Muse back!
May 11, 2009 / Monday
Yokohama Station
As I was eating my broccoli tofu garlic stir fry dinner earlier, I was reminded of the tomato tofu meals I had as a student in Berkeley. There was a place called Yokohama Station in the Durant Food Court* that I frequented at least twice a week my junior or senior year. I always got the same thing: tomato tofu, which was not much more than a giant saucy stir fry of tomatoes, tofu, and a ton of garlic over rice. The lady behind the counter/wok knew me, and even after they changed the recipe for that dish, would continue making it for me the way I liked it. She was also something of a replacement kitchen mom for me. When I graduated, I remembered thinking that I'd miss her, and hoped that she would be well.
I thought tonight that perhaps I could go back, have that dish again, and see how the replacement kitchen mom lady was doing.
But the internet tells me I can't. As of some time last year, Yokohama Station is closed. Forever. :(
Is replacement kitchen mom lady okay? Did she retire? Is she happy? Was she happy? I always wondered that; working in the restaurant business is not easy. I would sit and eat my tomato tofu and wonder if she was happy. I always hoped that she was.
I still hope that she is.
As I thought about this some more, I remembered my first visit to Yokohama Station. We were very fresh freshman in search of a midnight snack. My roommate picked this place because she missed her Japanese mom, and the lady behind the counter/wok made her feel better. (Amusingly, she turned out to be Chinese.)
We brought our food back to the dorm, and as we sat on the floor of our room eating our giant meal-sized snacks, I pulled something unidentifiable out of my Mongolian beef.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Put it in your mouth and see," my roommate replied.
Because I am borderline Darwin stupid, I did just that, and immediately discovered that it was a very hot hot pepper. Oh, and did I mention it was hot? I mean, HOT?
I don't do hot. Pepperoncinis make me sweat.
Guess what I tell people now when they wonder what something is in their food.
* For some reason, I always think "Third World Court" before "Durant Food Court", although it seems it's not a term that caught on (recently) enough to be Googlable. Just as well; I always grappled with the derisive nature of it, especially because I really liked eating there.