Saitosan!

Our landlady (or agent as they're called here in Japan) is a very special lady. Her name is Saitosan and she manages about 5-6 rental houses. She often has her renter's over for dinners, outings, and even to soak in the hot tub on her roof. She also asks her renters to bring over any single sailors who might be in need of a good meal to "help eat so there won't be leftovers." She's always smiling, funny, and very traditionally Japanese. Her English is good and borderlines okay at times.

Saturday night, she had John and I and her other American renter families over for dinner. Her husband cooked most of the dinner and drank most of the sake! The kids gathered around the TV to watch Japanese cartoons and we ate and had a wonderful time.

The dishes included:

Baked potato

Grilled corn

Home grown edamame

Boiled strips of eggplants (it looked like long flat noodles) with a sweet sesame dressing

Raw octopus in a vinegar dressing with leafy greens and home grown basil

Japanese interpretation of lasagna. There was not much cheese at all. The ground beef was very finely ground, which seems to be the norm for them. The flavoring wasn't Italian but had a noticeably soy sauce flavor instead.

Boiled squash and zucchini slices in a tomato sauce with fresh basil

Thinly sliced raw salmon with thinly sliced avocado slices covered in a soy sauce dressing.

Tempura fried very thin pork cutlets

Fresh made bread from a local bakery

Desert was a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and cheap sake called Maru.

It was all very very very VERY good. On our first week in Japan she invited us over for lunch and we had curry. Her other renters recalled tales of her taking them and their children to local theme parks for a day out.

Yesterday she dispatched her two best friends to my house to take pictures and translate all of my remote controls. I should have a binder in a few days with the results of their venture.

I'm glad she's our agent. She an extremely busy woman. Her cellphone is constantly ringing. Her and her husband really work hard to make their client's stay in Japan enjoyable.

I would have taken some pictures, but it would have been a little rude to snap pictures at the table.

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