Dinner was a box of pastries, waiting in line at the ferry terminal.
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Thank you!
I went for a fondue dinner with my dinner club last night and we had a lovely meal. We started with a cheese fondue which was a hit. After all who doesnât like melty gooey cheese 
The next course was a beef fondue amf they brought us pots of hot oil to dunk our beef into. I didnât like this fondue since it gave the beef a greasy texture. When I make beef fondue at home I usually use beef broth which I prefer. Dessert was a chocolate fondue and they provided an assortment of fruit for dunking. They also provided us with cookies, brownies and churros - too much sugar! No pictures of donner but I do have a picture of the virgin gimlet the barkeep made for me 
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We made meat fondue a couple of times at my momâs for xmas or NYE. Different types of filet (pork, chicken, beef), and a bunch of homemade sauces. Once with broth, once with hot oil.
I preferred the hot oil, as I prefer seared meat to boiled, but the smell of the hot oil was a b!tch to get out of the apartment. Itâs also essential to keep the oil on temp to avoid the greasiness.
I donât care for cheese fondue at all, despite my love for both bread and cheese. Too one-note for an entire meal for me, and sofa king heavyyy.
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Well, I fell off the posting wagon there, but not the eating wagon 
Several days to report.
Sushi at home tonight. I bought some sushi-making toys and had fun using them. First time with pressed sushi, and also first time with temari sushi (balls) and onigirazu (which I also made into balls because I was having fun with the ball maker).
I used my homemade beet-cured salmon (that I specially made for my sis and froze) for the pressed and the balls, and Ortiz sardines for the onigirazu. Nice change from the fresh prawns and Ortiz tuna I usually use for this here.
I make a wasabi cabbage slaw and sesame-sriracha carrots to have some veggie component for these meals, and they add a nice bit of spice too.
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Previously, a redo of fish curry (you know itâs a hit when itâs made again 2 days later) and sautĂ©ed okra just to have a veg, even though we usually donât with fish curry-rice meals. Plus we fried some of the fish too, because thatâs how my dad always used to make this type of fish. So good.
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Veggie spread of jackfruit coconut curry (âjust like chicken!â Insisted my grandma who never tasted chicken her whole life 
), long beans, baby fenugreek salad (this is a special thing, baby fenugreek is hard to find and doesnât have a long shelf life), and mixed dal.
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Out for a bite and a few hours of soul sharing with my best friend from high schoolâs wife (whom I have seen 10x more than I have seen him in the last 5 years, because she brings the kids to nyc every year, and also every one of our trips to india in the last 2 years have somehow coincided⊠hoping to see him and her a couple of times this summer across various HK and India trips).
We ended up at the place at the end of the Mumbai episode of the new season of Somebody Feed Phil, which was pretty funny because her hubby had been pestering me to watch the show, but I didnât get to it until the day after we met.
Sea bass ceviche âsev puriâ, butter garlic crab kulcha (with a gratuitous soft boiled egg on top for no reason), and the most delicious dish of the night which was a compilation of Kashmiri greens and buttery Kashmiri morels / gucchi (plus some other mushrooms) with a type of Kashmiri bread to sop up the sauciness. Morels are native to Kashmir, and this was a nice showcase of both them and the native greens. And several rounds of a floral gin cocktail that went down a bit too easy.
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Plus jalebis. And my mom decided she wanted fancy sandwich dhoklas (steamed rice cakes) instead of the easy ones so I made them for her as she sat down to lunch. Layer of plain dhokla steamed first, layer of chutney spread carefully over it, then even more carefully a second layer of batter spread without smearing the chutney, and steam everything together till done. Turned out quite nicely for my first time (of the layers, not the dhokla â my nephews made me an expert on those years ago, along with idlis and all the other annoying stuff I would never make if they didnât love it).
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My dining companions liked the hot oil fondue for the same reasons you do so to each their own I guess. I agree about the smell - the restaurant really had a cloying smell by the time dinner was over and my parka still smells like hot oil.
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This is right up my alley!
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Glad youâre back in the States - good luck settling in!
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Hot oil and cigarette smoke will linger in your clothes and hair forever. Thatâs why I try to avoid badly ventilated restaurants. Or fân febreze it all (not the hair).
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The sushi.looks gorgeous! Actually everything you made looks delicious but especially the sushi.
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I used to work in an office building across the street from a Japanese restaurant that specialized in tepanyaki. Every time weâd go there for a staff luncheon I would always wear a machine washable outfit that day.
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Thank you very much. Thereâs a bit of reverse culture shock for me, but at least so far, not as much as I feared there would be. But I had my first restaurant meal yesterday and as always, thereâs too much food.
This morning I was thrilled to have a breakfast of turkey and Swiss cheese on rye breadâŠsomething which was almost if not totally impossible in Japan as deli turkey doesnât exist and both Swiss cheese and rye bread are generally quite difficult to findâŠespecially in the places I lived for the past 15 years.
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Yeah, unfortunately, so many restaurants are quantity-driven, because itâs what so many Americans expect. Fill that plate up; pay for enough food to be two full meals (and inhale it all within 15 minutes vs. taking your time and eating slowly until youâre naturally full).
Sometimes a couple of appetizers are the way to go. Good luck getting reacclimated!
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I lost 88 lbs in 11 months in Japan for a variety of reasons, but one of those was the normal portion sizes (the other major reason is a good daily walk.)
I lost an additional 22 lbs since I hit my original goal weight and have never put any of the original weight back on. I know Iâll have to work extra hard to not put it back on here.
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Congratulations! At least you wonât have to contend with menopause
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Iâm looking forward to hearing about your eating adventures in the wilds of Las Vegas!
My appetite has really shrunk in the last 5 or 6 years, for a variety of reasons. I used to worry about hurting peopleâs feelings about only eating half a sandwich, but I donât care any more. Iâm eating for myself and not for others. I do try to order appetizers or smaller portion things when we go out though. I really donât like wasting food, but I also donât like schlepping a doggy bag around. 
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Thanks! Thatâs something I feel privileged to not have to deal with!
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Thanks! In the days after WW2, Japanese people were very self-conscious about leaving food because of food shortages, but that soon changed. My sister and mother used to drag me to buffets here in Las Vegas and I would feel sick. COVID led to the demise of most buffets here and now I donât need an excuse to not want to go to one! YEAH!
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I am so jealous!
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