Thursday, January 10, 2013

From Montana to Macau to Japan

Another three months have zipped by; another term helping a dear friend get a business up and running has come to a close. And in the morning, I'll head to Japan to see family and try to redeem myself for so many visits as a child where my main interests consisted of keeping one foot in America via McDonald's and Weird Science as I tried my best to take advantage of rather loose drinking age requirements. In preparation, I've saturated myself in things such as football and the double fatso over at Phil's Last Stand, and now look forward to some of the cleanest flavors on earth in Kyoto and Tokyo; things I was unable to appreciate in my early visits. Anyone will tell you that I'm the world's biggest bath enthusiast, and I've prepared myself for the onsen (while soaking the aches and stresses of the restaurant away) with visits to King Spa in Niles and plan on becoming one of these guys while spending a bit of the winter in Japan.

I realize that I've once again, in my standard fashion, neglected my dear F.o.t.D. whilst in the depths of the trenches of Fat Rice, and you can be certain that I won't be computing too much while wintering on that tiny island, but I've come to accept it--all in the name of gathering some good material, I suppose. People ask if I'll start the Salon up again, and I hope so, but that is further down the road than I'm ready to commit to right now.

That said, I plan to write a bit more about my time at Fat Rice upon my return. If you haven't been, please go. If you have, please go again and get something new. Old Crazy Hair and Adrienne have put all of their heart and soul into this place, and it is rare to see people care to the degree that they care on such a consistent basis. They're putting out astounding food, and breathing new life and fire into a cuisine that is rapidly disappearing, and it's been an honor and pleasure to work alongside them and the rest of the crew. Even though my past couple of jaunts have been planned as short 3 or 4 month deals (lest the perils of friends working with friends overcome us), it's still difficult to say goodbye at the end of the term. I mean, I'll see Old Crazy Hair, and Tasty T and the rest of the crew again, just like I'll see the folks in Montana again, but it bites a little bit to remove oneself from a great group. Alas, it will afford me more time to go into Fat Rice, sit at the bar, throw my weight around, and heckle the new grill guy (who happens to be Crazy Hair himself). See y'all in a month.