Sake, Oregon Style

From Relationships in the City, June 2007

Sushi Maru…or Sake Maru? A Wine List Sure to Please!
By Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer

When Michael Aguilar Okumura opened Sushi Maru after a decade and a half of running restaurants for other people, he decided to include a full menu of wines, beers and premium sake. What a great decision! While Wendy, Relationships in the City’s food editor, and I watched sushi chef Jimmy prepare our lunch last week, Molly brought around a flight of Momokawa Oregon sake for us to taste.

We had five Momokawa premium rice wines and a Gekkeikan hot sake. We tasted them before our food came. My favorite was the Silver, a crisp, dry sake with clean floral notes. This was the lightest bodied of the premium rice wines we tried. Whereas non-premium grade sakes (futsu) are made with grains of rice that are milled to 75% or less of the whole grain, the rice used in premium sake, or ginjo, is milled to just 60% or less. This leaves mainly the rich, starchy centers, and the cleanest, smoothest flavor in the final product.

We also tasted the Diamond and Ruby Momokawa, which were fuller and richer. The Diamond is off dry and the Ruby is slightly sweet. Residual sugar in rice wine gives it a fuller mouth feel and richer flavor, so the Diamond and Ruby were big wines, with mushroom, herbal and straw flavors. Their layered finishes were wonderful—a treat for fans of Australian reds and white Burgundy. With food, the sweeter sakes soften a little and after a few blistered green beans, the Diamond became my new favorite. The hot sake, by Gekkeikan (Japan) had a good balance and backbone, much better than many tarter versions I’ve tried.

Finally, I tried the Momokawa Pearl. A beautiful, shimmering white color, the unfiltered sweet sake was soft and smooth with overtones of melon and apple. At 18% alcohol (where the others were 14.8%), the Pearl is no chic drink. It may be soft and sweet, but it packs a punch with about the same alcohol content as a ruby port. With the Double Dank Lobster Bake, a special similar to the daily Zen Bake made with shrimp, the Pearl was a velvety, sweet blanket covering our tongues, mixing with the teriyaki and soy glaze on rich and crunchy lobster to absolute perfection. It was the perfect end to a wonderful meal.

Maru Sushi’s wine list doesn’t only include sakes. It provides a range of California Chardonnay, an Oregon Pinot Gris, and Bonney Doon Reisling. With California reds, four Japanese sakes and eight beers, the list is sure to please a wide range of tastes—and the food is spectacular. I went home very happy about my drive up to Park City!

Sushi Maru, 1776 Park AvePark City, UT 84060(435) 615-8862

Pole Dancing?

Fron Relationships in the City, June, 2007

Confronting the Pole:
A Mountain You Can Climb A Million Different Ways
By the Attraction Specialist, Jennifer Large Seagrave

When Relationships in the City editor, Kathy Lee, asked me if I would be willing to take a pole dancing class, I honestly thought she was kidding. People who know me will agree that I am not petite in any sense of the word, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing…well, whatever it was I couldn’t imagine me doing. I never guessed that in just a few days I’d be flying (and falling) around a pole securely attached to the floor and ceiling of Utah Arts Alliance! I didn’t know what to expect from The Goddess Arts Academy class, and I was wonderfully surprised. What a workout, and what a revelation.

In my gym clothes, confronted with a twelve-foot, spinning silver pole, I was suddenly more anxious about my ability to hold up my own body weight than my ability to be sexy—and I am proud to report that I left that day feeling I had done both. My sense of accomplishment was due largely to the eloquence and inspiration of Nicole Devaney, founder of Goddess Arts Academy, and Hazel, pole dancing instructor extraordinaire.

A ten-year veteran of exotic dancing, Devaney is an expert pole dancer. She and Hazel floated up and around those poles like butterflies. They were truly beautiful, and I was impressed with their athletic prowess. The two other new students in the class seemed just as amazed as I was. The fact that there were other beginners there made me feel safe trying the moves, which were difficult, but doable. We learned “the fireman” first: something like grabbing way up on the pole, circling and sliding slowly down, one leg wrapped around it. The first few times I tried I really couldn’t hold myself up, but after a few minutes of practicing, I got a little (a very little) better.

A half an hour later we had learned five basic moves, including a couple that did not include our feet leaving the floor. Although the moves don’t necessarily involve stripping, the pole is inextricably related to exotic dance, so Devaney and Hazel showed us some moves to help us express the sensuality that naturally flows through the female body—the kind that you won’t learn in your health club jazz class. We laughed a lot and had time to practice our own combinations of moves on and around the poles. We learned that pole dancing is not about memorizing steps in succession—it’s about putting them together however the spirit moves you. They say the pole is a mountain you can climb a million different ways, and one woman’s way will never be the same as the next.

By the time we’d been dancing for forty minutes I was exhausted—it seemed like I should have been able to work out longer, but my body was telling me that I needed to stop, and the other girls seemed tired as well. I really felt like I had done a pretty good job at something I never even thought I’d try. I think it brought out a kind of energy I forgot was inside me.

When we were done, Devaney agreed to sit down and talk with me about her philosophy and her company, the Goddess Arts Academy. The enthusiasm of spirit that Devaney emits when she speaks of her work inspired awe, recognition, and even a little desire in me. I was amazed by her love of teaching and of empowering women—her philosophy is one of engendering supportive love between women. Her sensuality and assurance reminded me of my own confidence in adolescence, and the sexy feelings I still have that long for expression. She made me feel a world of possibilities I hadn’t considered in a long, long time, and what seemed even more impressive was the uncanny sense I had that she is just like this all the time; she’ll make you feel this way, too.

The Goddess Arts Academy isn’t just about the pole, though it does comprise the centerpiece of many of their productions—strip tease and pole dancing classes, bachelorette and Goddess pole parties are just the beginning. Devaney leads a series of classes called The Goddess Cornerstone Series crafted to help women invoke, embody, worship and be the goddess they carry inside. Intended to inspire self esteem and confidence, this series is not so much about being sexy as it is about getting to know those feminine abilities, inside and out, that no one taught us in school.

The Make Love to Your God class also sounded interesting to me, seeing as how I’m getting married in July. I don’t think I’ll go into what that class is about in this article, but let’s just say it might enhance the honeymoon. You can learn more about all the classes, parties and open pole opportunities offered by The Goddess Arts Academy on their really cool website at http://www.goddessacademy.com/. The homepage sets the tone for the site with spiritual music and a dancing Goddess with shining chakras.

The site’s frequently asked questions page is very frank. To the question: “Does it hurt to learn how to pole dance?” Goddess Arts answers, “Yes, depending on how hard you push yourself. The pain & soreness you feel in your muscles is caused by new tissue growth which in turn makes you stronger, leaner and sexier.” I can attest to the sheer honesty of this response. I wanted to feel good about my effort in the pole dancing class, so I pushed myself hard. And I still hurt five days later…but somehow I feel it was worth it.

Whether it’s a father’s day gift to your kids’ daddy or just a treat for that special someone in your life, learning to get in touch with your inner Goddess is a great idea, and the wonderful women of The Goddess Arts Academy can help. Bring out your inner goddess—go climb a pole. Hare Hare.