Birthday Pie

On Pi Day my coworker came with me to Richard Bonomo’s house because we had been promised a Japanese feast, but nobody was at home. Kathbert arrived a short time later and, adding to the mystery, walked off down the street. When she returned, she told us she had just run a quick errand, but she could shed no light on the lack of Japanese cooking going on at Rich’s house. Not long after that, Rich arrived and even he didn’t know where all the Japanese people were. There was a professor staying at his house along with a grad student and an undergrad, and two female undergrads were staying at another house. Rich called the professor and found out they were still shopping for food, so all we could do is sit back and wait.

All the Japanese folks finally arrived at Rich’s house and madly began cooking, and soon the wonderful smell of curry rice filled the air. Befitting a Friday in Lent, it contained scallops, shrimp, and fish. They also gave us “Japanese pickles” that tasted suspiciously like kosher brine pickles, and some delicious purple pickled thing they claimed was cucumber. We had grapefruit juice to drink and giant oranges for pre-dessert, because I had brought a pie for Pi Day. It turned out the professor’s birthday is today, so we celebrated it that night, since they were all leaving town the next day. We stuck a candle in the pie and sang him “Happy Birthday,” which they tell us is the same in Japanese. (Not sure if we should believe them; we found the jar the pickles came in, and they were just kosher brine pickles, not Japanese at all.)

After dinner we did origami. Kathbert and the grad student made paper airplanes, and my coworker was fascinated with the little frogs the coeds were making. One coed showed the professor how to make a “camera” that clicks like it is taking your picture, and the grad student made a bird with wings that flap. My contributions were a lantern and snowflakes, requiring as much cutting as folding – if origami were a class, I would have failed it. Both my coworker and one coed knew how to make little balloons. My coworker was having so much fun that she stayed way later than she had planned. The three undergrads didn’t speak much English, but we didn’t need to say much to each other while folding paper and showing off our creations. An excellent multicultural time was had by all.

Famous Hat