すし パーティー！ (Sushi Party!)

This is completely unrelated to the rest of this post, but it's worth mentioning because it was really good! The label says apple, milk, and lemon, but I could swear I tasted honey too.

Aaaaand on with the show!


We tried something new: hosting a sushi party. I wasn't sure what to get or what to expect, but I had help from some Japanese friends. Husband and I went to the store and guessed at a variety of fish and vegetables.

Shown here are avocado, tako (octopus), maguro (tuna), asparagus, and rice mixed with sushi vinegar.


On the stove were two types we weren't sure were okay to eat raw, so our awesome friends cooked and seasoned them while I chopped vegetables. The sticks on the left are some sort of mystery fish, but it had a great buttery flavor. The salmon sticks on the right were labeled "sashimi quality" but we weren't sure if it was meant to be eaten raw or just as good as the stuff that's meant to be eaten raw. It probably would have been fine, but we cooked it just to be safe. The yellow thing at the bottom is tamagoyaki, the rolled omelet often served as sushi. I'm so excited that I know how to make this now that it's a little silly. But I need to get a rectangular frying pan to properly cook and roll it.

Cucumber, carrot, avocado, and (cracked pepper) cream cheese.

Pickled ginger! It looks pretty gross, but it has a great zingy flavor.

I have these awesome rice molds for making maki (the cylindrical sushi) and on the right is for the tiny lumps of rice raw fish sits on. Have I mentioned how much I love the 100-yen store?

I'm no expert, but the molds worked moderately well for me.

Most people had a plate of ingredients:

Then folded those ingredients into a small square of nori. I converted to this method pretty quickly, it was much less of a pain in the neck to put everything together.

After sushi, we introduced our friends to the Kinect and the dance game we've been playing. Crooked helped.

I thought it would be fun to get some video of people playing the game, then Crooked decided I should pay attention to him instead.

A Mishmash: Fruit, Art, Snow, and Pizza Bones

Disclaimer: This post has no flow or style. I was pretty much just cleaning out the memory card on my camera and found some things I photographed and meant to share, but they aren't big or important enough to have as individual entries.



Mystery Fruit
We saw this at the commissary. It appears to be a cross between a grapefruit and a honeydew melon, with perhaps a little bit of volleyball in its ancestry.
Turns out it's just the biggest grapefruit we've ever seen. Fortunately, it was super easy to peel and pretty tasty. Kind of a hassle to eat, but totally worth trying.




Art Gallery Opening
One of our Japanese friends is in a painting class; her professor had an art gallery opening in one of the Hilton neighborhoods. I say "Hilton neighborhoods" because inside the hotel was what appeared to be an underground city, complete with boutique and souvenir shops, and it took some navigating to find the art gallery. I don't actually know if it was part of the hotel or if the hotel was just on top of an actual underground city.

I sort of expected more of that social circle (a very international group) to be there, but I only knew two people and we were the only non-Japanese people. If I could have spoken Japanese, I could have charmed everyone in the room. As it was, people kept wanting to come over and meet us, ask us where we're from, and push plates of food and cups of beer and wine in our hands. So it was a little awkward, but not a bad experience. One person apparently thought I was an actress or otherwise somebody famous when we first arrived, which is flattering. A couple gentlemen could speak conversational English and had some interesting stories to tell.

Sigh. I can't wait to be good at Japanese.

One gentleman apparently makes guitars and may be well known in Japan, but I didn't catch his name. He plays classical guitar breathtakingly well.

On our way out of the building after the reception, we passed this:


Then, outside, one of those nighttime scenes that makes me realize all over again that I live in Tokyo. Tokyo!




Hey, Tokyo DOES Get Snow!
Wet and slushy snow, but snow nonetheless. Enough for a footprint, even!


Crooked did not approve. He refused to step on any snow and politely asked to go back inside almost immediately.



Pizzakaya
There's a fabulous pizza joint in Roppongi called Pizzakaya. The website isn't the most polished design, but don't let that fool you into thinking their pizza isn't top notch. It's Grade-A stuff. Plus, if your group consists of four or more people you have the option to get the 2-hour all-you-can-eat pizza and salad option. Which we did. And it was awesome.

Taco pizza. I'm told it tastes exactly like eating a taco.


Half pepper and olive, half three different kinds of mushrooms.

This is called Rahat, the menu describes it as,"spicy lean ground beef with Pakistani spices topped with tomatoes and mozzarella."

The Great White: parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and olive oil.

Half plain cheese, half almost every vegetable one can fit on pizza.

I could have helped finish off those pizzas if they hadn't contained so much meat. Silly carnivores.

I think the crust is darn tasty, but not everyone eats the pizza bones. (Thank you, Tammy, for that expression. It has now spread to the other side of the world and has already been used in conversation.)
You've seen Mount Fuji. Now behold Mount Pizza Bones.


Random Photo from Somewhere Inside Shinjuku Station
Shinjuku station is enormous. We've been here for almost a year and every time we go to Tokyo we change trains at Shinjuku, but it's still not uncommon for me to discover a new hallway or shopping wing. This is just some neat wall art, I don't know the story behind it.

Valentine's Day: Give Your Man Some Chocolate

The Japanese love present-based holidays. Who can blame them? Presents are kind of fun.

Valentine's day here is all about hearts and chocolates and affection like you would expect, but the way it's done is a little different. Here, the men receive chocolates and gifts.

What's the woman's motivation to give chocolate (precious chocolate!) to men (who often don't appreciate it nearly as much)? Because the sentiment is reciprocated with interest on White Day.

White Day is a totally made up holiday in March to be the girl's equivalent of Valentine's Day. On that day, the men give women white gifts of a value two to three times as much as she spent on his Valentine's Day gifts. White chocolate, white lingerie, and marshmallows are the traditional gifts according to Wikipedia.

I was a bad wife and didn't get my husband flowers this year (I have in the past), but I did get him chocolates. In a Hello Kitty bag. I'm reasonably certain she's not flipping you off, but not completely.

When I presented it to him it had a tissue paper flower spilling out the top, but was otherwise just like this.

Inside, a modest treasure. I didn't go crazy, and not just because I wasn't aware of the threefold return on White Day until I looked it up this afternoon. Being my gift to him won't stop me from eating it, and I have precious little willpower when it comes to chocolate. It's better not to have a huge stockpile sitting around the house staring at me and calling my name.

The blue box just looked good. Apple brandy in chocolate? Sign me up! I have no idea what's in the box on the right because I can't read, but it should be chocolate and worth trying. The Reece's are pretty self-explanatory.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Weight Loss via Steam Potty

Click on the pictures to make them bigger. Better yet, open them in a new window so you can see the full-size image while you read my interpretation.


We've gotten some interesting fliers in our mailbox, but this one might take the cake. And then move said cake right through you.

I'll explain.

I can't read much of the text, but it appears to be an advertisement for a detox and/or weight loss program at a spa.


In this little cycle, we have several steps.

1. Talk to a representative.
   Okay, I'm with you. New customers always have to fill out some paperwork.
   
   
2. Put on a catsuit.
   I'm used to seeing spa commercials with white fluffy bathrobes, but whatever.
   
   
3. Wash your hands and feet.
   Part of the cleaning/detox process? That is acceptable. Hands and feet get dirty.
   
   
4. Put on your cult robe and cowl.
   Wait, what?
   
   
5. Steam your nether region over our custom toilet, facilitated by a mysterious orange liquid.
   Don't do it, it's a trap!
   
   
6. Surprise!
   ...I think I should never go here.
   
   
7. Apply a little mousse and do a pirouette on our scale.
   I really wish I could read Japanese.
   

The other side has a more detailed version.

1. Welcome to YoSa!
   
   
2. Wouldn't you like to sit in this chair? It's all sparkly and stuff.
   
   
3. (internal monologue?)
   
   
4. Go! Go now!
   
   
5. Having second thoughts? Remember how upset you were when you put on your favorite dress and discovered it was too small? That's what I thought. Go inside.
   
   
6. You will be given some tea. Put the tea in your pants, then put on your HAZMAT dress and sit on the potty while your naughty bits are steamed. Wait about an hour.
   
   
7. Drink the kool-aid, but don't eat the potpourri. What you're feeling is perfectly normal, don't worry.
   
   
8. You may shower afterward, but remember to apply deodorant.
   
   
9. You'll look ten years younger!
   
   
10. And that dress will fit again!
    
    
11. You will be given all the waste you produce as a result of your kool-aid and potpourri experience. Do with it as you like.
    

12 - 15. I'm not sure what's happening here. I think it involves a "fountain of youth" spell, but the details of that aren't important because you can fit into that dress again.


Update!
It looks like it's not actually a toilet, it just looks like one.

Farmer's Market and The Chijimi Experiment

The Farmer's Market

I was out with a friend a few weeks ago and we walked through a farmer's market in front of the United Nations University in Shibuya. There was so much cool stuff! I was most interested in the jams and their crazy flavors, but I also had the opportunity to try fresh wasabi (ground in front of us from a root), pink salt (I did not try the white or black salts), apple-garlic salad dressing, plum syrup, seed-filled breads, and lemon cake. I fully intend to go back sometime and try some more bizarre things.

On the left is wildflower jam (not sure what kind of flower), on the right is lavender jam. Other jam flavors included carrot-orange, basil, and the usual strawberry. Some booths offered samples on crackers, others diluted the jams with hot water and offered it in small paper cups like tea. It was cold, so that was a great way to taste new flavors.


I have no idea what I'm going to do with this plum syrup, but it'll be awesome!


I also saw this crazy thing, apparently a Lithuanian pastry baked on a spit of some sort. I can't remember what it's called.



The Chijimi Experiment

When we went to Niigata the second time, I had the opportunity to try chijimi. I'd never heard of it before, but was the only menu item that fit into a pescatarian diet. In doing some Internet research to find out more about what the heck it was, I found Kanako's Kitchen, a blog all about Japanese home cooking. Including a very easy-to-follow chijimi recipe, which went on my To-Do list.

I took a trip to the local grocery store and, to my surprise, had absolutely no trouble finding any of the ingredients. The thing I was a little worried about is nira, a Chinese leek that is apparently what makes chijimi taste like chijimi, but it was right there in the produce section. The label was even in Katakana instead of kanji, so I could read it.

I'm also in the habit of photo-documenting potentially hilarious and/or disastrous kitchen endeavors, and cooking is not something I'm particularly good at most of the time. Sure, I make a good pot roast (so I'm told, I've never tasted it, but that's another story entirely), but I wouldn't call myself particularly skilled in the kitchen as a generality.

At any rate, this is all the ingredients for the batter, substance, and sauce. I skipped the seafood, used dried onion flakes instead of real onion, and put shallots/chives/green onion in the batter instead of just in the sauce (there's some Facebook debate about what the round green things are, but I can't read the label on the box), but otherwise I followed directions like a good student:


First step: mix the batter together and refrigerate for 3-12 hours.
Check!


(time passes...)


Next: put in all the vegetables and sesame seeds.
Check!


Stir, stir, stir...


Glop a couple spoonfuls in an oiled frying pan over medium heat, cook covered for a couple minutes on both sides...

Dude! I did it! Success! And not the "peanut butter cookies in the fish griller" kind of success, but actual success. It was actually pretty easy to do, and I'll definitely do this again.

The dipping sauce (not pictured) is a series of ingredients I never, ever would have put together: soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, and lime juice. But it's really good with chijimi.

I got four pancakes out of that recipe, one or two is enough for dinner. Leftovers reheated in the toaster are a little more crispy on the outside and just as tasty as fresh ones. I recommend anyone with an interest in cooking and access to nira give this a try.