Sunday Sushi Party

Sunday was a sushi party with some of "my ladies" at one of their houses in Ouzumi (pics to be posted when I get internet at home this week) and lasted from about 11am - 4pm.  

The party was really informal, just three of us making sushi, but these women just rock my socks off.  We started off at the grocery store to pick out what kind of fish we wanted to use, and they kept asking me what type/size/ grade I liked.  I had to tell them it wasn't just for me a few times.  We ended up getting a pre-packaged little sashimi (raw fish) set for one kind of sushi and they showed me some of the stuff you can buy for shortcuts on other kinds (like buying pre-made tofu wraps for my VERY favorite, inarizushi).

Once we got back to the ladies apartments, the first thing we made was the rice.  I think I am remembering this correctly... but you basically add 4 cups of water for 1 cup of rice (warning: Japanese Cups are smaller than American ones... but should be OK if the proportions are the same).  Then mix in a vinegar/sugar combo and stir it all in a big, wooden bowl (you can buy them anywhere here - it should be wood though to absorb the extra moisture from the rice).  You use a special rice spoon to stir the mixture, too; using a "cutting" motion more than stirring. That's pretty much the base of it all (since most sushi has rice) and the basic 

ingredient for teimakizushi (or the kind you make yourself by just rolling the rice in your hand and then adding a topping, wasabi and/or using nori, or seaweed paper).  Pretty easy!

My other favorite dish of the day was the saradezushi (basically "salad sushi") which is cut-up ham and cucumber mixed with sushi rice and layered with thinly-sliced cooked eggs.  The ham is obviously not traditional, but you can use crab instead, and it's supposed to be a good dish for the summer.  I am definitely going to be using that recipe for sure!  Between that, greek salad and smorbroed (from Norway), I would be a happy camper as far as summer cuisine is concerned.

After eating as much sushi as I could handle, we sat down for coffee and dessert (had to take some of it home...) while one of my ladies showed us her calligraphy brushes and work.  She actually teaches calligraphy (painting chinese characters onto rice paper) in a separate room of her house and she explained what some of the different brushes mean, too.  One of the big ones was worth over $500... it was a pretty nice setup.  The best part was seeing her work.  I was really surprised she didn't have any of it displayed in her house (gorgeous scrolls, including one with sutra on it), but she said it "wasn't fashionable."  In Japan, the scrolls are considered more spiritual than artistic (so they don't hang them as art in their homes), but I know no matter how long I live in Asia, I will always see them as sort of exotic and beautiful.  I think i might try to buy a scroll that my lady painted... but we'll see.

A little complication along the way...

So needless to say, the party was a blast.  Despite not really getting rest the night before, I felt fine during the party itself and don't think I looked too worn down for having gone to bed so insanely late.  I must have been more wiped than I realized at first, though, because I got into a little bike accident on the way over... with a pole.  (:-/)

It's happened to other people before (I swear!), but I was basically just biking a little too fast when I went over a curb and the entire contents of my purse went flying onto the pavement. I was sort of startled to see my camera, phone and wallet (yeah, being more careful with it today after dropping it two days in a row...) come flying out of the granny basket and at me, so I looked back to see the damage. I hadn’t hit the breaks yet and turned back around just fast enough to realize I was rapidly heading straight for a post. I swerved out of the way just in time, but my left pedal still didn't quite make it.  I didn't hit the pole too hard (and got my foot out of the way), but the pedal is now bent.  Oh, I got everything in my purse back, too, by the way.

I still made it to the party a bit early, too, and had a good couple hours before going home to nap, but it was a long day.  With only having taken small naps, it almost felt like Saturday and Sunday ran together. 

Monday Morning.

I’m still feeling good today (was up late after napping last night), but we have students visiting from Taiwan right now, so I am going to dinner with them and some coworkers in Kobe tonight. I'm skipping J-class to do so (again...argh) so I've definately got to make up for it sometime this week. In the meantime, I'm off for a dip in the sea of notebooks while I fight to keep this energy going (at least until tonight).... talk to you later!