While not Japanese, yakiniku is awesome.

Squid shredding

What an ingenious little machine.

Cooking Classes in Japan

The classes will be all in Japanese, of course.

Fall Fare

Food in Japan is really seasonal.

Turkish Ice Cream in Tokyo

The humiliation of customers in Japan never ends...

Getting teased

Well, it has to happen once in a while.  Moo Cow wanted this to happen anyway, hence the camera action.

Peking Duck

Peking duck is pretty delicious.  We finally found a good place in Tokyo.

Restaurant Review: Café Troisgros

Café Troisgros is situated directly above the Shinjuku station west exit, on the 8th floor of Odakyu Department Store.  When you arrive, the café has an elegant façade tucked in the corner.  Surrounded by shops, it almost feels out of place.  When you walk in the simply yet sharply-dressed waitstaff immediately attend you.  Originally decked in purple and lime green, it was remodeled with a more neutral palette.  The now-mellow interior has approximately sixteen tables for two that can be pushed together to accommodate larger groups as well as six single tables, no doubt for the business lunch-goers (like myself).  Owned by Michel Troisgros, a Michelin-starred chef with several other awards and honors, this restaurant gives speedy service and good quality.

The lunch menu is limited meal-wise, but not lacking.  The dessert menu is nearly as long as the lunch fare, and the drink menu is significantly bulkier, as expected from a café.  There are a variety of coffees and teas to choose from, as well as some alcoholic choices and a few non-alcoholic juices and such.  Undoubtedly to keep preparation time down there are four main-dish choices, including a salad, sandwiches and a daily pasta special.  Despite the temptation to try one of the luscious-looking desserts instead of a main dish I chose the daily pasta special, which was a wild mushroom farfalle.  Since the drink menu was rather large and the waitstaff came to take my order after only a short time I decided to drink water.  When the meal arrived its aroma immediately caught my attention, as well as the presentation.

The green froth appeared to be a spinach sauce.  At first taste I mistook the flavor for spicy but the spice faded immediately.  The mushroom sauce hinted at a cream of wild mushroom soup that had been blended and thickened.  It blended nicely with the spinach and held well to the farfalle.  The farfalle itself was surprisingly tender, uncharacteristically so for a restaurant.  Diners who prefer al dente pasta may be disappointed.

The cost of the menu is low- to mid-range, with lunches starting at ¥1,000 and desserts and drinks from ¥630.  The daily pasta is ¥1,550.  For someone with a large appetite it will definitely not suffice, but in the heat of summer it was perfect for me.

As a lunch or afternoon tea spot Café Troisgros is a good option for someone who wants quality food but also wants to get in and out quickly.  The quality for price is quite good, but those who prefer larger meals will be left short.  Be sure to check the menu on the stand outside before you go in and have an idea of what you'd like to order; they appear to have an almost fast-food-eqsue approach to speedy service.  Overall, a nice café for someone looking for relax and have a light repast, but not linger too long.

Collagen drinks, lotion chosen by color and chips that taste like dance floor...?

My trip to Michigan Hokkaido

Traveling is always fun and traveling in Japan is no exception. This time I headed a bit more north than my summer travels and went up to Hokkaido.

Since you can't take the train to Hokkaido directly--you'll need to go to Aomori and then take the ferry--we decided to fly, which was cool because it was my first domestic flight here. For the most part domestic travel in Japan is the same as everywhere else I've been with a few minor differences. For starters, the captain of the plane won't usually talk on the intercom. He can, of course, but I guess they opt not to. Apparently they just don't. For two, this is JAPAN we're talking about! There are even TVs in the toilets at the airport!

Upon arrival I noticed something strange. Apparently the plane went through a space/time warp and landed us in Michigan! The weather was the same, the plants were the same, even the--oh wait, nope. The Japanese text everywhere was a dead giveaway. But it was surprisingly similar and I couldn't stop saying it, much to the chagrin of my companion, Sushi.

But never fear, Hokkaido is a bit more interesting than Michigan. Or at least I think it is. Anyway, after getting a rental car we headed to Sapporo, home of a happy place known as the Sapporo Brewery. You can buy Sapporo beer in the US but now it's bottled in Canada (check the "Today" part of the history here to find out, or here) so it doesn't really count. We went there for dinner the first night because the one thing I wanted to do in Hokkaido was go to the beer garden, er, Bier Garten. At the restaurant you can have famous Jingisu Kan, a type of Hokkaido-style Mongolian Barbecue named after the historic fearless leader (Jingisu Kan is the Japanese pronunciation of Chingis Khan. Chingis Khan and Genghis Khan are both acceptable names for him, but the dish is called Jingisu Kan). Hokkaido is so well-known for this dish that even the pans were shaped like Hokkaido.

We ended up having mutton and lamb and sausage, obviously washed down with beer. It was cool. For souvenirs there's a large gift shop where you can buy the official beer mugs in many varieties; I got the Classic one and a Sapporo Bier Garten edition. And of course a strap for my phone too. Being female I'm practically obligated to have more charms hanging from my phone than actual phone.

These keychains have a story. The Bier Garten one is because I of course I've loved Sapporo since before I came to Japan. The bunny is something my faithful readers will recognize. The green thing is Marimokkori. He's a personified version of a ball algae famously from Hokkaido (marimo), and yes he always has that bulge no matter what he's dressed as. Sushi and I were looking for this at every shop because I wanted to show it to him. Finally after looking at every shop we passed in Sapporo and Otaru we happened upon them at the airport just as we were leaving. We were both so happy we each bought one. I'm amused because Sushi's a [drunk] businessman and so is this Marimokkori.

Another thing Hokkaido is known for is soup curry. Soup curry is pretty much exactly what it sounds like--a soup that tastes like curry. It's really quite delicious and incidentally it's also a trendy food in Tokyo right now. If you tell people you had soup curry you automatically go up a notch on the Cool Scale. Off, right? Anyway, since Sushi went to school there he knew most of the restaurants and chose an old haunt. The place looked exactly like any college town restaurant should so it furthered my "I'm in Michigan!" feeling. The food was tasty and reasonable so I was happy. Here's a snip from the lunch menu...I had the first soup (ぐゎらチキ天).

While most of what I focus on is food, there's more than just that to Hokkaido. They also have their very own tower, much akin to Tokyo Tower, including the red and white paint job. This one's a bit smaller and had a clock on it though. And admittedly, the fountain programmed to frame it was cooler than Tokyo Tower. But since I have an oil painting of Tokyo Tower in my apartment I thought it a good idea to snap some photos.

Sapporo is also home to Hokkaido University, a strangely Western university started by a guy from Massachusetts for some obscure reason though he claimed it was for the advancement of Japan. Sushi and I compared notes about going to Agricultural universities while looking around. Walking around felt a lot like my time at MSU except there were notably fewer squirrels. And fewer students. It was nice too see and have a moment to reminisce a little. It even smelled like Michigan, which is a bit strange...

But you don't care about my silly-girl nostalgia, so let's get back to the hospitality! Two major natural-type things that Hokkaido boasts are great seafood and dairy. Both are shipped all over Japan, particularly dairy products. Before leaving we had milk floats, which were essentially unmixed milkshakes. If you don't like full-fat milk you'd have a hard time but they were amazing!

For the second day we went to Otaru, which isn't particularly special but has a canal that's kind of ｃharming and several music box and glass companies. More interestingly, there are hot springs as well. We stayed at a ryokan (Japanese-style hotel) for our night there. And the grounds were beautiful--to see some more images click here, here and here. I have tattoos so I'm not allowed into public hot springs so we got a room with a private hot spring bath (click the first link "momiji" to see the room). It was way awesome! And our dinner was served in the room.

I can't begin to explain everything there but the sea urchin was fabulous! What isn't shown here is the corn ice cream for dessert and the extra sides that came a little after we started eating. Apparently if you want you can also catch sea urchin along the coasts and the quality definitely reflected that. I've never had seafood melt in my mouth before.

If you've never experienced a hot spring bath I'd highly recommend it. This was my first time and I intend to seize every opportunity I have to go to one from now on. Something I said after the bath was things like this are enough to keep me in Japan forever. And I guess it's true. Hot springs and unworldly food could keep me almost anywhere.

And let's face it, the silly Pokémon jets (my ride back to Tokyo) don't hurt either.

Peachy Goodness

Ever since the first time I came here I knew the fruit in Japan wasn't like most fruit in the US. What you find at almost every market are super-ripe juicy specimens. Coming from the US and buying bargain items whenever possible to this is a huge change. Granted the difference is also apparent in price, but it's still a welcome change too.

Earlier this week Moo Cow and I bought some peaches. There was a guy who'd set up his booth at Moo Cow's station and on the way home we decided to pick them up because they were cheap...1000 yen ($10 or so) for 6 large peaches. The guy threw in a smaller--read: average size in the US--one as a thank you bonus. The glorious thing about peaches in Japan is most of them are white peaches; the yellow ones are much less common. And I love white peaches. And peaches here are HUGE. And they're so ripe that the pits inside are already split. It's crazy. Anyway, Moo Cow said he hadn't had fresh peaches in forever. He didn't know what a treat peaches are here though.

When we got them home I decided I wanted to nom one so I picked a large one to share. When I gave Moo Cow a bite the juice ran down his chin. It was that juicy. His exclamation made the purchase totally worth it. I was going to make a video but I don't think the camera quality can capture the awesomeness. So instead I took some photos this morning before I left for work. Here are the surviving two:


Those peaches are each about the size of a softball. And when I sliced another one to serve with the toast and *amazing* tofu I bought it was just perfect.

Maybe I'll make a video about the tofu I got later. Like, sometime in the next week. Be jealous of all the amazing food here. We have to pay for it, for sure, but it's still awesome.

Doritos sticks?!

A Smattering of Japanese Sauces

A little discussion of the sauces I have in my apartment. For some reason I find this a fascinating subject.

Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! Day 1: Restaurant Review

After a long trek around town we figured we'd earned a nice dinner. Aside from transportation, this was the largest expense during the trip. I figured it was a worthy expense, since I wanted to share this restaurant with Moo Cow.

梅の花 (Ume no Hana)

A restaurant that specializes in tofu, this chain is a great find. When you walk in, the friendly staff will greet you and direct you towards a private room where you'll be eating. It's a traditional Japanese-style interior so you'll be expected to take off your shoes at the door. Keep that in mind when choosing your footwear. Some of the rooms will have traditional setups without the sunken floor beneath the table, while others have it. It appears to depend on the restaurant, as each has slightly different decor.

First they'll offer you warm hand towels and ask what you'd like to order. The courses begin at ¥3600 for dinner and go up to ¥7000 or a little more if you choose from the seasonal courses. You can also order items a la carte, but the course menus are always the best deal in terms of variety for price.

We tried the nagomi, a standard course menu that costs ¥3600 and has 12 courses. Once you order, they bring you a small sheet copy of the menu. Again, this is only in Japanese, but it's still a fun little souvenir if you like food. They also explain each course as it comes to your table. From here on out I'll only be talking about the nagomi, since it's the course we had.

The first course was a trio of tofus. We were so hungry we forgot to take a photo before devouring it. Oops. One in particular caught my interest though, which was a ribbon-like tofu that tasted smoother than any tofu I've had anywhere else. As a whole the presentation was fantastic, with all three in small dishes served inside a presentation box. Beautiful and delicious.

Much to my excitement, the "ribbon-tofu" made a reappearance for our second course. As you can see, it was served in a lovely fan-shaped dish. The dipping sauce was soy-based and suited it perfectly.

At this point they brought one of our next courses early so it could simmer. It was mineral water and tofu simmered together to make a soup. Moo Cow noticed that the mineral water caused a breakdown of the tofu that would never happen with tap or bottled water. They placed this pot on the burner in the center of the table. I'd imagine some restaurants also bring burners because they aren't equipped with built-in ones.

The third course was one of my favorite Japanese dishes...茶碗蒸し (chawanmushi), or steamed egg pudding. It's a savory pudding with seafood, mushrooms and other items in it. This one of course had some kind of dumpling in the middle. The dumpling was no doubt made of soy, but it had the texture of the dango I love so much. Despite the hot weather I ate this with much happiness.

Following that was another course we forgot to photograph: 名物とうふしゅうまい(tofu shumai), or tofu dumpling. If you're familiar with gyoza, it's kind of like that but usually round and made with shrimp. These were served in wicker baskets usually used for Dim Sum. They contained shrimp (read: NOT vegetarian) and I believe the tofu was in the noodle wrapping, which was different from the usual because instead of being a large sheet noodle wrapped around the meaty center, it had shredded noodle pieces, as if the dumpling was rolled in it instead. Because of this it has a nice aesthetic. Fabulous dumplings, they were. I wish we'd remembered to take photos.

When they came to collect the plates from that course, they told us the soup was ready to eat. It was delicious. They told us we'd know when it was ready because the soup would become milky white. When they'd initially brought the soup they also gave us instructions that were in both Japanese and I believe English as well, although if I remember correctly the English was questionable. Nonetheless it was understandable and helpful. The soup was eaten mixed with soy sauce.

Next came a fish tempura. The batter was light, crunchy and not oily, while the fish was perfectly cooked so it fell apart in our mouths. We suspect the tofu in this course was in the tempura batter. Although at this point I was starting to question the use of tofu in every course. The tempura sauce for dipping also came with ground daikon to be mixed in, which you can see in the photo.

Perhaps the whole reason I remembered the restaurant from my previous trip was because of the next course. It also influenced my menu decision, as it involved this course. I don't know what these are, but Moo Cow said they're a common Chinese food I could buy in the US at an Asian market, although I wouldn't find the sauce. As you can see, I was too impatient to wait for the photo before nibbling on the corner of one...

A Japanese course menu wouldn't be complete without some kind of salad, so next was the tofu salad. It came stacked as in the photos and with instructions to mix it well before eating (we thought that was kind of obvious). The sauce was an interesting tangy sauce, although not an unfamiliar one. I'm pretty sure I've had it on salads in Japanese restaurants in the US before.

The final three non-dessert courses were served together. Most traditional Japanese course menus will end with a rice course. This one also served miso and an array of what are called pickles here. Pickles in Japan include anything that's been pickled and cut into pieces; the name is not just reserved for pickled cucumbers. I think I liked the dark purple ones the best.

Finally, we had our choice of three desserts. The first was strawberry ice cream, the second was a soy ice cream with kinako (soy powder) and molasses on it, and we didn't hear the third one because we emphatically chose the second choice. We'd had this dessert before at an "American Sushi" restaurant (called California Roll Sushi in Azabu Juban) and it was phenomenal. It was worth trying a soy-based ice cream as well. It was served with a pot of hot tea. It wasn't green tea or barley tea, but we aren't sure *what* kind of tea it was.

And here's a better photos of the ice cream itself...

At this point you can sit and chat over tea for as long as you like. Since we hadn't made a reservation we didn't have the luxury of hours, but we enjoyed our food thoroughly. Here's a little proof, I suppose...

And Moo Cow enjoyed his ice cream. Not sure if this was before or after I told him it wasn't dairy.

As you leave, if you particularly enjoyed any part of your meal, you can pick up some "souvenirs" or just munchies from a display near the register to take home with you. My first trip we got a tofu cheesecake that was to die for. Keep in mind these will be nominally priced, yet they are completely worth the cost.

All in all, this restaurant has a great atmosphere, friendly staff and fabulous food. The presentations are well-thought out and take the flavor into consideration; I'd expect nothing less from a nice Japanese restaurant. The price-to-quality ratio is great. I think this restaurant falls into low-key business meals, inexpensive dates and family special occasions (my first trip was for Grandma's birthday). It is a tofu restaurant, however, it is not vegetarian in nature. Perhaps the courses aren't even pescetarian, I'm not sure. If you like tofu I recommend trying this restaurant, but if you're vegetarian you'll be a bit limited. Overall, I hope you try it if you have the chance.

Last Christmas Package?

We interrupt the Spryte and Moo Cow Backpack in Kyoto! series to bring you...

I got an R4!

*geeked*

もんじゃ

Tried monjayaki, which looks a bit like vomit but tastes like yum.

It's cheezy sloppy goodness. That was Wednesday.

And I just went on a sweets run. I'm such a hog.

Stuff with students.

Photos from my night with students.

The place we went to.

The sashimi we got.

And after we finished it they fried that carcass on the left there and we ate all that too.

Steamed mackerel.

We also got some pork kebab/sausage things that we dipped in egg yolks, some beef liver, veggie tempura, oden, some boiled rice in the leftover oden broth and a bunch of different types of alcohol... And then at the end they didn't let me pay. They insisted on giving me the choicest parts too. It was great and awkward, heh.

And taken on the train by one of the students with an iPhone...

The scarf is because they thought it was funny.

Sakura flavored everything!

I like that my birthday is in spring, when everything in Japan tastes like cherry blossoms.