~With Kai~
Well, it wasn't too long before I managed to save up $250,000 and buy the house that I wanted. This is a big deal for me and while there's no pool, at least this house I bought is a huge stepping stone in my life.
I'm serious, I've always lived in hotel rooms throughout my career and there were times where I had to sleep in a car just to pay my dues as a pro wrestler, even if Suzuki offered me to room with him.
It was an emotional time for me because I really couldn't believe that I bought my first house, in America no less!
In order for me to move in, I had to buy some furniture and some appliances. Kaori used the money she saved up to help me look at some things like a washing machine, a dryer, some stuff like that.
The one thing I'm gonna need are televisions. I want to watch New Japan and NXT wherever I'm at around the house. The best product in my own opinion is the Samsung, that way I can download New Japan World and the WWE Network and study my opponents and everything.
It only took a couple days to get the furniture like a couple beds, a couch, some bathroom things and some kitchen supplies, but moving into this house was totally worth it.
The best part about it all was that it was Kaori and I's birthday a couple days after getting everything set up. I managed to get a gas grill in my backyard, which was a small one, but I know that I can cook whatever I want on it.
The other best part about me moving into the house I worked so hard to save up on? Kaori and Masami were moving in with me, which made me really happy, but there were only two rooms, the master and the guest room.
I took the master bedroom, but Masami and I decided to split that room while Kaori took the guest bedroom.
It was all awesome as this was history in the making for my life.
~3 Days Later~
Welp, today is Kaori and I's birthday and we have a couple of friends coming over.
Unfortunately, Minoru's not able to fly over to Orlando because of his schedule with New Japan, but he did promise to FaceTime all of us when he gets the chance.
For Kaori and I's little party, we decided to have some American food and the thing we decided to try and cook is pork baby back ribs, okay? I had to do some research on how to use a grill and how I want to make them.
For my seasoning, I basically mixed some spices together that I thought was the best:
- Brown sugar
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Smoked paprika
- Chili powder
- Allspice
- Ground cinnamon
Sure, allspice may sound disgusting to use in a rub, but here's where it gets interesting: not only is it to give the rub a bit of heat, it's to also help with the digestive system, meaning it helps us digest the meat a lot better than usual while putting in some more flavor.
(A/N: Fun fact, this is the actual rub I made for my Au-Spice brand. If you want to make it for yourself, all you need is...
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of non-iodized salt
• 1 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika (depending on how much heat you want in the rub)
• 1 teaspoon of allspice
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
Try it out and let me know if it worked for you!)
Once I prepped the rub, I put it in a bag to shake and leave out in the sun to let it get some aged flavor to it while I prepped the ribs.
I bought three racks of ribs from the store and while Masami and Kaori thought that was too much, at least it was worth celebrating our birthdays.
Once I brought the ribs to room temperature, I started trimming them for some fat caps as well as taking off the membrane with a butter knife. The reason I'm taking the membrane off? Because when you bite into it, it's chewy and it's hard to swallow after eating it. Not only that, according to my research, it also maximizes the flavor of the rub.
After I took the membrane off the three racks, I gave some drops of liquid smoke as a binder to make the rub stick on both the top and bottom. I then seasoned the racks with the rub that I made before and I put the rub all around the ribs, not just on top but the sides and the underneath as well.
Since we're having three racks instead of two, we'll be having some guests over.
I set my grill to 275 degrees with the lid up, and when it reached that temperature, I took some small foil pans, poured some hickory wood chips in it, covered them with some water, some tin foil, cut three small slits to allow smoke to come out, and placed them on a heated grate and then the three racks in a large aluminum pan as they were wrapped in foil.
I closed the lid and started letting the ribs cook for a couple hours.
While we waited, Masami made some baked potatoes as a side dish while Kaori did some asparagus, seasoned with only salt and pepper. I was handling the grill as I had to keep an eye on the ribs.
The people we invited were the following:
- Oshiro
- Kana
- Trevor
Those were the only people we invited because we wanted to keep it simple.
For Oshiro, Kaori's boyfriend, I can't give him pork because he's vegan, so my next bet is to give him a kale salad with tofu, which my sister is already working on as well.
Two hours later, I carefully unwrapped the ribs and I saw that they were cooking to perfection. I decided to smother them in Japanese style BBQ that I made myself from scratch. It took a while for me to make the sauce because of the taste factor, but it definitely worked after a while.
I kept the ribs unwrapped so the sauce can glaze for about an hour until our friends arrived.
I saw Trevor coming out to me and we hugged and caught up.
Trevor: Can't believe it's your first house, man.
Me: Hai, it is. What the plan for WarGames?
Trevor: Hanson and Rowe are basically going to lift us up and throw us into the UE. I mean, it makes sense since we're the little guys.
Me: I agree. Also, I have idea for entrance.
Trevor: What's that?
Me: I dress up like New Jack.
Trevor: Wait, you mean the ECW original?
Me: Hai. I have done research on him and he from Los Angeles, it makes sense.
Trevor: Facts. Any clothing in order?
Me: Camo cargo pants, boots, wristbands, bandanna, and tank top.
Trevor: Nice. I like that. That's a way of paying homage to him.
Me: Hai, same with Suzuki.
Trevor: Hey, is he coming?
Me: No. With New Japan schedule he cannot. He did promise FaceTime though.
Trevor: Good. I just get scared whenever I'm around him.
Me: Do not worry. He nice guy when you get to know him.
Trevor: We'll see.
Me: He my father figure, he will treat you if you his own as well.
The ribs were done cooking and we had to carve them into meal size after taking them off the grill.
When I did, everyone had a piece as they had asparagus and sliced potatoes. When I saw them bite into the ribs, the meat fell off the bone! That told me that the ribs are so tender!
I had some too and the seasoning I made was perfect! It wasn't too sweet or too hot, it was just the right kind of flavor while the hickory liquid smoke really helped keep the seasonings in place while it gave some of that smokey flavor!
Masami: とても美味しいリブ、カイ！ おそらくあなたが今まで作った私のお気に入りの食べ物です！ (Very good ribs, Kai! Probably my favorite food you ever made!)
Kaori: 非常によくやりました！ (Very well done!)
Kana: これはとてもおいしい食べ物です。 カイさん、絶対にお勧めのバーベキューです。 (This is such good food. I definitely recommend BBQ from you, Kai.)
Me: みんなありがとう。 感謝します。 (Thanks guys. I appreciate that.)
Trevor: They weren't kidding, Kai, this is amazing!
All of a sudden, I felt my phone ring and I saw who it was: Minoru.
Me: みんな、鈴木です！ 彼のために自分を片付けなさい！ (Guys, it's Suzuki! Clean yourselves up for him!)
They all did as I did the same as I picked up the FaceTime call.
Minoru: おい！ 私の天才がいます！ (Hey! There's my prodigy!)
Me: ねえミノル。 (Hey Minoru.)
Minoru: 香織らはどこ？ 見たい！ (Where's Kaori and the others? I wanna see them!)
Me: それらをお見せしようとしています。 (About to show you them.)
Minoru: どうぞ。 (Go ahead.)
I showed him to them as he sounded surprised to see everyone here!
Minoru: 何が起こっているの！ (What's going on guys!)
Kaori: 幻想的なミノル。 (Fantastic Minoru.)
Minoru: お誕生日おめでとう、カイ、カオリ！ お分かりのように、新日本でのスケジュールが邪魔になりましたが、私はあなたを祝うレストランにいます。 (Happy birthday, Kai, Kaori! As you can tell, I'm at a restaurant celebrating yours, even though my schedule with New Japan got in the way.)
Masami: それは大丈夫。 少なくともそれは理解できます。 (It's okay. At least it's understandable.)
Minoru: うん。 おー！ カイ、あなたとカオリにお誕生日おめでとうと言いたい人がいます！ (Yeah. Oh! Kai, there's someone else that wants to say happy birthday to you and Kaori!)
He turned the camera around and I couldn't believe who was next to him!
It was Miss Ayumi Nakamura her-freaking-self and one of her band mates! She looks lovely as always!
Ayumi: こんにちは、みんな！ (Hello everyone!)
Me: おい！ (Hey!)
Ayumi: お誕生日おめでとうございます！ (Happy birthday to both of you!)
Kaori: あゆみありがとう。 (Thanks Ayumi.)
Me: ありがとうございました！ (Thank you!)
Ayumi: どういたしまして、香織、甲斐。 今日はあなたとカイにとって特別な日なので、私はあなたに抱擁を与えるためにそこにいたらいいのにと思います。 (You're very welcome, Kaori, Kai. I wish I was over there to give you both a hug because this is a special day for you and Kai.)
Me: それは大丈夫。 あなたたちがオーランドに来るとき、あなたはあなたの抱擁を持っているでしょう、いいですか？ (It's okay. When you guys come to Orlando, you'll have your hug, alright?)
Ayumi: いいね。 皆さんにとってNXTはどうですか？ (Sounds great. How's NXT for all of you?)
Me: 順調です！ 私たちはウォーゲームズ戦と呼ばれるものに参加しています、私たち4人です！ (It's going great! We're taking part in something called a WarGames match, the four of us!)
Ayumi: わお！ すごいですね！ 皆さんが勝つことを願っています！ (Wow! That sounds awesome! I hope you guys win!)
Kaori: ありがとう。 皆さんがショーのためにロサンゼルスに来てくれることを願っています。 (Thanks. I hope you guys come by to Los Angeles for the show.)
Ayumi: 私もそう願います。 とにかく、私たちは食事に戻らなければなりません。 お誕生日おめでとうございます！ (I hope so too. Anyway, we have to get back to our meal. Happy birthday to you two!)
Me: ありがとう、あゆみ。 また会いましょう！ (Thanks, Ayumi. See you guys again!)
Minoru: いつか来ますね またね！ (We'll come over sometime, okay? See you all later!)
We all said goodbye as we still celebrated our birthday and what a great time to see Miss Nakamura. She looks great for being in her 50s and maybe I can ask her to perform for me when I go after the NXT Championship in the future.
Other than that, this was such an awesome birthday for Kaori and I as I moved into a house for the first time in my life.