Yes, folks, I’m officially 25 years old now. It’s scary how fast time passes by. I swear I still feel like I’m 21.

Anyway, I had a lovely day yesterday. I woke up at noon, went online, and had a good 3-hour chat with new-found friends while listening to the radio. From noon until dinnertime, I only ate two pieces of toast — I was that engrossed with chat (It’s amazing how time-sucking this Interweb thingy is). At about 4 p.m. Brandon and I then spent some quality time together. Just because.

When 6:00 p.m. rolled around, we got ready to head out to eat. I already reserved a table at Ponzu a few days earlier, at a 7:45 p.m. slot. It’s an Asian fusion cuisine sorta restaurant, which serves “tapas,” or small plates that are meant to be shared. They have big-plate items too, which are also meant to be shared. I’ve heard about this place from various review sites, so I figure I’d give it a try.

After riding on the MUNI train, getting out at Powell, and walking until we hit the corner of Taylor and O’Farrell, we finally found Ponzu. When we entered the restaurant, I was immediately struck by the funky and colorful decor. We were told to wait for our table, so we headed to the bar and lounge area to rest, which incidentally had very comfortable couches. Technically, we could’ve started ordering our appetizers right at the lounge, but we decided to wait until we got into the restaurant proper. Oh, and the wall behind the bar had these aquariums built into it, with real live fish swimming around in the water. It was funky.

About 10 minutes of waiting, we were finally called into the “real” restaurant. The atmosphere inside struck me as plush and comfortable; continuing the lounge-like theme of the bar area except a whole lot darker. The restaurant was very dimly lit — as is the case with these kinds of fancy restaurants. The decor was rather like their cuisine; a fusion of Asian and contemporary aesthetic. Plush couches line the wall, but they also had regular table and chair arrangements in the middle. Our table was in a sort of curved sofa area, and the table itself was rather tiny, so we got to sit a lot closer to each other than in regular restaurants. Which isn’t an entirely bad thing.

But enough about the decor, let’s get straight to the food. The style of small-plate eating is that you order several small dishes and share them with someone else. So we ordered the shrimp and lobster dumplings, baby back ribs with guava and pineapple sauce, taro fries with three dipping sauces, “Malaysian Lamb Kebobs” (Hey, I had to have it okay?), and Thai-style fried chicken. The food was delicious. I liked everything, although I think the lamb could’ve been less chewy. Then to finish things off, we had hot green tea, and a wonderful serving of Kaffir Lime Pie in mango saffron sauce. It’s not as sweet as Key Lime Pie, but it has a nice spicy and tangy zing.

By the time we got home, we were stuffed and ready to sleep. Of course, I’m still up typing this because I’m hopelessly addicted to the Internet, but I’ll also be heading in soon.

So, yeah, quarter-century old, and happy as can be. For now anyway.