26 hours, 1 hour of sleep ~ Part 3 May 9, 2008

It’s been a while since my last post.
We’ve been running around for 3 weeks straight that the exhaustion has finally caught up with me. We have been staying in for 3 days now because of my cold.

Any who, let’s finish the 26 hour trip.

After the 13 hour flight we finally arrived at Tokyo Narita Air Port, which is not really in Tokyo. It’s actually in Chiba, which is about an hour out of the city of Tokyo.
There was a mom with 2 kids, a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old girl, sitting in the row in front of us on the flight. The boy was extremely active (kind of hyper), and I don’t think he slept at all. He kept bouncing on the seat, wanting to walk around, and throwing things at our seat. Having a 1 year old, who is trying to sleep, and can’t because of the unfamiliar surroundings, and the awfully impatient son, I felt so bad for the mom, I almost offered her the Benedryl I broughtto knock the boy out for just a little bit. The mom looked exhausted after the flight. I hope I never have to experience what she had to go through.

At the airport, we picked up our luggage and tried to find a place that sold a pre-paid SIM card. No one knew where to get one. Since we had 20 minutes to catch the bus to Tama Plaza, where my mom was picking us up, we had to rush to buy the ticket and find the bus stop. Although I speak the every day language pretty fluently, there are a lot of words I don’t know. Since it’s been a while since I’ve been in the world of Japanese people, it was a bit hard to understand the explanation of where the bus stop was. They just talk so fast, and the Japanese business language (proper language) is not commonly used around me, it’s hard for me to understand. I ended up just followed the pointing.

I finally slept on the one and a half hour bus ride to Tama Plaza, in Yokohama. John got to see the out skirts of Tokyo on the way into the city from the Inaka (country side) of Chiba.
From the Tama Plaza station, we drove another one hour to get to Shizuokaken, Susonoshi (on Mt. Fuji), where my parents now live with my 87 year old grandmother.

After a long, long 26 hours of traveling, and a quick stop at the super market, we have finally arrived at our destination at 7:00 pm Japan time (6:00 am Eastern Time).

Our first meal, super market bought Sushi and Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken). Compared to the sushi you can buy at the super market in the US, this was like going to Nobu or one of those expensive sushi restaurants. It was really good.
So, I will share my sushi rice recipe & Karaage recipe.

Sushi Rice:

• 2 cups of short grain rice (half white half brown)
• About 5 cm (2 inches) of Dashi Kombu (Kelp)
• 2 and a half tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 tbsp of salt
• 3 and a half tbsp rice vinegar

Clean the rice and let it sit in a strainer for about 30 minutes. Then add the Kombu on top of the rice and cook in a rice cooker, with the appropriate amount of water (about 2 cups).

Meanwhile, combine the rice vinegar, salt and sugar.

When the rice is done, place the rice in a large bowl and add the vinegar mixture. Combine well.
The rice may seem very wet, but as you combine the rice with the vinegar, the rice will suck up the vinegar and will start to get sticky again. Constantly mix the rice until sticky.

Now you have the perfect sushi rice to make your own sushi.

Karaage:

• Boneless chicken thigh meat (recommended with skin), cut into chunks.
• 1 knob of ground ginger
• 1~2 knobs of garlic minced
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp sake
• Pinch of salt & pepper
• Potato starch or corn strach for batter

Take all the ingredients except for the potato starch and combine well to marinade the chicken for about 10~30 minutes.

Heat oil to about 350°F.

Take the chicken and cover with the potato starch batter. Fry for about 5 minutes each. Batter may look white in parts when done, but that’s just fine. It’s actually tastier that way. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt, and enjoy.

Our long travel ended with us not even finishing our sushi dinner. I was exhausted…