Lovely cultural dinner out with Fushimi and lovely Aya. Starters (which was requested by the boys as cake - apple pie and banana loaf) was at our abode 5pm and we then all jumped into Fushimi's car and headed out 7pm - their treat; their choice, apology by our friends for arriving a little late. Not easy to accept, they gave us good heads up notice that they were running late!
We headed down the road, not far from home to a cultural hot pot experience!
We sat on our knees at a high perched table, the middle of which caters for hot pots and frying grill - so feet can only be placed under you or next to you. This took some getting used to, we wiggled throughout dinner :-). Standing up after our meal took some time straightening up and getting blood to the pins and needles in our knees!
Raw meat was brought to our table on a platter dish, which Fushimi grilled and served to us. We did not recognize the meat, after translating the Japanese they knew the meat by, we learnt that we had eaten tongue, intestines, and one other misnomer...
Half way thru grilling, a big pot of chunky soup was brought to the middle of the table. This was called the 'hot pot'. It also gets placed on its own heating apparatus to keep simmering. It got a little steamy around the table, so Aya and I turned it down a tad.
Aya then dished up soup broth with many different chunky meats and veg - tofu, fried tofu, cabbage, leeks and celery some I could recognize. Very tasty. Soon as one finishes, someone tops up your bowl so always best to not finish ones food or drink - so not cultural for us, it seems rude - but we were warned of this difference in culture.