Eating Japan, the Finale

There are just waaaaaaaaaay too many photos of my trip to Japan to post here, so my last post will consist of what I hope will give you somewhat of an idea of what my trip was like. The above shot is a glass of cold sake, of which I drank many. For those of you still stuck on hot sake: get over it. Cold sake is better.

Takoyaki is a traditional Osaka classic dish. It's basically savory (as in not sweet) dough balls with tako (octopus) meat, ginger and other seasonings. It's topped with Japanese mayo and tonkatsu sauce. I took a ton of photos of this as I am writing a story about it for Intermezzo magazine (will let you know when it hits stands). We ate some in Juso, the district in Osaka where my grandmother lives and where my mom grew up, and where I have been many times. It was a real treat to go back to the area and see much of it still looks the same.

Ah, Doria! My sister and her friend Mika LOVE Doria, which is a creamy, baked rice dish that is relatively new (as in the last 15 years) to the Japanese food scene. You can get all different kinds, including one with bolognese sauce, which is pictured above. It was hot and gooey and excellent.

There's me with my obaachan (grandmother) in Osaka. She's 98 years old, can you believe it? She still loves her rice and salty seaweed and really enjoys her three meals a day. I guess I know where I get it from! :)

We visited a couple of temples, but the most impressive was one was the Kiyomizudera temple in Kyoto. We walked all the way up an uphill street, which is packed with tons of fun gift shops and food stops, to the temple. It's huge with beautiful manicured trees and serene prayer candles inside.

At the temple, there are several soba (noodle) cafes. We stopped and had cold soba with scallions, one of my all-time favorite Japanese foods.

Flash forward to Tokyo: I went to a lot of izakayas (drinking places) in Japan, and this one in Tokyo was a lot of fun. Shane, the one with his mouth open, drums for the B'z, one of Japan's most famous musical acts of all time. He and my friend Kayo, who works for them, met up with us, as did David, a co-worker of my sister's who just happened to be traveling in Japan solo while we were there. Since izakayas are the ideal places to meet and hang, Kayo chose a fun one in Tokyo for all of us to get together and share beer, sake and lots of great food.

Here's Kayo pulling out the bones of a grilled fish we ordered with one, smooth move. She's got skillz!!

Gwen Stefani made "Harajuku Girls" famous, but here are the original ones. Harajuku is a district in Tokyo full of funky clothing shops and funky-dressed people, and this is where Stefani drew inspiration for her clothing line and back-up dancers. These are just two of many interesting outfits I captured while there. I think these girls are doing what the Japanese call "Cos pu-ray," which is short for "Costume Play." Regular people get dressed up as their favorite animae characters and go out and about, just for fun. BTW, shortened names are very popular in Japan. Lenny Kravitz = "LennyKura." Brad Pitt = "BuraPee." You kind of have to say them with a Japanese accent to understand it, though.

After many days of eating rice and fish, my mom was craving something different so we found an Italian restaurant in Tokyo called Gustavo. It had just opened two weeks prior and is a co-op between prosciutto farmers and vinters in Tuscany. We had lots of good dishes there, and a few good bottles of Italian wine, but the Gorgonzola with honey was our favorite. Simple and delicious!

In Japan, quality is everything. And even this convenience store (7-11 in this case) egg salad sandwich is proof. The bread is light and fluffy, the egg is fresh and the mayo is creamy and light. No soggy mess here. I love convenience store sandwiches in Japan! BTW, the nickname for convenience store in Japan is "conveenie."

Last but not least: Japanese bakers are some of the world's best, and it seems every corner has a lovely little pastry shop or cake cafe. This is a super light blueberry cake with fresh whipped cream and jam filling that I enjoyed at a cake cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo.

That's all for now! I am knee-deep in my new job at FoodJiva.com, and will have more updates on that soon. If you live in the West LA/Santa Monica/Brentwood/Marina del Rey or Venice area, try it out! It's super cheap, and there's no delivery fee in most cases (and even the ones that do is a max fee of only $5!!).

A Little Engrish Lesson

There is a lot of English signage in Japan, some (or many) of which are a bit confusing. You get the gist of what the company/product is trying to promote, and the intention is clear, but the words are a little...off. I decided to snap some of my favorite "Engrish" signs while in Japan. The above is one of my favorites, even though most of you may not find it funny. I love that it's talking about relaxing, but the double exclamation sign seems to indicate an emphasis on the last word (as if it's being yelled). Relax'in with coffee and BUN!

I'm not sure what flavor this lovely looking soda is, but it sure is charming. And pink.

Really? I prefer to enjoy my crepes in a formal and difficult way. But that's just me.

I like fried rice, and I love shrimp, but flies? Not so sure about that one.

This is a sign outside of a bar. A few drinks does equal a little happiness, so this sign is quite accurate.

I like that this trash can, for sale at an IKEA-esque store called Loft, will support a comfortable life while adding versatility to my life.

My "private space?" Natural moist, needless electricity? Shouldn't this be in an adult store? Actually it's the label on a natural humidifying garden.

Good Lord. Even if you added the missing letters in this paragraph, it still woudn't make any sense.

While I like A Little Happiness bar, this bar sign is much more appropriate, doncha think?

This is a sign for German (or Wiener) coffee. But I'm willing to bet most Americans will take it the wrong way.

Japanese Depachika!!

I'm back from Japan, and promise to post all of my great food experiences in the coming days. It'll be "Rainy Days & Sundays in Japan" for the next several posts, be warned! :)

One of my favorite places to visit while in Japan is the depachika. A depachika is a basement gourmet food hall that features all kinds of incredible eats from perfect little cakes and fresh-baked bread to marinated pickles and handmade sushi rolls. It really is an experience that any visitor to Japan must have. You can find depachikas in any major city.

I went to a few while in Japan; one in Osaka and a few in Tokyo. Imagine if Neiman Marcus or Sax has a basement level filled with gourmet food vendors. You can buy gift-y type foods like packaged butter cookies and boxes of beautiful chocolates, and you can also get tons of ready-to-eat food like sandwiches, bento boxes of sushi and lots and lots of Japanese fried goodies.

As stated in previous posts, I looooooove Japanese korrokke. A korrokke, in its most basic form, is a deep-fried potato patty, much like a croquette. They come in all kinds of flavors and types; there's potato curry, cream crab, corn and potato with ground beef, among others. The guy above is operating a fry station, and flash fries korrokkes and butterflied shrimp and Japanese friend chicken and all kinds of other wonderful eats.

The outer crust on all these fried foods is typically made with panko (Japanese bread crumbs). It makes the end product light, super crispy and delicious. I guess the reason why the Japanese can still maintain their slim figures is because a) they treat themselves to this kind of stuff only once in a while, and b) when they do, they eat small portions.

If you go to a depachika, try to get there on a weekday as Saturdays and Sundays can be crazy hectic in one of these basement food halls. And go with an empty stomach; most stands have samples.

When will the U.S. embrace depachikas???

I would love to have one of these at the basement of my favorite Macy's or Sax Fifth Avenue.

Eat, Drink & Be Merry

Last night, we met up with the Kato family, who I've known since I was born - literally. Above is (from L to R) is Mika, Yuka and Naoki. My parents met their parents in the hospital, because Mika and Yuka, who are fraternal twins, were born two days before my twin sister and I were born, and our moms shared the same hospital room. We've been friends ever since. Naoki came two years later.

We all met at an izakaya (drinking/eating place where you share all kinds of little plates). The last time I saw Mika and her mom was 10 years ago, when they traveled to the U.S., and it has been 22 years since I'd seen Yuka and Naoki. Mika is now an amazing book illustrator (she has her own line of books - check them out here), Yuka works in health insurance AND is a talented carpenter/builder, and Naoki is married and also works as an illustrator/graphic designer. So much has changed but it was as if no time had passed at all; through our broken Japanese and English, we talked and caught up and laughed about old times. We drank beer and sake and cocktails and ate amazing food like the little fishies above, and I tried new things, like...

...raw horses meat, pictured above. It was delicious - kind of tasted like beef, but less fatty.

Mika ordered one of her favorites, curry udon noodles. She and Naoki dished it out for the group.

Over stories of how we used to pick on Naoki (he doesn't remember - whew!) and sang ABBA songs together, we munched on yakitori and took lots of photographs. We marveled at what a treat it was to be able to get together and still know each other after all these years.

Obviously the food was great, but it's hard to really focus on just that since last night was a great reawakening of an old friendship. We vowed to be better about keeping in touch, and have promised to not wait another 10 years to see each other again.

All in all it was one of the best nights I've had on this trip. Mika is hoping to get to Los Angeles sometime next year, and I am hoping to get back to Japan before 2009 is over.

From L-R, top to bottom: Tawny, Yuka, Naoki, me and Mika.

Kickin' It Old Skool

For the last two days, we've been living it up old-school at two different ryokans. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with an onsen, an onsen being a natural hot spring bath. The rooms are traditional tatami-style, so during the day the set-up is for hanging around and eating, then at night the ladies of the hotel come in and lay out your bedding for you. Your meals are served in your room (breakfast and dinner are included in your room price), and are made up of all kinds of traditional Japanese foods. Basically you soak in the hot springs, eat and drink all while laying about in yukatas the whole time - it's all about relaxation at a ryokan. The following are photos from both ryokans; one was near the ocean (Sea of Japan) while the other was more up in the mountain regions. Both were unique in their own ways and had amazing food. Now we're off to Tokyo!

The rock garden in our tatami room.

The beds are laid out by the hotel workers right before bedtime. The bedding is a traditional futon mattress with a down comforter.

Local crab, cooked with the claws cut for easy eating.

A sashimi platter, including two local favorites that I've never had before.

Fish and head cooked in mild sauce. Nice teeth!

Cooking more fish at our table.

This is a meal at the first ryokan, the one in the mountains. We each got a whole crab, plus a ton of other fish and other local favorites.

Fish with a root vegetable and seaweed salad.

Five different grains covering steamed shrimp balls.

Though we always start with beer, sake is the main drink of a ryokan dinner.

Soft shell crab with crunchy noodles and caviar.

Sushi rice with salmon, pickled ginger, egg and mushrooms.