After the LMU Engagement Session, Taro and I were super hungry! During photo sessions, my body goes into a crazy mode. I don’t need food or water (unless it is extremely hot) and the weather doesn’t seem to affect me. Actually, if anything, I am just warm. I think it must be the adrenaline, the anxiety, and the anticipation of viewing the photos on a bigger screen. However, once the session is over, I return to a normal state – dying of thirst, famished, and my body temperature has regulated back. We searched for a restaurant and since the session was so close to Santa Monica, we had plenty of options. We chose Jiraffe, which I heard about from my friend, Kris, and Taro and I were both excited to try some place new.
Jiraffe had a nice ambiance to it and I loved that there were giraffes subtlety embedded into the decor. The menu even made me smile because it was the Eiffel Tower turning into a giraffe! We were pretty lucky because when I called the restaurant, they told us that they would have a table ready for us in 25 minutes and by the time we arrived, we didn’t have to wait long. As always, Taro and I share food, which really allows us to try more when we only get one entree. We decided on the ceviche (which was the special of the day), the Purple Peruvian Gnocchi – with rock shrimp, pearl onions, Mandarin tomato concasse, and herb-infused tomato nage, and the osso bucco (another special of the day). To start off the meal, there was an amuse-bouche which was gazpacho. It was actually great because we were considering soup and instead, the gazpacho satisfied us. It was really refreshing and I really enjoyed the bits of croutons and the light tomato base.
Before our ceviche came out, Taro and I had a funny debate over the bread. I said that it was olive bread while he claimed it was raisin bread. In the end, we were both right. It turned out that because the bread looked nearly identical, he had given me an olive one while he had raisin bread. It was really funny just because both of us were so adamant AND confused at how the other could possibly mistaken olive for raisin and vice versa! So after this the ceviche came out and it was very good. I enjoyed the chunks of fish and it just soaked in the lemon/lime. Shortly after the gnocchi and osso bucco came out. The gnocchi was amazing! The texture was soft, but still had some chewiness to it. It was not overdone and the shrimp was also cooked nicely. The osso bucco just came apart with the fork and what I enjoyed most about it was the abundance of vegetables (I love veggies!) with the meat.
To finish off dinner we had a toffee dessert which was sweet, but very good. Overall, we had a great night at Jiraffe after a wonderful session at LMU. I feel like I am living a dream – meeting really nice people from engagement sessions, doing photography which I love, discovering and eating at great restaurants, and best of all, doing it all with Taro.
