along one wall, typical in Thai restaurants, and the kitschiness of it (plastic pumpkins from the recently passed Halloween flickered with LED's next to hand-blown glass vases with flowers) made the rest of the place seem elegant and delightful. The food was fabulous and the ambience extraordinary. It was a momentary transport to another world, and I recommend it.

Sea-Tac's eminent domain battles

The city of Tukwila, which is right next door to Burien, is apparently going through an eminent domain spasm as the city and Sea-Tac airport battle with landowners as to whether most of the main drag through town, International Boulevard, should be turned into one giant parking lot for the county's flying public. I'm not sure what's going on, myself, but it seems to be that some people want to delay the building of more parking structures (a wise decision on the grounds that the county just spent hundreds of millions putting in a light rail line from the city to the airport), others want more vertical parking for higher density (also wise, since space near the airport is rarely residential), and landowners and dealers want to just pave as much as they can and charge automobile owners rent on the ground (unwise, but way cheap, and capable of the fastest ROI).

The biggest issue appears to be the city's arbitrary seziure by eminent domain of a family parking lot that the city wants to use to support a light rail station that has no space for a park-and-ride lot of its own. Despite my assertion that the existing premise is "unwise," this definitely has the feel of an abuse of eminent domain, far out of line with its intended purpose. It is being used for a public utility. If I had to vote on this one, I wouldn't side with the city. The case seems weak.

Best review of Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" yet!

From the Wizards of the Coast's Off Topic Tavern:

All Going Rogue is is some woman whining about how everyone in her party wouldn't let her make any decisions, about how something called a Couric made her look like a complete idiot (I couldn't find it in the monster manual but, I'm guessing it must be like a Sphinx), and how her group leader McCain wouldn't let her be rogue enough.

Well, I don't even know where to start addressing this stuff. She doesn't even have any daggers! I mean, that's hardly the group leader's fault! She should have loaded out before the quest started!

Plus, on every single page she bemoans her 8 INT build and blames her horrible playing on everyone else! It's her fault for putting all her stat points into CHA!

(Disclaimer: I haven't read the book, and probably won't have a chance until the library gets it and the queue dies down.)

P.S.: The link comes with an illustration of Sarah Palin as a rogue in a leather bikini. In case you needed a reason.

News on the Neuromancer Front

Hmm. Sasha Grey as Case?

I can see it.

Saccadascopoeia

Saccadascopoeia

This is one of my favorite public art installations. It's in the Seattle Bus Tunnel underneath Benaroya Hall, the city's main symphony hall. It's a black wall with vertical strips of LED's that flicker, seemingly at random.

For years, when I walked past it, I thought it was trying to tell me something. The name wasn't enough of a giveaway, although I know what the saccades are, "quick, simultaneous movements of both eyes in the same direction." What we see isn't what's coming in through the eye, but a mosaic of millisecond-by-millisecond images collected as the eye flickers back and forth.

I finally figured it out. Images are being dragged across the narrow vertical strip. If you move your eyes horizontally fast enough, you can see the images.

You can simulate the effect with a camera.

( Today's images would make PZ Myers smile. )