I love going home for the weekend. I love it more than anything. But there is something that keeps me from coming back every single weekend. If there’s one thing my family loves to do together, it’s eat. Every time I go home for the weekend, I can be sure that I’ll arrive back at school Sunday night with a slightly tighter pinch to the waistband of my jeans.
This weekend was especially problematic – it was my dad’s birthday. (Happy birthday, Doos!) You think they’re happy to see my sister and me on any other weekend? Imagine a celebration weekend, when the admittedly rare excuses to eat less (“Oh, we’re cutting back on carbs.”) become excuses to eat more (“Have another serving! It’s Daddy’s birthday!) So, despite my family’s ultimately wise decision to give up or at least lessen our trips to buffets – when I was a child, my family frequently fell pray to many a Chinese buffet – a birthday called for a special trip to Todai, “the mother of all seafood buffets,” at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg.
(Now, sushi is probably not something you’d want to see sitting around at a buffet, breeding bacteria under warming lights. But, believe me, at Todai, the turnover is fast. The few times I’ve been there, the place has been invariably crowded. And not only is the quality of the food surprisingly good, the variety is also pretty impressive. Whether the whole raw fish scene is not your bag, and veggie rolls are more your thing, or if you’re just into straight-up sashimi, they’ve got you covered. But, then, who goes to a seafood buffet for veggie rolls, hmm?)
Last time I was there with my sister, we realized we’d filled up on sushi before making our way to any of the hot foods, like the sukiyaki or the tempura udon (or the spicy calamari or the baked mussels or the seafood hotpot…). A buffet strategy needed to be concocted. Not again were we going to hit the sushi bar twice, thrice even, before even noticing the rest of the restaurant – no. We’re going to play the try-a-bit-of-everything game. A little taste of each dish and no feelings of regret – none for missing the hot foods section, like last time, and none for overeating. Sounds like a plan, right?
Wrong. It turns out we love sushi too much. Backup plan – maybe if we eat as fast as we can, we won’t notice how full we are until after we’re done eating. I’ll just make sure to wear sweatpants for the drive back to school.