21 January 2013

Got rice?

Based on a specific request (keep 'em coming!) for more retro posts, as well as a photo request, on top of the fact that I've been sick since the flu hit me like a ton of bricks this time last Wednesday and I have no new life experiences to share, I bring you my love affair with sushi.

First, a brief trip down memory lane, where we visit Meg, Liz, and Aaron at my college graduation party. Lisa, who I lived with, made jello shots. With really cheap vodka. They were strong and, of course, horrible. But we were 20, 21, 22.... so down the hatch. Here we see Liz reacting and Meg getting ready to go. By the way, Meg and Liz celebrated a birthday last week so, hey, jello shots in your honor!


A brief moment of silence for the awesome '70s couch pictured here. This was our family couch growing up. When I moved out for the second time, at 19, this couch went with me and served as the backdrop for much debauchery.

As the fates would have it, a few years later, clearly having forgiven me for the jello shots, Meg changed my life, my future culinary adventures, by introducing me to sushi (coincidentally enough, Meg also introduced me to Thai food years later). At no place other than.... sushi.come. Yes, sushi.come. Seriously. I don't know if it was a typo, or a poorly thought-out alternative to the presumably already taken (?) sushi.com, but it remained sushi.come for a number of years (they have since made the smart change to, you guessed it, sushi.com). I'm pretty sure we then had Tio's milkshakes for dessert, but that's a different story.

I don't specifically remember the sushi, other than we had it, but I fell hard. I was of the generation that grew up unawares of most ethnic cuisine, and in my ignorance had surely made the ew face at the thought of raw fish. And seaweed? The horror! I'm not sure if it took a ton of convincing, or if I decided I wanted to try it, but I can honestly say that discovering sushi changed my outlook on food - if I like this, maybe I'll like that, or that, or that! I still don't want pickles on my food, but it was the start of me growing out of my picky eating habits.

Luckily, Brad took the sushi plunge with me and he's almost always game for it - at least when we vacation now, as we don't have any local sushi (he won't slum it and eat grocery store sushi like I will in a pinch). For his 30th birthday, we gorged on beautiful rolls in South Beach - a meal we still remember fondly.


A few years prior, my ladies and I had a delicious sushi evening in Toronto for my bachelorette party. A few familiar faces here...


We've had sushi in Hawaii, on the east coast, on the west coast, in Chicago and in NYC. All amazing. But when my sushi cravings hit, when I'm sitting at home or getting ready for lunch at work, my heart still and always remains with my hometown Godaiko. Buy-one-get-one-free-spicy-tuna, you had me at hello.

I'm curious.... What food discovery changed YOUR life?!

6 comments:

Birgles McGee said...

Got food, got soup, got spice?

Noah and I ate at Godaiko Friday night and they have totally changed their menu. That have fish tacos now. The tuna tacos are flippin' insane.

Melissa said...

Ahhh everyone looks so cute and young! The food discovery that has forever changed my life is my introduction to Indian food. It's a love affair that continues to this day :-)

Stephanie said...

And hey!!! The one and only time I've ever had Indian, I was with you! (and it made me sick so I have yet to try it again - haha)

Sara said...

I was still on the fence about sushi at your bachelorette party but I still think that's my favorite sushi meal of all time. :)

Yeah, eating and liking Indian food was a big deal for me and I didn't eat it until Boston, which is a shame because I lived by the largest Indian business district in the US in Chicago. I still feel like a novice since I don't it often but everything I've had I liked!

Stephanie said...

Sounds like I should give Indian another try...... Well, some day when I'm in a town that has Indian food. :)

Lady Lisa said...

I second Indian food. It's one of my absolute favorites. You should visit me and try Brick Lane Curry. Yum. Also, our new go-to sushi place here has a shrimp & mango roll, that makes me drool just thinking about it. Sushi is the bestest.