Japanese Cooking Class & Hot Legs
...written on 2000-11-12, @ 21:36:33
Sun November 12, 2000
Today Ivan and I went to the Japanese Cooking class that we (Chad included) had signed up for. Chad went out partying last night and didn't join us for the cooking festivities.
The class was held in the Suitopia Cultural Center where we also take our Japanese classes. Frankly, there is a lot of stuff in this center that I don't know about yet, and I look forward to discovering new things there. I am especially excited about seeing the plantetarium. You see, I wanted to be an astronomer when I was in the third grade. I remember holding my dad's big binoculars up to the sky and proclaiming that the stars were moving, actually jumping around, when actually, the binoculars were so heavy that my arms were wobbling and making the stars appear to move. Arizona in the late 60's was a great place to see the stars.
Anyway, I had purchased an apron just for the class. It is brick red with fish on it. There were at least 30 students and 10 Japanese volunteers who were supposed to translate. I don't know where those volunteers were, but they weren't at our cooking station, so Ivan and I had to watch what was going on real closely. We missed a lot of interesting commentary I'm sure, but we made up our own as they went along.
Example: Head boss looking man stands up and speaks. After 5 minutes, a person in the audience leaves the room. We figure he said "There is a Honda in the parking lot with its lights on."
So this is what the menu looked like:
Rice cooked with 2 different kinds of mushrooms, carrots, and other strange vegetables.
Spinach mixed with crushed toasted sesame seeds
Seaweed soup with tofu, scallions and egg
Thinly sliced pork marinated in sake, soy sauce, sugar and ginger and fried. Garnished with tomato and daikon radish.
It was fun to make and eat. We had a team of 5 people working on the various steps and stages and it was rather tasty at the end too when we all sat down to eat. I liked the menu. Ivan didn't think he learned a lot, but I did.
After class, Ivan and I went shopping in the main drag down from the Eki (train station). Ivan then went home, and I came back to my apt to crash, but went back out because I was in dire need of groceries and the cooking class had inspired me.
Well, I tried to buy everything I remembered fixing, but when I got home I had trouble getting it all to fit in my teeny fridge. I finally got it all in there though.
I went back out and bought a big blanket that will be great when winter sets in. I saw a woman looking at it but she went on, and when I came by and gave it a good going over, she was interested in it again. There were two others like it, but not quite the same. They were smaller and didn't feel as plush. Well, I wasn't sure I wanted the big thing, but I carted it around with me and finally bought it. I went back to where I got it, and the woman had bought one of the smaller ones.
In reality this blanket is for a "kotatsu". A "kotatsu" is a small short legged table that sits on a large mat. On top of this table (the table has two tops) you put a large comforter that falls to the floor and on top of the comforter you put the second table top so you can read or eat or whatever on a hard surface rather than the comforter. You then plug in the table unit which generates heat and will provide a toasty resting place for your feet and legs which are covered by the comforter. I think it is a family treat in the winter time for everyone to come and sit on cushions and put their legs under the kotatsu. I don't have the table or the underlying mat, but I have the top comforter which is pretty toasty on its own and of course it fits in nicely with the decor of the room.