It has been a busy week around here. My Mitsubishi course is wrapping up, and the paperwork and time involved in planning the final lessons really took up quite a bit more time than I expected. We also have been having a little bit of a social weekend, with a house party for some of Kuniko’s coworkers that ended up kind of wild, and an extraordinary dinner at Inoguchi sensei’s house in Miki.
As for the party – we had it in two waves, since the first group of teachers were able to come early, and the second group couldn’t make it until later. We created a variety of Italian foods to serve, thanks largely in part to our recent visit to Costco in Amagasaki. I grilled a giant beef roast that turned out well, and everybody kept eating and drinking until late at night. Several teachers missed the last train, and so we had some unexpected houseguests that night. It was a lot of fun, but we were pretty tired out after the event.
Friday night Kuniko and I met up after work and took a train to visit Inoguchi sensei and his wife in Miki. For the first time I had a chance to walk from Kobe station to Shinkaichi station – completely underground. It is about a twenty minute walk, and was entirely fascinating, even to a Japanese vet like me. The underground passage was full of small bargain shops, a huge ping pong parlor, a bookstore specializing in old Japanese books, and countless shops, both open for business and shuttered for good. The art work and murals throughout the place were loud and sometimes bordering on tasteless, so that added even more to the flavor. There was a section of food places that looked really interesting – it was the kind of place where you could find a favorite tacky restaurant or local watering hole.
After catching a train out of Shinkaichi station we rode for about 40 minutes north, and then caught a taxi that Inoguchi sensei had arranged to pick us up. His house was close to the station, so we arrived in no time. It was the first time to see their house since they built it, and it was really nice. The layout was efficient and the decorations elegant – a reflection of their time spent traveling the world.
We relaxed for a little while until it was time for dinner. Inoguchi sensei got us started with some appetizers while he worked in the kitchen. It wasn’t the kind of dinner where we sat and talked around the table, but where he created the dishes in the kitchen and then introduced then upon presentation. Kuniko and I sat at the table with our mouths hanging open in surprise as each new dish made a dramatic entrance. Soon after the first dishes appeared Inoguchi sensei’s wife made it back home from an unexpectedly late night at work, and joined us in trying to eat all the food.
One of Inoguchi sensei’s favorite destinations is Singapore, and the dishes of the evening were based mainly on his experiences eating the Chinese food popular in Singapore. While I’ve eaten Americanized Chinese food and Japanized Chinese food this was something completely different.
It would take a complete blog post just to describe the dinner, and I found myself without a camera and without notes, so I’ll quickly give the highlights. One of the appetizers had “century eggs” and it was my first time eating them. There was a seafood soup filled with sea cucumber and abalone, a gelatinous dish with chicken floating in suspension that tasted great with a fermented soybean/mayo/mustard sauce. Other highlights included a sweet and sour dish with sea bream, stir fried Chinese mushrooms and chicken, an excellent beef and broccoli dish, and my personal favorite, sections cut out of a winter squash and stuffed with meat and scallops. Dessert was ice cold coconut milk with sweetened figs as a topping.
It was clear that Inoguchi sensei put a lot of time and effort into the planning and execution of this dinner, and we really were amazed at how good everything was. It was one of those dining experiences you’ll never forget. Now I’ll feel bad if the next time they come over I just throw some burgers on the grill…
Today we were supposed to have some houseguests, but because Tomomi’s baby was a little sick they decided to postpone to some other time. Kuniko and I are using the time to relax and take care of some errands at home. We’ll watch a few DVDs and just chill tonight. Tomorrow is also a day off – that’s good news as well.
