Today was a day of food and data. I woke at 3:30 and posted yesterday's blog entry since I had fallen asleep rather unexpectedly. I showered and got dressed about 4:30am, a fact which doubtlessly delighted my roomies. However, considering I have a young (I'd be surprised if she's 20) year old Japanese lady gargling in my shower (she is supposed to use the other one upstairs) at 6am every morning when I am trying to squeeze in that last snooze before getting up, I have little sympathy. I read a bit and decided to head on into work a bit before 7.
So I got to work and immediately set about gathering plates, napkins and plastic forks to share the banana bread I got at the farmer's market on Saturday. A cup of indian darjeeling rounded off my breakfast and started my day well. So at 7 I actually started in on work. I finished up the pre- and post-test instruments I'd been working on for Noella last Friday. I took them to her for review and will make any final edits and code the changes into the Excel files I made. The Parent/Guardian information form is done. I did a bit on the Teen information form, but it is in it's first draft.
After this I met with Ann to look over what needed recoding for the Hawaii State domestic Violence Fatality Review (HSDVFR). We went over the frequency data (she had already looked through it and selected some areas) and got all the recoding set out in writing. I started working on the recoding but then it was time for lunch.
Lunch was... SUSHI!!!!! We went to Genki Sushi in Ward Centers. It was one of the places with the conveyor belt of stuff that goes by and you pick what you want. The prices are based on the color around the edge of the plate. You can also order anything if it isn't on the belt. I'd seen those in movies but hadn't been to one (sheltered life, I know) so we did that today. I tried a LOT of stuff, but only ate whole portions of a few things. So I'm dividing the photos into 3 sections: the stuff I ate a whole portion, stuff I tried, and stuff I didn't try but looked interesting. Here is the menu:
What I ate all or most of:
1)California roll: I started out with 2 pieces of California roll. These were HUGE. These 2 were the size of 4 back home. These were very good. The crab was shredded and made into a light crab salad instead of the stick, but it was real crab. I hadn't had it that way before and there was a LOT in it. I like it this way and the stick of crab, both are tasty.
3) Spicy tuna gunkan: This was delicious! This is raw yellowfin tuna, mixed with red chilis and used as a filling for a nori cylinder wrap. I was trying to taste if there way mayo or something but didn't taste any. This was topped with little scallion shreds.
What I tried:
1) Lisa ordered unagi (nigiri) which is thin slices of eel served on a small cake of rice. I believe the eel is lightly toasted before serving. It had a brown sauce swirled decoratively on it. It was tasty and not at all what I thought it would be. I was pleasantly surprised. Not bad for how ugly eels are!
2) Kabocha tempura: This is very thin sliced pumpkin, dipped in tempura batter and fried. It is very tasty. I ate about half the HUGE serving. I liked it best dipped in a bit of shoyu (soy sauce) to cut some of the sweetness.
3) Chicken karaage: Pasting this from the link since it describes it best. After being marinated in soy sauce, ginger and garlic, the two-bite nuggets of chicken are dredged in potato starch or cornstarch and deep fried until crisp. The starch creates a golden shell around the karaage. This usually uses chicken thighs which has more fat and keeps the meat moist.I only ate one piece of this and we took most of it with us. We were all pretty full by now.
What I didn't eat but looked interesting:
1) Seared spicy ahi (tuna): This and the seared garlic salmon both looked very good. I was too full to even consider trying anything else. Maybe next time!
2) Ikura: This is salmon roe (eggs) made by separating each roe and soaking them in soy sauce and sake (Japanese rice wine). They looked pretty but there was no way I could try them. Too full. Not sure I'd like them but I would like to try them sometime. If I think tapioca then I would be ok, if I think fish egg I'd gag. Also, they were enormous!
3) Fish cake ice cream: Ok, this sign had me shuddering and intrigued. I had been told fish cake was the swirled pink and white thing they put in soups. I was horrified to think this may be mixed with ice cream. However, it was thankfully vanilla ice cream with a layer of red bean paste (which is sweet) wrapped in a thin waffle with an image of a fish pressed into it for decoration.
After this enormous meal we went into Don Quixote. I got Ziplock baggie so I could send stuff home in "Trial" size baggies for folks to try. I have a feeling a lot of the crack seed people won't like enough to want a whole big bag full. I should be able to send out the gift boxes this week now that I have baggies.
We went back to work and waddled to our offices. I spent the afternoon finishing recoding data and running new frequency analysis on them. I got together with Ann and looked over the new information. There were some cases that had some data irregularities, so I spent a while getting that straightened out (data missing that was elsewhere in the report, so I was able to fill in some blanks basically). It really helps being the one who did the data entry since I know very quickly where to find things. Tomorrow we will start running some cross-tabs to compare and link data. I'll explain more on that tomorrow. The point is, we are getting into the analysis of the HSDVFR data which is very interesting. My survey project is on hold for a bit while we wait on IRB approval. Tomorrow will be a very busy day with data and a conference call with the CDC.
For now, I am home and tired. It has been very cool today because it has been very windy. It is currently a bit overcast and if my aching bones are correct then it will rain tonight. I plan to read a bit and go to bed early. I can't even imagine eating anything for dinner. I am probably still waddling from all the sushi I had for lunch!
Malama pono, (Take care)
~Melissa
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