Nutz: Chasing a Noodle

I used to be indecisive... now I'm not so sure. 

Food

Welcome to the Food blog archive, containing all of my recent blogs about this subject.


 

Japan - Sashami and Udon

Today's journey took us to the little town of Kotohira. Tonight, we are yet again staying in a Japanese Onsen Hotel. However, this one is considerably more up-market than last night's one. Here I am, for example, sitting in the lounge, listening to jazz and drinking beer by the fire, whilst I write this blog.

Tonight's blog post is about the sashami and udon that we consumed this evening. Our hotel booking included a "small dinner", so we all went out to have udon beforehand. Udon is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle - thicker and chewier than normal noodles. Although it took a bit more effort to munch my way through, I actually found I preferred it to normal noodles. Just as Nagano is said to be the Soba capital of Japan, so Kotohira is the udon capital of Japan. Photograph 1 shows this evening's udon dish - noodles with meat.

It was only after I had eaten my bowl of noodles, and began feeling quite full, that Mark announced that we had to get back to the hotel quickly to "be ready for dinner." Dinner? What dinner? He explained about how we had a small dinner to eat, not the full dinner but a "half-version."

After arriving back, we went straight into the dining room. Course after course came and went from the table - 5 courses in total in an hour and a half. By the end of it, I needed a wheelbarrow to carry me out. Courses included sashami dishes such as jellyfish, sea urchin (photo 7), 'tiny fish with bloody big eye' (I named that one myself) and turban shell (photo 5), which I likened to chewing on my own index finger. Photographs 2 to 7 are of the sashami courses. There was one moment during dinner where I almost choked on my halibut - Sayaka was talking about one of the fishes on the plate and suddenly blurted out "bastard founder" whilst the waiter was standing there serving us drink. Goodness only knows what he thought of that (the fish is called 'bastard flounder', by the way). I'm told, by the way, that the difference between sashami and sushi is that sashami is raw fish by itself (i.e. no rice).

Straight after the sashami, came the meat course (photograph 8). By now I was feeling as full as an alcoholic's fridge. The beef was sliced and we had a little cooker, with a candle underneath, on which to cook the beef. I have to say that it was the best beef I've ever eaten. Absolutely delicious and flavoursome. To wash it down: plum sake - amazing flavour.

There was one more course before dessert - a soup dish (photograph 9), which I decided not to have as I was ready to explode. Then came the dessert (photograph 10) - a sweet cream cheese roll (a bit like swiss roll) with some kiwi on the top. A delicious end to the meal.

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Japanese Spinach Doughnuts

Well folks, I can excitedly reveal that I have finally tried the spinach doughnuts… *applause*… They were very nice and didn't really taste of spinach at all; a fact that I actually felt a bit disappointed about. Popeye won't be doing much heavy lifting after eating this snack pack.

What I'm wondering now is whether a pack of spinach doughnuts constitutes my 5-a-day!?

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Japan Day 8 - Read This Or The Dog Gets It!

On the third day of Starbucks Christmas, my good bruv gave to me: one sugar doughnut and a nice cup of hot chai tea.

Today was our final day in Nagano and it started off with some sensible reflection on what I have discovered so far. There is much to admire and be impressed with about Japanese society. There is hardly any crime. Over the last week I have only seen one police car. This is because, by committing crime, they would be bringing shame upon their family. Consequently, you feel safe where-ever you go and you can safely leave your bag on a seat and go up and order coffee. Everyone takes pride in their appearance and their work. Unemployment is low and there is no 'benefit culture' here - if someone loses their job they feel ashamed, so they go straight out to find another one.

To continue this subject further - one thing that bugs me when walking around back home, in Bexhill town centre, is the amount of rubbish bins overflowing with litter. Here in Japan, there are no litter bins. Does that mean that the streets are full of litter? No - completely the opposite. People take pride in their towns and take their rubbish home. Consequently, when you walk around the main shopping streets there isn't a piece of litter to be seen anywhere.

Ok, lets move on to the diary of the day, which mainly revolves around, yes, you guessed it, food. For lunch we met up with Esdras and ate ramen, a traditional Japanese noodle soup with a soft-boiled egg in the middle. This is one of Mark's favourite dishes and it was delicious (photograph 1). After enjoying our ramen, we headed to Starbucks, once again, to do a few hours of work to the background music of "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas". Photograph 2 shows the sugar doughnut and chai tea that I consumed.

After an afternoon of work, we went out to dinner with Sayaka's Mum and Dad for a final goodbye meal. It was great fun and we had a lot of laughs. It also gave me the opportunity to practice some Japanese, Ally style:

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?" is "eh?" (they use that a lot, and I've been singing it in multiple voices, including suprano)
"Toki Doki, Ichy Nichy" is "sometimes….. 1 day" (yes, the English doesn't make sense - I've combined two separate phrases into one for the purposes of 'super-catchy-coolness'. Doesn't the Japanese version sound great!

Sayaka's parents also told me, in Japanese, that my souvenir, for coming to Japan, is my cold. So, I'd just like to put your minds at rest - don't worry, I will be bringing souvenirs home for all of you...

For this evening's meal, we went out to a Korean restaurant. I know what you're thinking at this point, and you're wrong. Lassie was not on the menu. However, there were a few unusual options. Before I begin on that, I must just tell you about my trip to the toilet (ok, stay with me on this one). After opening the door and walking into the closet (I can't read Japanese), I opened the door to the toilet and went inside. There I was greeted with what can only be described as a urinal for midgets with very long necks. I couldn't resist taking a photograph (photograph 3).

Right, now, back to our gastronomic festival of cow. As well as the regular cuts of beef, we ate tongue and organs such as the heart and intestines. All of this was brought to our table for us to cook on a small fire-heated grate in the middle of the table, and was washed down with a nice cold beer.

Whilst chewing on my intestine (that's the first time I've ever been able to say that!), I found myself picturing cows wandering the fields of Japan holding organ donor cards with the restaurant's name at the top. Incidentally, if you're wondering what it's like to eat cow intestine, go and pull the inner-tube out of your bicycle tyre, cut a bit off, dip it in barbecue sauce and stick it in your mouth. Quick tip - make sure you've got a puncture repair kit handy to put it all back together afterwards.

Now, I've mentioned before that Japanese people seem able to eat about 4 times their own body weight at every evening meal. Well, tonight was no exception. I haven't seen so much meat consumed since Takanohana, the Sumo Wrestler, visited an Atkins restaurant for an all-you-can-eat buffet (after a month of religious fasting).

Ok, lets go through the food and drink. Photograph 4 shows Sayaka's Dad with two pints of beer - one small one (mine) and one larger one (his). Photograph 5 is of him drinking his (larger) beer. Photograph 6 is of cow tongue, which is thin and slightly chewy. Photograph 7 is one of the normal cuts of beef - delicious. Photograph 8 shows the meat cooking in the middle of the table. Photograph 9 is of the raw meat dish that we ate WITHOUT cooking it. It was mixed with tomato and a small amount of chilli - delicious. Bicycle tyre at the ready, it's the intestine in photograph 10 (the yellow one).

As a break from the food, photographs 11 and 12 are of Mark and me and of Mark, me, Sayaka's Mum and Sayaka's Dad.

After we had stuffed ourselves stupid (seems to be a continuing theme of this trip), Sayaka's Mum and Dad decided that they hadn't quite had enough of my company. So, they suggested that we drive to another local place that served a more comprehensive menu of delicious desserts. How could we refuse? So, off we went.

After arriving at Coco's - the dessert restaurant owned by a clown (I made that bit up) - I ordered a banana pancake (photograph 13), Sayaka's Dad ordered a chocolate sundae (photo 14), Sayaka's Mum ordered a "green tea chocolate fondant" (photo 15) and Mark ordered a chocolate fondant (photo 16). I tried all of their desserts and they were delicious (I didn't let them try mine though - HAHAHAHA!!!!!) Oh, I forgot to say, photograph 13 also shows the origami rose and swan that I made out of the paper napkins and gave to Sayaka's Mum.

Right, that's about it from me for today. Tomorrow we head south on a road trip. Before I go, though, I must reveal that I tried a Japanese toilet properly for the first time today (no, I haven't been shitting on the bathroom floor all week). I thought I owed it to myself and my… handful… of followers to give it a go. At the start, it's quite strange and un-natural as the water is sprayed into your derriere. You find yourself chuckling slightly - firstly out of slight embarrassment at the thought of what is going on and secondly at the slight tickling sensation. Get your garden hose out and try it yourself - just make sure the neighbours are away and, for goodness sake, don't get frostbite!

To conclude - if you ever find yourself walking past a toilet door in Japan and you hear someone chuckling, they're either having their bottom sprayed or... they're reading my blog (or both… hmm, that's a weird thought!)

Good night.

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Japan Day 3 - Kirei Desu Ne

Well, poke me in the eye with a chopstick and call me Long John Silver. I think that most of day 4 will actually be spent blogging about day 3. Yesterday was a long, long day. So, get yourself a sleeping bag and a mug of cocoa - this could be a looooong read. It was the day of Mark and Sayaka's celebration meal. Forty of Sayaka's relatives and friends were invited, with the dinner being held in the posh function suite of the Metropole Hotel in Nagano. Mark and Sayaka wore traditional Japanese dress - Furisode (Sayaka) and Montsuki (Mark). Sayaka looked very pretty (kirei desu ne = "you're beautiful").

Unfortunately, Mark has told me that I'm not allowed to post any photos of them on my blog, so you will have to look forward to seeing photographs of the outfits at a later date.

It was rather an anxious day all round, with appointments to be met for Mark and Sayaka (hair and outfits), speeches to be memorised (Mark had two speeches to do, which were made difficult by the fact that they used old Japanese phrases) and with the evening dinner itself. I had the job of official photographer, which proved to be tricky (but fun) because I wasn't used to the format of the occasion.

Before the evening began, Mark and I started off having lunch at a little restaurant called Ichibun (not to be mistaken with a rash on your bottom - "itchy bum"). The guy had built his little restaurant on the side of his house; a quaint little place. Photographs 1, 2 and 3 show Mark and me eating our lunch - Mark had Ramen and I had a dish made of chicken, egg and rice. Notice my use of chopsticks - I'm getting better at this. It was a light lunch - thank goodness for that. When it comes to evening meals, the Japanese manage to eat several times their own body weight... well, that's the way it seemed last night anyway.

With lunch out of the way, and having picked up my new suit, it was time to make our way to the hotel to prepare for the evening.

The evening was in two parts. Firstly, the official dinner. Secondly, a small party with a group of close friends at Mario's restaurant; about 10 minutes walk from the hotel.

Official Dinner

Sayaka and Mark welcomed all forty guests into the room - I was with them taking group photographs and attempted to use some of my Japanese phrases. I quickly learned the policy of 'if in doubt, just nod enthusiastically' as some of the guests spoke to me. They were all really friendly and were genuinely pleased to meet me. Then began two hours of eating food, presentations, eating more food, more presentations, more food… It really was an amazing evening. We had about 8 courses of food in the end - from sushi to soup to cottage pie. Esdras, who was on my table, was kind enough to point out to me, each time a dish arrived, that it wasn't yet the main course. I thought he was joking… until the main course finally did arrive after the 6 previous dishes had been consumed.

The MC of the evening introduced presentations about Mark and Sayaka and kept things ticking along. There were speeches, singing, games (Mark was blindfolded at one point and had to guess which hand was Sayaka's from a group of women holding out their hands). Mark did incredibly well with his speech - he had a lot to learn and was understandably nervous speaking traditional Japanese to so many of Sayaka's relatives. Meanwhile, I was running around like a blue-arsed-fly trying to take photographs from every conceivable angle - not knowing what was coming next.

Right, on to photos:
Photographs 4 and 5 are of Nonchan looking "kirei" (beautiful) whilst elegantly stuffing her face with food.
Photograph 6 is of me eating food with my chopsticks, photograph 7 is of me taking photos of the food (Mark asked me to do it, honest!).

Photograph 8 is the sushi dish.
Photograph 9 is of the waiter dishing out cottage pie (course number 6).

It is traditional, at this type of occasion, for members of the family to come up and pour you a drink. So, lots of member's of Sayaka's family poured me drinks. This resulted in a build-up of drinks around me. Photograph 10 shows this - two drinks of Sake, one of champagne, one white wine, one red wine, one water and one tea.

Photograph 11 is of the dessert. I was absolutely stuffed at this point, but still managed to eat some of the delicious strawberry and yoghurt and the little apple flan.

Photograph 12 is of Esdras, Nonchan and me at the end of the evening.

Unofficial Party

After the official dinner, we had a quick change of clothes and headed out to Mario's restaurant. There we ate (more food!? Surely not!), drank, had laughs and played silly games. It was great fun. Photograph 13 is of Mark and Sayaka playing a game - Sayaka was blindfolded and had to guess which 'derriere' was Mark's. Photographs 14 and 15 are of Mark, me and Sayaka making fools of ourselves. Photograph 16 is of the whole group of us.

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Japan Day 2 Eve - Sukiyaki

Ok, this is my second blog of the day. It's gone midnight here and we have just returned from our evening with Sayaka's family. Present at the meal along with Sayaka, Mark and myself were Sayaka's Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Nephew (3 1/2) and Niece (< 1 year):

The evening was very pleasant and lots of laughs were had - I did my best to remember my five Japanese phrases. Mark was kept busy doing his excellent translation between Japanese and English. Our meal was Sukayiki (see photos 1 and 2). To quote from Wikipedia, "It consists of thinly sliced beef and/or tofu slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs". Photo 3 shows Masaki adding the thinly sliced beef to the pot.

To wash it down, we drank beer and sake (see photo 4 of Sayaka's Dad with sake bottles). Photograph 5 shows Mark giving a cuddle to Sayaka's little niece (Hana). Sayaka's Dad spent much of the evening walking backwards and forwards cuddling Hana and trying to get her to drop off to sleep. However, at one point I found myself wondering whether it would be Hana or Sayaka's Dad himself that would fall asleep first (he has a reputation for drinking and dozing and his eyes were drooping). Photograph 6 shows Sayaka's little nephew (3 year old, who speaks Japanese AND English, by the way) opening the box of desserts - waffles filled with various flavours from chocolate coffee through to strawberries and cream and mango and orange with cream. Very delicious indeed.

After stuffing our faces (gee, I put that so eloquently) , Mark received an invite from two of his English speaking friends, Esdras and Yuzo, who invited us out for a quick drink. It was nice to meet them both, as they will be on my table for tomorrow's party.

Ok, holy crap, I've just been shown a photo of a large black spider on Nonchan's phone... I recognised the carpet immediately - it is the same carpet that is underneath my futon (mattress on the floor). Apparently it was there earlier and she took a photo before putting it outside - Sayaka and Mark have just said that it is the first spider that they've EVER found inside the house. What a way to start your count - I hope it doesn't have a twin brother!

Right, that's it from me. Tomorrow evening is Mark's big day where he has to stand up and give his speech to 40 people, in old Japanese, at their big celebration party. He is rather nervous, to say the least. I will be sitting on a table near the front, with Nonchan, Esdras and Yuzo and one other Japanese girl. I will be taking lots of photographs and will endeavour to post a few on here.

As usual, feel free to leave your comments below...
NN

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Japan Day 1 - Tokyo

Day 1 began at Tokyo Narita airport. The 12 hour flight went ok and I actually managed to grab about four hours sleep. More importantly, though, the raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes that Mo had given me to take for Mark were still intact (and I hadn't eaten any)!

I met up with Mark and we took an hour's train to central Tokyo, where we then found our accommodation for the night. Our first stop after that was for lunch (see photo 1). We ate Tonkatsu - breaded pork with cabbage, miso soup, rice and mayonnaise dip. Very tasty indeed.

We wandered around for a while after that, before I had to go for a nap as I was feeling really quite jet lagged. After a couple of hours rest, we went back out. First stop - the largest electrical store in Tokyo (see photo 2). Nine floors of electrical goods as far as the eye can see - very impressive. If you need a computer mouse, this is the place to come - check out photo 3: an entire aisle dedicated to the little (non-fluffy) hand-held vermin device.

Last stop of the day was for food at a 24 hour Sushi restaurant at Sushizanmai. As we walked in, all the staff gave a big cheerful Japanese welcome from behind the huge bar - I felt like some kind of movie star - someone must have told them I was coming. My feeling of self-importance lasted only a minute, however, as it became obvious that they gave the same greeting to everyone who came in to eat. For dinner we consumed various types of tuna (photo 4), red snapper, flounder's fin, scallop, eel and tamagoyaki (a kind of sweetened egg roll). Part way through the meal, the staff all stopped what they were doing and one of them held up a huge crab (still moving). He announced that they were going to sell the legs for 1000 yen (about £6.50) each (yes, the crab quickly became legless). We didn't partake but I did get a photo (see photo 5).

I will finish on a final thought. Whilst walking around Tokyo today, I have noticed that a lot of the Japanese ladies seem very bow legged. I had an idea - if they were to strap coconut shells to their knees and pin a couple of maracas to their arms, they could provide percussion entertainment as they walk along.

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