Scattered

I have been all over the place lately. In a good way, mostly: I've spent whole days puttering around the house, knitting and cooking and doing whatever struck my fancy. Sunday, a drizzly grey beast of a weekend day which my dear husband spent conquering the goddess of Japan, I shopped and cooked and knitted and talked and ate all day with Kelsey. More about that over at her pad. And then today I went to Nadine's house for a couple hours, to watch Justine and help Nadine get her house ready for her month-long vacation home to Canada. That's right, after Beth left in July and I was gone for a month, now another close friend is leaving for a month too.

My scattered brain found some company at lunch today. What a lunch it was too! Nadine took Shiho (another band spouse and friend of ours) and me to Cafe Marine near her house. Oh heavens was the food delicious...and words wouldn't do it justice.A closer look?
TINY BABY SARDINES! A BIG BOWL OF WHOLE FISH (on rice) WITH RAW EGG FOR LUNCH!

I'm going to pause for a moment to allow my maternal grandmother to catch her breath, or possibly stop laughing. Okay Grammy? No agave nectar this time, at least!

Okay then. I'm not sure whether this technically counts, but it looked like chirashizushi - that's scattered sushi - but it was unusual and delicious and, along with the afternoon's company, a real treat.
The kids provided top-notch entertainment. I was so inspired by lunch that I decided to scatter dinner too, and make my first real attempt at chirashizushi at home. I bought tuna, salmon, and prepared omelet (tamago) plus an avocado and little confetti of nori. Julienned cucumber from Nadine's landlord's garden was cold and delicious, and brown sushi rice was the foundation. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Josh isn't a fan of the nori. But the food was pretty good, and the presentation will do for a couple of gaijin. With any luck, the food will stay scattered even when my mind sorts itself out.