crazy cooking!

Okay so I have been to two restaurants in the past week where you have to cook your own food! It must be a common thing in Japan because even at run of the mill restaurants you will have a bowl of soup cooking on the table or perhaps your rice over a small burner. Anyhow the first restaurant was in Sanjo and I can't remember the name of the type of food/ cooking but Melissa described it as puke tossed on a grill and cooked. Now perhaps it did look somewhat like the aforementioned description but it was actually really good.

Mmmmm vomitty goodness!

Look ma I'm cooking!

Apparently Paul is doing something wrong!

After, cooking our supper (yes we say supper in Canada) we went to karaoke yet again. Although I don't sing I still tend to enjoy it but I was wiped so I slept through most of it. Kristen graced us with her first and supposedly only time singing. Paul and Phil were a riot and sang quite a few songs I had forgotten existed.

This past weekend the last musical rehearsal was in Niigata and we went to a yakiniku restaurant. I had been anticipating this style of food because it is basically meat (even beef!) cooked on a grill and was mucho oishi. Our grill, however, was spewing out flames and a few extremities were a but toasty. Shanna felt she had to make to whole restaurant aware of this by shrieking each time it occurred but we did get an extra twenty minutes added onto our cooking time because of it.

Nabe Pot

I attended my first Nabe party a couple weeks ago at my principals house. It was an interesting mix because the attendees consisted of the oldest staff members the principal and vice-principal (not to mention bosses) and the youngest teachers. Anyhow, it was an interesting event and I actually helped cook, although they insisted on handing me vegetable that I had never seen and had no idea how to prepare. Nabe is essentially a bunch of things cooked in a pot. I believe it is normally a special pot cooked in the middle of the table. I guess we went low key, because it was a normal if slightly rusty pot cooked on top of the kerosene heater. Decent food and good fun but too much sake. I was surprised when I heard before hand that we would be drinking ( it was a Tuesday night and we all had to work the next day) but I brought a bottle of Crown Royal to share. Not only was drinking allowed it was forced down your throat. My Kyoto-sensei insisted on making me try various kinds of sake and I can now say sake causes the worst hang-over I have ever had. It was a semi- New Years party as well and in Japan they have this new years decoration made out of bamboo. Kyoto-sensei cut down the decoration and they were using it to pour sake.

One of the teachers cutting a block of tofu on her hand! The pot on the heater.

We also had another karaoke session at Masta's or I think it is really called Agawanosho or something like that. This picture would leave you to believe that it is called Bell Soeur and is a nice and clean place. Actually it is pretty gross and dirty but Masta was allowing us to grab full bottles of alcohol and keep them on our table. The man with the frizzy hair is Masta.

Tamami and I

Misael and James busting out the tunes.

Evan with two lucky ladies.

pictures

I found a converter for my computer and I am back in business. Unfortunately, I did not take as many pictures at Christmas as I should have. My sister received a cute but mischievous little dog for Christmas and I did not even snap one of her not to mention all the family gatherings etc. Oh well here is what I have.

Our beautiful Christmas tree. Once you go real you never go back!

My youngest sister who looks nothing like me.

Nina and I after an unplanned night out.

Paul was nice enough to carry me because of my inappropriate footwear. Unfortunately due to the fact that he is a tad shorter than me we ended up falling a couple times.

Habanos hasn't changed nor have Christina and Eve who did not hesitate to get up on the bar and dance.

New Years with Robyn and Rylan and copious amounts of champagne in our hair.

Ryan just a couple minutes before he was involved in a bar altercation and had to go to the hospital.

back in Japan

Well, I am back from Canada and it seems I just missed the horrible weather! It was unseasonably warm when I went with temperatures above 0 C which is unheard of in January but I see today it is -43. I feel for you guys! I think I may have brought the warm temperatures with me because we have yet to have a big snow fall which they say is unusual for here as well. Everyone enjoys blaming it on global warming, though they tend to blame a lot on global warming such as the rash of bear attacks?

Anyhow, had a great time back home besides getting sick, not adjusting to the time change, and having my wallet stolen which contained a pretty penny. That was all before 2007 though so perhaps the boar and I will get along? I will post pictures of Christmas later because I have lost my electric plug converter, my computer is three pronged and Japan is two, and all my pictures are on it.

Happy New Year!