They say one's early years are the best time to learn a second language, before the brain's circuitry gets set in its way. That seems as good an explanation as any for why I don't speak sushi -- I came too late in life from too far away to bond deeply, as most Vancouverites do, with raw fish and seaweed. Mind you, I've enjoyed some great lunches with my friend Rumi, but that's because of her tactful guidance in menu choices, her deft wielding of chopsticks, the gracious way she seems truly not to notice when my eyes are bulging from having carelessly downed way too much horseradish, and most of all, the pleasure of her company.
I guess that's why I tend to smile favourably on sushi restaurants and couldn't help but take an interest when a new one went up last year along my bus route, right where I sometimes get off to make a transfer. First the "for lease" sign was replaced by a scrawled "coming soon" notice. Then tradespeople went in and out the curtained doorway for several weeks, and eventually a homemade banner announced the next week's grand opening. Then, remarkably, fate intervened and that very weekend, a car went out of control, ramming right through the new windows. But the new restaurant rose from the ashes (or shards) and finally opened six weeks later.
The hand-made signs were replaced with formal graphics, and I made a memory drawing of a scene I'd glimpsed from the bus one dark autumn morning: A very tall guy whose splotchy jacket echoed the circular motif of the restaurant's graphic design.
Not long afterwards, the new Hime Sushi restaurant gave me an opportunity to observe how instantly and creatively the mind fires -- or misfires. One drizzly Saturday morning, I was standing under its awning waiting for my bus. Cold and a little sleepy, I absent-mindedly noticed the hand-lettered menu on a large whiteboard inside the door. Suddenly, my mind snapped to attention. I'd never heard of stuff like this! And in the space of what must have been less than a minute, I'd read and analyzed the six menu items as follows:
1) BORB FULGHAM
Why does this remind me of "bulghur wheat"?
2) ANAREA AGRO
Maybe this is their vegetarian menu? ...Because of "agro"? Oh, don't be silly.
3) MALANI MANSARAS
This doesn't sound anything like California rolls...or tempura...or
okinomi-yaki.
4) DEVE PANNER
In fact, this menu is sounding more South Asian than Japanese. Is this like
"paneer" maybe, that cottage cheese kind of stuff?
5) ASHOK PURI
Ashok? I think I once knew someone named "Ashok"....
6) COLLEEN RILEY
Colleen Riley?? Colleen Riley?? Wait a minute, what's going on here?
Now thoroughly wide awake, I noticed a small printed card taped to the top of the whiteboard: "Enter to win free dinner for two," and written across the empty lines where people were to record name and phone number: "Congratulations to first winners!!" I quickly reviewed the "menu": Barb? Andrea? Melanie? Dave? Lack of sushi fluency had led me astray, but it looked like Hime Sushi's management had done a pretty fair job of interpreting the bad handwriting of their customers. First the car crash, now the contest. Good fortune surely follows them.
Love this!
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