Kansai Party!? @ Firsthouse Fujigaoka - share house in Japan, Tokyo. [interwhao]

Here at Firsthouse Fujigaoka, we hold events every year on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, it was a long time passed since we lastly had an event like this. The link below is  the report on our BBQ party at Fujigaoka in the last summer. Check it!!→BBQ party @ Firsthouse Fujigaoka (as every year)

(Christmas party is another party that we hold on a yearly basis. However, we were so busy with other things to do that we couldn’t hold a party at Fujigaoka in the last Christmas season. Feel really sorry for the residents…)

Anyway, people moving in a sharehouse come from a variety of places, as you can imagine. One of the residents here is from Kansai, the west area around Osaka, came up with an idea to hold a takoyaki (fried octopus dough balls, famous food in Kansai-area) party with his friends, so we Interwhao decided to join his team.

Today, let me report this takoyaki-party held the other day!

Foods in Kansai-area: takoyaki & okonomiyaki

I myself prepared takoyaki & okonomiyaki with a lot of joy; I hadn’t eaten these for a long time!!

The Kansai-born organizer (later on, Mr.K) is a nice resident who always gives me a hand when holding a party.

This time also, he was kind to help me out purchasing ingredients.

We started cooking takoyaki and okonomiyaki by extracting “dashi” meaning “broth”, which we usually don’t do. Thi process made the foods look “authentic”.

(Cutting vegetables and focusing on preparation, I unfortunately forgot to take photos of this process.)

Not only Takoyaki & Okonomiyaki, but Healthy Salad!!

Takoyaki and okonomiyaki are strongly-tasted, hard to say it’s healthy. That’s why we prepared a light meal: cabbage, rolled in ham and tasted by mayonnaise. It’s simple, but tastes good. (I believe my hungry stomach tasted it much better!!)

The Process of Cooking Takoyaki & Okonomiyaki

This is the dough for takoyaki.

In our original plan, we were going to cook octopus dough balls for 10 people. But following the idea that “many is better than scarce”, we used flour as much as 2 kg. (Later on that day, we realized that 1 kg of flour can be as many as 270 balls…!!)

Our okonomiyaki is with pork, which is a typical ingredient for the meal.

Because we cooked okonomiyaki in a simple way, we made some arranges for takoyaki, by putting cheese, kimuchi, sausage into them. Obviously, this variety made our meal enjoyable.

Staff Doing the Best!!

A help came from the Firsthouse Yokohama Aoba located nearby, Nagata-kun, one of my colleagues.

He did his best by turning takoyaki and okonomiyaki upside down!! However, was he really good??

A Truly Relaxing Party This Time!!

We held this takoyaki party without giving a long-term notice. Actually, we couldn’t get a lot of people to join it, considering we held this by sudden agreement with Mr. K. However, this tiny group of people made it possible to enjoy the cozy atmosphere and to talk with friends in a relaxing mood.

Comments after the Party

Actually, we cooked TOO MUCH takoyaki and okonomiyaki, which made everybody there a little gloomy. lol

But, lots of people living in Firsthouse Fujigaoka are from overseas countries. I saw they were satisfied when trying one of the Japanese popular dishes: takoyaki & okonomiyaki.

(I heard like some had never tasted them before, but been long interested in them.)

Also, I hear a voice from the residents asking, “What comes for our next party?”

Next time, I hope that we can have a bigger party, gathering not only the residents but also their friends!!

People become friends through these parties!!

If you have feelings like, “What’s is a sharehouse like?” or “I want friends”, I do recommend the life at Firsthouse Fujigaoka!!