11.17.09
23rd Anniversary
Yesterday was Brian and my 23rd wedding anniversary. Yikes! Has it really been that long? Yep. Twenty three years ago today we were in the Yucatan Peninsula. But the evening before that we were having cake. . . Here we were 23 years ago.
Hmmm. I took a picture of this picture behind the glass frame. I didn’t realize it until now that my hands are reflecting off of this picture, ha ha! Oh well. That’s what happens when I’m too lazy to take the picture out to avoid glare and all, sigh. Funny for me to look at this picture and think of all the things that has transpired since that day. Lots.
We were going to have a very casual celebration by going out to lunch and then watching a movie. But as the saying goes, “things don’t always turn out the way you plan.” I got up early and did my chores. Then we headed out to the farmer’s market and the grocery to make sure things are stocked up at home. Then we headed out to have lunch downtown at Little Tokyo. Upon arriving we had to hunt for parking. We found a lot and paid the fee. By this time it was about 2:30PM. As we walked up to the restaurant the sign read, “CLOSED.” Ack! We had completely forgot that Japanese restaurants commonly open for lunch, then close until dinner time, which is generally around 5:30PM. Since we had just paid for parking we decided to walk around and check out the shops. We hung out at the bookstore at Weller’s Court. That turn out to be fun as we tend to love to look through books anyway, and they also had a nice “yarn” book selection. . . Afterward, we did more browsing around and well, can you say “impulse purchase?” I found little saucers that matched the cat bowls I bought on impulse a couple months ago. Oh, why not throw in a few tea cups and grinding bowl as well?
I don’t know, I guess there was something I liked about these little cups having covers. I was hoping they’d have matching cat cups, but alas they didn’t.
So we kept browsing around. I realized that I needed a birthday card for a friend and found this cute little card.
We also realized that we were likely not going to see a movie as our time table was getting tweaked. So we picked up Miyazaki’s latest Ponyo By the Sea DVD. But this time it was 5:35PM. Oh goodie, time for din din. We head back to the restaurant. . .
and what do we find? It’s jam packed! We’re told that it’ll be about a 35 to 45 minute wait to get seated, ack! We’ve already been waiting for 3 hours! Ha ha! Well at least now our names were on “the list.” The restaurant is kinda tiny, and they were already turning other people away since they knew they wouldn’t be able to serve everyone. Oh well, back to pounding the pavement.
Ordinarily we would have left, but I guess it must have all started when we had just barely paid for parking and at least wanted to make that count. Now we were on a mission. We are going to eat dinner tonight, period. But really it wasn’t that bad. It was actually nice to be able to relax and just lounge about browsing through stores and even just chatting with Brian and having him all to myself for a change. Once the kids came along it’s like we rarely have time to ourselves, so this was actually nice. Besides, before we got married and before the kids came along, Brian and I used to come to Little Tokyo to eat and browse around, so it was like memory lane, too.
Finally we’re seated. The restaurant is still packed, and we get seats at the sushi bar.
Brian and I both get our usuals. A chirashi bowl for me.
And a tuna/avocado/cucumber roll for Brian.
Upon returning home Brian whipped up some cookies. So the fam watched the Miyazaki film while munching on cookies and tea. So while the day didn’t turn out as planned, it was still a nice day for me. A nice simple anniversary. The best part is that we’re all well and still together. What more can I ask for? Happy Anniversary, Brian! 
Marlakins
patti said,
November 18, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Happy Anniversary a day late! Marriage is so taken for granted these days it’s good to celebrate it. Uh, I couldn’t do that sushi thingy you guys got going, but hey, whatever works for ya!
Administrator said,
November 20, 2009 at 1:41 am
Thank, Patti. Yeah, it’s easy to take marriage for granted especially when you’ve been married for 23 years and have kids running around. Often we’re so busy just trying to keep things going that we have to plan to celebrate things. I told Brian that if we’re still around by our 25th anniversary we can plan to do something more special.
Oh, the sushi thing. . . As far as I remember, I was first introduced to sushi when I was in high school. I liked it right away, but then again I had already been exposed to steak tar tar (raw beef) and lox (raw or very lightly smoked salmon) and bagels. So really it was not much of a stretch to get into sushi. As I mentioned before, we live in a pretty Jewish neighborhood, and so there’s plenty of lox going around here. Then we also have a Japanese community and Korean community nearby, both of which eat plenty of sushi and/or sashimi. Oh, and we also have a large Hispanic population, so I’ve also been exposed to ceviche (marinated raw fish) during high school as well. During my trip to the Philippines last January I found that Filipinos have a type of ceviche dish, too. That was a new one on me, but I loved it. If you’re familiar with the Weston Price Foundation and Price’s research, they say that in many different cultures there is usually a raw meat dish as part of the culinary culture. For instance the Turkish also have a raw meat dish called kibbeh, which is raw lamb and bulgur. It’s very good. I’ve heard that sometimes they make it with raw salmon, but I’ve never had it that way. Raw or pickled herring is popular in Europe. That’s yummy, too. And of course here in the U.S. raw oysters are very popular. I like that, too, heheheh. Caviar or raw fish roe are also very popular in both the U.S. and Europe. We used to also prepare our own jerky, which is basically just dried raw meat. Anyway, I understand not everyone likes raw meats. My mom is one, but most everyone else I know loves sushi even my three boys. I think there are just so many yummy raw meat dishes to pass up.
Marla