here we go again and I'm only done with 2/3 of the trip ....
Tuesday February 4, 2003 ....
I didn’t even have time to think about dozing off on the Shinkassen for the 20 minute ride
between Osaka and Kyoto. The urban sprawl did not seem to stop very much between the
2 cities. I got off the train went into the concourse and I am sure that I did the station
tour like I did at all of my stops. But as I am recalling the experience nothing jumps out
that was so memorable. I looked at the map and I thought well my hotel should be within
walking distance and since it was a nice sunny day and not overly cold I said why not
and off I went. I could see by the street sign that I was on the right street. I kept on
going. is that walled complex the same thing as this location on the map? Okay I cross
this major street yes that kind of jives. Okay a subway entrance yes I see that on the
map hey where is the police station that is supposed to be on the map? Eventually the
road came to a T and I knew something was wrong. I flagged down a taxi and I
discovered that I exited the station on the wrong side and I had walked and pulled my
bags about 1 1/2 miles in the wrong direction. The driver was rather friendly and tried
to strike up a conversation a little in his limited English. As we got close back to the
train station I internally kicked myself and thought what a dumb fool you were this time
ha ha ha. The driver gave me about 3 packets of Kleenex with some Japanese advertising
on it. The Japanese are pretty big on giving away free packages of Kleenex on the
streets too.
We arrived at the hotel at about 3 PM. I unloaded and paid him one of my larger fares
on my trip. It wasn’t too bad though, and I only had myself to blame. I entered and
checked into the Toyoko Inn. But being a stickler for the rules no one is allowed to go to
the rooms until 4 PM. so they tagged my 2 bags and threw the red fishing net over
them along with the 15 other bags awaiting in the lobby. Though it is a major no - no
culturally to steal anything. This provided an extra sense of security that a thief would
have to wrestle with the net first to get your bag and one of the girls at the front desk
would notice this. I bought some nuts from a vending machine and a Crystal Geyser
California water. I decided to hit the Internet in the lobby as was my pattern,. I received
a message at the front desk from Kaori that she would be a little late. I checked my
mail and anything else of interest like Planet-Love. then I sat in a nook kind of out of
sight for a few minutes relaxing. Kaori arrived in about 10 minutes. we said hello
quickly but we had to go as we were going to attend a Japanese confection class at
4:30 PM.
I thought Kaori was a cute girl who was very nice. if I remember correctly she is 30 but
don’t quote me on this. She told me that she has learned her English (which was quite
good) mostly by just watching TV shows and Movies. -- very impressive it would take
me 100 years of watching Japanese TV (kind of a scary thought right there) just to
aquire maybe a 25 % understanding of Japanese I think.
I told Kaori that I took the Bullet train. She was amazed that I could do this with my
rail pass. She works part of the time in Osaka as a graphic designer / copy editor type of
job. The rest of the time she can work from home. She said that she can’t afford to
commute on the Bullet train as that costs about 3000 yen ($ 27) one way for the 20
minute ride. So all of the commuters between Osaka and Kyoto take the local trains
which take about 1 hour each way.
We transferred subway lines until we got to the exit for where our class would be. We
could not find the location right away but with a little assistance from Kaori’s cell
phone we were able to locate the school. Once again take off the shoes before going
upstairs for the class. But I had to go only in socks as the slippers did not fit. It’s a
good thing I bought new socks without holes yet for this trip ha ha ha. We had an
intimate class with just Kaori the teacher and myself. We made 2 different types of
pastries out of the bean paste. I did pretty good following the instructors directions as it
was kind of like playing with playdough or Marzipan (European almond flavored dough).
I was somewhat experienced with the techniques as I had played with marzipan animals
for my gingerbread project 2 years ago. Kaori did surprisingly well too as she made her
pastries. -- I guess you could say it was Child’s play ha ha ha. We were somewhat
successful and our pieces came out pretty close to the examples that were already made
for us. An assistant took our picture and made a certificate of completion for us. Then
we had a cup of Cocha (green tea) to celebrate our success with the teacher. I am not a
big fan of tea to begin with, but Kaori told me that this was a special thick type of
traditional Cocha. It was like drinking green pulpy orange juice. I my Biased opinion, it
was as of someone took lawn clippings and put them in a blender and added hot water.
Well as the saying goes -- It was not my cup of tea -- but I put on a good show and I
drank half of it.
Afterwards the instructor showed us how to make a different type of Japanese pastry
taking some rice paste and pushing it through a sieve so you got out strands. Then she
used chopsticks and applied the stands on to a ball of bean paste. We sampled this smowball
looking pasty but only after the instructor and Kaori made fun of me as I had to try to
repeat what she did. What can I say except I still have a ways to go with my Chopstick
dexterity. This creation did not taste too bad and it was pretty interesting how she
constructed it. Finally the instructor used a special wooden tool using a twisting technique
with her wrist to make a flower pattern on a ball of bean paste. Kaori and I both tried to
do this with moderate success. Being the show off that I am ha ha ha I took a ball of
bean paste and I used a wooden tool to make indentations / groves along the side of the
paste and a star on top using the point of the tool, like we would do for a fluting a
button mushroom before sautéing it in sherry. Maybe they were impressed by how I did it.
Hell I was impressed that I could do it since I have not done it in 10 years since I was
a regular cook, now that I am a pastry dude. It was my lame attempt at an intercultural
exchange. The class was fun and I can see the use of a few of the techniques she
showed us for future use. Japanese pastries mostly made out of bean paste are interesting
in presentation but I think they require an acquired taste that I have not developed yet. I
have picked up many brochures with pictures of them. I think every city has their own
specialties that they are proud of too.
It was about 6 PM and Kaori and I were hungry. we back tracked on the subways to the
main Kyoto train station and we went into the subterranean mall adjoining the station and
found a Japanese restaurant to try. I think I had a dish with Japanese, curry and rice all
covered with a fried egg. it wasn’t bad actually. Kaori had to work the next day so we
left at around 8 PM. I headed back to the hotel to retreve my two bags from underneath
the red net in the lobby and yes they were still there along with 5 - 6 other bags left
andI checked into my room finally. Kaori headed home where she lives with her family.
She said she would give her confections to her father to eat. I put mine in my
refrigerator for safe keeping. I would take a bite out of it the next day for good measure.
but I eventually introduced the remainder of the japanese confections to the garbage can.
when I left Kyoto.
