Reflections on Curry

Today's Japanese Word of the Day:
すごい
Sugoi
(Adjective: Wonderful; Amazing; "Wow")

My plan tonight is to throw together the virtual tour of the dorm. However, I do have some homework to do before then, so in case that doesn't happen, here's another "reflections" post to hold us all over. Today's topic? Curry.

Before coming to Japan, I had never had curry before. I was missing out.

The first curry I was exposed to was, of course, Japanese curry. I've gotten it a couple of times in the student cafeteria (gakusei shokudo). You get a long plate, and on one half is a pile of white rice with the other half a huge serving of curry. You also get, like many rice dishes, a few sliced red peppers put on the side in case you want some extra heat and flavor. I usually stir them in with the curry. It's pretty good, though super filling. There are only a few of us who can finish the whole plate.

The next curry I ate was called kare pan, or curry bread. It's essentially... um... well, it's like bread, that's been, uh, breaded I guess. Maybe it's fried. It probably is. Inside, it's filled with curry. It is so tasty, despite my ignorance on how it's made.

But the real reason why I'm writing this post? Last night, three of us went out to this Indian curry restaurant in Fujidera.

Oh my goodness.

Indian curry is sugoi. You get just a little bowl, and choice of rice or this type of bread called naan (kind of like a baked pita bread made of the essence of fabulous). Go for the naan, every time. Don't get the rice; the naan is much too good to pass up. The curry itself is full of all kinds of yummy stuff--beans, herbs, meat. I got mutton curry and garlic naan. You break off pieces of the naan and scoop out the curry with it, kind of like chips and salsa, only better. It is magical.

This particular restaurant has a scale of heat that you can choose from. I got the lowest heat, of course, since I have what Mom and Dad call a "gringo mouth." After eating half the bowl I was starting to feel the spice a little bit, but it was very good and very manageable. Another of the guys (Jackson), on the other hand, got the hottest stuff available, plus a little dish with various sauces (purees? something like that... not quite sauces, but that's the best word I've got for it). He called these sauce/puree/whatevers the "big guns." They were the really spicy stuff.

So, Jackson ate all of his super-spicy curry with just a little sip of beer to help mediate the heat. As for the other guy we were out with (Jake) and me, we got a little tiny taste of his curry. When you're eating it, it's not that bad. But then you swallow it, and it burns your mouth. Both Jake and I swallowed the rest of our water after just that brief little taste of his curry. Then Jackson went on to eat the sauce/puree things on his naan after finishing his curry, and only then did he start to show weakness by drinking some water.

The owner of the restaurant is really cool, too. We've seen him a couple of times as he was making deliveries or getting ingredients, or whatever. He speaks English, and has lived in Japan for fifteen years... and still doesn't know a lot of kanji (Chinese characters, for those of you who haven't heard my irritated rants on the subject). I think that should speak volumes on just how awful kanji is to learn. He likes speaking with the American students, including stopping by the table before we order and hanging out for a few minutes, just to chat and let us use our Japanese. This last time, when I was at the restaurant with Jackson and Jake, we were served a fried chicken appetizer, and about halfway through, we realized that none of us had ordered it--he gave it to us on the house.

As I said before, we didn't get a whole lot of curry. However, it is so very filling. We were all very content for the walk back to the dorms. At least the first half of the walk was all about talking about the curry, because we had that comfortable full stomach sensation, and it was whispering the whole way, "Oishikatta desu... oishikatta desu..." ("That was good... that was good...")

Okay, I'm off to do my homework. As of this evening, this program is down to nine days remaining. It's making us all rather sad.

And in case I don't get around to blogging tomorrow, happy Independence Day, everyone!

~Amanda