My head was swimming now, a pleasantly intoxicated dream state. I no longer knew or even cared what century it was. I was numb from the waist down, circulation long ago cut off to my legs. The heavily painted faces and costumes of my geisha companions, the spare black-and-white walls, the choo-choo train of tiny plates of jewel-like dishes - everything melted together in that full mind/body narcotized zone where everything/nothing matters. You know you're having one of those meals of your life but are no longer intimidated by it. Consciousness of time and expense go out the window. Cares of table manners disappear. What happens next, later, or even tomorrow fades into insignificance. You become a happy passenger, completely submitting to whatever happens next, confident that somehow the whole universe is in particularly benevolent alignment, that nothing could possibly distract or detract from the wonderfulness of the moment.
Anthony Bourdain - A Cook's Tour
