Saturday saw me having lunch with Aunt & Uncle, as I now call them (though not to their faces), Chihiro and Takahiro. This meeting had quite a different feel than previous ones - usually we meet up somewhere and go for dinner, but this time we went for lunch, and they came to pick me up in their car. We went to an Italian café which did a nice lunch set of salad, pasta, and cake. I tried a pasta the name of which I forget, but it had a creamy sauce and anchovies, followed by a yummy chocolate cake. We chatted about what I'd got up to over the holidays, about English customs and exchanged stories about each other's families. I much enjoyed this time we spent together and came away feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world! Well, the world of getting overdue e-mails and whatnot sent off, anyway, along with a healthy bit o' study.
Once more rising late on the Sunday, I passed much of the day in time-honoured fashion - food shopping, laundry and desperate scribbling at homework due for the next day. In the evening, though, the housemates assembled to make and eat a meal together! The result on this occasion was 鋤焼き/Sukiyaki. This is made by putting meat, vegetables, tofu etc in a big pot, adding water and liberal amounts of a special sauce, the boiling it all up and picking what you like out of it. One interesting point is that you break an egg into the bowl from which you eat your share, made for an interesting taste overall. Also, we only had one portable gas cooker but two pots. Therefore when one side of the table's food was done we'd switch, then back again and so on. All amusing good fun and a fine end to a fine couple of days.
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| Sukiyaki. No such thing as too many ingredients. |
