Dear members,
Hope you're doing fine.
When we had the first Sake meetup, I wanted to make it as a series, but I wasn't sure if Mr. Yuji Matsumoto, the sake somelier, would like to have more events with us. My biggest fear was that he would say "Sorry, Sally, but I can't do it anymore." That week I wasn't sleeping well, worrying about it all the time.
Usually I have a pretty good feeling before actual meetups, but for this Sake meetup, I wasn't sure because he's done more than 500 sake-related events and I needed to ask him favor to do it at a special discount, and I had no other way but cook food myself. I thought I couldn't screw up, and I was under a lot of pressure.
Also it was the event I wanted to do for such a long time....since 1999 when I was writing up application for FDA approval for a Japanese sake maker who wanted to sell their sake in the US for the first time. I wasn't sure if members like the idea of making sake-based cocktail together, either.
But everything seemed to go fine, and I was very impressed with his professionalism and dedication. He first let us taste some sake. It was an inexpensive, kind of OK sake. Not too bad. But then he let us try another sake which was $85 per bottle, and wow, what a difference!! Even people who never tasted sake would know the difference right away.
And you can never tell how happy I was to hear members ask me "Sally, can you ask Yuji to do this more?"....and I got even happier when I heard Yuji say to the group "OK, the next time we'll do this and that..." OMG! So, he wants to do this again with my group?! What a relief! I felt as if all my tension and nervousness I'd had in my body just melted away.
After the meetup, Yuji and I started to talk about the next sake meetup. And he found the venue too. A sushi restaurant in WLA. Perfect!
Sushi Central
3500 Overland Ave. #100
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 202-6866
www.sushi-central.net
He said we'd be tasting 8 different kinds of sake! Great! It's going to be on Sun. Nov. 2nd at 4pm. And at this point I assumed we could order sushi there...... Wrong.
When I called him last night, I realized the restaurant is closed on Sundays. He said he'd bring snacks, but we can't have sushi and the main purpose is not to feed the hungry crowd, but try many kinds of different sake. I understood, and told him that I could come in earlier to help set up.
Then he told me that actually we could use the restaurant kitchen to prepare food. Really?! Yeah, from maybe 12pm that day. Wow! That's even better....!! I always wanted to cook at a restaurant kitchen, so it's almost like my dream come true!!
And I thought about my personal thing. My birthday is coming up soon (Nov. 7th, which I share with Maureen..) and I haven't really planned anything special for that yet, but to me being able to cook for my friends in a nice restaurant kitchen for my own birthday (a little earlier, though) is like the biggest birthday gift I'd ever get, so I thought I would really take this opportunity!
Hope you can join this party and have a good time together!
Love,
Sally
“ It was a great sake learning experience and fantastic way to celebrate Sally's birthday! Most of us had the opportunity to cook in a restaurant kitchen. ”
“ This was a lot of fun, because we got a chance to cook in a restaurant kitchen, which was great. The food was delicious and, as always, the company was friendly and fun. Yugi-san was a very informative sake sommelier and answered all of our questions. I now feel that I could order a bottle of sake in a restaurant more intelligently. ”
Rick and Shelly (+1 guest)
Sally (+1 guest)
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