Food Frenzy Numero Dos

I just finished dinner, and food is fresh in my mind (although there are few times when it is not,) so there could hardly be a better time for me to recall all of the things I've been eating recently.

Starting with the most recent:



Tonight, I was feeling very lazy. Who doesn't on a Friday? Since no one was readily available to go out, and there will be lots of that this weekend, I sucked it up and went into my kitchen. The main requirement for tonight's meal was that it be hot. The fact that it turned out pretty darn delicious as well was an added bonus. Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (from Costco), fresh carrots, some potatoes and the end of a bag of frozen fried rice that has been in my freezer for a long time. Add some pepper, and you're good to go. I delivered some of the left overs to a sickly neighbor, and I am already looking forward to eating my leftovers the next cold evening I am home.

Another treat this week has been bagels from Bagel & Bagel in Fukuoka. They claim to be New York style bagels, but because they are the best/only bagels within an hour (maybe more) by train, I will let them live with this delusion. I doubt there are many bagel stores in NY that sell "edamame and soy-milk" bagels. Or more than one variety of sesame...oh well. They make excellent breakfast, as well they should for more than $2 a pop. I bought 6 on Monday; in additions to some standards like "everything," and "onion," I bought "cranberry," "maple-raisin," "chocolate" and the monthly special "mocha and white chocolate chip."


If you are looking for Japanese food, scroll past the next two pictures. The next picture is of dinner from last night. Since there's another trip to Costco coming up the end of the this month, I decided it was past time to unearth the last package of tortillas from the freezer and eat them up, so I would have room for more. So this week, I've eaten a quesadilla, two burritos and one PB&J tortilla for a snack (its really good, less dry-stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth than a traditional PB&J, especially one made using the thick slabs of sponge the Japanese pass off as bread) I think that leaves me with 5 more tortillas to eat in the next two weeks. I'd better pace myself. Anyway, the burrito was a success. I'd like to credit my years at the The Coop for helping me perfect my "burrito in a jiffy" skills.

1) Heat beans in microwave to warm.
2) Add cheese, return to microwave until melted.
3) Warm tortilla in frying pan.
4) Wrap hot bean and cheese goodness in tortilla. Add salsa*
5) Place wrapped burrito flap side down in warm frying pan. Let heat seal burrito shut. Turn over to achieve heavenly crispyness on both sides.
6) Eat and be thankful for globalization.


*My local grocery store, the "Tomato" on the Kamitsu Bypass, actually stocks decent salsa. It's kind of all by itself on the shelf, and I have no idea what Japanese people would eat it with, but I am sure glad it is there!

One thing I really miss about college is the artery-clogging brunch ready and waiting for me every Saturday and Sunday a few yards away from my warm bed. Most Japanese people just eat rice and miso soup for breakfast, maybe mixing it up occasionally with a piece of toast, and during the week, cereal or toast usually suffices for me. But on the weekends, when I can sleep in, and get up around 10, I am much hungrier and really wish there were some pre-made scrambled eggs and hash browns waiting for me. Alas there are not, but I have done as best as I can on my own. Which usually involves me thinking about how much I want an omlette for a good 40 minutes before I actually go to the kitchen and begin making one. But when I do, its oh so amazing. The one pictured below was especially tasty, maybe becuase I ate it sitting in the patch of sun on my kitchen floor, with a cup of cocoa and the Sunday comics from a few weeks back, lovingly sent to me by my mom. Not a bad Saturday morning, that's for sure.

I don't always eat American food, I swear! A few weeks ago, some other JETs and I went to a cute yakitori restaurant in Yanagawa. There were two employees, a woman who served the rice and drinks, plus took out the things on sticks that were ordered and lined them up by the grill for the man to grill. Our group of 6 took up almost the whole bar. While we sat there, this is what we saw:

That big white pile is salt for seasoning the meat. You can order all sorts of stuff, from the tame--like chicken, beef, and pork; to the more unexpected--chicken meatballs, hot dogs and fried tofu; to the borderline gross--whole fish stuffed with fish eggs. The most unusual thing I tried were mushrooms wrapped in bacon. It looked like a squid and was kinda hard to eat. The mushrooms were really chewy which precluded taking a small bite. So to avoid having the whole thing fall apart, I stuck it all in my mouth and chewed for a long time. Good thing it tasted good.

Speaking of tasting good...as I may have gleefully mentioned before the Japanese love desserts like cakes and crepes. I really had no idea, but I am so glad. Last weekend, I spent Sunday at Mitsui Greenland, an amusement park a little more than an hour away. There were several places to eat within the park, and many of them served crepes. After buying myself a Choco-Banana one from a small place near the back of the park, we stumbled upon the mother of all crepe places back towards the front. Their display case is shown below. The had kiwi, banana, pudding, cheesecake, berry and brownie varieties! Just looking at the picture makes me happy. Mmmmmmmmmm.

It only took me 3 and 1/2 months, but I finally went to keiten-zushi. I was really looking forward to it, but was a bit disappointed. I am not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was still entertaining to watch the various things go by on the conveyor belt and watch the chef torch the eel rolls in the kitchen in the middle. None of the sushi was really amazing, and I avoided anything that looked really slimy or still had eyes. In addition to the sushi, there were some desserts and fried foods going around. Allison and I were there for about an hour, and we watched the same french fries complete with mini American flag stuck on top go around about 12 times. Made me wonder a bit about how long some of the sushi had been going around...but no harm done. I am still alive and kickin' two weeks later.