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You Say Yamato
Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:44PM 
The Gregory and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary today! We got hitched at twelve noon on Saturday, June 16, 1979, at the Forrest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. It was all very traditional. I wore white lace and carried a large bouquet of gardenias; TG was so handsome in his black tuxedo with a cutaway morning coat. The soloist sang The Twelfth Of Never. We were surrounded by friends and family as Dr. Curtis Hutson officiated the ceremony. I wish I could show you a picture of us on that day but I haven't found my wedding album since the last time we moved, nearly three years ago! It's here somewhere. If you want to see what we looked like in the summer of '79, go here.
And yes ... I was a ten-year-old bride! I am 39! Just kidding. I was 22 and TG was 27 ... you are gonna need all your fingers and all your toes and your dog's paws (front and hind) to do that equation. I do not think it will require a second dog.
I could not believe it when he started flinging a raw egg into space and catching it on the flat metal surface of a giant spatula without breaking it until he was good and ready.
We spent our honeymoon in Charleston, South Carolina, a city which runs on sheer perspiration eight months out of the year. June is most definitely one of those months. The only place I've ever been that was hotter than Charleston is (1) New Orleans, Louisiana, and (2) San Antonio, Texas.
But it was lovely.
To my way of thinking one of the best things about staying married and producing several children is that said children grow up and get jobs and start buying you stuff.
Today Erica and Andrew, our two youngest, gave us a generous gift card for dinner at Yamato, one of our local Japanese hibachi restaurants. We'd never eaten at a place where they try to set you on fire along with your dinner (unless you count that table right up next to the roaring hearth at Cracker Barrel). It was as dangerously exciting as it was delicious and great fun.
Our chef kept telling me he didn't have a green card! I wasn't sure why he thought I cared as long as he fed me, but then I realized what the deal was ... I had brought out my camera and he played like he was convinced that if I took his picture, he'd be deported. I took it anyway and led him to believe I was from the INS, sent there on purpose to bust him. I think it got me a few extra bites of steak! Smart man.
I wish I could describe his squirt bottle for putting water on the grill surface but I won't. Use your imagination. TG kept smirking at me, HAHA very funny.
Our illegal alien of a chef turned out to be adept at not only making fire but at cooking our rice, vegetables, steak, chicken, and seafood to perfection. He was quite the showman with his flashing bottles of sesame oil and soy sauce and his glittering knives and skewers and scrapers and whatnot. For example I could not believe it when he started flinging a raw egg into space and catching it on the flat metal surface of a giant spatula without breaking it until he was good and ready. Then he added another egg and scrambled them both before integrating the cooked egg into our fried rice that was already studded with the peas of happiness.
He had some purply transparent shrimp lined up there, curved like a bunch of quotation marks just waiting for the spoken word, arranged like they were spooning, and before you knew it they had been separated from their tails and were sliced lengthwise, then into little bitty nuggets. By that time they had cooked to a gleaming white and each of us had several pieces that were absolutely succulent when you popped them into your mouth. The shrimp were soon joined by tender and juicy pieces of steak and chicken that smelled so good when he plunked the sizzling morsels onto your portion of rice.
Our dinner companions turned out to be Beth and Keith from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We met them just tonight because you sit at a big table with six to eight folks you don't know and who don't know you. Beth and Keith were very sociable and we enjoyed getting acquainted. They're on a two-week vacation to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, which was back in March but Beth couldn't get off work then. Proving once again that timing is everything because it is anybody's guess who they'd have had to eat next to three months ago when TG and I did not have an anniversary.
We did end up having to explain patiently to Beth and Keith what grits is/are, and the proper procedure for consuming them on their travels through the South. TG tried to get all fancy with his instructions (he who is from Ohio and when he first learned to eat grits while a student at The Citadel put sugar and milk on them ... ahem) but I said, y'all, just douse 'em in butter and salt 'n pepper and mix in a few fried eggs at breakfast or shrimp if you're having lunch, add a biscuit and you are there. Beth looked queasy when we talked about it but she promised me she'd give grits a try while she's down in Charleston. People who live above the sweet tea line simply do not know what to make of a grit. In my view that is tragic.
Additional tablemates included a darling young couple who had such cute smiles. When I asked if they were celebrating a special occasion, she explained that she'd had a bad day at work so her husband had treated her to dinner at Yamato. As if we collectively disbelieved she'd had the workday from H-E double toothpicks, she took pains to point out how red and puffy her eyes were ... presumably from crying ... but honestly through all the smoke and fire I hadn't noticed so she didn't need to feel self conscious! For all I knew she'd been hit by a flying shrimp because a chef at a neighboring table (also no green card I fear) was lobbing crustacea at his guests, who had to catch them in their mouths. Hi Flung Shrimp. I'm glad TG and I did not get seated there because I am telling you right now, I will not pay to have seafood thrown at me.
In the parking lot while walking to our automobiles we had an opportunity to teach Beth and Keith all we knew about crape myrtles and confederate jasmine. They were just full of questions about our South Carolina plants and shrubs and flowering trees, so different from what is available to them in Canada. They said their grown daughter was home looking after their dog and their plants and they hoped to find something still living when they return.
On that grim note we parted.
Speaking of aliens, albeit relatively legal ones, TG complains that he always looks like ET when he has his picture made, and judging from the one below I won't argue. He's very nice looking and actually has beautiful straight teeth but for some reason he is reluctant to show them to a camera! We were being silly when I took this pic because we couldn't wait to get to the restaurant and spend our kids' money.
Click on the pic to see a few more!
Reader Comments (21)
Happy, happy anniversary. 29 is a very impressive milestone. You're ahead of us by 11 years. You look very happy in the photo, and your husband is good looking even without a smile. This was a fun post. I loved your comparison of shrimp to quotation marks!
P.S. In one of those odd blogging coincidences, I do have a wedding photo up today, even though it isn't our anniversary. I'm finishing off the story I started yesterday and the photo seemed appropriate.
Ruth, I can't wait to see your picture and that is a great story! Going right now to read the rest.
What a great night out. Food and entertainment. Happy 29th. I'm the same age as you!
Thanks Cheryl. It's not a bad age to be, is it? And come to think of it, the food itself was a large part of the entertainment, even aside from its flamboyant preparation! It was delicious.
Love your descriptions, Jenny. Those quotation mark shrimp are reminding me it's lunchtime... Thankfully, no one will throw them at my head because that would cause anger and starvation.
P.L. ... good point, neither of which (anger and starvation) are a good thing. Hi Flung Shrimp is a dish I will not willingly partake of.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Congratulations to you both, it always makes me overjoyed to hear of couples who have stuck it out and are still together after so many years. God bless you both!
Also - I enjoyed reading your story about the Japanese restaurant. We have a few like that here in Seattle - I'm happy to know that if I end up living in that general vicinity, I'll have another restaurant like that close by! :)
Happy anniversary!
My kids are 14 and 16 so I have a few years to go before the presents although the 16 year has a job for July!
@ Angi ... thanks hunny!
@ windyridge ... you're going to love having kids with a little $$ to spend on you!
Happy Anniversary! 29 years! Wow, that's quite an accoplishment by today's standards! Ha!
And after looking at your pictures, ya'll haven't changed a bit! Still lookin' good!
Nice of the kids to buy your dinner, too!
Oh my gosh! I was also ten when I got married (I mean 22) and we just celebrated our 26th anniversary last week! It sounds like you both had a lovely evening. Congrats!
Here in California, chefs tell us when they do have a green card since it seems to be so rare.
@ Darla ... yeah, we're in denial about our wrinkles for sure! And the kids are good to have in one's dotage!
@ Keli ... congrats to YOU on your anniversary! Imagine us both being married at 10/22! A popular age for matrimony.
I enjoyed all three of your hotspots over the years with San Antonio being my favorite..
Robert, I must say I did immensely enjoy SA's scenic Riverwalk. We had a lovely lunch there and it was a happy time as our son had graduated from boot camp at Lackland the day before. And I am most partial to NO's Cafe du Monde ... do you notice a trend here? It's about restaurants and wonderful ambience ... and speaking of that, you can't beat Charleston for dining, atmosphere, history, and romance!
Congrats Jenny. I'd say your DH is a lucky guy but I suspect that there is more than luck to landing a hottie like you.
LOL Don, thanks for the kind compliment! I read your comment to my lucky man and he roared with laughter. Is that a good sign?
Congratulations to you both! Sounds like a hugely fun way to spend your anniversary. May you have many, many more!
Thanks Diane!
Sorry to be coming in late, but I did want to add my congratulations to you and Greg on your 29th anniversary.
Thanks, Sid. You're always right on time!
Congratulations and happy belated anniversary. "...studded with the peas of happiness.", that is why I love your blog.
I returned from Charleston today and on the way home, I realized just how easy it is to get lost there. Several people in this world miss out on the joys of sweet tea and grits. I just don't understand how they can dislike them, or for that matter, not even know what it is.