Dan went to Osaka this week and returned with a gift:
A box of puddings. I love everything about this — the package design, the cheery little mascots, the fact that it’s pudding and full of eggs and doesn’t have to be refrigerated.
I opened the box, and the puddings were wearing hats. The instructions are fully illustrated, so I know not to put on the caramel sauce and caramel crunch in the wrong order (gasp!).
This is exactly what Dan looks like dressed up as a pudding.
Since I opened the box, I’ve been a steady stream of chuckles. This pretty little puddin’ face has been taped to my computer screen. I like his peeping.
Coincidence that Dan found a pudding doppelganger while in Osaka?
This past spring Dan and I spent a weekend in Aichi Prefecture with a friend to visit her family. It was one of the best weekends I’ve had in Japan. We visited Inuyama Castle during its springtime festival and watched the candle-covered wood carts creak through town, visited temples and an outdoor onsen, took in cherry blossoms along the river, and spent time with some wonderful people. And we ate a lot of food.
It was my first Shinkansen trip. So awesome. If you listen closely, you can hear Dan clapping and giggling like a 10 year old as the train approaches. OK, back to the food.
Because of the festival, Inuyama’s streets were lined with food carts. We started slowly with curry-filled croquettes, fresh from the fryer.
A shrimp pancake. Because why not.
Grilled miso-dipped mochi. And a feisty raccoon flag. This area of Japan is known for its miso, so the local specialties have a rich flavor, which I loved. I even liked it in the sweets.
Noodles for lunch, with more miso and yep, that’s a raw egg.
For dinner we had grilled eel, which might be my new favorite food. I try not to think about this when I’m eating it.
On Day 2 we were too busy eating to snap photos, and all I caught was our tea-time snack of grilled mochi in warm red bean…soup? broth? Who knows, but redbeansoupbroth was niiice.
A train trip wouldn’t be complete without a beer for the road. This was a local brew. Our friend’s mother then sent us home with a huge bag of goodies — cake, a pomelo, strawberry-filled mochi, tea, and a ton of snacks. She must be related to my mother-in-law.
When friends visit, we take them to an Okinawan restaurant in Shibuya. There’s nothing special about the place, but it was one of our first restaurants in Tokyo, so we keep going back. It’s the same reason why one of us still listens to C&C Music Factory.
Some Okinawan restaurants in Tokyo keep it classy with flashing lights and tacky decorations:
We always get a dish made of shrimp and mayonnaise. It’s good. Better than a scoop of mayo, ketchup (?) and shrimp deserves. (Serious face: shrimp farms destroy mangrove forests, so I try not to eat shrimp that often. I’m sure the Big Shrimp lobby is discussing how to deal with my inconsistent boycott.)
Before I moved to Tokyo, I had an unrealistic view of what Japanese people eat. Sushi…edamame…uh…other kinds of sushi. I had an image that everyone in Japan was extremely healthy, and that once I got here, I would become this sleek, Vitamin-D-glowing guy that smelled vaguely of freshly cut grass.
But now that I’m here, I use my own money willingly to purchase sausage/sauerkraut/mustard-flavored Doritos. Or Anchovy & Garlic Pretzel Bites. As it turns out I have an awful habit of seeking out odd-looking junk food and then being shocked when it tastes exactly as expected. And based on some of the smells emitting from guys on crowded trains, I’m not the only one.
Tokyo residents DO look healthy. But I don’t think it has anything to do with an all-fish-and-vegetable diet. I have friends here who hate sushi and vegetables and put mayonnaise on their pizza. Try to say with a straight face: “I’m a responsible person making sensible decisions and I’m putting mayonnaise on my pizza.”
Perhaps it comes down to portion control. My first few weeks in Japan I felt hungry all the time, but I wasn’t skipping any meals. It just turned out that when I bought lunch or went out to dinner with friends, the portions were smaller than what I was used to in the U.S. But it didn’t take very long to get accustomed to it, and when we visited the U.S. last year, I was that annoying person at restaurants saying, “Wow, I can’t believe how much food they serve here. There’s no way I can finish this,” (there was a way, and I did).
So take hope, world. Japanese people are just as willing to eat junk. They just stop a few bites earlier. Also, they have this weighing on their souls:
Rainy season is over and the heat has returned. I spend the morning sitting in my apartment with the curtains closed to block out the sun. I am turning into my grandmother.
The assault of summer means I can eat more tasty cold things, like kakigori and saké passion fruit ice cream:
Ice cream is difficult to photograph — no time can be wasted in getting that deliciousness into my mouth.
Earlier this week I went the healthy route and opted for the side salad: asparagus, carrot & lemon, and tomato.
This trio can be found at Japanese Ice OUCA in Ebisu. The boozy saké ice cream was devoured in Azabu juban (across from the 7-11). Both shops change their flavors frequently and always have something a little crazy, though one of my favorites is the fresh-squeezed milk. A friend of mine just got an ice cream maker and I used to make a lot of ice cream when I lived in the US, so we talked about crazy flavors to try at home. I suggested avocado, or honey and lavender. Anyone else have a recommendation? What unique flavors have you tried recently?
This is what happens when you enter a bakery in a post-study, pre-lunch haze. Though, I did manage to pass on the corn and hot dog pizza. Another day, perhaps.
Sure, maybe anpan あんパン is basically a donut, but I firmly believe a woman can eat an animal-shaped, sweet-filled sweet bun in the middle of the afternoon without shame. Mr. Panda Face here is was full of chocolate. I’m pretty sure I was the only adult eating one.
Last weekend we went to a cooking party with some new friends. We rented a large demonstration kitchen in a community center and all prepared the meal together. Perhaps not the sort of thing to show up in a guidebook, but it was a perfect rainy season afternoon.
The theme was local and organic vegetables.
Both Dan and I were amazed by the burdock’s sticky-slimy demeanor.
On the menu: fish cooked with miso, makizushi (rolled sushi) with deep-fried vegetables, soup made with dashi (fish stock), cabbage with kombu (dried kelp), and steamed vegetables with avocado-mayo and sesame dipping sauces.
After the dishes were done we wandered across the street to a famous sweets cafe.
Oh kakigori season, how I love you so.
Kakigori is a summertime dessert made from finely shaved ice, topped with sweet syrup and occasionally, sweetened condensed milk. This shop is famous because they get their ice from a glacier in the mountains (maybe?). Don’t you dare call it a snow cone.
Clockwise from the top left, in varying degrees of meltyness: Fresh strawberry, very berry, honey milk, and fresh mango. Please notice how this photo caught Dan in the act, stealing my mango ice.
If you’re near Kugenuma kaigan station be sure to stop by Kohori Noan kakigori shop. 3-5-11 Kugenuma kaigan, Fujisawa, Kanagawa
A box of puddings. I love everything about this — the package design, the cheery little mascots, the fact that it’s pudding and full of eggs and doesn’t have to be refrigerated.
I opened the box, and the puddings were wearing hats. The instructions are fully illustrated, so I know not to put on the caramel sauce and caramel crunch in the wrong order (gasp!).
Since I opened the box, I’ve been a steady stream of chuckles. This pretty little puddin’ face has been taped to my computer screen. I like his peeping.
Saké Puppets 