Mikawhere?: 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.