I have to confess that I was not having a good morning, and almost had to bail on her at the last minute. I was afraid that my bad mood would be contagious, and would spread throughout her happy home. Lucky for me, I realized that I was being selfish and silly, and that a day with Kimi and her family was probably exactly what I needed to feel better.
I was right.
Kimi and I had such an amazing visit. She had spent the morning (before I arrived to her home in San Jose) shopping for all of the perfect ingredients for our lunch: homemade sushi, and other fine Japanese delectables. When I arrived, she already had the rice cooking, and had just started to make the vinegar/sugar/salt mixture that would be mixed into the rice to make the sushi with. As Kimi followed the recipe for homemade miso soup (which was AMAZING) I fanned the rice, which turning in the vinegar (in a horizontal motion, as not to bruise or smush the rice) for 10 minutes. (who knew?)
here I am, fanning and turning the vinegar rice!
Once the rice was cooled, and the veggies and fish were chopped, we rolled a few rolls of sushi, substituting Kimi's placemats for the traditional bamboo mats that are usually used for rolling. (they worked great!) Kimi also made nagiri-style sushi to add to our sushi platter. Did I mention that she also made soba noodles as an appetizer? what a treat!
A platter of sushi!
Kimi's Nagiri Sushi
We had such an amazing time - what a great day. I learned how to make sushi, and caught up with one of my dearest friends while listening to 80s music on her cassette player- what better way to spend a day? (and the food turned out great, too!)
The final spread
We also had a lot of fun playing with her 3-year-old son, Matteo. He's such a sweet boy, and I had so much fun playing with him all afternoon. I love watching Kimi with her boys - she's such an amazing Mom.
Kimi and Matteo
When it was time for me to leave, I told Kimi that visiting her was good for my soul. It really was - I felt so much better after spending the day with her.
That's what real friendships are all about.
I just noticed that Kimi wrote a blog entry of her own about our day together. It's kind of neat to see her perspective as well :) I especially like reading the part of her memories about when we both met ... at bandcamp when we were only 13 years old. I think it's especially funny that she mentions my polo-shirt/501's combo that I seemed to live in during our freshman year. I look back and see it as a horrible fashion faux-pas. She has a much kinder memory about it. :)
Kimi - thank you for the perfect day. I ♥ you.
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