Monday, November 12, 2007

にほんりょうり!

Food!!!!!!!!!!!!~~~ にほんりょうり!〜〜〜

In class today we talked about food for a bit... It made me so hungry!! I have eaten all the kinds of sushi we talked about except for the rectangular-shaped pieces... おもしろいです。。。they looked interesting!

Food is one of my favorite things - and Japanese food is one of my favorite types!!! Although I pretty much will eat anything :) I like to try as many things as I can... In this blog I'll talk about some of the things I got the chance to eat in Japan, or at Japanese restaurants in New York or California, where I'm from. Californians LOVE Japanese food, especially sushi :) It's everywhere (in city areas), and you can get really good sushi for pretty low prices, especially in coastal areas like San Diego (where I've lived for the past 7 years or so) because there's lots of fresh fish. Although, in California, you do find lots of "non-Japanese" sushi - obviously, California rolls, but also lots of other inventive things. Brazilian sushi is also おいしい! Actually, back at home, I would go to lunch as often as I could to a Hawaiian-themed/-influenced sushi place called Aloha Sushi (かわいいね!). It was very very good, especially for its prices, although it was not authentic or traditional sushi. One of my favorite things (which I miss dearly) was a roll that had うなぎ (eel) and tempura-ed banana, with some avocado, crab, and eel sauce. It may not sound very appealing but the eel and banana taste delicious together! ^_^ I haven't found that in many places...

さとうせんせいの blog talks for a bit about okonomiyaki. おこのみやきとてもすきです!!In Japan, you can go into a small restaurant and they grill the okonomiyaki on grill-like-strips built into the bar or table... すごいね。 It's unbelievably おいしい!! Everyone MUST try it sometime - it's one of the things I missed most when I came back to the U.S. because it's hard to find it here (although I have found it in NYC! Yay!). ニューヨークはすきですから、とてもおもしろいです。。。そしてとてもおおきいです。

Also in Japan I went to a restaurant in Kyoto that served すきやき (sukiyaki)! It is similar to しゃぶはぶ (shabu shabu), although I think I personally like すきやき better. Not only is すきやき delicious, but it is also a lot of fun! (as is shabu shabu!) It makes for a great group outing!




<-- Sukiyaki






Another thing I had a lot of in Japan was green tea ice cream. I went in the summer, and it got really hot sometimes, so I have lots of fond memories about green tea ice cream and iced green tea from vending machines. :)




<-- I think it looks cute...ね?









One thing that is also particularly interesting about Japan and eating in Japan is that most restaurants have dispays outside of plastic models of their dishes. It makes you hungry! And is also very useful if you speak and read NO Japanese at all - as I did when I went! I, with my schoolmates on the trip, would memorize some of the characters that were underneath the displays outside and point to them on the menu. That resulted in a very interesting eating experience, since lots of times we would mix up characters and get something totally different! But I remember everything being delicious!! (Of course, I will literally eat anything..)

The thing I ate most often was probably noodles/soup, like udon, even though it was often very hot outside, because udon was often relatively cheap and Japan in general is very expensive. My favorite udon was tempura shrimp udon - they give you tempura shrimp in the udon. Yum ^_^



<-- Tempura shrimp udon! Yay for comfort food. (at least it is for me!)





Finally, the most interesting eating experience... This was probably when I stayed overnight in a Buddhist monastery (とてもすごい!!). Obviously, the monks were all vegetarians (vegan actually), so I had two days of completely vegan food... I actually really enjoyed it, although I was I think the only one on the trip who did. They can do the most interesting things out of seeds and various roots and vegetables and whatnot. I ate lots and lots of tofu, of course! And other gelatinous, unidentifiable things... Actually, most of the time I had no idea what I was eating. Also, lots of rice - once we finished the rice, we would mix it into the green tea and drink the rest, so no rice is wasted. I think it also was for good luck or something - I don't remember exactly...

That's all for now! Sorry for the long post - I have lots to say about たべもの。

What do you guys like to eat??

No comments: