After three lonely years, I have brought my lovely wife and daughter back from our Philippine island. They will have no more fish and shellfish straight from our waters, no more fresh coconut milk from one of our 75 coconut palms, no more mangos and bananas that make the ones here taste like imitation flavoring. There will be no more pomelos, lanzones or rambutans. There will be no more taking our little pump boat to the nearby village for school, or taking the two-hour ferry ride to the big city to shop. And no more jumping off the thirty-foot-high south end of the island.
My wife and daughter will miss our dogs barking at every approaching boat, the lizards basking on the rocks, the frequent rainbows, the island sunsets and the sweeps of stars undimmed by light pollution. They will miss our wandering sands that form a northwest-facing spit during Amihan winds and an east-facing beach during Habagat. How does one improve on a place where people go into the water when they feel cold? Already, my wife has said ruefully, “I miss my ocean!”
It’s not exactly a great exchange—Connecticut for a tropical paradise—but fortunately, as an extremely active food writer, I can offer my family a lot of great food and fun. My latest food adventure took us to Oyama Japanese Cuisine in Cromwell, a hibachi and sushi restaurant with a sibling in Enfield.
At Oyama, my mother, sister, wife, daughter and I were warmly welcomed by Monica, the restaurant manager.
We briefly considered the sushi bar
but decided we were in the mood for a hibachi spectacle.
We began our meal with mushroom soup
and a salad with a ginger dressing.
In the meantime, the fireworks got underway.
Our food was cooked to order. Here, you see the hibachi duo I ordered, which came with chicken, steak, shrimp appetizer, fried rice, vegetables and noodles in addition to the soup and salad.
That took care of the great food part of my promise to my wife and daughter, but what about the fun? Here, you see hibachi chef Daniel flicking a piece of zucchini for my wife to catch in her mouth
and here is my wife waiting to receive it.
Doesn’t she appear to be having fun?
Oyama Japanese Cuisine, 136-150 Berlin Road, Cromwell, 860-632-2324