Dinner with the Okudas

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you probably already know we like our downstairs neighbors. The husband/father teaches in the PE department at the university and is also the basketball coach.  The wife/mother and I stitch together, and she has her hands full with a very active two year old.  The son is, well, he’s a two year old.

Ted bought a box of frozen Japanese food from someone in his Aikido group.  It was a large amount of food, so we invited our neighbors to come over to eat with us, and also to tell us how to cook the food. (Remember, we are illiterate and can’t read the directions). It was later decided that we would bring the food and eat at their apartment, so that the little neighbor could be entertained with his own stuff. Ted bought a bottle of sake at a sake factory (or whatever a place where sake is made is called) recently, so he brought that along.

In addition to the Japanese frozen food, we also brought American potato salad and a green salad made with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden.  Okuda San made a cold noodle soup, but I can’t remember the name – it was like soba but skinnier noodles. She also had scallop sashimi.  We ate a little bit at a time, over a long time, which seems to be how Japanese meals go.

We enjoyed our evening and had plenty to eat!