Food Food and MORE Food!

Happy New Year to All!

Here in Japan the December is not all that different from America (in some ways). For example Although Christmas is not a holiday, Many stores put up Christmas decorations and lights and you can occasionally see Santa figurines in store window. Here however, the BIG holiday is New Years. There is a tradition of having a year-end party, called a "bonenkai" where everybody makes a speech about the events of the year and what they intend to do the next year. Usually there is a lot of drinking and eating.
This year, like last year, I was lucky enough to be invited to my student's company's bonenkai. But first he and I had to hike about 5 miles up and down the mountains. We were the lucky ones. His employees had to complete a 35 mile hike in one day!!! Needless to say there was a lot of "medicinal" beer drunk before the dinner and also while eating the excellent food.

After finishing the hike, everyone gathered at a very swanky hotel in Takarazuka where they have wonderful Japanese baths on the roof, both enclosed and open air. Nothing like a long soak in a hot tub after hiking!. Sorry, I didn't/couldn't really take photos for obvious reasons.

After the bath we settled in to a traditional Japanese meal. The first course was a little box containing what amounted to hors d'oeuvres:




















Next came a plate of sushi:

















Followed by the main dish: Sukiyaki (pronounced skiyaki). For those who don't know what it is, it consists of a large pot that is placed on a gas hot plate on your table. Into the pot is put meat,
(This tray of meat was just for four (4) people!!).






















There is also a big tray of vegetables (onions, peppers, sprouts, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms) and Tofu. First the meat and then the vegetables along with some seasonings are put into the pot and everything simmered slowly.




To eat it you break a raw egg in a bowl, grab a bit of hot food from the pot, immerse it in the egg and then eat it! It is very good. The pot and the meat plate you see in the photo was for just 4 people!. Of course, it was washed down with many bottles of Asahi beer. A great way to end the year!

Lo, How the lowly plebian beers have become exalted

Hey folks, you know how everyone secretly dreams of becoming internationally-known and famous? Well, I'm gonna' let you in on a little secret: here in Japan, some of the most plebian, blue collar, American working-class brews have attained international celebrity status! That's right. Such redneck, pool-hall standards as Mickey's Big Mouth Ale, Rolling Rock (from the glass-lined vats of old Latrobe!) and even the lowly Budweiser are revered here in Japan. Just take a look at these menu selections from a downtown international beer bar that I recently visited. Although the prices are in Yen, it's easy to convert since the yen is pretty close to one cent. So 900 yen is just a bit more than $8.00. Thats right folks, step right up and plonk down $8.50 of your hard-earned cash for a 12 oz. bottle of . . . Rolling Rock???
You've got to be kidding!!
Especially when for the same price you can get a full pint of draft Guinness.
I guess the silly sods think that since it's imported, that means it's somehow special. Little do they know that we Americans are always willing to dump our swill brews into the laps of unsuspecting foreigners. Especially ones with more money than brains. I mean the native Japanese brews are pretty darn good, and at my local watering hole, I can get a big mug of draft Asahi for 280 yen (about $2.50).
Let's not tell them that these beers are actually considered pretty darn mundane in the states. It'll be our little secret. They may think they that they're indulging in luxury American imports. But we know better.

Oh well, let them dream on...

Strange flavor combinations

February, 17, 2008

Hello all,
I have decided that, in order to maintain my sanity I have to start blogging about some of the weird and wacky things that I encounter regularly here in the land of the rising sun.
If I simply told you what I ate yesterday, you would not believe it. Plus the label itself is enough to give you pause. Try to think of two flavors that you would NOT put together. Are you thinking? Good. Now this time try to think of the most unappetizing way to label it. Got it? OK. Now take a look at the photo and tell me if your combination was as funky as this one. The Japanese use of the term "sand" to denote a sandwich only creates a stranger image. Interestingly enough, it didn't taste all that bad. I guess I've been living here long enough that it's getting really hard to shock me anymore.