Sunday March 24, 2010
Malibu, California
Glorious Sunshine
Yesterday, I met with my best friend for 36 years – Linda. 36, yes, Thirty-Six years! We met in Japan and have been best friends across 2 different countries. Yes, I've been in touch with many of my friends since elementary school days but with Linda, we've been pretty close throughout the years. I have 2 major regrets while in Japan. One is my sister and her family not able to make it to Japan while I was there and the second is Linda not being able to get to Japan either. But now that I am back in the US, I'll be seeing her and her family more often.
The move back has not been easy (people have told me it takes 6 months to get back on track) as I've encountered many bumps on the road. So it was not until yesterday that we were able to make the time to meet. I really needed to get to the Japanese grocery stores so we agreed to meet for lunch and Linda offered to take me to Marukai – the Costco of Japanese groceries. Her gorgeous daughters were going to join us and I was so looking forward to meeting them as they have grown so much in the three years I was away in Japan. I've been keeping up on their lives via facebook but still, it is nothing like getting together in person.
Linda had a great idea, that we meet for DimSum (Yumcha). We met at Sea Empress in Gardena where we caught up on our lives, families, etc and stuffed ourselves. Good thing I did not eat breakfast as the food was very good and kept on coming! After we all reached an elegant sufficiency, it was time to burn calories to shop. Although there is a Marukai in the same shopping center of the dim sum restaurant, Linda recommended we go to "the" Marukai which is about a 10 minute drive from the place.
Sea Empress Chinese Restaurant in Gardena
Dim Sum!
Wow, felt like I was back in Japan. The size of the grocery store is huge, but the aisles were definitely "Japanese style" in that they were narrow. The prices were fabulous. They had all the unique Japanese vegetables like burdock root, Mitsuba, shiso, etc. All at great prices. I ended up buying 300 dollars worth of groceries. Everything from oils and seasonings from Japan to fish, beef, miso and tofu. My empty pantry is now finally full. Now, I just have to start cooking, which I will do as soon as the prep for this major convention in April for work is done with.
Tako Yaki stand @ entrance of Marukai
Oinari-san demonstration
My basket was full of groceries – 300$ worth!
My pantry is now full
It was a fun day albeit too short. I suggested to Linda we try and take a weekend vacation somewhere in California during her kids summer break. She was all for it. So I am so looking forward to having girl time again with my best friend of over 30 years!
My BFF Linda and her daughters.
My Christmas present from Linda: "Old friends leave a history written on their hearts"