It’s almost ridiculous. This is not one of those cat blogs, which I avoid because I feel like it’s silly to look at cat blogs (but the real reason is I’d spend my whole day looking at cat blogs because cats are da bomb). This photo I took yesterday on Dan’s neighbor’s porch surely makes this look like an offshoot of Cat Fancy, doesn’t it? I don’t know little dude’s name, but he’s orange and fuzzy.

Thus my evening with Dan started with that cuteness and just got better. I’ve worked with Dan for over 3 years now…at Red Leaf School of Music and now at Rubicon Artist Development. It is what it says, he spends all day developing artists. I’m working on tracking these artists while they are developed (check out our video blogs about each artist…everyone is so different and still the same!)

We headed to Uchi, one of Austin’s most famous, respected, revered, what-have-you dining establishments. I’m a sushi fan but I don’t eat it that often, and I usually stick with what I know. I handed the ordering reigns over to Dan and he pretty much rocked it. Over the course of the evening we ate beef off a 500 degree Hot Rock, yellowtail, tuna, salmon, walu, scallops, and something called a shag roll that you ate with a squid ink sauce (for real, the squid ink probably impressed me the most. I don’t know if that makes me easy or hard to impress).

Because we’re always looking for lessons in life, even in our culinary indulgences…we noted that the staff was super attentive and knew their stuff. They’d suggest things for us based on what we’d already had. They suggested we end with a really light (ack! I forgot what! yellowtail?) with a hint of mint. It was delightful. The vibe of the place was as you’d expect…dark but classy, streamlined but not sterile. Presentation is key, but ingredients are the “it” thing. Main lesson? World class all the way. No half-arsing.

Off to world class some projects for the day, may yours be the same!