First Homemade Japanese Dinner- Yummy!

Our friend Chris works at a private school teaching English to people of all different ages. We have been lucky enough to get to know some of his former students (he's switched schools since we moved here) and experience many different things with them such as skiing, camping, and multiple dinners. This time his former student Kazue invited us over for some nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu shabu. We always have so much fun with his students and this dinner was amazing!

Kazue, her husband Kenichiro, and their daughter Yui are amazing! They let us sleep on their futons for almost 2 months while we were staying with Chris and are always so welcoming whenever we see them. They are truly becoming our "family" away from home if you will.

The spread: sushi, nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu shabu. (I linked everything to wikipedia which explains it much better than me.) But all of these foods are cooked in kind of a stew on the table. Sukiyaki is traditionally thin meat cooked in the pot and then dipped in raw egg before eating. Yes, we both tried it but at least I prefer it without the raw egg... Shabu shabu is again, thin meat that you take from a plate and then dip in boiling broth while singing "shabu, shabu, shabu" etc. (at least that's what they told us;) ) until the meat is cooked. Then you dip it in some kind of sauce (we tried a mustard sauce) and then eat it. 

Yui downing her sparkling cider...

The whole group. We were watching Ponyo in the background (good movie btw!)

I had no idea that Kazue and Kenichiro were such big hockey fans, but we broke out their hockey game and guess who the teams were? The Avalanche and Red Wings. Go figure.

Chris and Yui playing some hockey.

Yui was teaching Brad Japanese and kanji (Chinese characters), and Brad read her Winnie the Pooh in English. (So cute!) Yui is 7 years old and has already taken English for a couple of years. She is still pretty shy about talking but she can understand a lot of what you say if its simple questions. Ex: "How are you?" "How old are you?" "What food do you like?" etc. This is pretty good I think, especially since my 7th grade students are learning the same thing as she is right now. 

After the meal, Kazue learned that I had never tried natto and preceded to document my first (and only) natto eating experience. Natto is fermented soy beans and smells really bad. Japanese people love to ask if you've ever tried natto because it is very much an acquired taste. Natto smells bad and is very stringy and slippery. It is also a very popular breakfast item.  

The first bite. No, that is not drool--its the rotten beans!!

My reaction.

eww!

So there you have it--a fun evening with good food and fun people! There are some more cute pictures of Yui and everybody playing hockey which I will post on Picasa.