Good Times and Soba Making

The week went by pretty much as usual. On Thursday, I did decide to venture off to the salon. I contemplated for awhile as to what I should do with my hair...the outcome: digital perm. Basically I added soft curls to my hair; the best part of the salon was they give you a head and shoulders massage. Downside, it took about 3.5 hours. You can see the curls in most of the pictures from the weekend. We started off the weekend with dinner Friday night at a tapas restaurant called Bar Mar. Annie and Matt went with us and it was an awesome place. The food was good and the atmosphere was kind of like being in NYC. There were a couple of customers who were celebrating their birthdays and the restaurant dimmed the lights and then announced that there was a birthday and the whole restaurant joined in to sing “happy birthday”. Oh, I tried white sangria for the first time too and I really like it. After dinner with met up with Annie’s friend, TD and her boyfriend. They took us to a jazz bar pretty close to our place. It was a really nice, relaxing atmosphere. We’re definitely going to have to go back for dinner one night.

Saturday, Michael went to play badminton with his co-workers and I went to teach English for a couple of hours. We didn’t do too much else on Saturday, it’s beginning to get hot here and it’s only May. I’m so scared for the heat and humidity in July and August. Sunday morning, Michael, my teacher, Eiko-san, her husband, Ichihara-san and I went to a soba making class. It was in a classroom within a farmer’s market area. We made soba from scratch and then had lunch with all the other students. It is hard work making soba, it gives me a new found appreciation for the stores that sell handmade soba. Plus, it’s refreshing because I don’t think that we can find handmade soba in Ohio. Handmade soba is best when it is served cold because you can really taste the texture of the noodles. When it is boiled in hot broth the noodles expand and lose a little bit of its consistency, per the teacher. I can’t wait to make soba for everyone back home!

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