sashi-ire

happy monday!

typhoon 18 is causing havoc across the kantou area (which includes tokyo) but not to worry! hiroshima only got some rain and occasional gusty wind. hiroshima really misses all the weird weather it seems -- much like maryland actually. but that's not what i'm here to talk about today. today is all about sashi-ire.

so, sashi-ire  (sa-shee-ee-ray) is basically something that someone brings for you. so like say i'm going to a friend's house, then i would bring her something sorta as a way of saying thanks for having me over. the "something" is usually food (snacks, sweets, etc) but it can also be drinks, magazines, comics -- most anything. so like when our friends were revamping their restaurant (by hand), we brought them energy drinks as sashi-ire. 

i kinda feel like being a foreigner entails you to slightly more sashi-ire than your usual japanese guy/girl -- i get stuff from people i haven't even met before. okay, wait, that sounds really sketchy. lemme rephrase. so i'm on instagram, and some of my followers live in hiroshima and they'll come to my store for the first time, usually with some kinda cookie-type thing. i haven't met them before per say, but we've "met" on instagram -- yeah, that doesn't make it less sketchy, but they're all like 20-30 year old women so... less sketchy? i dunno. anyway!

sashi-ire is one of those omotenashi things they do here -- omotenashi basically means being a good host or visitor. and hey, everyone loves free food, right? 

P.S. i totally got some sashi-ire today, which reminded me to write a blog about it. the sashi-ire came from the mother of a (former) regular customer who came by for the first time in like...a year today, with his mom and dad in tow. the mother was so super sweet -- actually, the whole family was. anyway, when they get up to pay the bill, the mother hands me a small bag with these guy inside:

score! odango from my beloved momiji-an! from left to right, mitarashi (sugar, soy sauce, good stuff), spicy peanut, and isobe (soy sauce-dipped with seaweed on top -- i LOVE isobe). odango are made of rice flour and water, rolled into balls, and then boiled until chewy and soft before they roast them. if you're lucky to get one freshly roasted, they're AMAZING. not that they're horrible if they've been sitting around -- they're still awesome, but oh man, freshly roasted odango are like getting a freshly baked pizza, y'know, with the cheese still bubbling and stuff? heaven.