Eating is remembering

When I came out of the house at noon to go to lunch, my car was the only left in the parking lot. Everyone else had gone to work or somewhere else they needed to be. I didn't need to be anywhere. I was going to try out a new restaurant, Journey, at Fishers. I had heard about their seafood-rich buffet from Yoichi, Minda's Japanese friend.
 
Going to a new restaurant I have not been to before is like going to one while traveling. I love the feeling of starting over, of seeing the world fresh and new again when I travel. Sunshine seems cleaner and purer then, the sky more blue, the leaves more green.
 
My favorite item on the buffet was a seafood udon soup fresh-made on order from a Mongolian-looking cook behind the counter. He placed the parboiled shrimp, scallop, udon and bok choy and shiitake strips in a copper sieve and cooked them by dipping the sieve into a tall caldron of dashi stock. I am inspired! I have not cooked with shiitake mushrooms in years. Suddenly my mouth longed to hold hot dashi with tender, succulent strips of shiitake for supper!

Posted via email from Duende Arts