summer is fleeting fast + umami burger

I almost can count down the number of days until I start business school on one hand. Though I've told myself the entire past year that this is what I want to do, I don't think I'm mentally prepared to buckle down and actually start school. A part of me wishes that I had selected another school I had gotten into -- one with a September start date, rather than July. But I figure I can suck it up for one year; starting school a bit earlier than most is not going to kill me, especially when I've just come from a four year long stay in public accounting.

In any case, Jon and I took a couple of (amateur) photos for dearie last Sunday. The photo above is one that didn't make the header image, but I might use on the main website. I hope that it conveys to fans the handmade essence of my products and what better way to do this than to feature the artist/creator/owner herself!

I also wanted to share a couple of photos from a 'goodbye' lunch at work last month...

Those who know me personally know that I really like Umami Burger. They serve a variety of more "gourmet" or specialty burgers. Only a year or two ago, I felt that they were more exclusive than they currently are, as numerous Umami's have now been popping up all over Southern California and even Northern California.

Despite the fact that this eatery is quickly becoming a chain, having a recently opened Umami in Thousand Oaks, CA allowed my Valley coworkers and I to have dinner with another coworker from San Diego without driving too far.

Here's what we started off with -- I always order the tempura battered onion rings, though everyone else wanted the off-menu cheesy potato tots.

They also have truffle gratin fries -- I hadn't tried these until this meal.

All of the sauces. I find that when you have a large party or order a bunch of stuff, the waiters will give you all of the sauces to try, rather than only the one you've ordered!

And finally, the Umami Burger! For as long as I can remember, I thought I had been ordering the Truffle Burger, when really my favorite was the classic Umami Burger. My favorite part? That crispy cheese!

And one last thing before I forget to address it -- As it's now July, I have oodles of photos since my Japan trip, so I will be alternating between posting about Japan and other topics. I don't think I can solely write about Japan for every consecutive post! I'll definitely denote any trip-related post in the title, so you know what you're getting into. :)

Thanks for reading.