Mission: Dinner Impossible

Hello again.  This is another great story for the books.

I have to back up for a second.  When I first arrived in Japan, my girlfriend (Lisa) was waiting for me.  It was a great feeling to see her right away.  She came with a bag of food and things I might need for living.  She has helped me so much since I have arrived and I know she will continue to help me do everything.  This food she gave me plays a role in the story I will tell now.

This my friends is the story of the quest for Olive Oil.

So since I have been here, I have not been able to cook anything yet.  The first day I was SO tired, so when I got home after buying my groceries, I just got some instant noodles to have for dinner that night and went straight to bed.

The next morning I had Lisa's rice balls for breakfast.  That was my first struggle with my language barrier.  My microwave is completely in Japanese.  I just hit buttons on it like a primate trying to work a VCR, until it started to buzz.  After a few seconds, the ball was hot and I had my breakfast.  I have since figured out about 80% of the microwave.  To be honest, even when a microwave is in English I don't always know what I am doing.  The defrost and the poultry buttons could be torn off my microwave and I would never know the difference.  So I feel I have mastered this machine.

I then needed to get a load of equipment to clean my house before I started living here.  After I finally got the internet working, I went online and found my house and looked around on googlemaps.  I found a few places and drew crude maps to figure out how to get there.  Here is one of my maps.  This is how I get to the 7/11 I will mention later.

So map in hand I set off to the store.  I bought almost everything I need to survive now, but I keep finding new things I need every time I do something new.  I walked to the store and bought a broom and trashcans and some cleaning supplies.  I could not find hand soap but I did find dish soap.  I have been washing everything with dish soap for a few days now.  I will show you one of my maps later.

So I was going to cook my pork I bought on my first night for dinner yesterday.  I went to get everything out and realized I did not have a knife to cut the meat.  I also realized the true bane of my weekend, I didn't have olive oil.  I need that stuff to cook almost everything.

That night I still had one more instant noodle box that I was able to eat for dinner.  My lunch that day consisted of some granola bars that I reluctantly packed before I left for Japan.  My mom made me pack them and I was against it at first, but now I am very happy I had them.

The goal for the next day (today) was to get knives and Olive Oil so I can finally cook my meat!  Until now, I have only had carbs to eat.  I couldn't even eat vegetables yet.

So I woke up this morning and I was ready to go get my Knives and Olive Oil and make a really good lunch today.  I decided I wanted a big lunch to try and fix my jet lag.  (I honestly don't know if this would have helped but I decided to give it a try)

This is part of my walk I have to take on my way to the store

I was up around 7:00 today so by 8:00 I left for the store.  The weather was nice and I was motivated to really get things done today.  I arrived at my store about 15 minutes after I left my house.... It was closed.  

I was very upset.  I just stood there and looked at it, thinking "why would they not be open at 8:15 am on a Sunday!?" And it was at that moment that my question answered itself.  I sulked back home to my house where I decided to wait until about 11:00 to go and try again.

I did some house work and talked to my family until about 10:45 and then I set back out. Upon arrival, I saw... IT WAS OPEN!  I was overjoyed.  I strolled into the store and bout 7,000 yen worth of things.  I was searching all the aisles now ready to find the smaller things that I still needed.  

I was looking around the beauty supplies (partially because I didn't know that is what they were, and partially because they had lots of colors.  It is interesting how I revert to an insect like behavior if I can't read something.  That being just smell everything and but they one that is the brightest color.) That is when I saw it.  I almost walked past it... but alas the bright color caught my eyes!

IT WAS HAND SOAP!!!!!!

With this success I was overjoyed that I was finally about to use the dish soap for the dishes and the hand soap for my hands.  Just another small achievement that makes me feel more like home here.

This is the entire 7,000 yen shopping trip I had today.

Now if you look closely, you will notice I have no Olive Oil.  That's right.  I still could not cook my lunch I wanted so bad.  I had to keep searching.  

I got back online and looked all around for food stores.  The only one that I could really see looked very complicated to get too.  If I needed to I would try, but I was going to exhaust all other options until that point.  I did find a 7/11 online, and I remember everyone always talking about how they always got their food from 7/11.  "I bet I can get Olive Oil here!" I thought, and I set out for the store.

Here is the map that I followed to get to 7/11

I got there in less than 10 minutes, and I was excited to see what I could get.  I looked around, and there were piles of instant foods, but no cooking supplies.  This was so disheartening.  I had spent so much time trying to get all the materials I needed to make this lunch I was hoping for, and I could not find anything to cook with.  I had to go to one store for knives, and another entire store for olive oil that was still unseen.  

Defeated, I bought yet ANOTHER cup of instant noodles.  Not that these noodles are bad, they are actually really really good, but I needed meat in my diet soon.  As I walked back I saw a store and out front there were things like water and tea.  "I have some extra time... Might as well see what is in this store"

This is the store that I decided to stop into

I walked around a bit and saw that they had a bigger selection of instant food, and a small section of cook-able food.  They had some meat that looked good and some fish that looked tasty so I felt my heart life a little...  Then.... I saw it

(Que Hallelujah Chorus)

I FOUND MY OLIVE OIL!!!! I was so happy I almost cheered in the store.  After a few private fist pumps in the aisle, I walked to the cashier and cashed out.  My Japanese is already improving a little bit because I was able to understand almost everything that she said.  I was able to respond back and it seemed like she knew what I was saying also. The best thing is this store is only 5 minutes away from my house!!!

I walked home, and I got in my house and packed away all my new goodies.

It was past 2:00 now, so I just made the instant noodles for my late lunch.  I was upset that I didn't have enough time to cook my awesome food, but I needed to eat on time.  (I felt it would be the best way to try and battle this jet lag I still have)

I ate my noodles and I started to clean my house.  I got my office almost 100% done.  I think it will take me a few more days, but I am getting closer everyday to being able to just live in my house instead of build or fix my house.

Now finally dinner came around.  I was so excited!  I had my rice, I had my pork, I had vegetables, I had Olive Oil and a knife to do all my work.  So I have a special order I need to cook all these things so it all finishes at the same time.  First I needed to start my rice!

TO THE RICE COOKER!!!

Dammit... How do I use this....

Then came problem 103 of trying to cook a dinner...  I DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE THIS THING! I have no idea what the buttons mean, and I have no clue if its working or not. I just stared at it for a minute as if the answers to the world would just come on in and start cooking rice for me.  

I got on my phone and called my Girlfriend again and she tried to explain to me how to do this while I sent her pictures of the cooker.  A close up of this, a close up of that, what the inside looked like, etc...

After about 30 minutes of talking with Lisa and another very good friend of mine that lives in Japan, I got this baby working.  Now I started cooking the vegetable, and heating up the water to cook the curry. I got to use the Olive Oil and cook some of my Pork after I cut it into manageable pieces with my knew knives. And there you have it...

My first cooked meal (with meat) in Japan

I made a huge serving of Curry with Pork and vegetables.  I ate it with my beer, and I watched Futurama at the same time.  This is becoming my little ritual.  I also found little pads that I can sit on for the floor so I would not be so uncomfortable when I ate.

After dinner I sat and started to get very tired.  My jet lag makes in incredibly sleepy around 7:00 right now.  I always walk past a little vending machine that sells coffee every morning, and I was in dire need of a coffee.  After a few minutes, I walked to the machine and bought a drink.

My first cup of coffee in Japan

The coffee was chilled and tasty.  I feel much better tonight after eating some real food, and drinking some coffee.  I might even go get one more cup so I can make it until 11:00 tonight at least.  

There you have it.  The story of Dinner Impossible, The dinner that took 2 days to cook.

Everyday I live here it gets harder in the morning, and then at night it gets easier.  When I bought my coffee and was walking back to my house, I thought "I love this.  I am happy to be here."  

Tomorrow I am going to do 2 things.  I have my first day of work, and I am going to try and do laundry!

I feel both of these will be rather interesting so I hope you can check back tomorrow.  

Wish me luck!