Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, November 24, 2016
SUSHI: If it does not meet Lin’s standards, he won’t serve it
Continued from 1A
restaurant in Pendleton. Her
father, she said, thought Lin
was crazy.
The Round-Up City also
offered the more relaxed
lifestyle Lin wanted. He, his
wife and their four-year-old
son now live in town.
And Momiji, he said, saw
steady growth most of this
year. New customers remain
a constant and Lin said
he has roughly 25 regular
customers who ask for
specific dishes, such as uni,
the gonads of the sea urchin.
Lin said he aims to serve
only the freshest, tastiest
food and insists on person-
ally buying what he serves.
He makes a weekly trek to
Portland for the restaurant’s
fish and searches Cash &
Carry in Pendleton and other
local grocers for vegetables.
He said he has to touch and
smell the goods himself to
ensure their quality before
he offers it.
If the food does not meet
his standards, it won’t grace
a customer’s plate, he said,
and whatever foods Momiji
has at the end of the night
ends up as his dinner, not as
the next day’s special.
Pendleton’s hold on Japa-
nese dining, though, is about
to come to an end.
At 1055 S. Highway 395
in the Cornerstone Plaza,
Mario Montes and Feng
Chen plan opened Kobi
Hibachi Sushi this week.
Montes said Hermiston
customers can expect “100
percent customer service and
amazing food” in an elegant
setting.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fresh cuts of raw fish sit in a display case at the sushi bar at Momiji Sushi and
Hibachi in Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The tempura plate at Momiji Sushi and Hibachi.
“We want to give you the
sense of walking into a high-
dollar restaurant without the
price,” he said.
The sushi bar will empha-
size a quality experience for
customers rather than try to
pack in the most customers
possible, he said, so having
another competitor move
into town at the same time
isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Montes, who is from
Othello, Washington, said his
business partner is moving
from Portland to Hermiston
to operate the restaurant.
They chose Hermiston
because they wanted to open
in a community that was big
enough to support a sushi
restaurant but small enough
that residents were tired of
driving to a neighboring city
for more dining variety.
“We can provide that for
Hermiston,” he said.
Shiki Japanese, which
also has locations in Kenne-
wick and Walla Walla, is in
the process of remodeling the
former El Cazador building
on the corner of Elm Avenue
and First Street across from
McDonald’s. The menu
covers Japanese entrees
and appetizers, including
tempura, teriyaki and ramen
— the Japanese steaming
hot soup with noodles — in
addition to sushi.
Frankie Metzger, who
manages the Walla Walla
location, said owner Leon
Chi decided to open the
restaurant after noticing
how
many
Hermiston
customers were traveling to
the Tri-Cities or Walla Walla
for sushi.
She described the Shiki
restaurant atmosphere as
“family-oriented with a
classy feel.”
Zhang and Lin said the
oncoming competition is not
surprising. Sushi falls right
into the fresh food move-
ment and is healthier than
the deep-fried fare offered
by many older Asian-Amer-
ican restaurants. Zhang,
who calls Seattle home, said
small town residents want
more dining choices.
Momiji also is not sitting
back in the fight for the
local market. Lin heads up a
cooking staff of two kitchen
chefs and three sushi chefs,
and he said he plans to add
a fourth chef this December
so the restaurant can operate
seven days a week. Momiji
is also revamping its menu
and in mid-December will
also offer ramen.
Momiji is closed for
Thanksgiving, though. Lin
said that is going to be his
family time.
———
Phil Wright and Jade
McDowell are reporters for
the East Oregonian. Email
news tips to newsroom@
eastoregonian.com.
CASON: More than 40 people from the area are helping plan the facility
Continued from 1A
“We’d gone from a house
that had four people to one
with three,” said Lydia, now
a student at Washington
State University in Pullman.
“Suddenly there was an
empty place at the dinner
table.”
“You go into shock,” Jan
said. “It’s all you can do to
piece together a sentence.”
The family credits the
Dougy Center in Portland
for pulling them from the fog
and helping them function
in a post-Cason world. On
last Wednesday night, the
effort to launch a similar
facility in Umatilla got a
name — Cason’s Place. In
coming months, the planning
team will find a location for
the facility and figure out the
details. Cason’s Place will
eventually provide a haven
for Umatilla County children
and their families to grieve
and heal. More than 40
people from around the area
are helping plan.
The facility will be
modeled after the Dougy
Center and Cork’s Place in
Tri-Cities.
Melissa Nitz and her
husband Jon serve on the
Cason’s Place planning team
that meets monthly, trading
off each month between
Hermiston and Pendleton.
Nitz, of Pendleton, traveled
to the Dougy Center in 2008
as part of her job as a church
youth leader. The center
serves children and youth
from age three and older.
Children use both talk and
play to ease their sadness and
anger.
“The children’s work is in
their play,” Nitz said. “It’s a
safe place and a safe space to
do the work they need to do
to grieve.”
For
the
Terjesons,
finding
Dougy
Center
was unexpected. A month
before Cason’s death, one of
“The Dougy
Center really
saved our lives.
I knew that I
was not alone
in the world.”
— Lydia Terjeson
Lydia’s classmates had died
in a plane crash.
“The family (of Lydia’s
classmate) kidnapped us
and took us to the Dougy
Center,” Jan said. “They put
us in their van and drove us
to an open house.”
At the Dougy Center, they
found a sanctuary where they
could connect with others
who had also faced the death
of a loved one. Children
shared in small groups and
used music, art and other
activities to react to their
loss. Parents met separately.
Eventually, all three
Terjesons regularly attended
the twice-monthly sessions
where they could share feel-
ings, fears and coping skills.
“All those people were
complete strangers, but they
were our best support,” said
Jan. “You bare everything in
there.”
Talking isn’t required,
though, and Jan didn’t say
much at first.
Lydia said she expe-
rienced grief somewhat
differently than her parents.
Profoundly
sad,
she
somehow found the strength
to speak at both of Cason’s
memorial services — one in
Beaverton and one in Pend-
leton — and to participate
in a skit about the many hats
of Cason. At home, she did
what she could to prop up
her heartbroken parents. At
school, her friends tried to
support her, but she mostly
felt alone.
“Most of my peers didn’t
know how to react to me,”
Lydia said. “People would
walk on eggshells around
me. No one knew what to
do.”
At the Dougy Center, she
found children with similar
life experience.
“The Dougy Center really
saved our lives,” she said. “I
knew that I was not alone in
the world.”
At Cason’s Place, Jan said,
Eastern Oregon families will
have the opportunity to heal
from grief in a supportive
atmosphere.
“There is no time limit for
healing,” she said.
She encouraged anyone
wanting to get involved to
contact the team by emailing
janpt.loss@gmail.com, matt.
loss12@gmail.com or jon.
loss12@gmail.com.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
GRIEF: Talking honestly about the deceased is better than avoiding the subject
Continued from 1A
something about children’s
grief. She has a 30-year stint
with the Dougy Center in
Portland, which provides a
haven for grieving children
and their families. She
and other Dougy Center
staffers have also assisted
after large-scale tragedies
such as the Oklahoma City
bombing, 9/11 attacks and
the 2011 earthquake and
tsunami in Japan.
When someone dies,
children grieve. Sometimes
adults make the process
harder.
“There are a lot of things
people do to make it worse,
such as not allowing kids to
have their feelings, what-
ever they are,” Schuurman
said. “We have a tendency
to want to cheer people up.”
Talking about the person
who died is a good thing,
instead of avoiding the
subject. Sharing memories
helps kids heal.
“They are trying to hold
on to precious threads,”
she said. “Acknowledge
the person with “There’s
nothing I can do to bring
your dad back, but I want
you to know I care” or “Can
I tell you a story about your
dad?”
After a death, children
worry about their other
family members dying, too.
“Anyone could die any
moment,” she said. “There
is heightened anxiety.”
Children
sometimes
don’t have the words and
experience to understand
death the same as would an
adult. In one Dougy Center
video, a three-year-old
named Myia described
losing her mommy.
“I wanted to sing ABCs
with my mom and she
stopped singing,” Myia said.
“Her body stopped singing.”
“Then what happened?”
a Dougy Center staffer
asked from off camera.
“She died and then I
was crying,” Myia said. “It
was not good. I had a bad
feeling.”
The little girl’s brown
eyes radiated deep sadness,
more than any child should
have to bear.
As with adults, a child
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may take a long while to
grieve a loss. That’s okay,
Schuurman said.
“In our society, we want
quick fixes. We want to get
through it,” she said. “You
can’t rush grief. It’s not
quick. It takes digestion
time.”
Basically,
Schuurman
said, there’s no map for the
grief journey and sometimes
the process is not a linear
one.
Children need to reca-
librate their lives after the
death of a parent, sibling or
other loved one. Sometimes
there is guilt. Relationships
are complicated, that way. A
sibling, for example, might
have been someone the
child both loved and hated,
depending on the moment.
If a death came with a lot
of physical trauma, a parent
might wonder how much to
tell a child about the person’s
final moments. Schuurman
urged candor, as much as the
child can handle.
“It’s best to answer their
questions honestly, but don’t
tell them more than they’re
asking or they are open to,”
she advised.
When a child asks
whether the person died
instantly or whether he or
she suffered, it’s tough.
“You want to say no
when the reality is they were
moaning for an hour,” she
said. “I might say, ‘From
what I understood of the
hospital report, he didn’t
die instantly. I don’t really
know, but the body protects
us from horrible pain by
going unconscious.’”
Processing grief is easier
when the child can spend
time with other children
who have suffered loss.
“Until you experience
death in your own life, it’s
hard to understand,” she
said. “So you come to be
with others who get it.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
GRATITUDE:
I’m thankful for
this country
Continued from 1A
the people I work with
every day, specifically
in the newsroom, and
hope I can extend the
support I’ve received to
all of them. There are
many thankless jobs, but
few that are currently as
roundly criticized and
under-appreciated as
journalists.
Whoops, there I go.
Complaining in the
middle of column about
thankfulness. I’ll try
again.
I’m thankful for my
wife, Marci, and two
children, Anna and
Nolan, who give my
life definition. I have
become the dad who
wedges his children
into daily conversations
that have nothing to do
with them, but I regret
nothing. Certainly not
having a driven, loyal,
loving wife who gives
the benefit of the doubt
to everyone and pours
much of her life into
teaching elementary
school students.
But it’s more than
that. I’m thankful for my
mom, who is tearing up
as she’s reading about
my love for my family,
and my dad, who is not.
Beyond teaching me
proper etiquette, they
instilled an open love for
others and deep gratitude
that they live out every
day. And I’m thankful
for my in-laws, with
whom we will spend
the holiday, for their
unending support even
when we find ourselves
looking at the world
through different lenses.
Which isn’t often.
You don’t get to pick
your family, but they
don’t get to pick you,
either. I’m thankful we
relate with love instead
of judgment.
Maybe that’s easy,
too. It would take a
real monster to not be
thankful for family, or
at least not be able to
feign thankfulness in the
interest of an inspiring
Thanksgiving column.
So here’s a hard
one: I’m thankful for
this country, despite its
blemished past and deep
divisions, despite its long
history of flawed leaders
and destructive segments
of the populace. I’m
thankful we live in a
place where goodwill
regularly triumphs over
hostility, where people
are given many chances
to succeed and we all
get to play a part in that.
I’m grateful that we are
a nation of second and
third chances.
There is no perfect
country, but the United
States hasn’t thrown in
the towel on trying.
I thank God for all
my blessings, knowing
full well there are others
far more thankful for far
less.
So mind your
manners this
Thanksgiving (Grandma
is watching, you know),
but dig a little deeper,
work a little harder, and
share your thankfulness
with others.
■
Daniel Wattenburger
is the managing editor of
the East Oregonian.