Japanese Tabemono

KK-

Ok, yes, I am still posting about my Japan trip.  At this point, it is for record keeping since it is really old news now.


Today is about the food in Japan - D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S


Of course we had some sushi in a cute little shop around the corner from the LDS Temple.  Big D dipped everything in wasabi and I just stuck with the regular soy sauce.  Check out Miga using her chopsticks!

One day we ate a delicious kind of donburi which has rice at the bottom with a meat and vegetable sweet sauce and then an egg cracked over the top.  


We also ate Gyudon a couple of times.  Big D liked this because it is basically a bowl of meat with rice at the bottom.  You can order it in about 10 different sizes and super huge is the size Big D ordered.  I enjoyed ordering a soft cooked egg and mixing it in with the meat.  For some reason I am not afraid of eating raw eggs in Japan.


We loved eating at the curry shops.  Japanese curry is not liked Indian curry, but it is still delicious.  Luckily for all of us, Japan allows you to eat your curry and rice with a big spoon.  Our only complaint was that the water glasses were too small.  We had to constantly refill them.  At a couple of the places they only served Mugicha - a tea that tastes like to dirt to me.  Poppa, Btown and Big D did not think it was that bad tasting, but it was.


Another night we tried Takoyaki - octopus.  Btown's friend owned a Takoyaki shop that we ate at.  Honestly, octopus is really chewy but does not have a bad taste.  They serve takoyaki wrapped up in batter and fried.  Then you squirt some mayo and sauce over it before you take a bite.

We went out to lunch with some friends to an "all-you-can-eat" buffet.  This buffet was unique because you deep fried all of the food yourself.  Each table had a frier and you filled your plate with food on skewers.  Once your food was cooked, you dipped in a myriad of sauces and enjoyed.  For dessert they had a chocolate fountain with cream puffs and other treats to dip.  Miga and Big D cleaned out the place of cream puffs.  The only catch to this is that you are timed at the restaurant and only have 1 hour to eat.  I think we still ate way to much in one hour's time.

Personally, I wanted to stop at a Ramen shop.  I loved their big bowels of ramen and how they warm you up to the bone.  On a rainy day we stopped in a enjoy a warm bowel of ramen.  It was exactly what I wanted.

In Japan, there are convenience stores, "Konbini" on every corner and in between each corner.  Inside these Konbinis you can find delicious bread/pastries.  Melon bread, rolls stuffed with cream or beans or chocolate, sweet potato bread, chocolate swirl bread and more.  The "boys"  enjoyed darting off into every other Konbini to grab a cream bread or some other treat.  I enjoyed grabbing an onigiri at every Konbini.  It is rice wrapped in seaweed - my favorite.  I need to figure out how to make them myself!


It is very common for their to be a display of plastic food outside every restaurant in Japan.  Luckily the food is always more appetizing then how it looks in the display.

We did eat at a McDonalds to try their Teriyaki burger.  It is very different than the American version, but still tasty.


We were lucky enough to enjoy a home cooked meal by the Nakamuras.  They served us a delicious meat sauce over rice, with salad and fruit and chocolate tofu.  The chocolate tofu tasted like fudge - I want the recipe.  They were so kind to us and we definitely enjoyed their company more than the food albeit the food was amazing.

The #1 food I ate in Japanese was actual a first for me.  We flew up to Sapporo and tried a local popular dish called soup curry.  It has the flavor of curry, but it is closer to a broth consistency.  In the soup are large pieces of vegetable and meat.  You can dip your rice in the soup or vice versa.  This seriously MY FAVORITE dish.  After we had it on our first day, I begged go back the next day.  When I got home to Seattle, I searched to see if they had a soup curry place - no such luck.  I am seriously wanting to open up my own soup curry restaurant here, it is that good.  Great.... now I am craving soup curry.

Doesn't my rambling make you want to eat Japanese food?  I hope so. 


I know there are other delicious things we ate over there, but we will just have to go back again to enjoy them again.


Oishikatta!


-Miss T