Dinner at the Kikuchi's

My friend Ryan also lived with a host family during our first summer in Japan (2005) and since then his family, the Kikuchi's have become a host family of sorts to all of us. Last winter, Mr. Kikuchi aka Papa helped me add a layer of bubble-wrap pseudo insulation to my windows. They also helped the 3 C's (Carys, Cherine and I) to get started by giving us 3 of everything, tea cups, mugs, plates, bowls etc, when we first moved into our apartment. They take on a summer language course student from my university every summer and we are all eternally lucky that Ryan lived with them.

In addition to taking us and our visiting friends to see scenic vista points of mount Fuji and out for dinner, they also invite us all over often to enjoy Mama's fantastic Japanese cooking! If you are sitting on the fence about coming to visit me, surely Mama's cooking should tempt you. I've never had a bad meal at the Kikuchi's ;-)

The occasion for our feast this week was Ryan's brother Derek's visit to Japan. I tried to help Mama cook, she gave me a small job but I was glad to help out, and also to observe her cooking know-how and hopefully pick up a few pointers ;-)

A pre-feast pic of Papa, Derek and Ryan (L to R)
















Mmm here is a picture of the magnificent meal before it was devoured. With the Sashimi and vinegared Sushi rice we made our own Te-Maki (hand held sushi) and it was delish!





















A close up of the fish, maguro (tuna) and bin-maguro (another kind of tuna). The round bowl with a lot of green color is a combination of aji (horse mackeral) sashimi mixed with fresh ginger, a bit of wasabi, soy sauce, and negi (green spring onions). Absolutely divine.
















This is the fried goodies. I made the tempura'd veggies (a mixture of kabocha (pumpkin), beans, and these little tiny fish they use here a lot). The other fried item is aji (horse mackeral).
















After dinner and 3 or 4 dessert courses (including oranges, Japan bean dessert called youkan, white peppermint chocolate, and Japanese rice crackers, sembe) it was time to go home. Good thing we were biking back (20 minutes or so), it gave us a chance to work off all the food we consumed! Back row - Ryan, Aya, Derek, Papa. Front row - Me and Mama.