tempura fondue?
::: tonight bobby and i had dinner with our next door neighbors the "O" family. they are a wonderful japanese family...mr. o, mrs. o and their three daughters, ages 17, 14, and 11. their oldest daughter has come over for tea (see "tomodachi" on 1/14/06) and we've talked about meeting regularly for an english conversation class which i'll host in our home beginning in april.
sorry no pictures...
try to imagine...
a table filled from corner to corner with vegetables, pork, shrimp, fish cake all individually speared through with a long toothpick...kind of like a shishkabob...except that there's only one piece of meat or vegetable on each stick. There must've been over a hundered sticks!
in the middle of the table is a cylinder shaped electric pot, probably about 1 foot deep filled to the brim with boiling hot cooking oil. our hosts taught us to dip our vegetables or meats in the bowls of batter on the table, then plunge our stick into the hot pot of oil. we were making our own tempura!
i hope all of you have had the delicious opportunity to taste tempura which is japan's version of new england's fish and chips...(or maybe it's the other way around) deep frying vegetables, meats, and seafood, smothered in a light flaky batter mixture of flour, egg and water.
this being our first time...we cautiously dippped our sticks of food one by one and carefully waded them into the ocean of oil. Mr "O", who had not been eating or fonduing till well into our meal, took about 8 sticks in his hand at once, dunked them all in the batter and then drowned them all in the oil with one hand while taking a big gulp of beer with his other hand....ohhhh...so THAT'S how it's done...
well no matter how it's done...the taste...totemo oishii (very delicious)! anything deep fried is usually good, but especially when you get to eat it straight out of the hot pot, still dripping with some hot oil...yum, yum...
as we were dipping, dunking (sometimes fishing for our lost piece of veggie or meat) and eating, our conversations were light and full of laughter...the "O" family laughing at their attempts to speak english and us ryus and the "O"s laughing at us with our fumbling japanese.
i think this put the "O" family at ease...we're learning that many japanese do not like to show any sort of weakness or inability that might embarrass them or their family...they are very much into an appearance of invulnerability... at least on the outside...
so by us so obvioulsy flaunting our weakness and laughing at ourselves, the "O" family seemed comfortable enough to show some of theirs...
vulnerability revealed in a comfy and safe environment...
we're hoping it's the first step in a long road to a deep and intimate friendship :::
sorry no pictures...
try to imagine...
a table filled from corner to corner with vegetables, pork, shrimp, fish cake all individually speared through with a long toothpick...kind of like a shishkabob...except that there's only one piece of meat or vegetable on each stick. There must've been over a hundered sticks!
in the middle of the table is a cylinder shaped electric pot, probably about 1 foot deep filled to the brim with boiling hot cooking oil. our hosts taught us to dip our vegetables or meats in the bowls of batter on the table, then plunge our stick into the hot pot of oil. we were making our own tempura!
i hope all of you have had the delicious opportunity to taste tempura which is japan's version of new england's fish and chips...(or maybe it's the other way around) deep frying vegetables, meats, and seafood, smothered in a light flaky batter mixture of flour, egg and water.
this being our first time...we cautiously dippped our sticks of food one by one and carefully waded them into the ocean of oil. Mr "O", who had not been eating or fonduing till well into our meal, took about 8 sticks in his hand at once, dunked them all in the batter and then drowned them all in the oil with one hand while taking a big gulp of beer with his other hand....ohhhh...so THAT'S how it's done...
well no matter how it's done...the taste...totemo oishii (very delicious)! anything deep fried is usually good, but especially when you get to eat it straight out of the hot pot, still dripping with some hot oil...yum, yum...
as we were dipping, dunking (sometimes fishing for our lost piece of veggie or meat) and eating, our conversations were light and full of laughter...the "O" family laughing at their attempts to speak english and us ryus and the "O"s laughing at us with our fumbling japanese.
i think this put the "O" family at ease...we're learning that many japanese do not like to show any sort of weakness or inability that might embarrass them or their family...they are very much into an appearance of invulnerability... at least on the outside...
so by us so obvioulsy flaunting our weakness and laughing at ourselves, the "O" family seemed comfortable enough to show some of theirs...
vulnerability revealed in a comfy and safe environment...
we're hoping it's the first step in a long road to a deep and intimate friendship :::
posted by B & C at
10:40 PM
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