Thursday, April 10, 2008

File Under: NO SELF CONTROL

At lunch today I walked to the Japanese grocery store conveniently located just blocks from my organization's Portland office. I assumed I'd get some prepackaged sushi, but was distracted by the hot cha siu bao near the meat counter. (Let's not ask why a Japanese market has chinese pork buns, let's just be thankful it does.) I grabbed three, plus two wasabi-laced shu mai.

Wandering back to the check out, I found a box of those terrible almond crush Pocky that I first started eating after Dooce's sugar-laced eloquence on the subject convinced me to give them a try. And some moto moto yama (spicy nori strips). And some rice crackers.


On the walk back I contained myself to the nori strips, which taste like wasabi-flavored paper. Why I like them is not entirely clear, but I do even as I marvel at the strange texture. Back at the office I gobbled up the bao and shu mai. I held out on the pocky for a good minute or two, but then succumbed, eating a packet of six delicious sticks. (Three more packets sit in the box, and poting this means I need to save at least one for Chris.)


My stomach is bulging. Three bao was more than I needed, and then I jammed those pocky in there too. Now the crackers are calling to me, asking me to ignore that I am not just not hungry, but actually sort of uncomfortably full. My solution? Leave the room. I've put the snacks in the side room with my jacket and scarf. I'm holed up in a windowless cubicle, thinking that I can block the deafening roar of the crackers. Until at least 2:15.

5 comments:

  1. I don't get it with the rice crackers. Do they dust them with heroin?

    I ate 400 calories in rice crackers a couple days ago. But who's counting.

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  2. In Portland there seems to be more Pan-Asian establishments than elsewhere--dim sum restaurants run by Vietnamese people, Japanese noodle places run by Hawaiians (now defunct, but I loved the ma po tofu ramen). I wonder if we aren't up to some critical mass level.

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  3. Um, I had chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, alongside my scrambled eggs with havarti. And toast.

    And let me tell you about the evil genius that is the potato burrito, with rice and a tortilla. I'm not running a marathon. I don't think I need to carbo-load.

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  4. God, how I love those buns! Near where I work, I'm surrounded by Korean restaurants and cafes for some reason, even a Korean supermarket. Which means bi bim bao twice a week and all together more rotted cabbage than is probably healthy.

    And what is it with nori? I can eat sheets of the stuff raw quite happily.

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  5. How have I gone all this time without anyone telling me about this nori? Wasabi flavored anything is OK with me. Paper sounds delicious.

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