Tofu – Revised

I've never liked tofu. But since I didn't have breakfast and lunch was included in the dive course, I decided to spoil myself and go to a nice Japanese restaurant. The most expensive dish would be Kobe beef at around 300 000 rupee, or about 35 bucks. I elected to have a grilled eel dish (64 000), with a starter of tofu (around 35 000). Now I know what you're thinking: tofu, kinda chewy, with a strange and not entirely pleasant consistency and not entirely pleasant tofu taste. Hey, maybe you even like it that way.
This stuff is a whole other story. It is still cube-shaped, and probably still contains soy. But the consistency is more like yogurt, only a bit more jelled. It holds together just enough that you can pick it up with chopsticks, barely. Most chunks break into smaller more manageable pieces. The flavor is very discreet and understated, but there is flavor! It does add to the taste of the various little bits of something which are sprinkled on top. And that typical tofu taste? Not a hint of it.

Really unfortunate I don't have anyone to share this with. I swear there is not a single girl close to my age in the vicinity. Other than the local girls, but I'm staying clear of that. On my walk today a guy on the street, after I told him I did not require transport, suggested he could take me to "night girls – really good". Some things I refuse to pay for…
The only non-locals are retired white couples. I will have to find an area of this island with a younger tourist crowd once my dive course is done.

My box of eel has just arrived. A platter holding a small plate with pepper, a small plate with some veg, a bowl of soup (clear, something in the bottom) and a box (with a lid and everything), containing rice with a good chunk of eel lying on top. The eel is bright red and smells delectable. It basically just dissolves on the tongue. The flavor is not too fishy, quiet oily, with that crispy fried fish skin taste. Yum! Enough of the oil has soaked down into the rice, making it tasty as well but not too greasy. Too bad we can't really "remember" taste the same way we can remember facts. How lovely it would be to trigger a memory and have that feeling in the mouth again. (mind out of the gutter, please)

The entire meal (including an additional tip on top of the tip included in the price already) was exactly $11.60 (Canadian, including the foreign ABM charge for taking money out here and the exchange rate).

The building itself is interesting. Bamboo poles, with a structure to support the roof - also made from bamboo. And everything "lashed" together – I see no sign of nails or screws or bolts. The roof itself, too, lashed to the supporting beams below. I know from previous reading that structures like this are also very strong, especially in earthquakes. This is because everything can flex, meaning it absorbs energy and dissipates it instead of breaking like stone or concrete. There is a temple like that in Japan which has survived many earthquakes (it is hundreds of years old, with multiple stories), while many more recent buildings around it have been damaged or destroyed.

On a side note, the groundwater level here is basically about a foot below the ground. Any hole deeper than that has water in it. At least at this time of year, where the fact that it hasn't rained today is more on the unusual side of things.

Time to go INTO the sea – tomorrow! Maybe I'll meet a cute mermaid?