Last week, Masumi sent me a text telling me she would be unable to join in on our AsianDayZ fun. She apologized for the late notice, but also invited the us to her house for the next Firefly Sunday. It sounded like a pretty good idea to us, so we accepted.
Mike, Anna, Scottish Steve, Phil, and I met at our usual place and took the Kintetsu Line to Shuntokumichi Station, one stop past Fuse. We were amused by the fact that we were but one stop away from where I live and yet the sky seemed so much brighter and cleaner. I’m not sure if I’m describing it right, but it was like you’d never know there was a city full of people but a twenty minute train ride away. It was bizarre.
I had text Masumi earlier in the day asking which exit we would need to go to, and she replied that there was only one. At first, I was surprised by this, but as we were walking through the seemingly abandoned station, it made sense that there were not as many exits as in Namba or Fuse.
After purchasing some beverages at the grocery store (since there is one at almost every freaking station in this country, or so it seems) we followed Masumi back to her house. It was but a five minute walk from the station. I couldn’t help but be amused as the stair leading up to her door were as steep as the ones in this house.
I murmured the appropriate utterance as I passed the threshold and could already smell the tantalizing scents of food that wafted through the air.
Masumi’s house could probably be described as a townhouse. There was a kind of living room immediately to our right, a set of stairs, and then the kitchen/dining area. I think in Japan, it would be considered a 2LDK.
Right as we entered the kitchen-dining, there was a kind of crock pot set up on an end table, and another one in the middle of the kitchen table. Now here’s the part that was pretty swank, the table has this bit in the center that comes out and has a stove burner concealed within. We couldn’t help but marvel a little at this, and we were trying to think if we’ve ever seen anything like it in our own countries.
I had never had sukiyaki before but had been told it’s pretty much nabe. It was very delicious, as our students are wont to say, and to which I wholeheartedly agree!
Steve, Phil, Masumi and I sat at the kitchen table, while Anna and Mike sat at the end table. Regardless of the seating arrangements, it was still good times had by all. There was so much food! Masumi added some more beef into our pot, as well as various vegetables and noodles; eventually, we ended up consolidating both pots into one, and after we’d all had our fill of sukiyaki, there was still one full pot’s worth of food left over.
Oh, and the sandwiches! I forgot to mention the sandwiches! While the pots cooked the second serving, Masumi explained that she and her mother prepared sandwiches for us as well. Anna and I followed Masumi into the other room to retrieve them, much to the amusement of both Anna and me and the boys. Phil made some crack about the women serving the men for which he was soundly rebuked.
Anyway, so yeah, there was sukiyaki and sandwiches for the main meal and three different cakes for dessert. We had to give ourselves some time between of course, as we were in serious danger of lapsing into food comas straight away.
We helped Masumi clear away some of the dishes and then thereafter, we went into the living room for coffee, tea, and cakes. I couldn’t help but wonder how the Japanese could possibly eat so much and seemingly stay so thin!
There were three types of cakes: Anna brought a chocolate swiss roll type, I brought a strawberry swiss roll, and Masumi had bought a Denmark cheesecake from the place Darya and I used to purchase them. Once again, we girls ended up serving the gents (all three of them had tea while we three had coffee — weird that, hey?) and this time I said something to Anna about it.
“Yeah, but if we don’t do it, they’ll probably do something wrong.”
Gotta agree with her on that. I mean, I think Steve would be all right, but Mike and Phil, well, as much as we love the guys…yeah… Or as Phil claims, that’s exactly the purpose of his lack of domesticity; he’ll purposefully do it wrong so someone else will do it for him.
As is the custom of the Japanese, pictures were taken of the food before consumption. I hadda admit, those cakes were damn pretty. Seriously, it was a great spread.
We started with the chocolate swiss roll first. Definitely a good choice on Anna’s part. Thereafter, we tucked into the strawberry which was a delightful follow-up to the slightly bitter taste of the chocolate; and finally ended on the lemon flavored Denmark.
Due to the contrasting flavors of the three desserts, I couldn’t help but make like an Iron Chef judge with the bad dubbing. “This reminds me of my childhood in Kyoto and how the changing leaf season bought such beauty…”
Masumi laughed outright at my impression. This then degenerated into badly dubbed Japanese shows like this and Takeshi’s Castle, better known as MXC on our side of the Dateline. Masumi laughed and told us how she used to love watching that show as a kid.
Somehow, we also ended up talking about classes like pre-Calculus, chemistry, and biology. It was an interesting array of topics.
To top it all off, Mike brought over his Wii and we ended up playing some Wario.
Fantastic Firefly Sunday.
