If Somewhat Gourmet could eat anything......

If money was no object.....
If time was not limited.........
If you had no barriers...................
                                           What would your dream meal be???
I am greedy...so I have two!!!

First  The Restaurant-
Many moons ago, when I lived in America  I wrote a blog about the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  Since then,  I have been to Tokyo.  I have seen the world famous Tuna auction.  I have eaten
at the Tsukiji Fish Market.  I have eaten at a Sushi Train (convener belt sushi).  A quick stand and order sushi restaurant.  I have had some of the best and worst sushi in my life on my trip to Tokyo but I did not visit Sukiyabashi or one of Jiro's apprentices' restaurants.
I WANT TO GO THERE SOOOOO BAD
But it is EXPENSIVE like $300 per person!!!  Though Anthony Bourdain swears it is worth it!!

The good news is at both his younger son and apprentice's restaurant there is an sou chef  who will translate the courses for you. This is important because I have not learned Japanese since I moved to Korea. However, I am not one to run away when there is a language barrier (  I can gesture with the best of them!!!).  So I would gladly eat at any of the restaurants.

These restaurants are not the places you order at.  There is a set price  per person.  You order your drinks.  And then the chef serves you an amazing 15-20 course meal of sushi.  I know this sounds absurd but....each course is really only a  piece or two  of beautifully thought out meticulously crafted nigri.  I mean the octopus is massaged for hours and hours so it will be tender enough to eat.  This is a place where preparing fish is an art form... One, I would  love to experience.

Second- The home/market/live abroad again
I have this fantasy.  Maybe it is a by product of  watching the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, but I want to go to Tuscany for like a month and learn to cook real Italian.  I want to go to the markets.  I want to con an Italian mom ( we all know mom's cooking is the best) into letting me come into her kitchen and learning teach me how to cook.  I have taken cooking classes in Korean and Spain from amazing cooking schools.  But in Italy, I want to go to someone's home.

That is the problem...  Not understanding the language when you eat at a restaurant is confusing.  You may order the wrong thing.  But it is manageable and an adventure.  However, go to someone's
house who you don't speak the same language as and learning to cook.....That is way HARDER.
So for that...I will need help...A LOT of help.  I know NO Italian!!!  So I would definitely need a  translation software.  Google or  free translation apps work in a pinch.  BUT they don't give exact translations(Please don't get me started on the issues of translating between English and MOST Asian languages).  So for a place I want to spend time in, buying a good translator is a MUST.


Over the course of writing this blog and stopping and writing this blog and stopping and writing and stopping again, I have traveled to 9 countries and moved abroad.  I have experiences the good, the bad and the ugly of culinary experiences.  But, I am not done!!!  So cheers..to making one or both of my culinary dreams come true...