Posted in Japan on July 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
No one will ask you how you like your meat cooked at a yakiniku restaurant. Plates of sliced raw meat are brought to your table and you cook it yourself on a mini BBQ built into your table! How fun!
Yakiniku means “grilled meat.” Last Friday we went to a Korean style yakiniku restaurant with [...]
Posted in Japan, pasta on July 18, 2008 | 2 Comments »
My first encounter with somen noodles was at an elementary school summer festival in Yamaguchi Prefecture 4 years ago. I watched as thin, white noddles were sent sliding down halved bamboo shoots, and children and parents gathered around trying to grab them with their chopsticks on their way down. The noodles that made it down [...]
Posted in Japan on July 13, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Anything coated in crunchy panko breadcrumbs and deep-fried has to be irresistible. Known as “food for the common people,” Kushi-katsu is popular among young and old in the neighborhood of Shinsekai, home of Tsutenkaku Tower – the symbol of Osaka.
Tsutenkaku means “tower reaching heaven.” It was built in 1912, but was taken apart in 1943 [...]
Posted in Japan, desserts on July 12, 2008 | 4 Comments »
This is the Osakan summer we remember. Mid-90s. 80% humidity. It’s really grand. But anyway, last week we went not once, but twice to a little shop that sells the best yakisoba on the planet. (Yakisoba means “fried noodles” and is just that; soba noodles stir fried with cabbage and a deliciously tangy [...]
Posted in beans, breakfast, mexican on July 6, 2008 | 4 Comments »
That title means “Mexican Eggs.” If we were Japanese this is probably what we’d call this dish, because it’s inspired by everyone’s favorite Mexican breakfast Huevos Rancheros, and it involves eggs (tamago). But anyway, it only takes a few simple ingredients to create a healthy dinner or breakfast.
If using dry black beans: Soak 8 [...]
Posted in Japan, beans, holidays, side dishes on July 5, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Gaijin means “foreign person.” It’s not the most respectful term in Japanese, but it’s not degrading either. It simply means you are not Japanese, but for some reason you are here in Japan. So what do gaijin do on 4th of July? Well, we don’t have BBQs because people only do that [...]
