Last night kicked off my month of Japanese parties!! This one was a Farewell/Welcome Party for the General Manager(s) of our division. Saying good-bye to one, and welcoming the other.
Forty-four of us went to a traditional Japanese restaurant complete with kneeling on the tatami rug.
Appetizer #1: Some strange flaky stuff laying in a clear soup garnished with fish eggs. I ate it all!
Appetizer #2: Sashimi (raw fish) garnished with cucumber, radish, & wasabi. The people sitting near me knew I wasn't a big fan, so I ate part of it to be polite, and then passed it on to my hungry neighbor.
Appetizer #3: Breaded and baked fish laying in what they describe as "cheese sauce". Not like any cheese I've ever tasted though. Either way, so yummy!
Appetizer #4: The right is a rice ball wrapped in black seaweed. The left no one was quite sure. (Not even the waitress!) Maybe cooked fish or chicken. I ate it all!
Main Dish #1: All of these ingredients go into a giant hot pot, and then we all elbow each other and fight over the food in the pot. There's usually 4-6 people sharing one pot of mystery food. Some of the items included: crab, green onions, mushrooms, squid, chicken, leafy greens, cabbage, and all sorts of other Japanese things that I still can't name yet.
Ema is loading up our pot (like a work of art, I might add) getting ready to cook it for us!!
Michiho (she organized this dinner) and I are ready to dig in. I do okay with chopsticks as long as it isn't slippery noodles or corn niblets. Both have proven to be quite challenging for me. P.S. for Yuki: See I'm drinking Ramune! (It's Japanese soda that has a marble on top that you have to push into the bottle and "pop" it open!)
Kono and Ema fighting over a crab leg!
Our pot is cooking now!! I really enjoyed this method of eating because people had no idea what I was eating and what I was avoiding!! Hahaha. You can get away with only eating your favorites :)
Appetizer #4: The right is a rice ball wrapped in black seaweed. The left no one was quite sure. (Not even the waitress!) Maybe cooked fish or chicken. I ate it all!
Main Dish #1: All of these ingredients go into a giant hot pot, and then we all elbow each other and fight over the food in the pot. There's usually 4-6 people sharing one pot of mystery food. Some of the items included: crab, green onions, mushrooms, squid, chicken, leafy greens, cabbage, and all sorts of other Japanese things that I still can't name yet.
Ema is loading up our pot (like a work of art, I might add) getting ready to cook it for us!!
Michiho (she organized this dinner) and I are ready to dig in. I do okay with chopsticks as long as it isn't slippery noodles or corn niblets. Both have proven to be quite challenging for me. P.S. for Yuki: See I'm drinking Ramune! (It's Japanese soda that has a marble on top that you have to push into the bottle and "pop" it open!)
Kono and Ema fighting over a crab leg!
Our pot is cooking now!! I really enjoyed this method of eating because people had no idea what I was eating and what I was avoiding!! Hahaha. You can get away with only eating your favorites :)
This is the pot next to us. They had an orangeish base of soup, while ours was clear soup. Theirs is more spicy and has slightly different ingredients. I ate out of both, and the spicy one definitely had better flavor!!
Main Dish #2 (which I forgot to take a picture of until we were almost done!): At the end you get to pick noodles or rice mixed with eggs to finish up the clear soup and random bits still hanging around. My group let me choose, and I picked rice, my new favorite side item.
Dessert (sadly they serve only one and it's miniature!): A scoop of ice cream, smothered with something that appeared to be applesauce, plus 2 chunks of apples and a spring of mint. One of the guys didn't want theirs, so they passed it down to me!! Less than a month knowing these people, yet they already know my weakness for ice cream :)
Main Dish #2 (which I forgot to take a picture of until we were almost done!): At the end you get to pick noodles or rice mixed with eggs to finish up the clear soup and random bits still hanging around. My group let me choose, and I picked rice, my new favorite side item.
Dessert (sadly they serve only one and it's miniature!): A scoop of ice cream, smothered with something that appeared to be applesauce, plus 2 chunks of apples and a spring of mint. One of the guys didn't want theirs, so they passed it down to me!! Less than a month knowing these people, yet they already know my weakness for ice cream :)
I give you a lot of credit for eating ALL of that stuff with a smile!
ReplyDeleteJealous am I! All that food looks so delicious! Haha, Tons of food for appetizers and main, and then this small little scoop of ice cream for dessert.
ReplyDelete-Scott