Trainees preparing their own creative roll the day I arrive
It’s quite amazing how far sushi can take you - When T first asked that I visit L.A late last year when we met in Tokyo, my initial response was more of apprehension than excitement. Don’t get me wrong I’m thrilled to have the chance to go back and get up to speed with things but in part as written in my earlier post I have grown a little weary of long flights and partly it has been ages since I have been back so I really did not know what to expect. The memories of my time there are though still fresh but felt for the first time helplessly threatened by all the progress and changes that have taken place through the years. I mean the last time I was here, like everyone else I was just a fresh trainee who left Vancouver to come and learn about making sushi. I was just one of them. That’s quite a while ago. Since then many things have changed, me included. With T’s blessings, many moons of lectures, seminars, workshops, assignments, projects, TV shows, DVD, magazines, cities and even with a handful of plagues to show later, it’s rather amazing how far this little pinch of rice has got me. As much as it’s been very kind to me, last time I check, sushi still can’t teleport me from one part of the world to another. Funny how I dreaded long flights that I think I’m starting to hallucinate about flying sushi. I was hoping I didn’t have to go if I have a choice so I kept delaying my trip. T would call again to ask when I’m coming. I told him I’ll arrange something, while holding on the miracle of sushi teleportation. Then T would email me again weeks later reminding me to visit L.A. A couple of email back and forth, weeks became months and I knew somehow I had to make this trip…and it will be on a plane. When I finally sorted out things at work and put myself on a flight to L.A this summer, it actually took quite a bit of coaxing and convincing but put myself on a flight I sure did.
De-brief with their instructors and T
The air here is still the same as I remembered it. You know how we look for things, people and places we are familiar with whenever we are away from home. Traces and memories that help to ease the unknown of a foreign place. Even though I’ve been here before somehow everything looks foreign now and as I was about to find out, the school has changed. The venue is new (we were right by the beach back then..what happened???). The instructors don’t look familiar. Even the restaurant has moved to another part of town. Everything just about feels new and different here.
My ride - the new Toyota Sienna
When T handed me the keys to the Sienna, driving on the streets brought back some memories. Hey I’m getting back my feel! But the old S is long gone. I was told smashed by D’s baseball during one of his games. There hung a picture on the restaurant wall of the smashed window panel as a stark reminder to everyone never to leave your vehicle near the park in case someone scores a home run at your expense. We used to travel and packed ourselves like sardines with all our gear in the old faithful wheels traveling from the school to various catering venues. Understandably with age, S don’t really go fast and furious on Santa Monica Boulevard but visiting Hollywood mansions and offices was definitely loads of fun. The new S is definitely a lot more roomier.
The sushi wall of fame still here after all these years
When I first stepped into the new training kitchen, there are a lot of things going through my mind. A lot of emotions. Photos that hung on the wall. I still see me in one of those picture in the graduating class of Winter 2002. Someone from the current batch of trainees even commented that I looked fresh out of high school. Hahaha…my sentiments exactly. Albeit the embarrassment sometimes old photos are good reminders of where we started our journey. But looking at the current batch of trainees, I soon found out just like back then (some things never change) they are quite a diverse group – a trained German chef, a former LA Times employee, a Filipino, a Korean and a whole bunch of aspiring sushi chefs. Everyone was kinda surprise to see an alumni from Singapore the day I turned up in jeans and shirt for their afternoon class. I watched them go through their classes, made fun of each other, get lectured, bringing vague remembrance of our classes here. They too asked me lots of stuff about Singapore. This is the second last week of their professional training course and everyone is excited with their new life ahead. Most are heading back home while a handful will stay behind seeking further opportunities. Some were professionals, some have their degrees and various pedigrees, some came straight from high school but I look at them all with much hope and pride. I know many of their stories - people in a different profession now pursuing their interest in food, some are seeking a new chapter in their lives, some are simply seeking greener pasture but everyone is here chasing their dream. Everybody is somebody.
CSA trainees during their saking tasting class
Maybe this is the American dream. Their hope of a better life, a better opportunity. They have a reason to dream, a drive to go on when things get rough, a personal motivation to succeed. And in the end that becomes their story. They know where they are and where they will be depends on them. The reality they are here in training is really a direct result of that – most pay for their courses out of their own pocket, everything’s self financed – food, school fees, accommodations, daily expenses. If they can get a bank loan, they have to make their payments back through work. It’s quite a responsibility for most who are barely in their late teens. They’ve learned to cope with life. No parents (Thank God for them), no governement subsidy (just glad this is not another bailout for banks-rupt) or whatever safety net to fall back on, just them, their pair of hands and a little faith. I respect that. I respect that a lot. Most will get to travel and eventually go on to work for restaurants, hotels and resorts in different parts of the world, many will someday be their own bosses, handful will do something else with their experience gained here but everyone will be a step closer to their own dream. And I know for sure if they put their heart to it, sushi will treat them nice. Sushi will take them places. I know because…I know.
So while I was away, while many changes took place (Haha..there’s even a book “Story of Sushi” on Amazon.com about life here at the school) some had remained very much the same. And surely that includes how strangers become friends. Once we got talking, it’s going to take more than a few sakes to stop us. I wouldn’t want to interupt their classes and we kept our introductions brief so they could go back to class and I can move on to the more serious business of getting myself re-acqainted with the people and city again.
Some of these sushi and their creator sare going to be famous someday
There might be more dreadful long flights to come but sometimes we need to put a lil faith in a pinch of rice because there are simple too many stories to tell not enough time to live.
