I’ve just returned from a quick trip to Tokyo, where The Hub was promoting a new film and where we were both doing our best to eat from morning to night.
Eating in Japan is serious business, and sushi is no less than an art form. The Michelin Guide expanded to Japan for the first time in its history in 2008, and in its debut year, it awarded more stars to the Land of the Rising Sun than any other country, including its native France. In fact, there are now more than twice the number of cumulative stars found in Tokyo (227) than in Paris (97)! (Not that any of the Japanese chefs really cared. One 3-star designee apparently asked, “Why does a French restaurant guide care about what we’re doing in Japan?”).
Over our four days and nights, we ate like kings. We sampled hot oden noodles, hot ramen noodles, cold soba noodles, mounds of tempura, shark fin soup (supposedly very good for your complexion), skewers of yakatori (basically chicken on a stick, though our selection included chicken skin on a stick, which was inedible), and all sorts of other delicacies that I’ve now lost in a haze of sake and jet lag. Speaking of sake, we knocked it back – always cold and dry and delicate. We were also given a shot of something that looked like a weak Bloody Mary but turned out to be 40 proof vodka laced with turtle blood. My arm hairs were on end for about 10 minutes.
I grew up on a farm in south Georgia. I had no appreciation for the fact that we grew our own crops; I never once had a meal from a can. Everything we ate came straight from the farm to the table. We even had a pond and stocked fresh trout and other fish.
Last week, when Saveur Magazine arrived, I immediately started reading the many articles on "greatest meals ever" with great curiosity, all the while thinking what would be my greatest meal? A meal of a life time. What makes a great meal different from all the other wonderful meals that you have eaten?
New Orleans, founded in 1718, has many long standing traditions. During the holidays, many of these still exist and there are even a few new ones! There is always a reason to have a celebration in New Orleans but from November - January, traditions and celebrations truly shine.
The commercial kept calling out to us. A catchy tune and the promise
of a round trip ticket to anywhere in Europe for under $500. None of us
could resist and the plan was in motion. Andrea and I would fly from
L.A. and land in New York for a layover where we’d meet Stacey at JFK.
Actually, it might be tricky since my two friends hadn’t even met yet.
