It's Dinner Time 晩ご飯

In an earlier post I described one of my many adventures eating out, so it is high time that I showed you how I eat in. 

         Right now, one of my favorite meals is Japanese curry (which tastes different from both Thai and Indian curry) and rice since I can cook the curry on the one stove element and the rice in the rice cooker at the same time. Limited space and appliances has taught me to be a more thorough planner. Here are some of the ingredients I will use for this particular meal which is a mixture between shabu-shabu and curry because I did not know what I was doing yet. Napa-Chinese cabbage, enoki-white mushrooms, brown mushrooms, onion, carrot, daikon (Japanese radish), ginger, bean sprouts, broth, and pre-packaged floaties.     

           What is a prepackaged floaty, you ask? Well it is anything from fried sweet bread with the consistency of sponges to kamaboko which is a fish cake that tastes like imitation crab meat. They are very pretty and often delicious, but go fishy quickly - like imitation crab meat - so eat up. 

In this particular rendition I put way too many vegetables in the pot. Japanese style dishes often have more broth than substance. In any case, this pot was made with curry stock which is sold in cubes like chicken boullion, and served over rice. 

Bon appetite. 

Green Tea お茶

If you really want to know what Japanese green tea tastes like then

 you should stop by your local Asian-mart. 

American green tea is only a watered down cousin. 

Japanese green tea has a deeper, earthier flavor, like the smell of fresh-cut grass.

 

The sign above advertises four different types of green tea (each one sold in pocket-sized party favor bags): green tea leaves (for steeping), matcha (green tea powder), roasted tea, and rice tea.

  

Here is a very informative article about the different types of tea in Japan, if you want to learn more about each of these and others. http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=4&chapter=0&language=en

I like regular green tea and matcha, but I think the others are an acquired taste. 

Matcha, if you are wondering, is  a green tea essence which has been turned into a powder so that it can be added to hot or cold liquids. If you are texture sensitive, I would suggest only adding this to creamy things (like ice-cream or milkshakes) because it can have a slightly grainy-chalky texture otherwise. Conveniently, here is a recipe for matcha ice-cream.   

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=4&chapter=0&language=enhttp://injapan.gaijinpot.com/play/food-and-dining/2012/08/01/matcha-green-tea/

I know that discussing Japanese tea almost requires a discussion of the tea ceremony, but I do not have enough experience or knowledge to comment on that since I still have not seen one.  Sorry.  

Instead, I implore you to look at this shocking array of green tea types 

(different textures of grind, different production styles, different nuances) 

and be amazed as I was in this little tea shop in downtown Mito.

Souvenirs お土産

Omiyage, or traveling gifts, are gifts which are given to coworkers and friends whenever someone goes on vacation or even a day trip to another city.  They are most often food products (usually desserts). You can find omiyage shops in train stations or at various tourist destinations - and their products are themed accordingly. Whatever things a city is famous for will have prime real estate in their station's omiyage shop. You will also find omiyage shops at parks, shrines, and festivals.

You can read more about omiyage on this blog from gaijinpot:

http://blog.gaijinpot.com/japans-curious-omiyage-culture/

The indoor lighting made all of these pictures turn out poorly, but the displays are brightly lit with enough colors to make a rainbow jealous. These particular omiyage are in the shop just below the Sky Tree in Tokyo. 

The Sky Tree is apparently famous for banana crackers and macarons. 

and here are wisteria traveling gifts...

Foundation Day 建国記念の日

         Back in February Japan celebrated a national holiday called Foundation Day or Japan Day - to commemorate the founding of Japan. You can read more about it in this article: http://study.gaijinpot.com/lesson/holidays/national-foundation-day/

According to my Japanese friends, the most important part of this holiday is that it is a non-working day. 

          To celebrate Foundation Day some friends and I spent the day at Mt. Tskuba which is only a short trip away by train or by car.  After a shopping spree in the train station (they have a great Daiso = dollar store) we headed up the mountain. 

          At the base of the mountain is a large tourist trap with omiyage (traveling gifts) shops and food and a shrine. Apparently, another way to celebrate Foundation day is by going to the shrine where priests stand on a balcony and throw things into the crowd (which range from little rock-like mochi because of the cold temperature to candy or snacks). The best things they throw, though, are little slips of paper. Each paper has an item written on it and you can exchange the paper for that item at the counter next to the shrine. Based on the papers I saw, items ranged from sake to aluminum foil to rice and more. Many people came to the shrine with giant bags, intending to catch as much as they possible could and pushing people to get it. Whoever thinks that the Japanese can't be assertive has never seen an event like this.
          The children in the audience stood directly below the balcony and were off limits from the snatch-and-grab mayhem amidst the adults.  

          The stone lions below are found at the entrance to every shrine, one on either side of the pathway. One has an open mouth and the other has a closed mouth, and they represent the first and last alphabetic  symbols (like alpha and omega/the beginning and the end) and they signify completeness. I want to make another post soon to talk about Japan and their shrines, but there is always a heaviness for me when I see how much they acknowledge the supernatural in creation but ignore the Creator. 

   

In case you did not notice, the above right picture has a man crouching on a roof. I (and my friends) have no clue why  he is there, but it made me think of Kung Fu Panda.

After watching this spectacle we continued our drive up the mountain at sunset, which was stunning.

 

Below is a view of Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Tskuba.

          Near the top we got onto a ski-lift which carried us to one of the twin peaks of mount Tskuba. Apparently one of the peaks is a "boy" and one is a "girl". I don't know which one we went to.... it was very confusing. By the time we made it to the top it was completely dark and we saw the city lights for miles and miles from above, we could even see the glowing haze of Tokyo. Pictures did not do the scene justice, but there were stars above us and stars below us.
            At the top of there was an observation area, a Christmas lights display (in February), and free chocolate cake because it was valentines day!!!

I love holidays :D

Fish 魚

Above is a picture of an "egg jellyfish". Honestly, its name says it all. 

These are some of my favorite fish from the aquarium which I discussed in an earlier blog. 

With so many fish this tank looked like a screen saver. 

This fish is angry or cute, depending on your angle.

Who doesn't want a pet octopus?

These are pictures and cartoons of weird eels which bury themselves halfway in the sand and then just sit there looking like seaweed.  The real creatures are adorable and the cartoons are unbearable cute. かわいいね？

Belov is a sunfish. According to the aquarium staff they are large and gooberish fish.

Here I am with my friends in front of a huge, taxidermed sunfish. That's a big fish. 

Conbini コンビニ

A conbini is a Japanese convenience store, except cleaner and more convenient.

 You can do everything from paying bills to grocery shopping and then grab a quick lunch to go. 

The matcha (green tea) chocolate above is in honor of all of the items in the conbini (and in Japan in general) which look familiar but are nothing like what I expected them to be. 

This is a youtube video I found where a blogger slowly walks you through a Family Mart (one of the bigger conbini chains) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2RwlSxFYuQ and tries to explain what he sees.

The music that you keep hearing in his video is the "someone just came in" sound.

Like an American store, there is a little bit of everything from toothbrushes to alcohol, milk and clean shirts. You can even get stationary and clean underwear.

Below are the hot snacks which might include anything from a corn-dog to fried squid. My favorite are fried chicken and korokke (fried patties with meat and/or mashed potatoes inside).

http://www.japanesecooking101.com/potato-korokke-recipe/

There is also usually a space set aside with tables for eating. 

Below are "American" potato chips (which I did not  buy because they were $4.00 for an itty-bitty bag) and refrigerated "cheese" which cannot possibly be real cheese. 

And this is spaghetti sauce... one thing I have learned is to not expect western style food to taste western...

Although this is only a quick glance at a conbini, they are a surprisingly important part of my life (occurring at least 3-4 times per week).

They truly are convenient.

コンビニはべんりですね。