Blue Marlin Tataki

Matthew and I were planning to go to the Blue Marlin Seafoods in Boksburg today as this was the place that I took his mother, Carol to a long long time ago but the restaurant was not there anymore. After tracking it down found out that it had moved 2 months ago and did not serve the seafood buffet anymore so we decided to go to Tataki for sushi instead.

Tataki is under new ownership and the sushi chef must still be in training as the sushi was tasty yet the form needs to be perfected, for example these salmon handrolls shown above.

Soul Food

This is not an easy post to write. News on Carol is not good. I picked up Matthew from his Uni in Pretoria and took him down to see his mom. From the reports I received, she has had a stroke and was not doing well so now here we are, Matthew and I, standing next to her bed at the hospital. Carol is unresponsive, she is wearing and oxygen mask and is staring into nothing.

Staring into nothing, I have seen this before, the abyss is a dark place to be in and I once found Carol in this exact place, staring into nothing. Oh how I hate bi-polar. It is a condition that has stricken Carol a long time ago and researching up on bi-polar, I was determined that it would not break up our family against what the stats were saying. I hopelessly failed. I failed Carol. I failed Matthew. I failed God. I failed myself. I failed. I failed period. I hate bi-polar. And now I find myself standing next to her hospital bed with Matthew by my side.

Once I woke up sometime during the night and Carol was gone, I found her sitting in the passage on the floor staring into the nothingness. That time I managed to get her back from the edge and she said that she was on her way to the kitchen for something, got halfway and released that she forgot why she was going to the kitchen, so sat right down to think. Hours later, I found her in that same place, just staring into nothing. Just like she is now but I am not sure with the stroke that we can get her back. Did I say how much I hate bi-polar.

A phone rang somewhere in the ward. "Look Matthew, her eyes blinked", yes Carol reacted and moved trying to see where the sound was coming from. Her eyes found Matthew and fixed onto him, but when he moved, she continued staring into that nothing. Both Matthew and I, finally left her bedside as empty vessels. Nothing to say to each other but I put my arm around him. I worry about him as he is emotionless. Maybe all these years of looking after his mom has taken its toil on him. Maybe he is just bottling it all up. Oh my Matthew, I am so sorry.

We ended up at the only place that serves Matthew and my soul food, sushi. At first we just sat there, the sushi conveyor was not really fill of our favourite so we just sat as it went round and round. The waiter was somehow slow or maybe we weren't altogether there but finally we had to get our lives back on track so we ordered salmon handrolls to start followed by californian fashion sandwiches. After filling up our rice stomachs, I drove Matthew back to his mom's place. He stared out to the few stars that were strong enough to break through the evening's gloom and he mumbled that he wishes that he was out there among the stars away from all these earthly troubles. After dropping Matthew off at his mom's empty townhouse, I drove home late in the evening with this nothingness hanging over me. I hate bi-polar along with the likes of the mosquito. I wrestled with God on my lonely drive back home. Why would he make such things, things like bi-polar and mosquitoes. Why?  

Freedom

So what does Freedom Day mean to you? While some people marched to express their freedom or lack of it, others like ourselves relaxed with family. Freedom to be ourselves. Freedom to believe in our God. Freedom to love whoever we want. Freedom to enjoy our home and surroundings without fear and discrimination and far away from the annoying crowds. In the above photo, our lovely home is just out the picture on the right half way up. This is the view I wake up to every morning and feel blessed.

Freedom to eat sushi for breakfast at home and to play with Minky in our garden while still dressed in my pyjamas and not be filmed.

Fashion Sandwiches

Interesting a friend of mine, Heather, wrote an article on her blog, 2 Summers, some time back that the fashion sandwich (shown above) is an South African phenomenon and from all her travels never came across the lowly sushi fashion sandwich other than here in South Africa. So here I was sitting at Tataki in Boksburg with Matthew enjoying some local sushi when on the conveyor comes this salmon fashion sandwich. My thoughts went straight to Heather’s article, A Good Sushi Restaurant in Joburg. Only in South Africa, uhmmm is this true I wondered as I never went to any other sushi restaurants outside of Johannesburg which means my culinary travels are rather sparse.

Like Heather, I too am not a fan of the fashion sandwich, I love the salmon California hand roll whereas Matthew loves salmon sashimi. Not all sushi restaurants are the same here in Jozi as I judge them on how they make a California hand roll. The old man that used to work here at Tataki was not there. Replaced by a youngster and I am sorry to say Tataki, that his hand rolls was not up to my standard as it was before with the old man.

Rocco Sons

Now we have had Rocomamma, and RocoPapa, what is left is Rocco & Sons. So how did we get here, well Eskom is busy doing testing in our area and had switched off the power grid in the morning and put it back on late in the afternoon but when we arrived home, our sector was still in the dark. Eskom said they could only come out about 10pm. Not even fair as they should have made sure all sectors were working before leaving as unbeknown to everyone, thieves had come along and stole the cables near our house. Sigh!

This meant that we had to go out to dinner, so we decided to try the Papachinos in Broadacres, down the road. Oh no where we had no electricity, Broadaches had no water as they were under water-shedding. What is happening to Jozi?

At Papachinios, we found the Rocco & Sons Butchery sign on the wall. Well the food was good with comparable prices, but the drinks very expensive, and due to the lack of water no coffees, even on such a cold evening as tonight.

Although we didn’t need the rest room, does water-shedding meant that the toilets weren’t working and a bucket system is in place?

Crispy Rose

Tomorrow is my birthday but this is bad timing as Matthew has exams now and he can’t spend the weekend with me. Consolation prize is that I still get to spend time with him, that is why I picked him up last night and today after an awesome brain food lunch of sushi and more sushi, before he had to go back and study.

We ended back at Tataki at the Rietfontein Spar, Boksburg for their sushi buffet of eat as much as you can eat sushi. We haven’t been there for over a year and the proprietor was happy to see us again after such a long time. He used to create special sushi creations for us to try and if we loved it, he would include it in his sushi bar. Today he made special Crispy Rose sushi for us and beef and chicken dumplings. Yummy and the Crispy Rose is worth the try.

Sushi Vacuum Decay and Ben 10

Wow I am feeling not so bright anymore as my son, Matthew, is starting to explain Quantum Mechanics in such a way that I can understand. You would not believe me if I said that he used Ben 10, a children's television program to explain in a child like way to his old man all about bubble universes and false vacuums along with vacuum decay. And I must state that I now have a fresh understanding positrons, electrons and vacuum decay. I double checked Matthew's theory on the internet and he is spot on with his Quantum Mechanics. Who would have thought that when a false vacuum decays it creates new bubble universes?

Maybe I am feeding Matthew too much sushi and his all time favourite sushumi as all I know about vacuums is that no-one can hear you scream.

Yamada Sushi Bar

Last time Matthew was with me, he felt like sushi but we didn't get round to sushi because of the Chinese New Year but I promised that next time we would go. So after picking him up in Benoni we headed straight for the Yamada Sushi Bar in Rivonia Junction. Although it was early evening it was packed to the brim with patrons and it was difficult to find a seat. At R129 eat as much sushi as you want I can understand why it was so popular. Matthew and I set out to enjoy ourselves on delicious sushi and walked out a pot bellied a few hours later.

First Sushi

I had Matthew over for supper last night in our first attempt at making sushi. I bought some pre-cooked sushi rice from Theme on Nicol's sushi chef, sushi nori, a nice chunk of salmon, cucumber, avocado pear, soya sauce and wasabi paste. Uhmmm the rice was sure sticky. I didn't take many photos after the first few because we had rice everywhere. Both Matthew and I took turns on making our own which we shared. I think more fun was had than making the perfect sushi.

Valentine Sushi

After BBC Carol, Matthew and I went off to have a Valentine lunch of sushi at Mino Moto at the Wedge. We as a family really enjoy sushi but don't often get to eat it. So this eat as much sushi as you can was a treat for us. At the same time I am busy formulating a South African version in my mind. You know not with rice but with pap. Watch this space when I release my genius onto an unexpecting South Africa.

Sushi and more sushi

Carol, Matthew and I took Maxy to Emmarentia. While Carol sat on a bench overlooking a tranquil dam Matthew and I took Maxy for a walk. In the evening we took Francis to Dong Sheng, a sushi bar where for only R110 each we can each as much sushi as we can.