Friday we ventured to Hon-Atsugi once more, and had dinner with Miho, a friend of Mom’s from online. Miho has two, sweet little boys, named Jin and Rei. Miho showed us how to make homemade gyoza and yakisoba! We made most of the gyoza with store bought wrappers, but we did make some wrappers from scratch. Here is a picture of me, measuring the flour with the boys.
It was very interesting to mix up the dough with chopsticks, but in the end I like it better than using some of the tools back home. Globs of dough and flour did not get stuck to the chopsticks.
After mixing up the dough, I kneaded it, and then we let it sit for an hour. While the dough was resting, we prepared the filling. My boys chopped the vegetables. The green onion and a leafy, green, chard like vegetable, were boiled a little bit, and then the water was squeezed out, and they were set aside. I chopped up the cabbage, which was then heavily salted. I mixed and rubbed the salt into the cabbage with my hands, and it started to let off some water. When Miho deemed it salted enough, her boys helped me squeeze the water out of the cabbage, and we mixed the cabbage with the other vegetables.
When the vegetables were prepared, Mom mixed the vegetables with the pork. When the filling was done, we started to wrap the gyoza with the premade wrappers (the homemade was still sitting). Miho showed us how to wet and pucker the wrappers, so they stayed shut. You can see from our plates which of us pays the most attention to detail.
When the homemade dough was ready, Mom rolled it out super thin, and cut out large circles. These gyoza were much bigger than the ones made with the premade wrappers, but, hey! that just means more room for the filling! Miho showed Elias and I how to cook the gyoza, while Bayus played with Jin and Rei.
We had some trouble with the hot oil popping onto us, but by the last batch, we were experts!
We made almost 100 gyoza total! When we had finished the gyoza, we started the yakisoba. Miho had already prepared the vegetables, so all we had to do was cook it. It was, hands down, the best yakisoba we have ever had. Onion, carrot, mushroom, sausage, bell pepper, cabbage, bean sprouts, and pickled ginger, all mixed together with the yakisoba noodles! O. M. Goodness.
After dinner, Miho brought out a cake that she had made earlier. It was green tea flavored, with slices of banana in the filling. It was a perfect end to a perfect meal! Elias said that it was the best cake he had ever had, and he doesn’t usually like cake. The cake even had a sweet message on top, made out of chocolate!
Rei’s favorite part was the chocolate.
Because of where Miho’s apartment and our apartment are situated, Dad mapped it and found that it would take almost the same amount of time to walk home, as it would to take the train. Walking during the middle of the night in a foreign country? yep, that’s what we do. 🙂
Ok, good bye friends. We miss you all, and I am definitely feeling the length of two months. But it is not forever, and I wouldn’t trade this time with my family for anything. We are having amazing experiences here. We are praying for you all, and hope that you will have a great rest of your week.
-Hannah
Wow, the food looks amazing and how sweet of her to make you a cake!
Yes, it was a delicious surprise 🙂
The food looks so good! How awesome that she showed you all how to make it!
We were so excited, and honored that she was willing to show us. I will definitely be using these recipes again!
Oh my gosh, that food looks amazing! Did you prepare a homemade sauce for the yakisoba, or was it a store bought/premade mix?
Also, I’m laughing at the little photo bomb in the 3rd picture. Looks like a super hero tangled up in the phone cord. Good to see that Japanese children can be just as mischievous as American children. lol
The seasoning was a premade mix, but it was a very flavorful mix! We have decided that the pickled ginger we added, however, is what sealed the deal on flavor.
Yes, I think my favorite part of this trip is getting to know families, as families. Seeing fathers make their babies laugh, and children run to their parents’ arms (or pester their mothers), has really shown me that we are not as different as some think we are. I knew this, but being able to see it is a really wonderful feeling.
Ok…bring home the food too!
Yum!
Do you want to give gyoza lessons when you get back?
Gladly! Making gyoza was tons of fun! The only hard part was the time it took to seal the wrappers, but Miho’s boys proved that children are fully capable to help make the gyoza 🙂
Oh yum!! Take good notes so you will remember all the little tricks. It’s one thing to read a recipe, but a totally different thing to be shown in person. Wow.
Wow! It’s an honour to be on your blog! Thank you very much for the detailed account from your viewpoint 🙂 Well chosen photos too!
You are all amazing people!
I was especially impressed that you are all willing to learn new things and culture and that you are considerate to others. E.g. stacking up your shoes to clear the way, cleaning up though I never asked you to etc. etc. I would like to bring up my children like you!
See you again soon!
P.S. Can’t stop laughing about the photo bomb in the 3rd photo! It’s a sticky person who can crawl down on windows, who was getting dried there after a wash lol
We had such a good time with your family! Your children were amazing, and spoke better English than some American children! We look forward to seeing you all again soon 🙂
So, will we be able to have a gyoza making party?
ASAP
Oh my goodness! Gyoza and Yakisoba … some of my favorite foods! You are so blessed to get a lesson on making it all there in Japan. You really will have to have some kind of class! Please? Hahaha … it’s intimidating to think of making Gyoza especially. Did she teach you a dipping sauce? Hannah, you and the boys are going to be such amazing cooks … I’ve seen what you have done at home and now learning Japanese cuisine! As a side note … I can’t even imagine green tea cake. Very sweet of her …
I would love to host a class! The gyoza and yakisoba were so fun to make. We have made the yakisoba many times since then, and have enjoyed it every time 😀 We didn’t make our own sauce, but Miho did give us suggestions of good sauces to use. When we return home, we will have some late night trips to the Asian market, to satisfy our Asian cravings 🙂