organic fusion cuisine

I leave for L.A. a week from tomorrow for the CAA conference, yippee! This will be the first time I've spent my birthday bathed in warmth and sunshine. It should also confess that I celebrate my half birthday. I have a hard time getting others to celebrate it with me, but sooner or later they come around. With the help of our friend Patricia who lives in L.A., Deb has picked a restaurant for my birthday dinner that I am mighty excited about. Shojin is a contemporary organic fusion cuisine restaurant. Shojin cuisine is very traditional Japanese cuisine and originally Buddhist vegetarian cooking and they offer organic and natural meals influenced and inspired by macrobiotic and Japanese style. The menu looks amazing and am excited to spend some time in Little Tokyo.

A year ago the cherry blossoms were blooming in our museum at NIU and Ayomi Yoshida and her crew of friends and students were back in Japan after a long installation. My tattoo on my forearm is Ayomi's blossom designs and I can't help but think of the wonderful experiences they brought to our museum and campus. Since then I've been somewhat of a freak about all things Japanese and would love to do an artist residency in Japan.