This photo is from last Friday actually 🙂

I was two weeks into isolation last Friday and slowly started to crave going out drinking with my buddies. Miss the guys. Could not go out so instead i decided to be nice to myself and put together a platter to go with sake. All these stuff did not required much cooking really. Notable player here are the two Blackthroat seaperch, called “Nodoguro” in Japanes and is considered a delicacy. It has tender meat texture with an abundance of fat with mouth watering fragrance. As the waters where Nodoguro can be found is narrow and its yield is small, combined with its great taste earned it the title “Maboroshi no Sakana”, meaning the phantom fish among food lovers.

Chilling with sake in hand, I felt lucky that i am quite fine with staying indoor alone for prolonged period of time personality wise, just need to be careful not to become too unwashed as time goes by.

Looking back my first 5 years in Japan, the initial portion of my adult life, was a big contributor to that. I was a poor foreign student working almost every night and sometimes weekends in restaurant to make ends meet. In the very first year i could not even afford a laptop, luckily the language school classes did not use anything digital. Similar routine continued for the next 4-years(except I got a laptop yay!). Going out was not something i could afford to do frequently.

Life is much different now. After graduation i did 3 years in a Japanese company in Shizuoka then another 1.5 years at its Mexico branch, before decided to look else where. I had moved back to Tokyo and quite chill about where i am today working for a respected foreign company, doing things i like. I could afford to go out now. However i realized my social skill on mingling with new people randomly was rather under-developed. Or maybe i am just at the age where i do not bother to put up with people i can not find common interest anymore?

Don’t think there ever will be a correct answer to that. But i am content with the friends i have now, although not a lot of them but everyone of them is my heart’s treasure. And i wish everyone of them safe until this blow over, and we can once again enjoy each other’s company.

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In case anyone is wondering where the sea lion sake pitcher comes from, it is made by a country side workshop in Japan. Check them out here Kumagera Workshop!