This past Saturday after Kengekitai practice the group came over for dinner. Etsuko san, Nakano san and Kaname san all stopped at the "suu-pah" (grocery store). Since I was driving I had the opportunity to accompany our guests into the store. Jennifer and I love grocery stores, new food, and getting to see first hand how the Japanese negotiate through the amazing and often strange aisles with translation was a treat. Our friends wanted to make us dinner so we offered the house, the kitchen and drinks, they took care of the rest. Nakano san had worked in a sushi restaurant so she was the boss of the entire operation. She whirred around the market with fervor, tossing nameless, indescribable items of which I would have figured only the brave would have voluntarily selected, into the cart. Some of the stranger things, Etsuko san was unable to translate into English. It was fantastic, my only regret is that I am not sure I could ever recognize all of the items again. There was fish, fish, fish, bacon, miso, all sorts of produce I have only seen in the obnoxious high-end gourmet-organic grocery stores in the States where patrons wait in line for their B-vitamins. By the time we left the store I couldn't wait for dinner. Incidentally, it was also White Day, so Kaname san was obligated to present Jennifer with a gift upon arrival. I ducked out of line to purchase my last minute gift as well. I think I did well for my first White Day, chocolate and a new umbrella. Kaname san got Jennifer some sakura tea. We both gave Etsuko san and Nakano san some fancy chocolate and treats (which is typical).
We arrived back at our house and Nakano san was raring to go. They took over the kitchen, we could only watch as three Japanese cooks unleashed their craft in front of our eyes. I thought it would be a good idea to call Jennifer ahead of time to soak the rice, she informed me when we came home she had washed it and it had been soaking for about 40 minutes. Estsuko san asked how many times she washed the rice, when Jennifer told her twice, she politely laughed and explained it had to be at least six. Kaname san began arranging squid, shredded tuna scallops beautifully on a plate, Nakano san brandished a knife she obtained from a sushi chef with whom she used to work. Knowing her skill with a sword I didn't ask how she obtained it (it was actually given to her as gift). She began cutting sashimi (salmon, tuna, mackerel) and making a salad in which she arranged prosciutto to look like a rose in the center. Etsuko san was doing a lot of the heavy lifting (cutting vegetables, washing greens etc...) and prepared the natto. Yes, we had natto! I was great because every time Nakano san stared a new dish Etsuko san began explaining it and how in her version she did things differently. As dishes were completed Kaname san would add the final aesthetic touches, hold the final product in front of one of us and while working on the next dish and softly report, "finished". Literally every dish, pot, pan and utensil in our kitchen was used. When they ran out of the things they bought at the store, Nakano san would dig into the cabinets and refrigerator, emerge with an armful of ingredients and begin some improv dish. The organized chaos was incredible to watch, especially with all the intense conversation in Japanese occurring right in our very own kitchen; it was like Iron Chef in our house. We had the good fortune to have the sword class teacher Shibazaki sensei arrive just as dinner was starting.
The spread was, as our Japanese teacher would say, amazing-desu! Kim-chi with bacon, salmon, tuna, mackerel all for sushi, tamago (sweet egg), nori, natto, everything! We started with temaki, a sort of Japanese taco (instead of a tortilla, nori seaweed is used) and after it is filled with the desired items it is rolled into a cone shape. The buffet was all do-it-yourself foods. After, Nakano san announced, "I will make sushi now!" She rinsed her hands in water and began forming rice into small oblong shapes and asking the group what their favorite item was, she would use that item and present the beautiful piece as if it were a gift, this was nigiri sushi. She also made us gunkan-maki these are the typical rolls we see in the states with seaweed wrapped around the outside, although here you will never see things like cream cheese or avocado, our guests were appalled people would put such things in sushi. Jennifer ate a gunkan-maki with a heaping portion of natto.
On Natto: it gets a bad wrap. Natto was not that bad the smell wasn't even as rank and we had heard. It didn't even really smell bad, it smelled a little strong, and tasted fine, just a little bitter. Honestly anything we have eaten which contained durian fruit was far worse.
The food was incredible, the company was even better and we hope that when we come back we will be able to share an evening like this with our friends and family.
