Nicki's 1st Blog, Part II (by Mike)
In her first blog, below, Nicki mentioned that I'd talk about the restaurant we went to in Kamakura City. So I will. I also have pictures, but they'll have to wait for now. One day, you'll come back and read this and there will be strange pictures everywhere, so you may have to re-read our posts to see where I've put the pics.
As Nicki mentioned, we went to Kamakura on our indoc field trip. By then, we had eaten some traditional Japanese food, but it was mostly in the Ramen family (aka- noodles). We were ready for some sushi. When we got off the train in Kamakura, we went down a long street that was loaded with sushi places. After visiting the Hachimangu Shrine and the grape/apple on a stick vendors, we were hungry for some raw fish. So we went back to the street with our group, then split off with just one other brave soul, Will, to get sushi. Will is someone else from the class, who's wife and kid haven't gotten to Japan yet, but he decided to hang with us when we mentioned our sushi craving. He didn't speak any Japanese either...
So we found a place that had "fake" plates of food on display outside of the restaurant. The fake food looked good, so we went inside the door and upstairs to the restaurant. We got up there and were greeted with "Japanese Speaku?" from the chef. We shook our heads and he looked a bit frazzled. But Nicki had the bright idea to use her hands to mimic taking a picture with a camera, and pointed downstairs. That was good enough for the guy to get us to follow him downstairs and point to what we wanted from the fake plates outside. I picked a sushi plate, Nicki picked some noodles with green flakes on top, and Will picked a tempura plate. We were served green tea and miso soup in the beginning, then our food was prepared in front of us. When it came, I had four different types of food in front of me, all raw, and only one of them was familiar... tuna. Nicki's noodles came out light green and cold and the flakes on top were some form of seaweed topping. I can't even begin to tell you what was included in Will's tempura plate, but we're guessing that some of it was shrimp. Oh, I almost forgot to mention Nicki's side dish, that include a small cracked open egg... Nicki mentioned what she thought it could be (possibly quail), but I forgot and don't want to embarrass myself by guessing. Long story short(er), we ate our food, but when we finished we had no clue how to tell the guy that we were done. So we pulled out our "quick Japanese" cheat sheet from class and decided that I would get the guy's attention and Will would ask "how much for the food?". So I said, "sumimasen", which is supposed to mean "pardon/excuse me", then the guy looked at me and I pointed to Will. Will missed his cue, and Nicki grabbed the paper and saved the day by following with a rough version of the correct question. Then the guy answered and we stared at him like idiots. When he realized that we didn't have a clue, he wrote down the total and we paid him. By this point, the entire restaurant was looking at us like we were from Mars, and we felt like we were too. Back downstairs, I took a picture of each of the dishes. Oh, and if you're curious... no, Nicki didn't eat the small egg. [That picture is of Nicki and Will at the restaurant].
The next day in class, I showed the instructor, Nao-san, a picture of my sushi plate and he told me that I ate tuna, octopus, yellowtail, and he couldn't identify the last one, but thought it might be squid. Regardless, it was all good.
Home Sweet Home?
Some good news to start the weekend. Nicki and I continued our search for houses off-base today. My coworkers recommend visiting lots of houses and lots of different realtors, much different than how it is in the States. I went house searching last week and was pretty put off by the realtor, who told me at one point that if I liked what I saw, I had to tell him immediately whether I wanted it or not because someone else would snatch it up right away if I didn't take it. I told him that I wouldn't make a decision without consulting Nicki first, which I think was frustrating for him. But I can't imagine doing it any other way, because Nicki and Josh will be at our future home much more often than me, so it's only fair.
Anyway, today, we met with another realtor who was very friendly and spoke very good English, which was helpful. We scheduled to look at three places and fell in love with the very first one that we saw. We told him that we wanted to look at all of them, though, so we did. But in the end, we just liked the first one too much to turn it down. So we told him we were interested and he set up all the paperwork for us to turn into the Housing Office here on base for approval... yes, we don't get the final say, Uncle Sam does. But the house is well within my housing allowance, it has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and it has a fairly large kitchen which is good for Nicki's cooking habit and great for my eating habit.
What we really thought was awesome is that two of the bedrooms are Japanese style, meaning that they have the paper-style window covers that slide to the left and right, and the floors are covered with tatami mats... if you haven't heard of them, you'd most definitely still recognize them if you saw them in a picture. Tatami mats are small, bamboo (I think) mats that you'd picture in a standard Japanese style house. We're planning to set up the downstairs Japanese room as our guest bedroom, so our visitors can get a good feeling of how it is to live the Japanese lifestyle while staying with us. Of course, we'll be upstairs in our Western style rooms... but we may decide later to stay in a tatami mat room instead... maybe.
Oh, did I mention that from our second floor, there's an incredible view of Tokyo Bay??!?!? Yup, there is. So keep your fingers crossed for us, because this place will be awesome if the Housing Office gives us thumbs up. We'll keep you posted with progress and show pictures when we can, if it all goes through as planned.
The lucky thing for us - the house was supposed to be rented last week to a sailor, but he went out to sea before he signed the necessary paperwork. The sailor wanted it and started the process, but the landlord told him it had to be finalized or he couldn't guarantee anything. The sailor didn't follow through, so the house went up on the market again literally yesterday. Very good fortune for us, if it all works out...
As Nicki mentioned, we went to Kamakura on our indoc field trip. By then, we had eaten some traditional Japanese food, but it was mostly in the Ramen family (aka- noodles). We were ready for some sushi. When we got off the train in Kamakura, we went down a long street that was loaded with sushi places. After visiting the Hachimangu Shrine and the grape/apple on a stick vendors, we were hungry for some raw fish. So we went back to the street with our group, then split off with just one other brave soul, Will, to get sushi. Will is someone else from the class, who's wife and kid haven't gotten to Japan yet, but he decided to hang with us when we mentioned our sushi craving. He didn't speak any Japanese either...
So we found a place that had "fake" plates of food on display outside of the restaurant. The fake food looked good, so we went inside the door and upstairs to the restaurant. We got up there and were greeted with "Japanese Speaku?" from the chef. We shook our heads and he looked a bit frazzled. But Nicki had the bright idea to use her hands to mimic taking a picture with a camera, and pointed downstairs. That was good enough for the guy to get us to follow him downstairs and point to what we wanted from the fake plates outside. I picked a sushi plate, Nicki picked some noodles with green flakes on top, and Will picked a tempura plate. We were served green tea and miso soup in the beginning, then our food was prepared in front of us. When it came, I had four different types of food in front of me, all raw, and only one of them was familiar... tuna. Nicki's noodles came out light green and cold and the flakes on top were some form of seaweed topping. I can't even begin to tell you what was included in Will's tempura plate, but we're guessing that some of it was shrimp. Oh, I almost forgot to mention Nicki's side dish, that include a small cracked open egg... Nicki mentioned what she thought it could be (possibly quail), but I forgot and don't want to embarrass myself by guessing. Long story short(er), we ate our food, but when we finished we had no clue how to tell the guy that we were done. So we pulled out our "quick Japanese" cheat sheet from class and decided that I would get the guy's attention and Will would ask "how much for the food?". So I said, "sumimasen", which is supposed to mean "pardon/excuse me", then the guy looked at me and I pointed to Will. Will missed his cue, and Nicki grabbed the paper and saved the day by following with a rough version of the correct question. Then the guy answered and we stared at him like idiots. When he realized that we didn't have a clue, he wrote down the total and we paid him. By this point, the entire restaurant was looking at us like we were from Mars, and we felt like we were too. Back downstairs, I took a picture of each of the dishes. Oh, and if you're curious... no, Nicki didn't eat the small egg. [That picture is of Nicki and Will at the restaurant].The next day in class, I showed the instructor, Nao-san, a picture of my sushi plate and he told me that I ate tuna, octopus, yellowtail, and he couldn't identify the last one, but thought it might be squid. Regardless, it was all good.
Home Sweet Home?
Some good news to start the weekend. Nicki and I continued our search for houses off-base today. My coworkers recommend visiting lots of houses and lots of different realtors, much different than how it is in the States. I went house searching last week and was pretty put off by the realtor, who told me at one point that if I liked what I saw, I had to tell him immediately whether I wanted it or not because someone else would snatch it up right away if I didn't take it. I told him that I wouldn't make a decision without consulting Nicki first, which I think was frustrating for him. But I can't imagine doing it any other way, because Nicki and Josh will be at our future home much more often than me, so it's only fair.
Anyway, today, we met with another realtor who was very friendly and spoke very good English, which was helpful. We scheduled to look at three places and fell in love with the very first one that we saw. We told him that we wanted to look at all of them, though, so we did. But in the end, we just liked the first one too much to turn it down. So we told him we were interested and he set up all the paperwork for us to turn into the Housing Office here on base for approval... yes, we don't get the final say, Uncle Sam does. But the house is well within my housing allowance, it has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and it has a fairly large kitchen which is good for Nicki's cooking habit and great for my eating habit.
What we really thought was awesome is that two of the bedrooms are Japanese style, meaning that they have the paper-style window covers that slide to the left and right, and the floors are covered with tatami mats... if you haven't heard of them, you'd most definitely still recognize them if you saw them in a picture. Tatami mats are small, bamboo (I think) mats that you'd picture in a standard Japanese style house. We're planning to set up the downstairs Japanese room as our guest bedroom, so our visitors can get a good feeling of how it is to live the Japanese lifestyle while staying with us. Of course, we'll be upstairs in our Western style rooms... but we may decide later to stay in a tatami mat room instead... maybe.
Oh, did I mention that from our second floor, there's an incredible view of Tokyo Bay??!?!? Yup, there is. So keep your fingers crossed for us, because this place will be awesome if the Housing Office gives us thumbs up. We'll keep you posted with progress and show pictures when we can, if it all goes through as planned.
The lucky thing for us - the house was supposed to be rented last week to a sailor, but he went out to sea before he signed the necessary paperwork. The sailor wanted it and started the process, but the landlord told him it had to be finalized or he couldn't guarantee anything. The sailor didn't follow through, so the house went up on the market again literally yesterday. Very good fortune for us, if it all works out...
posted by Unknown | 3:40 PM
4 Comments:
Hey Mike, Niki & Josh,
I hope you get that house. It sounds perfect. Especially the guest bedroom. :-)
I have a buddy that got something that sounds similar to what Niki had at the restaurant. If I remember right, I think you’re supposed to dip the noodles in the egg. I’ll ask my buddy and let you know.
Keep the posts coming.
Mike, Niki & Josh
Sounds like your adventures in travel and dinning have been low stress and fun. I am enclosing some definitions and descriptions of common Japanese dishes. I know you are aware of some of them, but some may be new to you. I wish the three of you all the best on this all Saints day.
Rice Bowl: A bowl of rice is frequently served as a side dish for lunch and dinner, and as a main dish for breakfast when it is eaten plain, mixed with a raw egg and soya sauce (tamago-kake-gohan) or with natto or various other toppings.
Sushi: Sushi can be defined as a dish which contains sushi rice, cooked rice that is prepared with sushi vinegar. There are various kinds of sushi dishes.
Domburi: A bowl of cooked rice with some other food put on top of the rice. Some of the most popular toppings are tempura (tendon), egg and chicken (oyakodon), tonkatsu (katsudon) and beef (gyudon).
Onigiri: Onigiri are rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wrapped with a nori seaweed. They are slightly salted and often contain some additional food in the center, for example an umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricot), katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), tuna or salmon. Rice balls are a popular and inexpensive snack available at convenience stores.
Kare Raisu: Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) is cooked rice with a curry sauce. It can be served with additional toppings such as tonkatsu. Curry is not a native Japanese spice, but has been used in Japan for over a century. Kare Raisu is a very popular dish, and many inexpensive Kare Raisu restaurants can be found especially in and around train stations.
Fried Rice: Fried rice or chahan has been originally introduced from China. A variety of additional ingredients such as peas, egg, negi (Japanese leek) and small pieces of carrot and pork are mixed to the rice when stir fried. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice.
Chazuke: Chazuke is a bowl of cooked rice with green tea and other ingredients, for example, salmon or tarako (cod roe) added to it. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice.
Kayu: Kayu is rice gruel, watery, soft cooked rice that resembles oatmeal. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice and is often served to sick people because it can be digested easily.
Seafood Dishes
Many dozens of kinds of fish, shellfish and other seafood from the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers are used in the Japanese cuisine. They are prepared and eaten in many different ways, for example, raw, dried, boiled, grilled, deep fried or steamed.
Sashimi: Sashimi is raw seafood. A large number of fish can be enjoyed raw if they are fresh and prepared correctly. Most types of sashimi are enjoyed with soya sauce and wasabi.
Yakizakana: Yakizakana means grilled fish. Many varieties of fish are enjoyed in this way.
Noodle Dishes
There are various traditional Japanese and introduced Japanized noodle dishes in Japan. Many of them enjoy a very high popularity.
Soba: Soba noodles are native Japanese noodles made of buckwheat and wheat flour. Soba are about as thick as spaghetti. They can be served cold or hot and with various toppings.
Udon: Udon noodles are native Japanese noodles made of wheat flour. Udon are thicker than soba and can also be served either hot or cold and with various toppings.
Ramen: Ramen are Chinese style noodles prepared in a soup with various toppings. Ramen is one of the many popular dishes that were originally introduced from China but have become completely Japanized over time. Somen Like Udon noodles, somen are Japanese noodles made of wheat flour, but they are much thinner than Udon and Soba. Somen are usually eaten cold.
Yakisoba: Yakisoba are fried or deep fried Chinese style noodles served with vegetables, meat and ginger.
Nabe Dishes: Nabe dishes or hot pot dishes are prepared in a hot pot, usually at the table. Typical ingredients are vegetables such as negi (Japanese leek) and hakusai (Chinese cabbage), various mushrooms, seafood and/or meat. There are many regional and personal varieties, and they are especially popular in the cold winter months. Some special nabe dishes are: Oden A nabe dish prepared with various fish cakes, daikon, boiled eggs, konyaku and kombu seaweed, boiled over many hours in a soya sauce based soup.
Sukiyaki A nabe dish prepared with thinly sliced meat, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu and shirataki (konyaku noodles). The pieces of food are dipped into a raw egg before eaten.
Shabu-Shabu: Shabu-shabu is Japanese style meat fondue. Thinly sliced meat, vegetables, mushrooms and tofu is dipped into a hot soup and then into ponzu vinegar or a sesame sauce before being eaten.
Chanko Nabe: Chanko nabe is the staple diet of sumo wrestlers. There are many varieties of chanko nabe. A few chanko nabe restaurants can be found around Ryogoku, the sumo district in Tokyo.
Meat Dishes: Meat has been eaten in Japan in larger amounts only since the second half of the 19th century. Nowadays there are a variety of Japanese meat dishes.
Yakitori: Yakitori are grilled chicken pieces on skewers. Most parts of the chicken can be used for yakitori.
Tonkatsu: Tonkatsu are deep fried pork cutlets. Tonkatsu is usually served with shredded cabbage or on top of cooked rice (katsudon) or with Japanese style curry rice (katsu kare).
Nikujaga: Nikujaga is a popular dish of home style cooking made of meat (niku) and potatoes (jagaimo).
Soya Bean Dishes:
Tofu, natto, miso and many more important ingredients of Japanese cooking are made of soya beans. The following are some of the most popular soya bean based dishes:
Yudofu Yudofu are tofu pieces boiled in a clear, mild soup and dipped into a soya based sauce before being eaten.
Agedashi Tofu Agedashi Tofu are deep fried tofu pieces that are dipped into a soya based sauce before being eaten.
Miso Soup: Miso soup is often served as a side dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is made by dissolving miso paste in hot water and adding additional ingredients such as wakame seaweed and small pieces of tofu.
Yoshoku Dishes: Yoshoku means Western food. A large number of Western dishes have been introduced to Japan over the centuries. Many of them have become completely Japanized, and these dishes are now called Yoshoku dishes. Some of the most popular ones are:
Korokke more information Korokke has its origins in the croquettes which were introduced to Japan in the 19th century. Korokke comes in many varieties depending on the filling that is coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. The most common filling is a mix of minced meat and mashed potatoes.
Omuraisu Omuraisu (abbreviation for omelet rice) is cooked rice, wrapped in a thin omelet, and usually served with tomato ketchup.
Hayashi Raisu Hayashi rice is Japanese style hashed beef, thinly sliced beef and onions in a sauce made of ketchup and soya sauce, and served on cooked rice.
Hamubagu Hamubagu is a Japanese style hamburger without the bread.
Other Dishes
Tempura: Tempura is seafood, vegetables, mushrooms and other pieces of food coated with tempura batter and deep fried. Tempura was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century, but has internationally become one of Japan's most famous dishes.
Okonomiyaki: Okonomiyaki is a mix between pizza and pancake. Various ingredients such as seafood, vegetables and meat can be mixed with the dough and placed on the okonomiyaki as topping.
Monjayaki: Monjayaki is a Kanto region specialty that is similar to Okonomiyaki, however, the dough used is much more liquid than the okonomiyaki dough.
Gyoza: Gyoza are dumplings with a filling usually made of minced vegetables and ground meat. Gyoza were introduced to Japan from China. In Japan gyoza are usually prepared by frying them.
Chawanmushi: Chawanmushi is steamed egg custard that contains additional pieces of food such as chicken, shrimp or fish cake.
Tsukemono: Tsukemono are Japanese pickles. There are many variety of pickles, and a small dish with some pickles is served with most Japanese meals.
With all of your talk about food, it reminded me that chocolates last longer around the office since you have been gone.
Hey guys,
I guess it's good for you guys that I left, since that chocolate is starting to pile up. I was bummed to find out that NONE of my coworkers here brought in chocolate after Halloween the other day. But I came to find out that off base, Halloween isn't really celebrated much. And the few coworkers of mine that live on base were raided on Halloween night from all the kids on base, so there wasn't any candy left by November 1.
Alan, thanks for the tip on the food... please read up on my natto experience in the post that's coming up next.
Mike
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