day

I was eating some sushi and the train station today waiting for my train. I had popped in the grocery store to get some items and couldn't resist the 5 piece 350 yen sushi box. It's flesh was all ripped open wide, beckoning for me to devour it whole. I had an 18 min. wait once at the station and I didn't want my sushi to go bad (...plus I was hungry) so I decided to eat it right then and there. Opening the package I discovered that what I thought to be a small packet of shouyu (soy sauce) was really a small packet of nama-wasabi (fresh wasabi). I like wasabi- it goes very well with sushi. Usually at places such as a kaiten-zushi they tuck a small dab of wasabi between the fish and the rice, so I was obliged to do the same. Lifting the slice of flesh I squeezed a small amount of the green paste onto the rice, and lifting the sushi I placed the whole piece into my mouth. I chewed into its soft goodness until the wasabi kicked in strong. The fresh wasabi experience such as this is like a small brute crawling into your nasal cavity and punching you from the inside of your head. It took me aback for a moment until I regained the capacity to take another bite. Luckily a few slices of ginger were also provided to cleanse the palate and restore the senses.

I learned today from Sarah that, according to Chinese medicine, you're not supposed to eat spicy foods when you're sick, but that ginger is soothing cure. I have a bit of a cold yet (I think it moved to my lungs- maybe walking pneumonia? I should probably see a doctor soon) and a couple of times a day resort to coughing fits that make my stomach muscles hurt. I had eaten spicy fried rice at a Chinese restaurant for lunch, which was quite delicious - much better than the dried out stuff they serve in the states - but which also evoked the Chinese medicine assertion by Sarah. I wasn't reminded of the saying until I was halfway through my wasabi, but I figured then that the ginger would at least nullify the adverse effects of the spice.