Love in a Cup

Just looking at this picture of hot chocolate I enjoyed in Japan makes me smile.

We don't eat out a lot when we are back home, and rarely, if ever, go out for coffee so this was the first time I'd seen a heart in my cup.
It makes me happy just to think about it. Sometimes it's the little things in life. :)

The server probably creates dozens of these a day, but I wonder if she knows it's going to make someone's day. I hope so.

Tea in Nara

I've found that with many good meals, it's not always about the food. Sometimes it's about the entire experience.

When my husband and I were in Nara, Japan, we stopped by a small cafe just outside the deer park. The cafe was in a traditional Japanese house and we were directed to a small table where we removed our shoes and sat on the floor.

Our host spoke good English which was refreshing after our travels. We had been in Japan for over a week and only found a handful of people who spoke limited English at best.

We dined on green tea, homemade green tea cake, and little azuki bean treats.
My husband and I are both green tea fans and the tea was the perfect amount of bitter and sweet. The cake had a delightfully overwhelming taste of green tea. I'm the type of person that likes a cake to taste what it's supposed to taste like. If I'm told it's a green tea cake, I want to taste the green tea. This cake was divine - moist, a strong green tea flavor, and a sweetness that complimented it perfectly. It was devoured within minutes.

While we enjoyed our tea, our host brought out an old phonograph that he cranked by hand.
The first record he played was Bing Crosby, followed soon by Glenn Miller, and even Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
When we finished our tea and the music continued to play, our host brought out photo albums of guests in his café, special art shows he had on display in the café, as well photos of the seasons outside in the garden.

He encouraged my husband to try on his antique robe for rice wine makers and took numerous pictures of us.

We took in every minute of the experience. The music, the hospitality and the overall feeling was intoxicating and I've never experienced such a comforted encounter in a cafe before and I'm not sure if I ever will again. As we sat there, my husband and I both knew this was a rare occurrence.

When we had stayed for over an hour, we decided we should get on our way. We stood up and grabbed our coats.

"Oh, do you really have to go?" our host said as his face turned sad.

We informed him that we had to get on with our travels and thanked him profusely. He thanked us for coming and said he hoped we would return. Being that the cafe was about 4,000 miles from our house, it wasn't likely but if there was a chance, we would be back.

When we reached the street, my husband and I turned to each other. "Best part of the trip, hands down."

For The Love Of Bento Boxes

Oh how I wish we had bento boxes where I live. Sure, we have food in to-go containers but nothing seems as gourmet and classy as bento boxes.
There's nothing to unwrap, no paper to fumble with, no paper bag, etc. Just a simple cover between me and food arranged in a elegant presentation.

A bento box had been on our Tokyo list but we never thought we'd have so many options. It seemed that every restaurant in the vicinity of our hotel put stands outside during lunchtime with ready-to-go bento boxes so we definitely had our pick but every one seemed just as fabulous as the last one and it was tough to decide. When we finally chose a stand, we paid the equivalent of $7 each for a bento box which also came a cup of hot miso soup.
My bento box was divine and an absolute steal for only $7. My box contained pieces of fried chicken, a piece of cooked fish, rice, a small bean sprout salad, a few pickled vegetables and some sliced nori. I loved everything - something slightly unusual for me - and when I was finished, nothing was left in the box.

Gourmet and on-the-go. Fast food just took on a whole new meaning.

Vending Machine?

When I first came across these types of eating establishments in Japan, I have to admit, I thought they were weird. Part vending machine/part short order cook. In the photo below, you can see the vending machine to the right. You select the food you want and pay and the machine prints out a ticket. Then you hand it to the chef behind the counter and he cooks it for you.
But then I thought -- genius. The chef never has to handle money (yay for cleanliness!) and there's never any language confusion about what is ordered, as he has the ticket in front of him. The process is so simple.

Unfortunately, we still had a slight language problem when we had trouble deciphering which photo above corresponded to the order button on the machine. The picture below is what I wanted to order.
And this is what I got.
Fortunately, I LOVED what I got. A hot soup full of udon noodles, greens, and tempura flakes. It was amazing! If I had to order again, I would have ordered the exact same dish. And it only cost about four dollars.

A vending machine item never tasted so good :-)

That's Quite a Welcome

On our first full day in Tokyo, we set out to find sushi for lunch. I love sushi and wanted to eat it as much as I could during my trip.

My husband and I noticed a rotating sushi place in Ueno that was crowded at 11am. There were restaurants all around the area, but this was the only one that was crowded. As a restaurant fan, I know that if a place is crowded with locals, it has to be good.

"There," I said. "I want to go there." We peered through the glass but there wasn't a seat available. I glanced around at the other restaurants in the area and then back at this one. I really wanted to eat there. We were about to step away when I noticed two people getting up from the counter.

"Come on." I grabbed my husband's hand and we entered the restaurant.

The entire staff shouted the welcome of "irasshaimase" as we sat down at the counter. A female staff member demonstrated how to make our green tea with the cups, hot water spigot, and container of powered green tea that was within reach at all times. And then the fun began. We pulled plates of tuna sashimi and spicy tuna with avocado off the rotating belt. The tuna melted in our mouths and we knew we had struck gold.
My husband and I are very quiet people so we talked in low tones as we ate, mainly focusing on the atmosphere around us. The sushi chef was only a few feet away from us and he talked in Japanese to other clients as he prepared dishes.

We were getting ready to leave when the chef placed this in front of me.
"Welcome," he said. "On the house gift."

After hours of traveling (18 to be exact) and suffering from jet lag, this kindness almost made me cry. I thanked him as I picked up my chopsticks.

He said, "Enjoy. But has wasabi, very hot."

I smiled and nodded. I was a pro at wasabi. I ate it all the time back at home.

I dipped the first piece in some shoyu (soy sauce) and put it in my mouth. It was delicious at first but then the wasabi fumes reached the back of my throat. I started to cough but quickly washed it down with some green tea.

My first lesson: Japanese wasabi is not the same as the wasabi we have in America.

I picked up another piece and put it in my mouth, determined not to let the same thing happen. I managed to swallow but my eyes had started to water.

The chef was watching me. "Good?"

I blinked back a few tears. "Good. But hot."

He handed me a tissue.

My husband and I laughed as I dabbed my eyes.

My husband and I shared the plate, each having four pieces. He ate all four quickly and although he agreed the wasabi was very hot, he had swallowed quickly to avoid the effects and was now sipping green tea and watching what I was going to do.

I stared at the two remaining pieces. I would not leave a piece on the plate after the chef had been so kind. The welcome plate had to be finished.

And so I continued, picking up the third piece and after swallowing, drinking lots of green tea and dabbing my eyes with the tissue.

Three down, one to go.

I took a sip of green tea and picked up the fourth piece. The wasabi flared into my nose and tears filled my eyes but I chewed and swallowed.

When I put my chopsticks down, the chef beamed and handed me two lollipops that were shaped like sushi.

I thanked him and the rest of the staff and we paid and were on our way.

Outside, I turned to my husband. "Well," I said as I put my hand on my stomach which was warming from the inside. "That was quite a welcome."

Japan, how I love thee...

I just got back from my trip to Japan and all I can say is WOW. What an amazing place!

I took lots of pictures of food, but unfortunately 95% of the time I had no idea what I was eating. The places had pictures of food on the menus, but most descriptions were in Japanese. It was more of a guessing game, but a very delicious one.

However, there is one dish that I can talk about with ease. Sushi.

I LOVE sushi. I could eat it all the time. Unfortunately I feel that Japan has now spoiled me. I was warned that once I had sushi in Japan, it would never taste the same anywhere else.

The warnings were right. The sushi in Japan melts in your mouth. Seriously.
The picture above was taken at a sushi bar just outside the Tsukiji fish market. The two to the left are tuna, the middle is albacore, and the far right is minced tuna.

To say that the fish is so soft that you don't have to chew would be an understatement. I love tuna but albacore has always been my favorite. At the restaurant that morning, I announced to my husband that I can never eat albacore again (unless I am in Japan). The pieces of albacore I ate - and yes, I ordered much more than was pictured above - were absolute perfection. Sigh...

I guess I'll just have to go to Japan again! :)

One thing I found interesting was that there wasn't the large decorative rolls that I see in the US. Not sure why - perhaps Alisha can provide some insight? The hubby's thought was that since the fish is so amazing in Japan, you want to enjoy just the fish.

More fun pictures to come!

Not Quite a Manapua, But Still Delicious

My husband loves Manapuas, the steamed buns filled with pork. While eating one the other day, he noticed on the packet that the company also sells them filled with chicken and mushroom or a sweet potato variety. We thought those varieties sounded delicious but we'd never seen them where we lived. A quick call to the company confirmed what often happens in our area - they don't sell them here.

We couldn't get the thought of bread filled with chicken and mushroom out of our minds, so we decided to make a version of them. I made a batch of french bread dough and rolled out small circles.

Combining mushroom soup, cooked chicken, and veggies in a bowl, we used a cookie dough scooper to put small amounts into the circles of dough.
We carefully folded the balls up, making sure the filling was securely inside and left them to rise for thirty minutes. The recipe made about 25 balls of dough, but I only took a photo of one tray.
After twenty minutes in the oven at 400 degrees, they came out looking and smelling delicious.
And voila, chicken and veggies in mushroom sauce, inside a ball of french bread.
It was a nice meal for the hubby and I to make together as we usually don't cook at the same time. The only downside to this creation was that the bread rolls were too good. So good that we kept eating and only when we realized we had eaten nearly a whole batch of french bread that usually lasts us several days, we were already beyond stuffed.