Japan - - Page 2

by gansie

Real Convenience at a Convenience Store

Before our train ride from Tokyo to Osaka, 80 and I went to am pm (convenience store) to stock up on some snacks. I bought this, thinking it was a hard boiled egg, but also slightly hoping it was gushy in the middle, a la the picture.

So after I ate my little rice triangle thing (also bought at am pm), which is sticky rice, formed into a triangle, topped with a cooked piece of salmon and tied together with seaweed, I pulled out my egg. It was rock hard and I was scared. I didn’t want raw egg to get everywhere so I placed it back into its package, waiting to explore it in a safer environment.

It made sense that it was a raw egg. Lots of places in Japan serve hot rice dishes with a raw egg on the side. The customer cracks it into the rice and the heat from the grains melts the egg, leaving a moist coating over the egg and its toppings (usually thinly sliced beef.)

I was pisted I didn’t buy the accompanying rice bowl to properly use the egg.

The egg stayed in our mini-fridge until our train ride back to Tokyo station, to connect to the train to the airport, to connect to the flight to Seoul. Right before we left I brought the egg to the bathroom sink.

The Louder the Better

“Put down your plate,” my Aunt Lorrie whispers through laughter. She had taken me—and me alone, not my brother and my sister—to IHOP. I forget why I was singled out, but I felt special.

This was during the early years of my decade-long pancake obsession (from about age 6-16) and after the last of the pancake was in me, I slanted the plate toward my face and started to lick the remaining syrup.

This was clearly not appropriate in a Southern Jersey restaurant. Okay, no jokes. In any US restaurant. We just don’t show that sort of oneness with our food.

It’s probably from our stuffy British ancestors. But in America we have certain stoic standards of eating. Plates and bowls are kept on the table. No noises should utter from our mouths, except maybe a soft mmmm.

Being a dramatic type, I will show my appreciation through an extended closing of the eyes so that I may tune out the rest of the table to fully concentrate on the bite within me. I may utter a slightly-louder-than-normal mmmm. But that’s all. That’s all we do to communicate deliciousness. Well, and tip. But that’s another story.

Meanwhile, in Japan they’ve realized eating is a full-body sport. Chopsticks become an extension of the hand in a way that sharp metal objects cannot. It is fully expected that when eating one will bring a bowl of rice or noodles up to her face. Shoveling in rice. Slurping up noodle soup.

Fourteen Hours

Wow. As you’re reading this I will be on a 14 -hour flight to Toyko. Holy poop balls.

Instead of printing our itineraries, properly rolling clothes and desperately seeking out sleeping pills, 80 and I watched Andrew Zimmerman’s fucked-up eating show, Bizarre Foods. His Japan episode, of course.

And my lord I’m terrified. I know the whole point of his show is to eat the craziest shit possible, but it still made me really nervous, yet excited, for the very new animals I will be eating. Or try to eat. Or try not to puke up.

This clip is particularly interesting. (And Osaka is one of our stops!) At the very end of this segment you’ll see Andrew eating raw horse. It’s actually raw horse mane: the strip of tissue horse hair is attached to. He calls it buttery.

So dudes. Wish me luck, as 80 and I fuck shit up on the other side of the world. Or at least take pictures that make us look like we’re cool.

in Personal 1 comments

by gansie

Chicken in the Raw

OhMyGod – Guess What?!?!

80P and I are going to Japan and South Korea!

We’re doing a week in/around Tokyo and a week in/around Seoul. We’re looking for travel suggestions, especially where to eat. We’re also interested in taking an over-night trip from both cities. I would like to know where I can buy an entire new wardrobe and 80 would like to know where he can drink sake while I clothes shop.

Last night I went to a press dinner at Kushi, a Japanese style sushi, raw bar and grill. The owners there are really nice and knowledgeable about Japan and I tried to learn as much as possible so I don’t look like a total asshole when I’m in Asia. Oh and the food is kick-ass, especially the crispy duck thigh, the heritage breed chicken wing, the miso marinated fish and pretty much any of the sashimi.

Things I’ve Learned Pre-Japan

Patrons are given a warm, damp cloth at the beginning of meal to cleanse their hands and then use as napkin.

Robata is a grill.

Never drink sake with a rice dish. Sake is made from rice so it’d be a double starch. Imagine adding potatoes to pasta. However, sushi is fine to drink with sake, the rule is more geared to a bowl of rice.

Shoji is like vodka. If I remembered that correctly. An anti-hangover drink combines ukon, a turmeric tea, mixed with shoji.

Chicken is eaten raw in Japan. Chicken can be served sashimi style and eaten with wasbi and soy, like fish.

in Personal / Restaurants 7 comments