Dartboard

Tonight’s dinner was a success! I had Hatakeyama-sensei, his wife, Naoko, and daughter, Hinako, over for dinner at my place—and I cooked! I had invited them over early in the week before having really thought about what I was going to make. Catherine also had invited a co-worker over for dinner this week, so together we struggled to find something to cook suitable for guests. I decided on spaghetti as the main course, but here’s the full menu:

Edamame (lightly salted soy beans in the pod)
Salad of lettace, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and eggplant
Miso soup with tofu
Spaghetti with hamburger, tomato and eggplant sauce
Sliced honeydew melon
Desserts from the “toki” down the street

The table as I set it.

They arrived at 6:30 p.m. with flowers and green tea cakes from Aokata. Improvising for a vase, I used a tomato sauce can from dinner and I got a good laugh. I decided to have dinner completely ready when they arrived so I wouldn’t have to be messing around in the kitchen while they were there. I must admit I was a bit nervous about having them over, but it all turned out lovely in the end. (I’m using “lovely” all the time now because of Catherine’s British influence on me. Apparently she also had adapted her speech in some ways too.)

I had dinner all ready to serve when they arrived.

The flowers in my spaghetti sauce can!

I think they were impressed with my meal—my attempt to make miso soup was heralded, but I think it was a bit weak for a Japanese person. Hinako, who will be three years old in a couple months, was pretty quiet at first, but her parents assured me she’d be running around screaming in a little while. And sure enough, once she warmed up to me ...or my apartment... she was dancing and singing and giggling at everything. She has so much energy and happiness to share with everyone, about everything. In fact, right now as I sit on my living room couch, I can hear her little pitter-patter of footsteps and I can imagine her running back and forth in the apartment above me. I’m looking forward to getting to know her better, perhaps babysitting occasionally, and helping expand her already sizeable English vocabulary.

Here I am with Naoko (my supervisor's wife) and Hinako, their daughter.

The Hatakeyama family. Kazuma, Naoko, and Hinako.

I had some knitting on the floor in my living room and after dinner Hatake asked me what I was knitting. I’m actually not knitting anything right now, I’m just practicing for someday when I might be able to knit something complicated like a scarf, but recently I did complete a fringe practice-project, which looked to me a lot like a squid. So I pulled out my gray squid to show them and Hinako just loved it. She made it swim through the air and giggled some more. I wondered what other animals I might be able to make for her, but I’m sure if I ever tried to make something recognizable it’d turn out just awful!

I know this is silly. My knitted squid! But you have to admit that it really looks like one!

Also last night, I received the paperwork from Asahi-Net, my internet provider and Hatake asked if he could set-up my internet! So he worked on that while Hinako and Naoko read Mr. Quiet (an children’s English book I found in the apartment), played with a feather, and rolled around on my couch. Hatake was able to get me connected (!!!!!!!) in just a few minutes and I was so overjoyed as you can imagine! They went home and I actually went to bed early considering it was the first time I had a high-speed internet connection since my arrival in Nagasaki.

Love and Dinner Parties,
Sierra