NY eats: Kodama Sushi

The discovery of this little (well, actually huge on the inside) sushi joint was entirely by accident, and a blessing it was indeed!
(Doesn't it look like it says Obama Sushi?)
My half-sister Nina and I had just come from Equus. We nearly missed it because 1) we hadn't had dinner and 2) I got struck with one of my terrible stomach-aches. Both of us frequently get terrible stomach pains that are impossible to explain... think heartburn meets acid reflux meets appendicitis-- basically a lot of stabbing, tingling pains. It was so bad that I was in tears!
Either way, it lasted about an hour, so that by the time we got out of the taxi (in the middle of traffic), I was able to SPRINT to the theater. We were literally dodging people and screaming "ALMOST THERE!" It was around 6:59 and the play started at 7:00.
One little kid said "Mommy, why are those people running?"
Luckily, we literally sat down in our seats as the lights were dimming... whew, close call!
AND WHAT AN AMAZING PLAY! My friend Kaitlyn had told me that it was really strange and that Daniel Radcliffe was really short, but I loved it! I loved the minimal set, the way they portrayed the horses, and the acting was great! The show was bizarre, and very different from Amadeus, also by Peter Schaffer. HOWEVER, I'm really glad I ended up going with my sister and not my dad. I knew there was a full on nude scene, but was NOT aware of the context. Talk about x-rated!
Anyways, I had packed a peanut butter roll and a banana, but my stomach hurt too much to eat it, so I didn't eat dinner till after the play. Nina had scarfed down a smoked salmon sandwich beforehand, so she wasn't as hungry, but we decided to go find a place to eat. Earlier we had been craving sushi, but there hadn't been enough time. I spotted a place called Kodama Sushi a block away from the theater, looked inside the window, and started to walk away in disappointment, because it looked as though it was a takeout joint with only prepackaged sushi.
Nina was more observant than me and said "Look, there's a door in the back!" Sure enough, once you got past the tiny cashier area that sold t-shirts and maki to go, there was a door that led into an enormous space with a winding hallway.
*They had a Spring Awakening poster on the wall!
The second we set foot in there, I knew we had really stumbled upon an authentic place. First of all, the menu was in both English and Japanese, and second of all, I could see tons of Japanese people in there. Also, I saw lots of dishes on the menu that you wouldn't see at your ordinary sushi restaurant.
The problem was that with such a huge menu, it was nearly impossible to decide what to get. Despite all the exotic sounding small plates, I was really in need of some plain, comforting, teriyaki salmon... it was just too cold to get all sushi or sashimi!
Because Nina wasn't that hungry, we also ordered a rainbow roll. I don't always order rainbow rolls on purple! It's just that I'm stingy, and those usually get you the most fish. In this case, they claimed that their rainbow roll had 7 kinds of fish! Of those 7, i saw salmon, tuna, some kind of whitefish, cooked shrimp, mackeral, yellowtail, and some kind of pickled anchovy-like thing... hey, that was 7! I didn't look at the photo or anything... I must say my memory impresses me every now and then.

The roll was decent-- fresh fish, fun to eat. I would probably come here for nigiri, though, given its authenticity.
What I found hilarious was that my salmon came with completely Western-style vegetables: corn on the cob, boiled carrots, and boiled broccoli. Luckily, the sauce was salty enough that thir blandness was welcome. I also think that this once again proves how authentic the place was, since Western food has been highly integrated into Japanese culture. I think oftentimes when you go to an "ethnic" restaurant, what they claim are authentic dishes have actually been adapted to fit the American palette.
The salmon was a perfect portion, and perfectly flaky and not overcooked, just the way I like it. There was also tempura (shrimp, eggplant, zucchini), which I shared with Nina. I also ate nearly the whole bowl of rice.

We also got miso soup.

Meanwhile, we also ended up getting hit on by this Asian guy who ended up being from some small ethnic minority in Russia! It was bizarre... he looked Chinese but spoke with a Russian accent. Just thought I'd throw that in there. He also mentioned that this was a really great place to meet people, and like I said, authentic.
The series of blurry Nina photos: you can totally see the guy in the corner.





Address:
301 W 45th St, New York 10036
Btwn 8th & 9th Ave

GUMBO

MM, dinner tonight was fantastic, if I do say so myself. I have a ton of work to do, and it was even more horrible outside, and somehow I hurt my lower back really badly in yoga, so no workout today. Speaking of my back, it really hurts to bend. Suggestions?
Breakfast: I haven't had a grilled sandwich in ages! I had one on my delicious new whole grain sandwich bread with crunchy PB, half a banana, and some pumpkin butter. I also had cottage cheese and yogurt with blueberries and a little honey. This was really filling, so I didn't need a morning snack at all!
Lunch was very light, but kept me full for a while. Just leftover miso soup (with a crumb of rice) and an apple. I didn't end up eating the ZBar or the soy pudding.
I COULD KILL MYSELF. I know the PSAT doesn't mean anything, but somehow I made the idiotic mistake of leaving out the entire last page of the reading comprehension, which is what I'm good at. I know I could have raised my score a lot by those points, which I probably would have gotten :( It's the math where I have trouble. I just find it really frustrating.
I had a light snack of Kashi crackers, hummus, and a carrot.
Plus a chai tea latte

Dinner was very easy and delicious! I decided to make gumbo! I had already bought the okra and everything... I realized we didn't have green peppers, but it didn't really matter. I didn't want to make it too heavy with a real roux, because that also takes a long time, but while I was cooking the rest of it I made a mini roux with 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tsbp of olive oil, and I think with the addition of okra, it really thickened it a lot.
Into the pot went onions, scallions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, okra, salmon sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, seasoning, and some greens at the very end.

We ate this with white basmati rice because you have to have it with that. I only had a few spoonfuls... I prefer to eat gumbo on its own. My dad isn't a huge fan of the salmon sausages, but I loved all the textures. He had thirds, which made me feel accomplished, especially because I didn't use a recipe :)
We also had the last of my salad from Whole Foods, which was kind of soggy.

Dessert: a pear

Feeling icky

Today was a weird day. I may have caught a cold, and when I woke up I just felt so tired... my bed was perfectly warm and SO COMFORTABLE. But I made myself get out of bed and I went downstairs for a workout with my biology book. Surprisingly, I've gotten used to studying on the elliptical (which I'm really sick of, but I prefer it to other machines... if only I could have run outside because it was SO BEAUTIFUL! It was eerie though: i looked and I couldn't see a single person along the lake, not even the crazy runners who run during tornadoes and thunderstorms and such, so it must have been FREEZING), and it was actually pretty helpful. I just did 35 minutes of gradually increasing the level and burned around 300 something calories. Better than doing nothing at all. In fact, I was glad I just got that out of the way, because I could tell I felt weird... I was getting dehydrated and sweating much more than I should have been, and my nose was starting to run.
For breakfast, my appetite just really didn't feel the way it normally does. I didn't feel up for something with too much fiber, so I had a scrambled egg yolk and a white on toast with some blueberries and a clementine.

A little while after I had some hot chocolate with a few mini marshmallows.

After this, I just kind of felt like crap and retired to my bed. I kind of watched Smart People (didn't really like it at all) without paying any attention, and then slept for 2 or 3 hours. Seriously, I was in bed for 5 hours or something like that! I didn't get up for lunch or anything, nor did I have any desire to (which shows something was wrong with me, not wanting to eat). I just wanted to lie there... I normally hate the feeling of wasting time, but I guess this was just my body's way of telling me I just needed to chill.
Then my dad came back from Miami and insisted that I get outside. I agreed that I needed fresh air... so I put on a long sleeved shirt, fleece jacket, jeans, sweat pants over the jeans, wool socks, winter boots, a down jacket, gloves, and a hat. We looked like we were going skiing. We walked along the lake just as it was getting dark, and it wasn't that windy, so the air was freezing and stung our faces in a good way. We were nice and rosy when we got back and MY APPETITE RETURNED. It was almost dinner time, but I really thought I should eat something-- I had cottage cheese and 1/4 cup grape nuts with a drizzle of peanut butter, as well as chamomile tea with lemon and honey.


Of course, I still had an appetite for dinner. My dad made the most wonderful, nourishing miso soup.



Here's what was in it:
-carrots
-ginger and garlic
-turnips
-bok choy
-celery
-soft tofu
-brown rice miso
-home made vegetable stock
-seaweed
-mushrooms
We ate this with brown rice... I had at least a few bowls. It was so pure, and just what I needed (macrobiotic much?).
To make up my fruit quota, I had an apple and a clementine. I also thought that I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, but I actually feel exhausted and might go to bed soon!

All about fermentation

Here I am, blogging in the library since I have last period free today. I'm blogging now because there's a pasta party immediately after practice and I don't know how much time I'll have before I get home. I GET TO SHAVE TODAY!


Breakfast (this kept me full all the way till 5th period!): two pieces of pumpkin bread with peanut butter and banana, cottage cheese with blueberries, strawberries, wheat germ, honey, a sprinkle of grape nuts and slivered almonds, and the rest of the chocolate soy milk, which was literally one sip.
I have to say though, I went back for some more cottage cheese (I need at least one and a half servings to fill me up) and cereal (puffins this time), and cut my mouth when I was chewing! Has this ever happened that something you're eating has a sharp edge and scratches the inside of your mouth? Painful!
Anyways, bio was super interesting today, since our current unit is metabolism. Today we talked about fermentation, and our teacher asked for us to name some fermented foods. I immediately starting naming the works: tempeh, natto, kimchi...
and he said, "Kimchi's good! And what's the Western equivalent?"
I immediately answered "Sauerkraut!"
Him: Cabbage fan!
The conversation kept going, until he mentioned Middle Eastern preserved lemons. I accidentally blurted out "I LOVE THAT STUFF!" and everybody game me a weird look, including him. "We'll talk privately," he said.
It turns out that he bakes bread (we talked about the biology of alcohol fermentation vs. lactic acid fermentation) and we own the same great food science book, On Food and Cooking.
I WISH I HADN'T DROPPED FOOD CHEMISTRY! It's a spring quarter elective, but it meets during Art History :(
Anyways, he put a picture of natto on the project for everyone to see. Most people couldn't tell what it was: some thought it was a rice krispie treat, beans and cheese, or even larvae.
He brought out a jar of millet miso from this Massachusetts miso company (South River Miso) whose miso is actually made by stomping on the soy beans! He put it into some scary-looking machine that could detect C02 and O2 emissions to test the level of living bacteria in the miso.
Something else I remembered! He makes sourdough by adding GRAPES in with the flour-water mixture before adding the starter! They have to be organic, though: apparently the white film around the outside of organic grapes are all organisms, so they help the fermentation happen faster. Cool, huh? Also, apparently the reason almost all soy products are fermented is because they're more nutritious that way.
Around 11:40, I had my blueberry z bar.
Lunch: very filling! Leftover pumpkin and lentils and couscous, plus applesauce and an orange. It was so juicy, my hands still smell like oranges!

That's about it for now. I'll update what happened with the pasta party later. Pictures will also be posted later.
PS: an example of a lunch that is exactly the opposite of mine? Behold my friend Kaitlyn's: pretzels, 2 Uncrustables, Cheese Nips, mandarin-orange ish fruit, and a banana.