March 1st-9th (Sat-Sun) - The Desolation of Parfait

Saturday: I’m sure I worked. Not sure about the rest.

Sunday: This morning I had a demo lesson in Fukui. Two boys came, one was so shy his Dad had to help him out (which was really cute) and the other got more shy as the lesson went on and the younger proved to know more than he did. But we played a janken (rock-scissors-paper) game at the end and they both seemed to enjoy that. 

Once the lesson was over, I rushed back to Sabae for a cooking lesson. Late because of work, Alice and I missed the demonstration and explanation and were thrown right into doing what we were told. Our teammates were Nathan and Sayuri (his Japanese teacher). The class taught a pork soup (butajiro), kakiage (deep-fried veggies), an egg salad, and shiro-tama (like small mochi) in azuki. It was fun.

Later that evening most of us teachers went to see the Hobbit Part 2. The Japanese subtitles were surprisingly accurate (I thought), but the font they used was so fantasy-ish it was hard to read. I’m a little sad I can’t see that movie in IMAX 3D, as it seems that’s what it was made for. Oh well.

After the movie we ate at an ‘American’ food family restaurant-type place, it was fine, but realizing my limited time left to do so I decided to try a parfait. So I got this big parfait and it was lovely. 

Well, it looks better than it tastes maybe, or at least I imagine I could make a better one, but it was fun. The strawberry ice cream was not real ice cream (milk ice), the vanilla was (shock), the strawberries on top were real and not frozen (shock), then there was a layer of azuki, some pudding, and the bottom was substandard jellified strawberries. But the important part is it was fun :)

Monday: After tkd class, I had lots of stuff to do so headed immediately to Fukui (“the city”). First, I had to pick up a koto for rent. It makes me excited to have my own! And getting out I had to cross this intersection, which is possibly the most frustrating in the world. Look. How do I get THERE?

After I traversed that heart-attack, I eventually made it to a parking lot and went shopping. I don’t usually go to the city so it was odd, especially because it was daytime.

I went straight to koto lesson, and after we finished my teacher wanted to practice putting the kimono on me. It took a long, long time. It’s super complicated! There are only two or three layers, but you use maybe 30 pieces, 10+ of those are strings to keep stuff in place, and at least 5 of those are pieces to make you square. (Or tube-like, I suppose.) But it was cool.

Tuesday: Having mostly recovered from the flu, I had to clean my entire apartment and do all my laundry to make sure there were no germs remaining. Can’t take chances.

Since I had to wait for my laundry anyway, I decided to go get ramen!! but it was closed for some reason I didn’t understand. So instead I went to Okonomiyaki. 

The Complete Guide to Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki (look for お好み焼き) means ‘whatever you like fried’. The standard mix is cabbage, batter, egg, benishouga (red pickled ginger), and maybe cheese and negi (green onion), then you have selections such as tomato, pork, kimchi pork, extra extra cheesy, mochi (chewy rice cake) and cheese, various seafood, etc. My favorites are mocheese and kimchi pork. You get a bowl of stuff (this is buta tama, pork egg onion); 

which you mix and stick on the burner in a round shape (after applying oil 油 to the burner). 

After it cooks for a bit you can use the spatulas to further shape it. It doesn’t take long, perhaps 5 minutes, before it’s time to flip it. Voila!

Then it has to cook the other side. Don’t forget to turn off the burner before it’s actually done, as the burner will take some time to cool.

Whenever you want, you can apply toppings. Okonomiyaki sauce is thick and sweet (and perhaps salty), usually you brush it on, followed by mayonnaise, aonori (seaweed), and katsuobushi (bonito/fish flakes). All optional. I don’t like seaweed but I like a bit of aonori, whereas I don’t see fish flakes belonging anywhere near MY okonomiyaki. Behold, perfection.

Then you cut and serve. If I’m hungry I can eat a full okonomiyaki, but any more and it’s pushing it. This lunch special included a salad, yakisoba (I learned you are supposed to fry it with the sauce!!), a small okonomiyaki, and dessert:

Pretty, right?

Wednesday: On the way back from Ito I finally went to see where this bridge led to. 

And finally investigated the children’s park. It had the longest roller-slide I’d EVER SEEN…

…so of course I had to try it, even though it was raining. 

My oshiri was soaking wet and sore. But it was worth it. Even if I had to go shopping afterwards.

(However, I recommend if you ever go down one of these, use a carpet or a sled.)

Thursday: I had my last class at Sabae Higashi, and made it a giant game day mimicking what I’d done with Hugh. I had new teacher Jonathan there to watch, and I think it went OK. After the class all the kids wanted me to sign their stuff, which was funny but took forever. 

With my private class I also practiced koto, and was pretty tired when I got back.

Friday: Work.

Saturday: After work I hung out with Team Sunday (even though it’s Saturday), Mako made delicious nacho-like french-fries and we watched an old Shaolin Martial Arts movie.

Sunday: Kaori and I did yoga for the first time in a while, then it was time to give Jonathan a driving lesson. He did fine, seems he’ll get used to it in no time. Then we went shopping.

That evening a bunch of us went to curry and afterward we had a pictionary/taboo party. Games yay!

Recent Japanese:

monogusa (物臭) = laziness, lazy person

tobi (鳶) = black kite (a very common bird around here)

shuuhenshikaku (周辺視覚) = peripheral vision