A Weekend with Kiwis

I'll start with the dinner party.

It was really fun! Brett and Shawn (I actually never saw the spelling of either of their names, so it might be wrong) were very nice and talking to them was insightful. I was still frying some of the eggplant when everybody got here, so most of the women came over to watch me cook or ask if I needed help. Brett was the only one who managed to ask in time for me to give a job to. All of the food everyone brought was very delicious. We got to keep half of the leftovers (maybe more, but I know we sent some home with somebody...there was a lot of food) and I just finished them off for lunch today. Everybody helped clean up, which I was really grateful for. I think it's common practice at a potluck, though, since everybody wants to clean their own platters before they take them home. The skordalia and eggplant was a success, as was the spanakorizo and the lemonade. Everyone wanted to know what was in everything. I don't know if it was because they liked it and want to make it themselves or because they just found it to be such curious food.

As everyone was leaving, someone said "See you tomorrow!" I replied in kind, then turned to Nat and asked what was happening "tomorrow"? I had heard mention of going fishing and Nat had heard mention of going to Mipple (a sort-of shopping mall in the next town over), but we never really heard anything conclusive. It was late, so we went to bed. The next day, we woke up and saw that we were being picked up at 1:30. The doorbell rang at 11:30. We then realized that we misread the cellphone email. What we thought was a 1 was actually an 11. Whoops! At least we were awake and dressed (the dressed part was particularly important), but we had just eaten breakfast since we weren't expecting anyone for another two hours. So, off we went, not entirely sure what we were going to be doing or for how long. Most of the group from the dinner party was there, along with Shawn and Brett. We went out for lunch at Mipple, looked around an amateur art gallery, perused a few stores then went to the beach. We didn't expect to be going to the beach, so we didn't bring our swimsuits, but it seems the only people who were planning on it were Shawn and Brett, so we waded and wandered with Ken and Yuuko while the guys swam and the older ladies looked for a cafe. After the swimming was done, we went to the cafe which doubled as a tiny, local-access train station. There was a cat sitting in the middle of the last real parking space, so we got a little creative with our parking. All around the area were persimmon and pomegranate trees. Most of the persimmons were ripe, but the pomegranates were still ripening. There were some grapefruit and kiwi trees here and there, too, but most of those were down the street a ways. When we went in the cafe, there was a table of little old ladies drinking coffee that were moved to an outside table in order to make room for us (I am assuming the ladies volunteered, but it's more amusing to think that the cafe owner commandeered their table). Most everyone ordered cake and some beverage. I didn't order any cake, because I was still full from lunch, but everything was reported to be very delicious. Then, the cafe owner placed a whole cake on our table and told us it was on the house. So, over more cake, we discussed the differences between New Zealand and American English, New Zealand and Australian English, and that all the wildlife in Australia wants to kill people. (I should have mentioned earlier that both Shawn and Brett are from New Zealand. Shawn had Nat's job three or four people ago and Brett is currently an English tutor somewhere between Osaka and Kobe). After that, we dropped Shawn and Brett off at a larger train station and headed home. We flopped for the rest of the day. It's been a full weekend. I don't want to do anything today.

Town Life-Long Study Center Intellectual Playing Mansion

Today, I woke up, did some laundry and left. Last week, one of the local English speakers invited me to visit his workplace to look at some oil paintings in the gallery and I said I'd come. I figured I'd also stop by the grocery store on the way home so that I could pick up some necessities for tomorrow night's dinner.

I pass by the building every time I go to the ATM or the middle school (not as often for the middle school...Nat does that a lot, though), so I knew where it was. As I approached, however, I realized that the door I often pass looked slightly more like an employee entrance. I got cold feet and walked right by, deciding to see if I could take a walk to the shore. The route I took dead-ended into a field mere yards away from the seaside walkway. I didn't know if I was allowed to walk through the field, so I ended up turning around and going back to my original destination. The town life-long study center intellectual playing mansion (or "Town Culture Center", if you choose to be wise and not use Babelfish translations) loomed into view and there in the window was Johnny (he actually has a Japanese name, but he refuses to let me use it and so I completely forgot what it was). Johnny promptly encouraged me to enter the door which I had thought was an employee entrance. I was relieved. After I entered, he then informed me that it actually was an employee entrance and that the public entrance was on the other side of the building. I was embarrassed. We then proceeded to have an awkward introduction with the other three staff members in the office. Then, he and one of the staff members took me to see the aforementioned gallery (the other staff member apologetically informing me that she "English little".

The gallery was really nice. The current exhibition is oil paintings by a (former?) art teacher at Nat's school. There was a painting of Mikonos, a painting of the Mona Lisa with popped bubble-gum on her face and Amanohashidate in the background, a brushed ink sketch of an old man picking his nose, a series of flamenco dancer paintings and a surreal painting titled "Firefly" ("ほたる") without actually containing any fireflies (there were some seagulls and a girl, though). Partway through my tour of the gallery, Johnny excused himself to sneak off to the grocery store and buy some snacks for Nat and I, leaving his coworker and I to peruse the the works.

After he returned, I was served tea with my snack while they asked me what I planned to do with the rest of my day. I replied that I had to go grocery shopping and cook. They immediately tried to tell me what was on sale, but stopped short, because they didn't know what the words were in English. One of the coworkers tried, "Marron? Furansu-go ka?" (Marron? Is that French?). To which I timidly replied "H-hai, furansu-go desu," (Yes, that's French). I then explained that we called it a chestnut. Johnny confirmed this with his hand-held Japanese-English translator. The only reason I knew this was because of my current amusement with the French Republican Calendar. Then, they asked me if I knew Pacific saury (now that they had Johnny's translator on-hand, they could get specific with their fish), to which I replied that I knew what it was, but I didn't think we had it in America. They were then quite shocked and asked me if I ate fish. I assured them that I did. They later tried to name different kinds of fish I might, perhaps, have eaten ("Tuna? Do you know tuna? Do you eat...uhhh...horse makureru?" Horse makureru is horse mackerel in Engrish). After they were thoroughly impressed with my ability to eat raw fish, Johnny rushed me away to the public library section of the culture center (which was closed for the day...it's a holiday week here). I put down my half-eaten snack as he introduced me to the two librarians who were busy cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the library they don't have time to touch during open hours and then showed me the scant English-language section. I wasn't really expecting much. In fact, I had overheard someone say that all they had was Harry Potter, so I actually underestimated it...by about ten books. There was, indeed, the entire Harry Potter series in English. This made up the total of English language novels available in the library. They also have The Giving Tree and The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. They also had a bilingual Japanese cookbook and some books about Japan. Eventually, I was permitted to finish my snack and leave.

On the way to the grocery store, I realized that I was carrying the snack I was given for Nat. Carrying it into the store would be awkward and I didn't have any pockets to put it in (I have mentioned that I walk everywhere, right?). I decided my best choice would be to hide it on top of one of the outdoor vending machines and retrieve it when I'm done with my shopping. After entering the store, I notice that it is quite a bit less busy than it usually is around noon on a weekday. In fact, it looked a little darker. Still, there were employees and a couple customers, so it was definitely still open. The darker lighting, was probably because of all the new signs hanging from the ceiling that boldly claimed something I couldn't read. We're hosting a potluck dinner tomorrow night and the locals seem to think it would be a brilliant idea if I made fried eggplant and skordalia. I'm not entirely certain skordalia will appeal to Japanese tastes, but at least I can tempura-fry the eggplant to make it something they're more familiar with (or I could, y'know, do it my normal way since the only difference is how you add the flour). But this is what they wanted, so this is what I was at the store to get things for. I also decided to grab some ingredients for spanakorizo, just in case I'm feeling extra ambitious tomorrow. At least I can make that early in the morning and refrigerate it until dinner and reheat it.

I went home, and made the skordalia. We don't have instant mashed potatoes here, so I used the soggy bread method. The texture is slightly different and I don't dare make it as strong as I normally do, but it is good. Then, I remembered that I was going to buy shiso for everyone to eat after the dinner. Not only that, but I'd need some shiso for the spanakorizo. So, I ran off and bought a couple packets and ran back.

I put off vacuuming today because I want to do it tomorrow. I'll likely have to do it again on Saturday, too. Tomorrow's a busy day! I have no idea how many people we're hosting.

Yes. Yes, I did make hamburgers.

As Nat has just mentioned, I indeed made hamburgers with spinach and rice last night. The hamburger was mostly Australian beef (most beef is imported in Japan, save for a few heads of cattle who are treated like kings...until they are slaughtered) and American pork (I 'anno...). It was seasoned with fresh crushed garlic, salt, black pepper, oregano and a dash of soy sauce. I mashed the avocado up with some lemon juice in my handy-dandy mortar and pestle and used it as a spread. There was also sliced tomato and mayonnaise involved. While the concept of hamburgers is not unknown to the Japanese, I've only seen instances of a open-faced hamburgers when cooked at home (McDonald's and MossBurger still serve the traditional style: both top and bottom of the bun).

The spinach and rice was a little trickier. Earlier, I had accidentally bought mochi rice instead of normal Japanese rice. Mochi rice (sometimes known as "sweet rice") is slightly sweeter, a little lighter and a whole lot stickier than the rice normally used for a Japanese mealtime....and regular Japanese rice is already a lot stickier than rice normally found in Western cuisines. Normally, mochi rice is pounded into a sticky "mochi" (a rice dough or cake) which can be used for a variety of things. Typically, mochi is used for holiday cakes or traditional tea sweets called "manju". Very delicious. Very...not what you should be eating for your everyday meal.

Anyway, I'm stuck with this rice for now. I might attempt to make my own manju, but that's getting into realms beyond ambitious, since most recipes I can find don't take you from whole rice like the traditional method does (since that method is almost entirely ceremonial now, save a few small shops and country bumpkins). Instead, they tell you how to start with mochi rice flour. Obviously, since I have the whole rice and not the flour, this is not going to happen the easy way.

So, spinach and rice. For those unfamiliar, spinach and rice is a Greek recipe (also called "spanakorizo") using spinach, rice, a few other vegetables along with lemon juice and other seasonings. The largest hurdles for this recipe are that it calls for spinach, rice and mint. Well, the rice part wouldn't have been so hard had it not been for the mochi rice. I went ahead and used the mochi rice anyway. The extra gluten in the rice made the resulting dish a little gooey, but still delicious. I know they have spinach in Japan, but knowing which of the leafy vegetables is the spinach can be a bit difficult sometimes. I picked up a vegetable, hoped it was spinach and went on my way. It still may not have been spinach, but it worked well enough. The mint was going to be tougher. While some stores in Japan may have fresh mint or even dried mint, our local grocer is not one of them. I decided to experiment (as if the mochi rice and maybe-spinach wasn't experiment enough). A common leaf used in Japanese cuisine is shiso. Shiso comes in two colors. Red (actually a dark purple) and green. The red shiso is usually used for dying Japanese pickles and other foods while the green shiso is often eaten raw and whole as an accompaniment with rice, tempura fried, or shredded as a seasoning. Both red and green shiso are related to mint and have a mild minty flavor. I figured green shiso might work. It did! I'm so happy that it worked! So, basically, here are the steps (and ingredients) for Greek spinach and rice (I apologize for the lack of measurements, but I have no clue how much of what I use):

Spinach - (A lot...really. I don't think I've ever properly used enough spinach for this recipe, but I'm getting closer. I'd suggest at least two packages, if you're using pre-packaged spinach.) Chop this up, but not very small. 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares are probably best for the smallest pieces. Use the stems, too!
Uncooked white rice - (Any white rice will probably do, but I'd suggest not using mochi rice, since it makes the recipe more gooey. About 1/2 cup or 3/4 About 1/4 - 1/3 cup is good for two people.)
1 Tomato - Peeled, diced and mashed into a sauce. I use a mortar and pestil. You might find this easier with a blender. An even easier solution would be to buy a canned version at the store.
Onion - One half of the onion is enough. Chop it up. I like chopping it up really fine, but as long as you think the pieces are small enough, they probably are.
Garlic - One or two cloves, minced. Mince! Mince! Mince!
Olive oil - I prefer to not use extra virgin olive oil because I find it bitter. You may use whichever kind you like. Some other oils with mild flavors are okay, too.
Lemon juice - To flavor. The dish should be just slightly sour, but not overbearing.
Mint - Maybe 1 1/2 tsp, dry mint leaves? The flavor from the mint should never be too obvious. If you're in Japan, mince green shiso leaves are a good subtitute.
Oregano
Salt
Black Pepper (optional)
Basil (optional)

Directions:

1. Put a little olive oil in a soup pot (or whatever pot you're cooking this in) and saute the onions and garlic until they start turning brown.
2. Add the mashed tomato, stir a little bit and add water (I used about three-four bowls full of water, but I was using a small bowl. You're cooking rice, so you'll want a fair amount, but not too much).
3. Also add the rice.
4. Bring the water to a boil, then add the spinach, mint, lemon juice, oregano, salt and optional seasonings. Stir in the spinach. It may take a while to wilt down enough to fit, but don't worry too much about that. If it doesn't all fit at once, just add portions at a time. The rice takes a while to cook, so you don't have to worry too much about some of the spinach being undercooked.
   
5. Turn down the heat slightly, cover and stir occasionally. Add water if it seems the liquid is getting too low. Once the spinach is properly wilted and has turned a more faded green, taste (try for at least some rice, a piece of spinach and some of the "broth") to see if you need to add any more of any seasoning. Never forget to stir occasionally and add more water when necessary. (I repeat this, because I forget it and am sometimes I'm very sorry for doing so)
6. Did you forget to stir and check the water levels?
   
7. Once the rice is soft (Soft, soft, soft! Maybe a little mushy, even!). Let most of the water evaporate out (aka "Remove the lid"). A little liquid is good. I even suggest leaving a little liquid.
8. Serve and eat!
   

While this works best as a side dish in a hot meal, it can also serve as a small, one-bowl meal. It's also good as a leftover. The estimates I have for measurements are for two people (hopefully...maybe three). If they sound wrong to you, feel free to change them or make your own estimates. Next time I make this, I'll try to record how much of some of these things that I'm using.