"Sharing" Dinner with Louis

Louis and I enjoy going out for dinner for many reasons.  Eating out makes me happy because I don't have to cook. Some nights I am sure Louis is happy about this as well, even if he won't admit it. However, I think the main reason we like going out to eat is because we live in Japan, and therefore never quite know what we are going to get. Half the fun is wandering around, looking at menu's and plastic food displays trying to decide where to eat! On Sunday night we decided on a little place near our house. The menu out front had large, appealing photographs. The restaurant looked like it might be for Korean food, although the elderly couple inside was definitely Japanese. Louis and I decided we would order two things and share them. I immediately chose a stir fry looking dish. Meanwhile, Louis couldn't make up his mind. Times up! The gentleman is standing at our table, waiting to take our order. Louis points to what I want on the menu. The man looks a little confused and says who knows what in Japanese. His wife joins him.

The next minute and a half consisted of Louis pointing to pictures and occasionally saying things to the couple, the couple talking to each other and then occasionally saying things to us with hoping looks on their faces that we might know what they were saying, and me speaking to Louis trying to tell him what I thought is going on. There was lots of pointing, and talking, and not understanding. Finally the couple seemed satisfied, and walked away.

After the confusion, Louis and I decided that we must have been pointing to something on what was the "lunch" portion of the menu. Also, I pointed out that the two pictures he had been pointing to were of the exact same thing. Great. So we might get two orders of the same entree? One lunch sized and one dinner sized? Who knows. Que sera sera. Next time, I am ordering for us. The first plate arrives. It is stir fried cabbage, green onions, with thin cut pork (we guess). They place it in front of Louis. It looks good, and similar to what we thought we ordered.

Then, they brought out the second plate. Similar looking to the one they put in front of Louis, but very different. 

I took one look at it and immediately knew what it was. And here I was worried about them bringing us two orders of the same thing. Ha! Here is how the conversation between Louis and I went moments after they put the plate down:

Caroline: You know what this is, right?

Louis: No.

Caroline: This is tripe.

*No reaction from Louis*

Caroline: You know what tripe is, don't you?

Louis: No.

Caroline: It is cow stomach.

Louis: Oh.

And it was in that moment that the whole sharing of our two dinners went out the window. Louis picked up his chopsticks, and started eating from the plate in front of him. I asked him, "so does this mean we aren't sharing anymore?" to which he answered (in the most innocent tone he could muster), "well they put this plate in front of me". 

Okay. Fine.

I told him that he just didn't want to eat tripe. He smiled. I just shook my head. In all honesty the whole meal was not terrible. We were both given a small bowl of white rice, along with a serving of pickled bean sprouts and kimchee to share. Also on the table was a dish filled with small seaweed rectangles. They were thinner than what sushi rolls are wrapped in and much saltier. A perfect snack to eat while waiting for your main meal to arrive. The tripe dish wasn't even that bad. The honeycomb pieces of tripe were much better than the round skin pieces coated with a THICK layer of fat inside. I only ate one of those weird fatty pieces... yuck. I am sure they would have tasted even worse if I knew exactly what part of the animal they came from. Intestine? Rectum? Who knows. There is a close up picture below for your viewing pleasure. 

Thank God Louis had ordered us beer. Beer can help wash down anything. 

Thank you Aunt MR for that priceless piece of wisdom!

So there you have it. When visiting us in Japan, don't make a deal with Louis to "share" food, because he will only share with you if what you get is normal. Looking back on the experience, I am happy that my dish was filled with tripe and NOT a million of those tiny embryonic fish that came in a pasta dish I ordered in Japan once. 

After dinner we crossed the street and walked into a Lawsons. There we picked up dessert! Strawberries are in season here so there are strawberry flavored deserts everywhere. This is what we got! The crepe was in the refrigerated section so I assumed it was filled with jam and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I was wrong. It was filled with strawberries and whipped cream. We ate it anyways, melted cream and all. 

The second treat we got was a cake topped with whipped cream surrounding a strawberry, all wrapped up in what I think is mochi. Mochi is made from pounded rice, is sweet and very soft. It reminds me of a very elastic fondant. Wikipedia tells me that the company Mikawaya sells mochi ice cream (ice cream balls surrounded by mocha) at Trader Joe's. Mom, investigate next time you are there please! 

So there it is. Our Sunday night trying out a new restaurant! For the record, I have to mention that Louis did try one piece of tripe before going back to eating his plate of non-trip food. Not like the time I got what I now refer to as the "fish pasta". That time he wouldn't even take one bite. He must have been too full from eating the entire margarita pizza he got that night...

The best part was yelling tripe jokes at each other the whole way home. And as a loving reminder to my husband,

"I ate tripe for you!"