Welcomarama!

I've had so many welcome parties this week I feel - and will carry on feeling for a good while - rather spoilt! I've been taken out for lunches (Monday - sashimi, Wednesday, Soba, Friday - weird Japanese cake), dinners (Tuesday - Japanese pizza, octopus, ray wings, Wednesday - tofu, more sashimi, fried squid, Friday - tripe (!) and yakitori) and various different sorts of drinks (Tuesday, Friday). It would have been delightfully exhausting, even if I hadn't been working and studying as hard as possible every other moment. urp..

The Wish! welcome party was probably the most surreal: the whole office - including Shinohara San, the founder and CEO, turned up to a big group welcome dinner which I had had no idea about until the day before. A lovely surprise, although I have the distinct feeling that it wasn't supposed to be quite such a surprise to me...

The new culinary discovery of the evening were the little tiny fish that sat on top of the huge mound of quivering tofu that arrived early on in the meal. At first I mistook them for grated carrot, so I got a big, but good, surprise when I saw that each 'strand' had a pair of eyes. They tasted meaty, intensely sweet / salty, incredibly moreish. AfterwardsI learnt that it came in all shapes and sizes.

I have also, for the record, now eaten stewed tripe.