thank goodness thanksgiving is over

so, i may be unpopular for saying so, but: thanksgiving makes me sick and i don't like it. this year, i spent a wonderful afternoon with friends and good food rather than suffer the travel time it takes to travel 3,000 miles home for one weekend. i was pretty sad to be without my family, but at least the digitized version of all our family films from 1972 - 1982 kept me feeling close to home this weekend. my parents just took the time and money to put all the super8 footage onto DVD and it arrived wednesday. what a wonderful surprise. i especially loved witnessing my older brothers and sisters as little kids. it was an experience i never had as a caboose child who burst on the scene in 76.

anyway, i digress. i enjoyed a fun thanksgiving celebration, but the actually gluttony of this all-too-ironically american holiday made me ill. we spend hours upon hours preparing food that will be consumed in a mere 20 minutes, two plates per person, and we spend the rest of the evening ready to (pardon the expression) puke. i love food, don't get me wrong; i even love turkey, stuffing, rolls, green beans, and mashed potatoes with gravy. but i am no longer excited about stuffing my face for one day. i think i'm going to make next thanksgiving a non-traditional celebration of gratitude, togetherness, and perhaps, salad.

oh.....my.....sushi

so, i kept hearing raves from my friend Liz about Yoko's sushi on SE Gladstone. when ben and i decided, last friday night, that we were once again not in the mood to make dinner, we headed there in search of sushi heaven. and did we ever find it. the rumors are true. first of all, i'm impressed to learn (for whatever reason) that yoko's has the only female sushi chef in portland. there must be a level of sensual enlightment a woman lends to sushi, because i literally tasted the love in this food. i think the main differentiator (you can take the girl out of marketing, but not the marketing out of the girl) is the attention to ingredient detail:
1. taka's tuna - finely chopped scalllions crumbled over chunky tuna soaked in spice, on an avacado-sheeted bed of a crispy, fried rice.
2. the rasta roll - a philly roll on vacation. it's the unexpected combo of smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, AND mango. I think my insides tingled with delight with every bite. seriously.
3. nigiri - we had maguro tuna over rice with the PERFECT amount of sinus-clearing wasabi. i'm sure anything would have been just as good, but we're clearly tuna-obsessed. we put in a second order after our main course just to be sure we were in love.
4. the walla walla roll - unfortunately, a slightly fishy crab was paired with an amazing walla walla onion tempura. i wish this was done with another fish, maybe yellowtail or a snapper. i love tempura and this worked for me, on a conceptual level.

there's nothing that beats some sushi and a shared kirin (the budweiser of japan, the label makes it elegant) on a friday night.

laid-off luncheons

since i got laid off three weeks ago (the experience was so not as dramatic as it could have been, besides the lead-up stress of not knowing my fate), i have become a happy lunch date for just about everyone i know. i am really thrilled to have the time off. aside from the occasional what-will-become-of-me stress, i take well to the lack of routine. i have dined on thai, sushi, comforting breakfasts, tuna melts, and more at home. my favorite new in-home treat is a quick brie, dried cranberry, and onion quesadilla. I sautée some onions with shallots & salt, then butter up a pan for my tortilla, and load on the brie (first so it melts), cranberries and then onions. i believe strongly in buttering the pan before laying down my tortilla. quesadillas from the oven just don't have the same crisp. since i use earth balance vegan spread, i don't have cholesterol guilt.

this weekend, b and i are celebrating our anniversary by way of a welcome trip to hood river, a sleepy town on the columbia river gorge about 40 miles from here. i can't wait to see what culinary culture we find there. i know sunday morning involves some free wine tasting, though. :)

tonight, we're treating ourselves to yet another meal out. this makes for more times out this month than usual and i'm pulling in about $1000 per month LESS in income. something isn't adding up, but somehow the equation feels right at the moment.