I feel kinda lame. Not as much time for posting this month as I had hoped. Sorry.

But look at this sandwich:

I definitely had time to eat this sandwich. Drunken chicken with pickled daikon and truffle fries, washed down with a glass of Argiolas Serra Lori Rosato. Courtesy of the most excellent Baguette Box on Capital Hill. Something about Italian roses, they make everything taste better. (And this sandwich is already kick ass.) Zippy, unripe strawberry fruit, with a bit of lemony freshness in aroma and taste, this wine has a pretty complex nose when it warms up a bit–like fragrant underbrush. If I may geek out on you for a moment: this wine smells similar to this Corsican honey I tried last week (more on that later). I know rose is a summer thing, but in Seattle, we’ve got a long grey winter to push through. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and pretend. And this wine gives good daydream.

But about this sanwich. OK, not just this sandwich, but every sandwich I’ve had at this place. Delicious and different. Lemongrass marinated flank steak is my new crack; they always have a pork loin with amazing seasonal compote. They do a sick vietnamese stew and the creamiest, dreamiest potato gruyere soup in town. And the superb, afformentioned truffle fries, seasoned with this Italian truffle salt from one of my favorite food nerd/importers, Ritrovo. Check em out.

Syriana - It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s a solidly good movie. And you know I’m down with the message (as far as reports to it being confusing…only if you’re developmentally challenged). And I’m down with Super-size George Clooney. Fat George is still hot, even without the Cary Grant smirky-ness. He does a great job of a broken down spook. He’s grown on me ever since he’s been doing Coen Bros. movies and hanging out with Steven Soderbergh. I’d definitely put this movie on your top 5 list of movies to see this holiday season, along with another Clooney pic, Good Night, and Good Luck and Capote, which is one of my top pics of the year.