Beauty in Strength

Happy Monday and Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone! For those of you who are fortunate enough to be off on this special MLK holiday, I wish you all a wonderful day.  Perhaps you spent part of your day watching the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies?

Although we were supposed to originally have off today, due to being out of school for two weeks because of Hurricane Sandy, school was in session, and my students had more energy than usual. It may have to do with the fact that they are predicting 1 – 3 inches of snow this afternoon into tonight…

I’ve mentioned a few times a bit too much, that these past two weeks have been long, slow, and challenging, but it seems like things are on the upswing. As things finally return to normalcy, we decided that even though it was the night before a work day, we would treat ourselves to dinner and drinks out in an effort to recharge, refresh, and reboot.

There was really no question where we would go.  It is a place that we absolutely love – a place that we feel at home, we ADORE the food, and we can always relax -  Fujiyama Mama in Westfield, New Jersey.

The restaurant is a unique blend of Japanese cuisine and oriental culture, and the menu is extensive and accommodating for any diet.  Sunday through Thursday they also offer half price sushi and drinks, which is exactly what we enjoyed.  Whether there for hibachi or sushi, there were so many options for my new lifestyle too!

Drink of choice last night?  Merlot.

For my appetizer I began with steamed edamame or young soybeans perfectly seasoned with sea salt.

For my entree, I ordered three sushi rolls, all made with black or forbidden rice and with no extra sauce.  I dipped the rolls in a little bit of low-sodium soy sauce, and enjoyed them along with some pickled ginger and wasabi.

The Yasai roll made with cucumber, avocado, and asparagus,

the Shitake Asparagus roll made with avocado, Japanese black mushrooms, and asparagus,

and the Green Hope roll filled with mango, tomato, and avocado were all made with fresh, healthy, ingredients and were absolutely delicious!

I love that at Fujiyama Mama they truly focus on serving quality sushi.  They make their sushi with only premium short grain rice (not long grain or medium grain), and they only use imported, pure rice vinegar from Japan.  In addition, only top grade wasabi, gold grade nori (seaweed) is used as well as natural pickled ginger (not the artificial pink).

Often, when ordering sushi, some places use a lot of rice to make the orders seem big; however, at Fujiyama there is more filling and less rice.  WIN.  Over night rice is never used, and the sushi is always prepared fresh.

After a wonderful night of amazing food, good drinks, and perfect company, I was definitely able to reboot and start my week off on a good start.

Question of the Day: Is there a restaurant that you love to go to to reboot?

Qu0te of the Day: “He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wasted the time of his doctor.” – Ancient Chinese Proverb