I seem to be lacking drive in the kitchen lately. I have food I can cook, but it is the same, tired recipes that I make at least once in a two week period. I don't know where to turn. I can't bake. Grilling is difficult at best. There are only so many ways to stirfry vegetables and meat. I've wandered through the list of websites I know, looking for new recipes. I seem to be lacking inspiration. This unfortunately leads me to fast food, since I can't bring myself to cook.
Part of the problem is the produce available. I love peppers, but they're so expensive I can't afford to use them often. On top of that, most recognizable vegetables from a US grocery store just aren't sold in Japan. Many spices also aren't available where we live. It can be frustrating at times. I can't make any variety of salads because they would cost as much as $10 per person, unless I want to use cabbage instead of lettuce. I don't. Add to the fact that things like soups are so far out of season, given that it is so hot and humid, I struggle to find summer ready recipes.
Gyros, Tacos, Burgers, Italian Chicken, Pizza, Meatball subs, Spagetti. Those are the recipes that are in my current cycle. If only I could find something new to make.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Chocolate Ice
Fran is the main competitor of Pocky, which is much better known. Anyways, Fran has a new flavor out, Ice Berry. I was afraid I was about to eat mentholated chocolate, but there is none to be had. It tastes like a great berries and chocolate concoction, though the "Ice" part perplexes me. It's summer, there's no menthol (which would seem somewhat cooling if you ate it) and it doesn't resemble anything icy. Oh well, it tastes fantastic and in the end, that is all that matters.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Drinks of the month
Lately there's been a variety of new drinks released in Japan, I've managed to try a couple.
Mountain Dew Max, never officially marketed in Japan, they finally have a nationwide product. It tastes reasonably close to regular 'Dew, with one odd change. It's bright green. It looks like lime jello. I remember it being yellow in America.
Pepsi Blue Hawaii, is supposed to taste like pineapple and lemon. Blue hawaii-type flavors should be awesome from my experience, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, it tastes like a sour alcoholic drink. And it was a little short on the blue flavor.
I mentioned a while ago about the fizzy orange drink, well they've come out with a new flavor, grape. They picture the red and green grapes on the can, but it's heavy on the green flavor. A pity really, because I liked the orange one. There's just too much green grape.
Sprite Zero, this isn't a new flavor, but it's new to Japan. They don't sell regular sprite at anything except vending machines. This tastes exactly the same as is does in the US.
Mountain Dew Max, never officially marketed in Japan, they finally have a nationwide product. It tastes reasonably close to regular 'Dew, with one odd change. It's bright green. It looks like lime jello. I remember it being yellow in America.
Pepsi Blue Hawaii, is supposed to taste like pineapple and lemon. Blue hawaii-type flavors should be awesome from my experience, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, it tastes like a sour alcoholic drink. And it was a little short on the blue flavor.
I mentioned a while ago about the fizzy orange drink, well they've come out with a new flavor, grape. They picture the red and green grapes on the can, but it's heavy on the green flavor. A pity really, because I liked the orange one. There's just too much green grape.
Sprite Zero, this isn't a new flavor, but it's new to Japan. They don't sell regular sprite at anything except vending machines. This tastes exactly the same as is does in the US.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Chocolate and what?
Salt. Yeah, chocolate and salt. Not dissolved or just flavored, big flakes of it, like crushed up nuts or pieces of candy canes. This is the latest chocolate in the store right now. Salt+Choco. It's not a terrible mix, just a little strange when you first think about it. Andrea described it as being like chocolate-covered pretzels, without the chocolate. It was worth trying, but I'll stick to regular chocolate if I'm having a craving.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Back in the saddle, a day in Shinjuku
Sorry for the unscheduled break. Things happen. Life goes on.
I went to Tokyo last weekend, and beyond the drinking and wandering through Shinjuku, I actually had some good food. We ate lunch at a little indian restaurant. I use the term indian loosely. It had curry and naan(indian flat bread), but the menu was clearly geared towards Japanese tastes. Beyond that, it was pretty good. My chicken curry was not as spicy as I like, but I know from experience that different regions have different recipes. Not all curry has to be spicy. The naan was also delicious. The plain one is similar to greek-styled american flat bread, but the garlic one was fantastic. Bread covered in roasted garlic, how can you go wrong? They also brought it out with a massive plate of saffron-looking rice. I say "looking" because there wasn't much taste, though I could tell what they were trying to achieve.
For dinner we went to an izakaya(essentially a place to get beer and food for groups of people). This one charged $40 per person, but it was all you can drink for 2 hours, in addition to the multi-course meal(that is still a little high, but everything else that could hold our 15 person group was booked). We started with a "salad," which turned out to be just pieces of cabbage. That is not salad where I come from. They did eventually bring out a real salad, though it was random shredded vegetables that looked more like the left over garbage than a meal course. I chose not to partake. Next we received fried shrimp. Everyone knows by aversion to seafood, and again, I left my helping to someone else.
Then came the main courses. Some pan fried pork slices were served, and similar to every piece of meat in Japan, were about half fat. This is really annoying to this American man who enjoyed his meats lean and skinless. I still have a hard time with it. Right after the pork, they brought out some barbecued chicken. This is a fairly common thing in Japan, and it is a little sweeter and less spicy than what most people would think of bbq'd chicken in the US.
A large metal bowl filled with various vegetables and raw meat was placed on top of the gas stoves on the tables(I knew they had those there for a reason). Underneath all the fixings there must have been some spices and liquid, because almost immediately a yellow liquid began bubbling up. It was in fact, curry soup, with cabbage, onions and pork. It was very good, a little spicy without being too hot. For some reason after all of us had eaten most of the soup, they brought out noodles for it. They were soba noodles, and went well with the rest of the soup, even if most of it was gone.
They of course, had drinks. Sadly, at these types of restaurants, they only give you the cheap sake/beer/whiskey. Andrea can usually get various sours, but they don't have a wide range of drinks. With that, I'll end this story. You don't want to hear about the horrors of cheap izakaya alcohol.
I went to Tokyo last weekend, and beyond the drinking and wandering through Shinjuku, I actually had some good food. We ate lunch at a little indian restaurant. I use the term indian loosely. It had curry and naan(indian flat bread), but the menu was clearly geared towards Japanese tastes. Beyond that, it was pretty good. My chicken curry was not as spicy as I like, but I know from experience that different regions have different recipes. Not all curry has to be spicy. The naan was also delicious. The plain one is similar to greek-styled american flat bread, but the garlic one was fantastic. Bread covered in roasted garlic, how can you go wrong? They also brought it out with a massive plate of saffron-looking rice. I say "looking" because there wasn't much taste, though I could tell what they were trying to achieve.
For dinner we went to an izakaya(essentially a place to get beer and food for groups of people). This one charged $40 per person, but it was all you can drink for 2 hours, in addition to the multi-course meal(that is still a little high, but everything else that could hold our 15 person group was booked). We started with a "salad," which turned out to be just pieces of cabbage. That is not salad where I come from. They did eventually bring out a real salad, though it was random shredded vegetables that looked more like the left over garbage than a meal course. I chose not to partake. Next we received fried shrimp. Everyone knows by aversion to seafood, and again, I left my helping to someone else.
Then came the main courses. Some pan fried pork slices were served, and similar to every piece of meat in Japan, were about half fat. This is really annoying to this American man who enjoyed his meats lean and skinless. I still have a hard time with it. Right after the pork, they brought out some barbecued chicken. This is a fairly common thing in Japan, and it is a little sweeter and less spicy than what most people would think of bbq'd chicken in the US.
A large metal bowl filled with various vegetables and raw meat was placed on top of the gas stoves on the tables(I knew they had those there for a reason). Underneath all the fixings there must have been some spices and liquid, because almost immediately a yellow liquid began bubbling up. It was in fact, curry soup, with cabbage, onions and pork. It was very good, a little spicy without being too hot. For some reason after all of us had eaten most of the soup, they brought out noodles for it. They were soba noodles, and went well with the rest of the soup, even if most of it was gone.
They of course, had drinks. Sadly, at these types of restaurants, they only give you the cheap sake/beer/whiskey. Andrea can usually get various sours, but they don't have a wide range of drinks. With that, I'll end this story. You don't want to hear about the horrors of cheap izakaya alcohol.
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