the ocean, the ocean!
Hooray! Today's topic is eel, yummy yummy eel.
For birthdays in our family we usually go out for dinner (when we were kids we'd have a party at home, but now we are all adults and so dinner is the civilized choice). Last year for my birthday I chose a Japanese restaurant downtown and ordered eel, which is like my favourite fish ever. Maybe. This place's eel, it wasn't all that great. (you can read about it here, though I think my opinion of it has gone down in the intervening months). But I was excited to find out, the next day, that that day after my birthday was doyou no ushi no hi (土用の丑の日)! The day you're supposed to eat eel in Japan, so that you will stay cool(?)/refreshed(??) all the hot summer long! So I ate my leftover eel with glee. I didn't notice any magical side effects (not that I expected it to) but it was fun to think I was participating in the grand eel-eating tradition. And hey, any excuse to eat yummy eel!
Well, anyway, this year doyou no ushi no hi is on the 19th, so I didn't have the clever excuse of going out for my birthday dinner to get eel. But I mentioned it to my Awesome Brother tonight, and it sounds like we might have plans to go out for eel on Sunday! Hooray!! I'm thinking Mikado Sushi is the place to go, since the place we visited last year was not that great (well, the eel wasn't at least). At Mikado, the sushi chefs all greet you with a resounding "Irasshai!" (awww!) and they serve the most delicious green tea (seriously, it's good green tea), and a salad that is also quite good, and give you warm towels to cleanse your hands before serving you. And I have not been there in some time!!
So I am excited for eel.
Oh, also! Speaking of things that live in oceans. My Grandpa who lives on a yacht in the Caribbean (I think he prefers Grandad? but we don't see him much so I will just call him what I want so there!) is visiting Michigan for the summer to avoid hurricane season and see us his lovely family. We had dinner at my aunt's with him tonight. And he brought me back some seashells!! Oh! They are so lovely, I love them! Brandon visited him a couple months ago and brought me shells as well (including a sea urchin shell. have you guys seen those? they are pretty amazing!) And I was just thinking... I have not been to the ocean in, like, 17 or 18 years!! That's such a long time!! But I have shells that have been to the ocean within probably the past week or two? Wonderful shells... :D Previously, my shell collection consisted of specimens salvaged from my and family members' seafood dishes at restaurants. Ha ha ha. Oh, I need to go to the ocean!! But having real seashells from the ocean is pretty good too :D
For birthdays in our family we usually go out for dinner (when we were kids we'd have a party at home, but now we are all adults and so dinner is the civilized choice). Last year for my birthday I chose a Japanese restaurant downtown and ordered eel, which is like my favourite fish ever. Maybe. This place's eel, it wasn't all that great. (you can read about it here, though I think my opinion of it has gone down in the intervening months). But I was excited to find out, the next day, that that day after my birthday was doyou no ushi no hi (土用の丑の日)! The day you're supposed to eat eel in Japan, so that you will stay cool(?)/refreshed(??) all the hot summer long! So I ate my leftover eel with glee. I didn't notice any magical side effects (not that I expected it to) but it was fun to think I was participating in the grand eel-eating tradition. And hey, any excuse to eat yummy eel!
Well, anyway, this year doyou no ushi no hi is on the 19th, so I didn't have the clever excuse of going out for my birthday dinner to get eel. But I mentioned it to my Awesome Brother tonight, and it sounds like we might have plans to go out for eel on Sunday! Hooray!! I'm thinking Mikado Sushi is the place to go, since the place we visited last year was not that great (well, the eel wasn't at least). At Mikado, the sushi chefs all greet you with a resounding "Irasshai!" (awww!) and they serve the most delicious green tea (seriously, it's good green tea), and a salad that is also quite good, and give you warm towels to cleanse your hands before serving you. And I have not been there in some time!!
So I am excited for eel.
Oh, also! Speaking of things that live in oceans. My Grandpa who lives on a yacht in the Caribbean (I think he prefers Grandad? but we don't see him much so I will just call him what I want so there!) is visiting Michigan for the summer to avoid hurricane season and see us his lovely family. We had dinner at my aunt's with him tonight. And he brought me back some seashells!! Oh! They are so lovely, I love them! Brandon visited him a couple months ago and brought me shells as well (including a sea urchin shell. have you guys seen those? they are pretty amazing!) And I was just thinking... I have not been to the ocean in, like, 17 or 18 years!! That's such a long time!! But I have shells that have been to the ocean within probably the past week or two? Wonderful shells... :D Previously, my shell collection consisted of specimens salvaged from my and family members' seafood dishes at restaurants. Ha ha ha. Oh, I need to go to the ocean!! But having real seashells from the ocean is pretty good too :D