"I am no better than monkey"

Last night could be called a milestone in my culinary--well, my history of food-preparation.

I haven't felt much up to getting out and seeing places since last Friday when I realized I had a sinus infection. I spent most of the weekend keeping to myself and keeping myself entertained with movies and such. A couple of days ago I started losing my voice because I've been taking an expectorant, so of course a bunch of people thought I was getting sick just now.

I think I'd take a standard cold over sinusitus right now--I'd much prefer to be taking a cough supressant and fevering-out the illness. Being well enough to go to classes and not having a voice to ask questions or discuss things is almost as irritating as the infection itself. 

In any case, I was feeling well enough to attend Emi-chan's sushi-making birthday party last night, for which I'm very grateful. Now I know how to make sushi! Or how to make the actual roll...still not clear on the preparation of the rice.


My first sushi roll turned out pretty well too. I only used cucumber and shredded tuna mixed with mayonnaise, so naturally it was delicious.


And very beautiful if I do say so myself.
I kind of squashed the last 2 pieces when I was slicing up the roll though. 

 

So that was pretty much my first experience with making traditional Japanese food. I'm not counting packaged ramen, frying gyoza, or stir-fry. There were also various birthday partyish activities: we sang, Emi-chan opened her presents, we danced to YMCA in Japanese, people were dared to eat sushi with too much wasabi. Or Mei-chan did because she lost the Japanese version of mass rock-paper-scissors. A bunch of us had pitched together money and bought her a good set of watercolor pencils--one of Emi's hobbies is drawing fashion designs--and art supplies are a tad more expensive here, compared to what I remember anyway. Masuo and Kurachi gave her a Birthday Book (you know, those kind that have things that happened in history or whatnot on the day you were born, astrological stuff, etc) and a homemade royal sash, respectively. Maybe it was more of a pageant sash--I didn't get a good look at what was written on it--but seeing as the latter was modeled after the former, it's hard to tell.

Between all of us, Emi received three birthday cards, I think. One was a cute puzzle card, and the other two were traditional Japanese birthday cards, which are actually 1'x1' paper-covered pieces of cardboard or bristol board perhaps...That description sounded kind of unceremonious. They're actually very nice looking and convenient, especially for a group of people living in a dorm, because you can write, draw, and decorate both sides however you like. When someone's birthday comes up, you can always find their card lying around on one of the tables and jot a short message of birthday good-wishes, even if you have to find a creative way to squeeze it in between everyone elses' Happy Birthdays written in various languages.

MONKEY SIGHTING #2!!!

 

On the way to my class earlier today (or yesterday, more precisely), I saw about 6 or 7 monkeys in the trees over/behind the fenced area next to the sidewalk. I think they were all macaques, but there may have been a couple of different subspecies. Or the smaller ones could have been juveniles, but they didn't look particularly immature to me. Juveniles are usually a little fluffier, for one...

Ha, as mature as monkeys can be, in any case.

 

The smaller ones were actually in the trees overhanging the sidewalk, and all I had on me at the time was my keitai, so the pictures aren't that great. Had to get close enough that they wouldn't run off too quickly--some of them did anyway--and I was pointing my lens up into a bright sky, which was very beautiful and pleasant for walking today, but slightly obstructive to good photography.

 

Finally, pictorial truth. There are monkeys.

Now I just need to catch one on campus or on I-house, doing something...monkeyish.