My Fridge and a Sea Urchin

I'm officially domesticating, but just in the food department. All for Lael. She's here and I decided that maybe she would not like to eat rice and tofu every day, or just whatever happens to come from the deli like I normally do. So I'm finally learning to cook for real. It's an adventure. An adventure that takes a lot of work and thinking, hurts the pride because I'm not so good, but (mostly) tastes good in the end. One day I grilled these Japanese perogies for us. We both decided we liked them better when they were a little burnt (like the first time I had made them) so I tried to do it again. And yes I did succeed in burning them. For real, who TRIES to burn their meals? Apparently I do. But since I got it the way that I was aiming for, does that mean I'm a good cook?
There's so much food in my fridge it's ridiculous. I've never had a full fridge and freezer and shelves like that since I've gotten here. So many choices for every meal. It's like trying to decide what to wear, but I guess trying to decide what you're going to digest. It's wonderful. I opened the fridge yesterday and thought that one of the lights had burnt out because it didn't cast as much light into my dark kitchen as it normally does. Then I realized there was just too much food in the way of the light. What a day.
On a side note, we went for sushi yesterday with Lael and three of my friends. It was amazing; all the food travelled right before your eyes on a conveyor belt and you just had to pick off what you wanted to eat (yes there were desserts on it and yes I did take one). When I grow up and get my own house I'm installing one of those things in my bedroom so I can just sit in bed and all this amazing food travels by, homecooked by my husband who's making everything in the kitchen. No just jokes. But it's a good thought. Of course I ate raw fish, but I also ate weird things too, like jellyfish, crab brain and sea urchin.
Oh speaking of sea urchin...I am convinced that God makes me blurt out Japanese that's wrong, just for the entertainment factor. Absolutely convinced. It's not unusual for me to substitute the right word with any one of hundreds of wrong words. And I normally know these words that I'm trying to say; I think God changes the connection in my brain in the last moment before the word comes out of my mouth. It's definitely right up to that point. Last night we went bowling after the sushi restaurant...and another restaurant.....and we were all saying goodbye and going to our cars. Now, this has never happened to me in my life, and I'm pretty sure I know the difference between when it's light outside and when it's dark outside, but when everyone was saying 'goodnight, goodbye!' I blurt out in a really loud voice, "Good morning!" And I was like, what the heck did I just say...and why did I not say goodnight like everybody else. And we all laughed.
And the sea urchin story. I should maybe tell that one. The Japanese for sea urchin is 'uni'. I have no idea why, but whenever I try to say 'uni' I end up saying 'unchi'...which may or may not mean 'poop'. So there I was sitting at the sushi bar watching those poor little sliced fish and other random sea things sliding by on the conveyor belt, someone brought up the fact I had said I was going to try uni. You only live once right, so I was like, Yeah, I wanna try some uni. But...this is where the story gets horrible. Of course I opened my mouth and out came, I wanna try some unchi! And of course I had to say it in a louder voice than normal so all my friends and everyone around us could hear, and of course the sushi man was standing right in front of me. So again, I was the entertainment of the night at my expense. In my defense, driving home last night, my one friend told me that uni and unchi look the same. I agree with her...but I shouldn't have had to say it in the restaurant.
Yeah, what can I say, life is a whole lot more interesting when you're trying to live in a different language.