The aesthetics of serenity

Ah…dinner.

There is something about Japanese food that just feels right. It’s light and not overpowering, yet it can make me feel completely satisfied. It’s not a double quarter pounder with cheese…but after eating Japanese food, I feel that a double quarter pounder with cheese would be excessive to the point of nausea. No…give me my rice, my cutlets of fish–raw or otherwise, my green tea. That is the kind of food to eat if I plan on living for 100 years.

And I do, of course!

Before we left for the sushi place I was reading a book I picked up last year called The Japanese House. It’s one of those beautiful oversized coffee table books that I adore, filled with gorgeous pictures and fascinating background information. I read about tatami mats, washi paper, shoji screens, and Japanese tea houses. I love the simple elegance of traditional Japanese style, in architecture, interior design, gardens…everything. It’s really hard to describe the feeling it all gives me. I just feel comfortable and serene in a traditional Japanese setting. Of course, serenity was one of the main goals of the aesthetic design, passed down through Buddhism and filtering into the everyday culture, so perhaps the ease with which I adapt to it all is understandable.

In any case, after that light reading I went on to have a light dinner, consisting of:

• 3 “Augusta” rolls (crab, avocado, and cucumber–yum!)
• 6 unagi rolls (barbecued eel and cucumber)
• 1 “Philly” roll (cucumber, onion, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, and salmon–Sean loves them, but they’re not for me I suppose)
• 1 piece of maguro nigiri (raw tuna–I could have eaten more of it, it was absolutely delicious)
• 3 pieces of unagi nigiri (that barbecued eel again–oh how I love it)
• 1.5 pieces of tamago (egg–asked for it without rice as we were getting full, but we couldn’t finish it anyway. Too sweet and eggy I guess)
• Two mugs of green tea–the weird kind, I recognize the taste but I can’t remember what Todd said it was made of. (Todd, my instructor for the Japan trip in 2001, is something of a tea connoisseur.)

Ahhhhh, how deliciously satisfying. At the moment I am partaking of

• Sugar-free raspberry juice

It’s good stuff, light and refreshing and a nice end to a glorious repast.