Day 11: A Food You Love

Today I'm grateful for two new culinary experiences Kenny introduced me to - they are linked in my mind because they happened in the same year.  The first is sushi.  Growing up in Nebraska in the 80s and 90s, there were no sushi restaurants, and I probably couldn't have told you what sushi was.  Even living on the coast in college, while there probably was sushi available, I never tried it and I don't remember it being a regular thing for anyone I knew.  So my first time eating sushi ended up being takeout, on the beach, in Wilmington, North Carolina, at age 24.  Kenny and I were dating and he got this as lunch for us.  I was so excited to try something new and was amazed how delicious raw fish could taste.  It's hilarious to think back on how this worked out because I've been to the beach hundreds of times since then, and had sushi maybe also a hundred times since, but never again have the two things come together.  Which makes it an extra special memory.  (And it got me ready for all you can eat sushi, which is a Reno staple.)

The second new culinary experience is dim sum.  Technically I had dim sum once before with friends in New York, but it was a basically unknown cuisine to me at that point.  Kenny and I lived in Oakland for our newlywed summer, which is also where his paternal grandparents lived.  About once a week, we met them in Oakland Chinatown for either a dinner meal or dim sum.  Kenny's grandparents were so kind and generous to this girl from the Midwest who didn't have the first clue what each thing was or how to use chopsticks.  I remember trying to pick up a square gelatin item and it just kept slipping out, and Kenny's grandma showed me how to just stab it in the middle with the chopstick, which was both funny and a relief.  I'm grateful for how a meal can be such a warm and welcoming introduction to someone's family and culture.