I keep thinking I’m going to get caught up on these but then before I know it, it’s past twelve Saturday night and I’m trying to write about a Thursday I barely remember.
I should have slept well and maybe I did, but I honestly don’t remember. I got up earlier than I wanted and hit Tamashiro Market shortly after it opened. The supermarket at the stripmall didn’t have a couple of things I wanted Wednesday night and one of the island’s most popular fish markets is in my hood. Don’t ask me why I go there like once every two or three years. I need to make it part of my regular routine, especially since I’m trying to up my fish intake.
So, you know. I hit the Taco Bell drive-though for breakfast on the way back.
Since work is usually the first thing I do, I have to check the work emails to jolt the memory. Looks like I started with some edits to that proposal I worked on during my days off. I followed that with a tricky check request in our online invoicing system. That was actually kind of fun.
We had training via Zoom early in the lockdown on our new system, and I sat in on it even though I didn’t understand what it was about. I’m a writer, not a manager, so I don’t have to deal with budgeting and check requests. However, since I did go to the training and nobody else in my department did, the next time we had an invoice to pay (my department is communications and marketing, so we do have some major expenses), my supervisor asked if I would handle it.
The first one was super difficult. The terminology was all new, so I didn’t even know what a lot of the vocab meant. Happily, whoever put the tutorial together did a pretty good job, so although it took a while, I got it right (with some help from our really good fiscal team), and now I’m the guy who does this for our department. I rather enjoy it.
Then it was our weekly department Zoom meeting, and then I sat in on our monthly meeting for development officers. I was recently invited to join these, and while my job is nothing like their jobs, I work closely enough with them that it helps me with my work when I understand them a little better. This one was kind of fun.
My late lunch was leftover supergreens and a few bites of leftover entrees from Panda takeout, eaten cold right out of the Ziploc cannisters. Because of that late snack, there wasn’t a lot left, so I added some clementines and dried apricots. Not a bad way to start work.
After work, of course I took a nap. Dragged myself up and cubed a two-pound ahi filet for poke. I have made ahi poke before (a very long time ago) and don’t honestly know what I’m doing with the selection of fish. The market has it price by grade: good grade, high grade, and something like premium grade. There might have been a fourth grade.
The price differences are huge. I reasoned that since I’m eating it raw, but not as sashimi, I should get the high grade, which is sixteen bucks a pound! I hacked off a thin slice and slid it onto my tongue and knew immediately I’d bought too good a fish. It was so delicate and so delicious I could have eaten the whole filet like that, without shoyu or wasabi. Oh. My. Goodness. If I’d had some ponzu ingredients I’d have just done that.
I got the whole thing cubed (it took a while; I’m decent with a chef’s knife but fish is a new thing for me), popping cubes into my mouth as I went along. I scraped the skin and had what amounted to an ahi tartare, which I sprinkled some shoyu on and that was great too.
Added shoyu, wasabi oil, sliced onions, and sesame oil. Ate half of it with some fresh quinoa and put the other half in the fridge.
I think I overprepared it. Just the fish and onions and a little bit of wasabi oil would probably have been fine. Or just the fish, onions, and shoyu. Good lesson for next time.
Crush Girl and I texted pretty much all day. That was great. She actually reached out first to ask how it’s going. That was great. While I’m still interested in getting to know her away from the one context in which we’re acquainted, I’m no longer mooning over her as I was a year ago. Still, it’s nice to get some of her attention.
Gwen texted me to talk about her dad getting his shot.
I think that was it. It’s late and I’m going to bed. Hopefully.
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