Birthday Dinner

It was my birthday on the 9th and for dinner I asked the people at the SAKK office if they knew a good robata-yaki restaurant we could go to. Robata-yaki is a style of food where everything is cooked at the table on an open grill. The food comes uncooked on a plate along with any sauces needed.

They start the gril by piling up a lincoln log stack of red hot coals. After carefully stacking the coals, our watier carefully balanced a metal grill on top. This is what we cooked on food on.

After getting the grill started, they brought out all the food. We ordered a lot of different meats, fishes and vegetables and ploped them all the grill. Only a few were lost to the ash by mishandling.

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Of the fish that we ordered one in particular seemed perfect for me to take Lisa up on her boast to be able to eat a fish eyeball, no problem. Fish eyes are one of those things that a lot of people eat, but if you don't grow up with it, it can be a bit challenging. For the record, I wouldn't do it, but I don't see a problem with it.

The fish was big enough that the eye could be removed, but not so big that it would be easy. Once the fish was actually put in front of her, she began to have second thoughts about the whole deal. Was it really safe? Yes. Even if raw? Yes. No way out. Must eat fish eyeball.

She began to pry the eyeball out of the socket and I could see her resolve really begin to waver. Its one thing to pop some foreign food into your mouth and wash it down with water, but its quite another to have to dig around and really familiarize yourself with what you are about to do. Getting it all the way out took about a minute of increasingly desparate work, until finally it came free.

Held at the end of her chopsticks she gave held if up for everyone to see, took a second to cement her resolve and popped it into her mouth: