Breaking out of the routine

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Breaking out of the routine Wednesday March 15

Every now and then I get "busy", which really means I'm not putting any priority on posting here. However, since my brain will likely be unable to access many of these memories in the years to come, I really should be doing a better job of chronicling my time in Kounan-ku.

Our spring break extends from Monday of this week all the way until next Friday; I've never had such a long time to sit back and enjoy spring. To ring in the holiday, I invited guests over for a meal on Monday night.

Of course, everyone knows I love to host, but there was also a certain practicality to Monday's dinner. Last week, I was rather stressed out, and when I'm stressed, I shop for food. However, since I was busy and stressed, I didn't end up cooking much, and the result was a full fridge. There was no way I was going to eat everything before it went bad, and also, when I have guests, it encourages me to venture out and make new things.

When I came up with the idea, I was in the company of "the guys" from my program, and thus it turned into a "guys' night". I have found another person who knows Euchre (!), so we're searching for two more currently. No one has cards, either, but that can be remedied. I will cut a check to anyone who mails poker chips -- chips, cost of postage, and a fiver for your troubles.

Anyhow, the theme was "Around the World". Simply, when you have all sorts of things to make (pasta, curry, grilled fish, okonomiyaki), there's no central cuisine-based theme, so you just make it all and pretend like you're cosmopolitan. Worked for me.

The Menu

• Butter-sauteed garlic & shrimp pasta (American-Italian)
• Broiled nishin (type of fish) w/ mizuba (Chinese)
• Okonomiyaki (Japanese)
• Tomato Chicken Curry (Indian)
• Yakisoba (Japanese)

Let me just say something about preparing raw shrimp.

Peeling: Not bad
Deveining: I've had better

Spices!


A touch too much tomato
Okay, now that that's out of the way. I have made the Indian Curry three times now, and it's definitely edible every time, but there's just something not right about it. It lacks the "punch" that Indian restaurants have. I'm not quite sure of the difference; if it's MSG, I'm going to be disappointed. Well, I haven't learned how to make saffron rice yet, and I serve with Japanese rice (not basmati rice), so it's not really that authentic anyway.

The pasta "recipe", if you can call it that, I got from my father, the king of angel hair, shrimp, butter, and garlic. Quick, easy, delicious. Thanks Dad -- was a crowd pleaser. My tiny apartment got hot with 7 people in it, but somehow I managed to keep my shirt on while cooking.

I've been eating more fish recently; I have a broiler on my stove, and you literally buy a fish for less than a buck, take it home, chop its head off, wash it off once, broil it with salt, and you're done. Serve over rice. It's the easiest and healthiest meal I've done yet. What's more, if you serve it on a plate with soy and some Chinese green vegetables, it looks really authentic, like you know what you're doing.

The okonomiyaki has been a real pleaser. Since posting the okonomiyaki recipe, my Google hits have soared with people searching for the recipe. I've also had a lot of hits looking for "Japanese mayonnaise". Let me explain the difference: add some sugar to regular mayonnaise. Done and done. Haven't tried it, but it seems like it's the only difference to me.

Anyway, after the dinner, we all stopped at Madison for a drink; Teja and I played a close, but unended (the machine demanded more money) game of cricket. I wouldn't say I've gotten "in" to darts, but I will say I've been playing more since coming here. Sara, it's like the new pool. It's darts, and I'm terrible at it. I need to find a pool table so I can show off all the 1337 skI11ZorZ I acquired at Crane Alley and Esquire.

We convinced Hiromi-san (one of the Madison regulars) to come to karaoke with us, and yet again I was out late. In the past four days, I've been doing something every night. The result of this is that the overnight shift guy at 7-11 now knows my oden order exactly: chikuwa, tamago, daikon, and maybe a konnyaku if I'm in the mood. All for less than 300 yen! A steal!

Side note, I've used a lot of Japanese in this post. I think I'm going to start installing "tooltip"-like hover-over definitions; it's not fair to keep using these words when you really don't know what the things are.

From now on, I will get more serious. Today I have to buy a new suit, and tomorrow I'm going to wear that suit. Does someone want to give me a job? Only time will tell. I'll see you all on the other side.

Justin and Jeremy land on Friday! The first suckers to take me up on the Tokyo tour guide offer!