Making Gyoza, Part 1

The Seventh Fleet Officer Spouse Association (C7FOSA)* operates differently than Oakleaf, the medical spouse club. For one thing, the C7F ladies hold general business meetings every month from September through May or June. A hostess sign-up sheet is circulated at the welcome coffee in September. Anyone can host a meeting but if you live in senior quarters like I do volunteering your house for a meeting is pretty much mandatory. Or should be. (At least in my mind which, as you've probably noticed, is sharper and fairer than the average world leader's.)

At the welcome coffee this year my mantra was "Let's get this puppy out of the way" so I signed up to host the October meeting. Tapping into my years of executive experience, that memorable era when I was a paragon of efficiency and earned an Olympic gold medal for delegation, I turned to Kanako and asked, "Do you know how to make gyoza?" She assured me she was making it blindfolded and with one hand tied behind her back by the age of five. "Would you like to co-host the October meeting with me? I will clean my house and you will demonstrate how to make gyoza." Kanako thought this was a good plan.**

Kanako took care of the shopping list and I handled the announcement. "We Suppoza You Love Gyoza" was the best I could come up with in the limited time - 30 seconds - available. Let's see you do better.

Shopping for the ingredients was a highpoint for me. Actually, Kanako tried to go shopping without me but I wheedled and whined and promised to push Momo's stroller until Kanako relented. We found everything we needed to make gyoza in the basement and first floor shops at Saikaiya, the department store two blocks outside the Navy base gate. Kanako says Saikaiya offers the best meat and the freshest vegetables in Yokosuka which is why the prices are a little higher.

The pastry shells were in the meat case. There were three different kinds of shells in the meat case but the pictures on the packages made it easy to tell which ones to buy. We bought Chinese chives (they are the spitting image of any other chives you've ever seen), a head of cabbage, and a knob of ginger root. Then we bought ground pork which is sold by the gram. The butcher put 300 grams of ground pork into a plastic bag and tucked a little bag of ice into the plastic bag to keep our ground pork fresh between the store and home. That ice was a nice touch.

In the specialty grocery shop upstairs (which I did not even know existed so all that wheedling and whining was worth the energy expended), we found Chinese soup stock on a shelf next to Korean (magenta label)and some other kind of soup stock (blue label).

"Our" recipe calls for just one tablespoon of soup stock but Kanako says I can use the rest to make egg drop soup. In my dreams, perhaps. (Chinese soup stock tastes like chicken bouillon in case you want to try making gyoza at home.)

The recipe does not call for sausage, but Kanako pointed out the best sausages in Japan simply for my edification. They come from Kamakura.

We can try them together the next time you visit me.

She also recommended a yoghurt drink "good for clearing the intestines." I might have wrinkled my nose, maybe I outright grimaced, but apparently something in my face prompted Kanako to buy a four-pack. She ripped the bottles out of the plastic the second we exited the store. She handed Momo the first bottle after plunging a tiny straw through the foil lid. She handed me the second bottle. I watched Momo suck down the contents of her little bottle in 15 seconds and gesture for another round before stabbing my straw through the foil. Not bad. Kind of sweet, not as thick as a milkshake, acceptable aftertaste.

I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in my intestines but I'll be sure to keep you posted.


* Memorize this acronym - the 7 is a good clue - because I don't intend to spell it out for you again
** Note, if you please, that Kanako was offered the better part of the deal since lending my kitchen to another woman, and a pristine Japanese lady at that, compelled me to sanitize the counters, cabinets, appliances and floor. We're talking de-greasing the stove fan cover, for Buddha's sake!