Friends, y'all

I have started to dip my toes into the close-knit community of foreigners and friends. Last night was an event called the World Chat Party. Somewhere around 40 or 50 people showed up at the Matsue International Community Center and ate food and chatted! Some of the food was traditional Japanese style- rice wrapped in tofu, calamari, other rice dishes- but there was also homemade pizza, little sandwiches, pasta, and more. There were a lot of foreigners and a good amount of Japanese people as well. It was an excellent way to meet new people and enjoy some delicious food.

Food!

Friends!

Earlier that day, I met my coworker Alaina to go shopping at a resale/ thrift store called Doki Doki. It is perhaps a more stylish version of the Goodwill- or at least it only has stylish things instead of having to sort through a mass of 80s and 90s clothes that were not "in" during their decade to find the good ones. Thrift stores are almost always very fun and it was nice to start thinking about warmer weather (I had to buy some warm weather clothes as my collection is very limited here). After we went shopping, we went to a little cafe for lunch. This is a picture of the beautiful piano in the cafe. I got a mango soda float which was absolutely delicious, while Alaina got some sort of Irish caramel coffee I think. It was all quite good. I was hungry for a little bit of food so I decided to look through the menu and try to order some food. One of the written languages (katakana) is, for the most part, an alphabet of the Japanese pronunciation of English words. Or so I understand. The waitress was very helpful and would read the katakana and we could usually understand what she was saying. The last thing on the menu was something that sounded like a crepe. Thinking that this was a relatively classy little cafe, I thought 'why wouldn't they have crepes? Crepes are delicious!' After my order came out, we understood that the word that sounded like crepe was actually cream as in ice cream! The ice cream was very good, but I did have to find some substantial food later.

<- mango float. Mmmm.

Everything that we did was a part of the town that is farther north than my apartment so it was really nice to be able to explore a new part of Matsue.The location of the chat party was much farther north than I had ever been. It was just under an hour walk from my apartment (luckily, I never made the trip all at once). It was up near Shimane University which seems like an interesting place to explore sometime when I have the day to walk around.

My ice cream, so nicely displayed.

 

These children were being pushed around in these big carts. It looked a little silly.

Canal

The night before the chat party, I went out to dinner with some other foreigners. It has been so nice to be introduced to so many new people, each with a wealth of knowledge about what to do in Japan, how to get around, what to expect. It is fun to get to know people from other places because not only do you notice the things that are different about them, but they notice what is different about you. I didn't realize how often I say y'all until it was pointed out by a new friend from Australia. That night we went to a restaurant that had some Japanese-Italian food. I actually had a Mexican pizza (Japanese-Italian-Mexican) because it was the first sign of jalapenos I had seen so far in Matsue. How is a Texas girl supposed to resist those tasty jallies?

Living by myself without many familiar cooking options is pushing me to be adventurous. Tonight I decided to try making my own fudge. I did a bit of walking around the normal grocery store and to the imported goods grocery store and finally found what I thought were enough of the correct ingredients. I had to do some research on conversions, but I think I ended up close to the recommended proportions. It turned out to be very good! Fortunately or not, I am now stuck with a tray full of fudge. Of course I will take some to work to have as a treat for my coworkers, but I am hoping to find someone else to share it with so I won't eat the other half of the pan by myself. After this post, I am going to take on the task of making Japanese curry. Much of what I am learning about cooking, and I suppose you could compare this to what I am learning about life, is that you can be given ingredients and instructions, but how you follow them is sort of up to you. Things really don't need to be exactly how you planned; following strict directions is just one means to an end. I can take this slightly cliched, cheesy metaphor even farther and say that I am getting more adventurous with how I prepare my food as I get more adventurous with how I live my life. Alright, I'm finished relating my life to my cooking. I don't want this blog to turn into Like Water for Chocolate (Junior year English class, anyone?).

This is the view from the balcony of Alaina's apartment. The lake is difficult to see in the background from the picture, but is visible. Beautiful!

 A bar near the station brings little scallops out with your drink. A nice touch!

My fudge pre-refrigiration and cutting. So many dessert doors have been opened now- the flavors of fudge are limitless! Probably the next flavor will be banana and then I have to try to make green tea flavor.

The rest of March should be pretty exciting. Next weekend is the big St. Patrick's Day parade with a few performances by local bands at one of the two Irish pubs in town. It is actually a pretty big deal here- I think the Irish ambassador even comes out for the parade! The next weekend is yet another St. Patrick's Day event at the other Irish pub in town and will be a classic green beer-drinking time.

I am going to keep up with my Tales at least once a week, as long as there is something to tell. Keep your eyes out!