March 29: More Sake & Rice Cakes

Mmmmm sake!
Today I discovered a new kind of sake that I actually enjoy. It's called ama-sake and it's yum-mmy! It's made from the remains of the rice that are scraped from the sake tanks. You mix it with sugar, water and heat it up. It's a bit chunky since there are actual rice bits in it - but it's sweet and warm and delicious! However, I a still going to steer clear from regular sake - just a sip and I'm done!
We also paid a quick visit to a nursing home in Imaichi. It was actually an enjoyable visit - as we had a bit of interaction with some of the patients. One of the men followed us around a bit - Sheila seemed to think he had a bit of a thing for me! We then watched some of the women singing songs and playing a bit of table ball - tossing around a medium size rubber ball to each other. They got into it - even throwing the ball to me - which of course I immediately dropped as my hands were full! I put my stuff down and quickly remedied that by catching the next ball thrown my way! Whew!
Our final stop of the day was at a rice cake factory. The man giving us the tour was the cutest guy - he was 72 years old and still rode his bike 50 miles to work every day! He gave us a packet of information with a bio that included a list of his hobbies. He was by far one of the best parts of the trip. During the tour he had a bullhorn and would hollar at us if we got behind! Unfortunately once again we were denied permission to take photos in the factory - but I did get some great shots of us dressed up in our "clean" whites!
We followed the tour up with the tasting room - where we ate a ton of food - filling up on lots of tasty rice cake goodies! Again - eating way too much!
Our long day wound up with a chinese dinner at a beautiful restaurant just a few blocks away from the hotel. It was so much fun - Geraldine and I were seated a table with some of the younger men from the Rotary club. They kept giving each other a bad time = calling everyone playboys. It was hilarious! The best part was one telling Geraldine that "her parents were crying" - which we later found out was what the japanese say to someone who has had too much to drink. Geraldine had been doing sake shots with some of the men - they were having a great time. It was fun to watch - but I was steering clear of alcohol - it had been a long day and I was already beat.