Sushi Sushi Bar and Pho Mi 99

I drove up to Mississauga today to see a friend and celebrate her birthday.  It was probably the only regret that I have of moving on to another career; leaving good friends that I have made through the years that I worked for GlaxoSmithKline.  The thing that made up for it was the comfort that when I see them, we pick up where we left off with so much ease we don’t look like we have been apart at all.

I meet up with birthday girl Arsha and another friend Monika for lunch and they surprised me by choosing a Japanese restaurant.   Back then, I never had any success of converting them into my most favorite cuisine as the thought of eating something raw make some of them squirm.  What made it even better was that they chose an eat-all-you-can restaurant, Sushi Sushi Japanese Restaurant.  We walk in and I realized that I went there once before with another friend.  I recognized the contemporary design of the booths and the dark walls and I just know I would definitely would be having a good meal.

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We were ushered to a table and the staff did a quick rundown of how the ordering works.  Two lists were provided, one a menu for items cooked in the kitchen and another for menu prepped at the sushi bar.  Me being a big fan of anything Japanese, went for the usual suspects, miso soup, salmon hand roll, white tuna sushi, mackerel sushi and shrimp tempura.  My friends went for California Roll, Sushi Sushi House Roll and crabmeat roll.  Between the three of us, we also went for grilled eggplant, salmon-wrapped asparagus, beef wrapped asparagus, chicken teriyaki and tempura scallops.  Might seem to look like we were pure gluttons but the restaurant only served with how many pieces a customer ordered.  Amidst good banter to get each other up to speed with each others affairs, we finish our lunch with green tea ice cream and fried plantains.  We later moved on to Arsha’s place and continued our conversation over Turkish coffee and Polish cookies.  Time just flies when there were so much stories to tell and listen to.

After I parted ways with Monika and Arsha, I thought I’d drop by my favorite breakfast partner, Helen.  Luckily she wasn’t busy for the afternoon and met up with me after my impromptu call.  We met up at Chapters by Square One and we loitered around as we talked.  We later decided to move to a restaurant and Helen suggested her daughter’s favorite Vietnamese place , Pho Mi 99. Having been eating all day, I thought I’d go easy and Helen was agreeable to split a medium-sized bowl of Beef and Beef Ball Rice Noodle soup and a serving of spring roll.  The aroma and warmth of the soup whetted my appetite and I actually found I still have room for more food.  We finish most of the soup after a lengthy exchange of each others lives.

I smiled to myself feeling content with the events of the day.  Seeing my friendships remain steadfast despite my change was rather humbling.  It was very good to know I have Mississauga to run back to when I need it. :)