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Words For the Meal, Photo the Aftermath

It’s a black plastic base, rectangle-shaped with a clear lid that lets me see the prize inside. Ten pieces of sushi, circular, and lined up in pairs. The last two in the lines are the end pieces and thin slices of carrots rise out of them like orange vines. The ingredients wrapped in nori and rice would probably make any true sushi critic howl; carrots, cucumber, and avocado. Not very traditional, but the only vegetarian choice the sushi shop sells. I am not disappointed, my love for sushi is not limited to only the most elite variations of rolls. This one tastes good enough. The flavor of the rice vinegar covers a multitude of sins of the carrot variety, a pea-sized bit of wasabi, even more. It is cold and a perfect mix of crunchy and soft. Because all of my meal money went to the meal, I just drink plain water from the water fountain, though I might heat it up and make some tea later. 

The tray it came in reminds me of a canoe, long and thin, pieces of roll lined up like people at the oars, the ginger at the end packed away like a picnic lunch. 

There was an exhibit about boats at the children’s museum near my house. They had this sort of canoe simulator, basically, just a canoe set into the ground with some kind of mechanics below it so that as you stepped into it, it rocked. Then you could stand and row the oars that descended down into the machine and it felt like you were moving with the screen in front of you that showed a video of similar riverboats. That’s what this reminds me of as the not quite sweet not quite savory flavor of ripe avocado washes over my tongue. I’m not sure why, but I suppose with the chopsticks next to it, the similarities are too much to ignore. 

“Skip the filters and the art of cropping–we are going old school…..DESCRIBE your (or your character’s) lunches! So whatever it is you’re eating or ate earlier, or would love to eat, describe it! Don’t be afraid to be silly, and don’t skimp on the details. What color is it? What does it taste like? What does it remind you of? If you make it into a poem–that would be even better!”

ds106 Assignments: Instagram is done…DESCRIBE your lunch to me! 

I had no idea that this was gonna go like this. That describing my sushi lunch was going to bring up memories of a children’s museum that I haven’t been to in years or make me think of canoes. That’s the beauty of writing for you. I honestly think that is part of what I like it so much, the spontaneity of creativity that only happens as you are writing. I think it happens in all mediums, I don’t think Bob Ross has the ability to know exactly how his paintings will turn out. They will just happen as he paints them, that’s part of the beauty of it. It wouldn’t be fun if the painter was worried about the final outcome being exactly as they first envisioned it. That sounds like a recipe for anxiety. Because Bob Ross does so much the opposite, it is relaxing and freeing. For me, that creative spontaneity is the joy of painting/writing/drawing/singing/art.

I know the whole point of the assignment was to describe your lunch because you can’t post a picture of it. So I post a non-picture. I post the aftermath.

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