toy trains and natto

Natto, the most foul-smelling food I've
ever voluntarily eaten.


Jeff and I visited with my father and Mabuta earlier this week. Can't recall if I've mentioned Mabuta before; he's a remarkably easygoing and polite teenager from Japan now living with my dad. While Jeff set up Dad's new computer, I snooped through the basement where my father stored stuff from when my siblings and I were growing up in the house. A lot of junk, of course, but nearly each item brought back a wave of childhood memories; I can understand why Dad hasn't been able to bring himself to throw some of this out.

Like this beat-up toy train, which I clearly remember playing with when we were kids:






And an old lacrosse stick of my brother's:






I spent several hours going through old photo albums, letters, cards, drawings, LPs, toys, stuff that used to belong to my mother. Cried some. Laughed some. From time to time, Jeff would call down to see if I was okay.

Also found an old FilKONtario membership badge (I have no idea why it was in my dad's basement):



From the *first* FilKONtario (thanks to Judith for the confirmation).


Mabuta made a yummy Japanese dish, some kind of chicken and vegetable sauce over rice. And then I tried natto, a foul-smelling sticky web of fermented soybeans, for the first time in my life. "Foul-smelling" is not an exaggeration. The smell actually made me nauseous and I came very close to not trying this infamous Japanese dish at all. The natto at my dad's place was prepackaged in styrofoam, apparently shipped in frozen state from Tokyo.



An old computer games data tape I found in
the basement of my father's house. For our Model III TRS-80.


But then I figured, what the heck? I've always been curious about this dish so figured I should at least try it once.

So while my father and Mabuta watched with amusement (I did not hide the fact that I detested the smell and appearance), I opened the tiny packets of hot mustard and shoyu that came in the box, mixed them into the soy bean goop. It also looked revolting, with sudsy sticky tendrils that don't let go even after you put some natto in your mouth but would instead stubbornly stretch between your mouth and your chopsticks; Mabuta showed me how to break the tendrils via a rolling motion with my chopsticks.

I fully expected to hate the stuff and was shocked to discover that I actually liked it. Go figure. Now I want to try freshly-prepared natto to see how much of a difference it makes and the taste and texture.

More information about natto, for those who must know more:

Japantips.net: natto
NattoLand



Red bean ice cream and green tea ice cream. Yum!

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