Peeled plums

   Every day during school lunch, a few of the students announce the menu over the school intercoms. They usually add something about how the food is made, or why it's eaten at this time of year, or how it got its name. These announcements are an important part of school lunch, because the kids are supposed to be learning about what makes up a balanced, healthy meal. The other day, we had plums on the menu, so in the announcement, they talked up how delicious and wonderful plums were. They also informed us that you can eat the skin on a plum, and in fact, you should, because it's very nutritious. 

   The room was immediately filled with shocked teachers saying, "Really?? You can eat the skin??" One of them had already started peeling his, and he dutifully stopped and ate it whole. 

   Meanwhile, I was making a mental note. 

   Fermented soybeans: Yes, please!

   Fish heads: Oh boy, they look delicious!

   The skin of a plum: I don't know man, are you sure?

  

   There are some nice things about living alone. But there are also some downsides. For example, I discovered that I am incapable of finishing a pint of milk on my own before it goes bad, unless I really put my mind to it. A pint! It's not that much milk. Of course, the real tragedy is that it's not even milk I want to drink. I'd rather buy cream, because the only time I use milk is when I make coffee or curry, and cream would do a much better job in both cases. But in Japan, you can't find cream. They do sell whipping cream, but nothing in between. Whipping cream doesn't taste that great in coffee.

   When you live with other people, food builds up. People buy things and don't eat them, and then days or weeks later, someone else enjoys them. You have stocks of spices, soups, and broths, and you always have a bag of onions lying around. I tried buying a bag of onions. I used two of them and the rest slowly molded until I finally threw them out.
   On the plus side, if there was ever a country to do grocery shopping for one in, it's Japan. You can buy tiny portions of just about anything. They sell eggs in packs of four, six, and ten. You can buy anywhere from 3-8 slices of bread. (Not more though. They don't eat that much bread, I guess). You can buy bunches of six asparagus stems, a single pepper neatly packaged in its own plastic bag, or a couple of ounces of chicken, already cut up into bite sized pieces. I don't know if they just don't eat a lot of the things I like to eat, or if most people only cook for themselves.