chop-Stick It Out

Sure, I have been to Japan, my mother lived in Taiwan for 5 years, and we even have an Asian inspired room in our house so you would expect me to have a little Asian culture in me. I mean chopsticks...pretty basic right? Wrong.

I think it was after seeing the dreadful pictures - during that period my mother affectionately calls my "baby fat" stage when chopsticks were popular hair accessories - that really turned me off from the idea. I mean I loved my Claire's chopsticks, you know the one in pictures that made me look like I was A. a sumo wrestling cross-dresser, or B. forever standing in front some set of colorful tv antennas. Now don't get me wrong, I know it was not the chopsticks fault and instead my hairdressing skills that left my Barbies with lopsided pink and blue hair,  but still it was a little traumatizing.

Of course, now many people have shied away from using chopsticks as hair accessories and instead use them as forks at our favorite Japanese restaurants. Yes I admit, after all the aforementioned Asian exposure and chopstick hair nightmares, I did not know how to use a chopstick....unless it involved carefully poking the meal in the center and balancing the food all the way up to my mouth (quite a skill, but rarely successful). But guess what! All it took was one lunch with Katie, Jasmin and Rachel to put me well on my way to Japanese geisha.

Today for lunch we went to Kobe and had a sushi feast. Think of it as an April Thanksgiving, but instead of turkey and mashed potatoes we had raw fish and rice. I will admit, after hours of pondering the menu this morning, I was a little apprehensive. I am usually a California Roll kind of girl....boring but consistent, however, after a little encouragement from Katie and Jasmin I decided to branch out and get the dragonfly roll! Basically it was a California roll with shrimp and raw tuna on top...and guess what, it was great!! I am convinced my new found (after much coaching from the group) chopstick skills made the sushi taste better, but hey who knows.

Our Feast!

During lunch the food was not only pouring into our stomach, but the laughs were pouring out of our mouths. It was a great break from the working world and I cannot wait to practice and show them my improved chopstick skills again soon.

Happy almost Friday everyone!