Our Life in Japan: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Okonomiyaki

Here we are with Elders Braun and Sato when we took them out for dinner at a local okonomiyaki shop. It was our first time eating okonomiyaki, which is pretty much a cabbage pancake with your choice of vegetables and meat, sometimes noodles, and topped with mayonaise and okonomiyaki sauce. We weren't big fans of it right away, but we grew accustomed to it, and actually began to crave it.

Jean's Cooking Class

My adult student Eriko (center) invited me to attend an American cooking class with her, hosted by a woman named Jean. *hint* Jean is the American looking one holding the blonde girl (her daughter Aiko.) During this class Jean taught the Japanese women how to make things like homemade cream of mushroom soup and pineapple upside-down cake. The Japanese woman next to Eriko is Yoshiko, the woman who gave me the kimono.

Our Experience with Indian Food

When we first got to Japan, we had a difficult time with the food. Within a few weeks we met an Indian man named Chugh who took us to an Indian restaurant in Marugame. It was absolutely delicious and we immediately fell in love with their curry and naan. We ate there at least once a week. Eventually we began to like Japanese food and didn't feel the need to eat out at the Indian restaurant as often.

These are the workers at Kahna Peena. They got to know us very well over the course of our stay in Japan.

This is our friend N.K. Chugh. He is from Bombay, India and had a job building ships in Japan. He is the person who introduced us to the best restaurant in our city.

New Years Eve

To celebrate the new year, a few of our friends and us went to some local "hot spots."

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of this cute little girl in her kimono.

Here I am with a young lady in kimono and geta sandals.

Giant sand coin in Kanonji.

The most famous temple in Tokushima.

People throw thousands of coins into the temple to pay homage. They do this in hopes of reaping blessings for the new year.

Jason dipping into the "holy water." :)

Shorenji Kenpo tower in Tadotsu.

At Zentsuji temple to ring in the new year.

Tako (octopus) anyone?

Jason's Birthday

For Jason's birthday we went to the local batting cages to hit a few balls and then to a sushi bar.

Here are the girls. We are lined up in order or life stage. Let me explain: Pat on the left is single, I'm married, Twila is married and pregnant, and Claire is married, was pregnant, but now has a child. So we each represent different stages of a girl's life. Well, at least I thought it was interesting. :)

Here we are afterwards at the sushi bar. The boys had a sushi eating contest, not only to see who could eat the most plates of sushi, but who could eat the grossest or weirdest types of sushi.

Here is Claire (Jason's wife) eating some tuna. She despises fish so it really took a lot of persuasion to get her to finally eat this piece. She hated Japanese food so much I don't know how she ever survived living there for a year.

Summer Barbeque (Japanese Style)

We were invited to my student Kimiko's house for a summer barbeque.

On the grill: shrimp, mushrooms, snails, corn, squash, green peppers and other vegetables.

Mike and Hiro eat a whole fish on a stick.

Some of the other guests.

Hiro had to show Mike how to dig the meat out of the snail. Here is he is about to eat it.

Here's the group, minus Mike and one of the little girls that was also there.

Mike's Birthday

Mike's student Yuuta surprised him by decorating the juku and bringing a birthday cake to celebrate. Yuuta wrote "Mr. Mike Happy Birthday!" on the board. Mike's English teaching abilities paid off, eh?

Mike holding his cake and Yuuta's gift to him: framed calligraphy that says "Zutto Tomodachi" which translates to "best friends" or "friends always."

I threw Mike a surprise birthday party. We had it on Sunday after church so everyone could make it. After I got out of class at around 9:00 p.m. Saturday night I stopped at the market to grab some stuff for a surprise dinner I was making. Mike went to bed and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning baking him a cake in our tiny microwave/oven, and making homemade tortillas. I hid the tortillas in the top of the closet and the cake in one of the cupboards that we never used. He didn't suspect a thing...it was awesome!

Here is Mike holding his card signed by all his friends.

Some of our friends in the Marugame branch.

Ed and Kari enjoying homemade tacos. The Japanese people don't like Mexican food too much, so it's rare to find taco seasoning. Luckily my mom and sister had brought some with them when they flew to Japan the previous Friday. They also brought a chocolate cake mix and frosting, something you can't find in Japan. Bless their souls for saving the day!