Sayonara Parties Galore!

Despite our lack of posts lately, we definitely haven’t been going hungry over here! So many generous people have planned farewell lunches and dinners. Here’s a recap of what we’ve been eating and doing this past week.

My Tuesday evening class is a huge fan of my Mom’s oatmeal cookie recipe. I brought them the cookies one last time so they could pose in a picture with them.

We also played their favorite game, Qwitch. If you don’t know Qwitch you should strongly consider going out and buying it. It’s great for people who like competitive, fast-paced games.

Our Wednesday class students brought an insane amount of desserts – two kinds of cheesecake, strawberry cake, melon, and chocolates. We also learned how to whisk the perfect cup of matcha (green tea) with just the right amount of foam on top using a bamboo whisk.

Our Thursday morning classes took us to a very quaint Italian restaurant that served very Japanese style food. For example, the pasta course choices were eel with cream sauce, or clam and squid. Take your pick. The most interesting (and aesthetically pleasing) course was corn soup (a favorite in Japan), a martini glass of Caesar salad, and two raw shrimp served over a bed of pesto garnished with mini cherry tomatoes.

In the evening, our classes had a joint tea/sandwich party. Dustin’s student Michiko made several kinds of sandwiches on crustless white bread: egg salad, potato salad with tuna and carrots, and ham and cucumber. They were very comforting.

My Friday morning ladies surprised me with a beautiful selection of parfaits, which we devoured at 10:30 in the morning as a second breakfast. I ate the one in the background – panna cota covered with a layer of peach “jello” that encased raspberries and pineapple.

Then Dustin’s Friday morning class gave us a break from Japanese Italian and took us to a traditional Japanese restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed tempura, sashimi, wheat gluten, eel, pickled cucumbers, sweet beans, edamame, and many other tasty things, all beautifully presented.

The style of the restaurant was very rustic Japanese, and they served coffee in antique cups.

For our final Sunday class we lugged our waffle iron to the church and made cinnamon apple waffles for the students, using a mix that I had to use up before we move home. They were intrigued but the students seemed to really enjoy them, especially served with maple syrup and fresh blueberries.

Now that our classes are finished it’s time to focus on packing, but we’re also trying to fit in some fun things like karaoke and conveyor belt sushi for one last time 🙂