Close Your Eyes

First off, I am so sorry for not blogging for over a month! I can't believe it's been that long, but the time-stamp on my last post says Jan. 25, so I guess somehow February flew by without me blogging. Yikes. Sorry about that.

Now that I'm back at work full time doing the juggle, my blogging has clearly slowed down, but stick with me -- I hope to ramp back up starting now. I have tons of posts in my head, and I am committed to finding the time to get them out on "paper" and up on this site as often as I can. Which brings me to the title of this post.

Have you ever tried closing your eyes when you eat? It sounds a little silly and actually doing this at home -- and certainly in public -- might feel bizarre, but I recommend trying it.

Every time my husband and I eat sushi, Jeremy closes his eyes. No, not throughout the entire meal, but during his savoring of each piece of sushi. I have to admit, this practice has sometimes embarrassed me. Sushi chefs have looked at him wondering if he's okay, and I've wondered where to focus my attention as I'm eating with my eyes wide open while he's having quite an experience in his mouth with his eyes closed.

Because Jeremy always looks euphoric with his eyes closed, sushi dancing around in his mouth, I had tried it many times before, but usually opened my eyes too quickly out of self consciousness from doing this in a public place (with sushi chefs mere feet away). I don't know why it made me feel so funny, but it did.

Well, this past month -- on Valentine's Weekend, I did it. Finally. For real. We were eating dinner at Koi, a hip, happening high-end restaurant in L.A. that has two of my most favorite dishes in the city: creamy rock shrimp tempura and spicy tuna on crispy rice. As we were eating these dishes during an early Valentine's celebration, no one was hovering over us and the tastes in my mouth were so overwhelmingly delicious that I couldn't help it: I had to close my eyes.

The food was just too delicious not to close my eyes. Does that make sense? It's as if taking in any distractions or sensations other than what I was taking in through my mouth would have diminished my experience. And that, I tell you, is true pleasure in eating. Ever since then, I've tried closing my eyes for bites here and there just so I could fully be present to the food in my mouth. It's a wonderful way to connect with yourself while you're eating, and tune into the experience fully.

All I can say is: I highly recommend it. Whenever you're eating a special meal (or any meal, for that matter), try closing your eyes. Don't worry about whether or not someone catches you. I promise, when you experience your food with your eyes closed, eventually you won't care what, if anything, others are thinking about you. In fact, through the experience you may discover an entirely new relationship with your food.

So there you go. I'm back online blogging. Here's a well-deserved shout-out to my hubby for teaching me this wonderful lesson.

**Note: the picture above is not from Koi (we forgot to take photos there). It's a picture of the spicy crunchy shrimp tempura roll at Hirosuke in Encino**