I
Random Observation/Comment #81: Nobby doesn’t drink, but she constantly tells stories like, “When my friends and I were drinking last weekend… blah blah blah happened.” To me (and probably the rest of the fluent English speaking community), that sounds like she was also a player in the drinking festivities. Chris personally thinks that she should make the distinction every time to prevent misleading people. She should say something like, “While my friends drank and I sat there nursing a bottle of water – sober as a very sober inanimate object – … blah blah blah happened.”
Nobby and Chris met through couchsurfing in Tokyo. Her English pronunciation is immaculate. If I met her in America, I would think that she’s American. Her Japanese is – well, fluent (since she’s Japanese, it wasn’t as impressive). I loved hearing her different English and Japanese voices, though. The accent doesn’t carry through on either ends and the pitches are full octaves apart. It wasn’t as much of a squeaky mouse as Maki, but it was high enough to make me giggle every time I heard her say something. I liked her because we had the same nose and smile. We could definitely be brother and sister, but that could be my white side thinking that we all look alike somehow.
After that night (and morning) of drinking, we bid our farewells to RJ. His paranoia and anxiousness to get to the airport four hours ahead of time made my eye twitch. Some people just need to get there as soon as possible so they could continue their complaints focused on the excessive wait to board. I understand where he comes from, but your wishful thinking does not make the plane go faster or the people around you settle. On some level we all want some control, yet there is so much that our influence just doesn’t reach. I’m at peace with it – just go with the flow.
Anyway, we met Nobby in Shinjuku for a vegan lunch. It was one of those new age radical designs that overcharged for simple meals. These specialty restaurants are sprinkled throughout New York City, so I felt right at home. Her personality surprised me with a new flavor. It made me listen for another bite and chew. I tasted bits and pieces, but I couldn’t quite put my mind to who she resembled. Her comments were random and she had a hilarious tendency to ignore people during very important parts of the conversation. Chris’s frustrations fed my laughter. She was as straight-edge as straight-edge could be, and she did it cheerfully. I think I was a little shook up because I had spoken to so many girls that fit the stereotypical image of a Japanese girl (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The best way to describe her is that she is the physical embodiment and representation of the adjective “cool.” Oddly, I was not attracted to her in that way. She was just fun to do nothing and spend time with (and we all know that time enjoyed wasting is not wasted time). Chris would agree with me.
After playing some intense head-to-head Tetris, we ate Okonomiyaki and called it a night. The next day would be a continuation of the Nobby series. Before meeting her, we woke up late and had Korean BBQ for lunch. The prawn, kobe beef, and normal steak was just beautiful. It wasn’t that filling, but the taste of the marble slices set a new high bar. I savored every sensation from that meal. I was even tempted to lick the juices left behind on the hot grill. That beef required no chewing. It just melted in my mouth. Every chew was so tender and made me close my eyes to focus on my sense of taste. I ran my tongue around my lips and gums to get every last bit. This was an epic meal for our stomachs and our wallets.
Nobby promised to cook us dinner in some joking fashion, but her slip of the tongue now became an obligation. There was no way we’d let her weasel out of this one, especially when she spoke so highly about her miso soup. We spent the afternoon looking for some gifts in Akihabara, but eventually wound up back in Asakusa with a bottle of black label and a shopping cart. I thought about all the dishes I could make, but decided to stop myself so she could shine. We were staying in a hostel, so we basically bought every ingredient we could think of needing (plus cherry tomatoes – you gotta have excess cherry tomatoes).
Choosing what to cook is always a little frustrating, especially with someone like me making other suggestions. More often than not, you wind up wandering from aisle to aisle, lost and confused. I remember having a very well planned course of action, but for some reason everything that should be placed together is separated as far away from each other as possible. For example, why are the milk and the cereal half way across the supermarket? It’s probably carefully planned to make sure you have to walk around and browse those flashy coupons and SALE signs. “OMG, buy one get one free! I really need two liters of ketchup right now.”
We picked up a few things and cooked dinner in a hostel. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a decent kitchen in a hostel. As the sun descended from the sky, the liquid in that bottle mysteriously disappeared. Ok, so I drank the whole thing and blacked out. Nobby said I was a very funny and entertaining drunk so I guess I didn’t do anything too stupid. I really don’t remember drinking that soup. To top it off, we had plans to climb Mt Fuji the next day. Bring it on, Fuji-san.
~See Lemons Chill with the Nobb-ster 🙂
mmm... black label
