Saturday, August 14. Old-Time Saturday. Megumi. I can sleep late, and had no trouble doing so after last night's well-lubricated dinner. I have no radio show today. No grass to cut. All projects on my list are optional.
I defaulted to the Saturday routine the kids and I relished for over a decade, until they began their own lives. Breakfast at the Courtyard. Grocery store. Bank. Post office. Routines are the key to my small success. They get essential jobs done without my having to worry about them. Go to the dry cleaner every Saturday morning, always have clean clothes. The way I get a very long newsletter out every day--something that impresses a lot of people--is that it's a set-in-stone daily routine. Stephen King, who writes about as much as I do (much better) says the day doesn't seem right unless he's written four or five thousand words.
On the other hand, in Mary Ann's world every plan is subject to change with no advance notice. Anything goes all the time. I think juggling chaos is something she enjoys. It was inevitable that we'd marry one another and drive each other crazy.
It's still raining pretty hard every afternoon. Not a good weekend for a walk--something I wasted to do today. So I knuckled down and taught myself how to build a Joomla website. (Those who don't know what that means will not care; those who do, know more about it than I can tell.) I must say I was astonished how easy it is proving to be, although I have a long way to go before it results in the vastly-improved website I'm aiming for.
So as not to lose momentum, I went for a simple supper. Sushi sounded good. I broke my own advice by getting it at the newly-opened Megumi in Covington. I thought this would be a small risk because the original Megumi in Mandeville is excellent. But to play it safe I ordered chirashi sushi. The Mandeville Megumi's version of that is the best I've had anywhere. "Chirashi" means "scattered." The fish, instead of being wrapped around a knob of sushi rice piece by piece, is all placed atop a bed of rice. Here the fish was in one plate, and the rice in another. No problem with that, but there was a problem. Most of the fish (notably the tuna) had a texture that suggested to me that it had been defrosted too quickly. A sort of squishy texture. And too cold. Disappointing.
That was about enough for dinner, but I wanted a little something hot--not least because the dining room was freezing. An order of gyoza left a better impression than the sushi: well-made, tender dumplings with a nice pepper level in the stuffing.
I will write this dinner off to my having come too soon. (They didn't even have a liquor license yet. No beer.) The service staff is amateurish. But the menu is intriguing. Like many Asian restaurants these days, Megumi doesn't stick entirely with its main cuisine. They have Vietnamese pho, Korean grilled meats, and Chinese dim sum (just a little) on the menu. I'll wait six months before I return. As I should have done today. I hope it flourishes. This location has not been kind to its several previous tenants--most recently Hog Heaven, which went to its namesake place after less than a year.
Back at the computer, I played with code until my eyes started burning, at about midnight. Then another nice night's sleep in the still, quiet house. Nobody upstairs to wake me up with a toilet flush that cascades down in a pipe two feet from my pillow.
Megumi. Covington: 1211 Village Walk. 985-893-0406.
