Visitors

This Wednesday, I had the pleasure of welcoming Katsutoshi and Hiromi Suzuki to I-House. They came all the way to Nisshin to visit me and Esha before he leaves back to Canada. We started with afternoon tea and cookies (I had made some oatmeal raisin ones the day before) and Katsutoshi taught us all about Sumo since there is a big tournament happening in Nagoya this weekend. Hiromi had also brought me some lovely homemade black soybean juice (that tastes like black current cordial!) and sweet soya ginger to eat with rice.
After tea time, we showed them around the university where we bumped into Jun and Keisuke! I haven't spoken much Japanese with Jun and Keisuke, so they were kind of surprised that I could have a basic conversation.
That evening, the Suzukis took Esha and I out for dinner at a Yakitori (grilled chiken) restaurant nearby. It was fabulous!! We sat on cushions on the wooden flour (my legs still aren't used to that). We got a set meal, so the food just kept coming with a portion of each thing for each person. We even had chicken sashimi! My instincts told me that raw chicken is dangerous, but apparently the way they prepare it is not (they also flash boil it before serving it). Then came the chicken skin, chicken liver, chicken dipped in raw egg yolk, etc. So interesting... and delicious! We had wonderful conversations (almost all in Japanese!) about the different dishes, including varieties of mushrooms.
I am so glad that they could see where we live and am so grateful for their generosity and kindness.