Face the Stove...

We had a busy weekend! On Saturday, we tried our hand at shodou (Japanese calligraphy). Verdict: Insanely difficult, but fun. On Sunday, we attended an international cooking class. There were about 30 people, including a few folks we've met on other outings. The menu featured five courses spotlighting the cuisine of Kumamoto prefecture (on Kyushu, the southwestern island of Japan). The menu:

1. Sansai Rice
2. Dango Jiru (Dumpling Soup)
3. Higo Dengaku (Tofu with Miso)
4. Na-ya-ki (Fried Vegetables)
5. Ikinari Dango (Sweet Dumplings)

(The entire meal was vegetarian, except that the soup stock in the Dango Jiru was fish-based.)

We split into groups of six to eight, and each group made one dish. Renee and I were assigned to different dishes. I made the sansai ("three year") rice, and assisted on the Higo Dengaku. Renee made the Dango Jiru, which looked really complicated to me...

The rice was extremely simple: Rice is washed and placed in a rice cooker with an appropriate amount of water. Then soy sauce, sake, and salt are added and mixed. Finally, a wild vegetable mix of mountain mushrooms, ferns, and bamboo shoots is placed on top, but not mixed. Then you let the rice cooker do all the work. You mix the vegetables into the rice afterwards.

The Higo Dengaku was certainly more interesting. The tofu is essentially boiled in soup stock, and then served with a Miso and sesame sauce. To make the sauce, white miso, sugar, sake, and ground sesame are simmered in a saucepan while you constantly knead and stir the mixture (which has the consistency of peanut butter). The most delicate part of the procedure is retrieving the tofu from the pot without breaking it -- the experts had an amazing technique using a slotted spoon and a pair of chopsticks.

Once the food was prepared, we all dined! All of the food was delicious, but my favorite was probably the dumpling soup. There was only one other native-English speaker at my table, so it was a good opportunity to practice my Japanese, too. (Breaking News Update: my Japanese is horrible!). It was a really fun three hours, and quite the bargain, too. (only $3 per person, and you get a feast for your hard work!).

Japanese classes

This was my first real week of Japanese classes. They are quite intense (about 3 hours each Monday, Tuesday, and Friday), but the instructors are quite helpful and my classmates are very friendly. I have classmates from Egypt, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, and China. They are mostly researchers and post-docs, although some are entering Ph.D. programs at Kyoto University (no mathematicians, but one transplant surgeon). One woman will be studying three years before she returns to her husband in Malaysia!

As a side note, you may have heard people tell you that Japan is an honest and safe place to live. They aren't joking! My first class was on Tuesday, and it was raining. I left my umbrella in a stand outside the building. During my class, the rain stopped and it was a sunny afternoon when I left. So of course I left my umbrella in the stand. On Tuesday. On Wednesday, it rained. On Thursday it rained. On Friday morning, I went to my class -- and my umbrella was still there!

I'll be traveling to Tokyo for my orientation seminar on Monday. I only get about 48 hours in Tokyo, but I do get to ride the nozomi there.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

レネイとクリスはひらがなおならいます。そして、むずかしいです！

This message was brought to you by the kana ネ, the kana め, and the number 五.

クリス。