Takoyaki Party

I was able to sleep in 30 extra minutes today since yesterday mama-san and I arrived at school entirely too early. This morning after serving breakfast, mama-san left for a two day business trip, which means I was on my own for my bus commute.  I had planned to spend the whole bus ride studying for my kanji quiz, but then suddenly my phone rang.  I picked it up and it was mamasan, but unfortunately although it was about a 2 minute conversation the only things I took out of it were the words hi, bye, and something about a key.  Ah well, I would worry about that later I figured.  School went well, and after it was over I went out to lunch with some friends.  After that: more squid ink ice cream! But this time I ordered the  squid ink and melon swirl, which was very sweet and a tiny bit salty.

When I got home Shinon was already there, so the key problem from earlier had already been resolved.  After talking with her a bit and using my dictionary a lot I found out more information about the party.  Two of her friends were coming over, and we were all going to cook Takoyaki together!

Although the word "Taco" will forever conjure images of delicious mexican food (I haven't forgot about you mexican food; I miss you a lot), in Japanese Tako means octopus.  The way you make Takoyaki is as follows- 

First pour batter into one of the small golf ball sized holes in the pan.

Next, add in a filler- either octopus, mochi, chocolate, and cheese.

Wait a tiny bit of time, and then flip it so the other side gets cooked.

Make an absolute mess trying to do the above step.

Remove from the pan when fully cooked, dip in a mayonnaise-barbecue like sauce and enjoy!

After filling up with takoyaki, we all went to the grocery store to buy candy and then to the movie store to rent a movie.  The most notable thing I saw in the video store was the following gem:

If I'm not mistaken, the only point of these movies is to look at cats and stuff. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS KIND OF QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT IN AMERICA!?

We ended up renting a horror movie, and watched it all in Japanese.  I didn't understand all of the plot, but it was definitely scary enough to make me jump up and swear loudly in english.

High: Takoyaki!

Low: Not understanding any of the gossip that Shinon and her friends were talking about. Teenage girls are the same no matter where you go.

Hero: Thanh and Ashok for making me laugh and lending me some Yen to buy ice cream when I was out.  Thanks!