moshi moshi

The best kind of day is one where you have the whole day free to do something that excites you and makes you happy.  Halloween was my day.  I didn't volunteer for any class parties, there was no ballet that day and I didn't schedule any repairs.  And the Halloween party tradition that we started 14 years ago is one for the history books - at least for now.  I missed it, but instead, I got to host Shelter for my old friends.  Finding little Zen gardens at the dollar store had gotten me on a (sushi) roll, and I settled on a Japanese theme.  I got to spend the whole morning bustling around the kitchen and setting the table. Coco even had the babies over for a visit so I could apply the finishing touches.  Thanks!

I lived in a house with Japanese roommates in college, one of whom was the granddaughter of a professional chef.  She was in touch with the local Japanese community in Indiana, and whenever there was word of a shipment of sushi-grade fish in Indianapolis, we would make the drive and it would be a feast!  In the absence of fresh fish, Sonoko sometimes made suki yaki, inviting friends over to dip steaming meat and vegetables in raw egg.  The food was cooked on the table, just like Benihana if it was located in a rickety old student rental house with folding tables instead of state-of-the-art grills.  The food at our house was better than Benihana, I daresay, but maybe it was the company and the setting.  My other Japanese roommate was raised in Berlin (his parents were in the Berlin Philharmonic with von Karajan!), so we always had an interesting mix of cultures when our various friends came together.  My roommate Ole Akahoshi was an interesting mix of cultures just by himself! 

For my Shelter lunch this week, the company and setting were definitely perfect.  We sat on the floor downstairs, next to the Christmas trees that Scott just set up.  It's never to early for soft, glowing lights and never the wrong time for a Zen-inspired lunch.  We started with miso soup and sushi and then veered off into a pan-Asian menu with the Vietnamese sandwiches (bahn-mi) that Scott has been craving, a little suki yaki and Aunt Da's famous mangoes and sticky rice for dessert.  (Da, I think I can finally do it right!)  And then, since we're sugar-addicted Americans, we inhaled a batch of Sarah's chocolate Halloween cupcakes.

This was right when Jennie slipped out to make an appearance at a school Halloween party.  Darn!  Some of us are so responsible!!  I wouldn't mind re-staging to get us all in the picture, complete with food, of course.   I didn't want the lunch to end.  We were joking that I was standing on my front porch like a lonely octogenarian at a nursing home, shouting, "I have more Diet Coke!  I can give you Halloween candy!  Wait!  Don't go!"

This is my Zen garden.  Moshi moshi, friends.