UISGE BEATHA

ILE - REST DAY

I woke up to a little bit of wind. The Guiness I thought.
It was also breezy outside - something that was becoming as typical a part of the day as the sun was, breaking though mid to late morning. for the first time on the trip I made my own eggs and bacon in the generous sized kitchen. Pans and crockery were laid out with military precision and after I'd turned out the fluorescent strips in the dining room I could relax and look out the windows to the hypnotic swaying of the trees and rolling waves. A friendly fellow from East Kilbride and a Swedish Chef shared breakfast with me and we discussed our respective days.

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Posted by stupot at 08:12 PM Friday 30 May | Post comment (0) comments

saturday mornings

I love Saturday mornings.
And it explains the ring around my waist.......

Posted by stupot at 01:33 PM Saturday 19 Apr | Post comment (0) comments

dookin an guisin

last week my mum opened the door, as ever, to local guisers and we made our best effort to frighten the local children. I cut a hole in a table and had a covered bird cage put over my head. When the children came in, the witch (convincingly played by my mother) brought the children over to the table, explained about her new pet and lifted the cage to reveal my head. I opened my eyes and screamed. Casualties included a 7 year old cheerleader, a 6 year old vampire and a 33 year old nuclear engineer. We insisted on hearing a turn before anyone got anything sweet - a recited verse from Tam o'shanter was the clear winner. Best joke went to "how do you know which cow is going on its holidays? - It's the one with the week 'aff." The often forgot about history of Hallowe'en reminds me how my pagan roots have been overtaken by Christianity, and more recently, Capitalism. How striking the similarities to Obon in Japan with it's bonfires and lanterns and returning of the dead.

Posted by stupot at 09:06 PM Monday 5 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

caffe coretto cognac

Nardini's in Largs is an institution. The main, art deco clad restaurant is being 'refurbished' but I'll believe that when I see it. Fingers crossed. Fortunately there are still three cafes in and around the town and the one just across from the ferry slip offers as close to the Italian experience as you might find locally. The service is fast and the coffee is good. The last time I was in, I realise, was four years ago before the annual time trial around the isle of Cumbrae when we had espresso to get us going. The hastily drawn sketch shows chatty but efficient waitresses in aprons, a reassuringly well stocked bar (for a cafe) and a barista curious as to why I keep looking over. This time I was with my sister and nephew after a bracing half hour at the swings. I had a caffe coretto cognac which was an espresso with a shot of brandy - a drink from a bygone era which I think I'll be seeing a lot more of now I know it exists!

Posted by stupot at 09:03 PM Monday 22 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

gelati

I passed Barga - the town where many of Scotland's Italian immigrants come from - ten years ago on a cycling holiday. I was always curious about where people would leave to come and live in such a windswept place. We have a rich history of ice cream parlours / fish and chip shops with their lovely interiors, exotic staff and of course the weekend special-treat. When I was a kid we used to pop into Luca's of Musselburgh for, more often than not, a strawberry 99 before the long drive back to Ayrshire from my grandparents. I decided to pop in for old times sake on Saturday and joined the orderly queue to get an oyster which brought a pretty wide smile to my face. By coincidence I was in Ardossan the next day and, bouncing off the walls, we popped into the Palazzo sampling almost every flavour before the door was blocked and threats thrown for us to spend cash. It was nice to be back in Ayrshire once again.

Posted by stupot at 01:19 PM Monday 27 Aug | Post comment (0) comments

service

Posted by stupot at 07:42 PM Sunday 19 Aug | Post comment (0) comments

nine and a half weeks

I went to the doctors last week to re-register and took with me my wee list: it outlined my skin having miraculously cleared up since returning to the damp weather - which has unfortunately also led to my asthma having stirred from a long sleep. Wheezing is back. The other health point of note was that just two days previously and nine and a half weeks after coming back to Scotland, my stomach had finally started to process deep fried meat again. After about 6 weeks I admit to having become a little anxious about the whole thing....

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Posted by stupot at 05:30 PM Wednesday 1 Aug | Post comment (0) comments

swim, fish, drink, sleep

As Dave finally reached maturity we decided to surprise him by taking him to a cottage on the other side of Arran for the week. The fishing rods were packed, the weather held and fortunately birthday boy remembered his hair straighteners. So no tears. Carradale, between Tarbert and Campbeltown, was a great place to chill out with all of us bringing our respective weights on shoulders but managing to discuss possibilities for a more ideal future. We had a few walks planned with the OS maps at the ready but we found that sitting fishing with a beer and good company was at least on par with a good walk, though perhaps even better. Despite the allergy I can see myself getting down the pier of a sunny eve to catch maw and paw's tea - great meditation. Ross and I managed to get in for a few dips in the sea before dinner on two days - invigorating stuff and partially x-rated. In the evenings we played with alcohol and abused the wii. So Callum didn't manage to work off the beer belly but quality time it certainly was.

Posted by stupot at 08:42 PM Wednesday 25 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

Scotland meets Japan

Sometimes. In very odd ways. They come together. New TV advert for Coolish ice-cream drink.

Posted by stupot at 09:56 PM Monday 7 May | Post comment (0) comments

kaname

Boy, was I taken to a nice gaff last night. Five of us went along to Kaname in Chuoku, as part of my farewell - just north of Nagahoridori, near Honmachi. It's one of these places that, from the moment you arrive at the door, your breath is kind of taken away - the beauty deprived souls that we are in Osaka. There are still pockets of the old here but you have to know where to look. Or be skilled at getting lost. Or have a guide. We had a lovely chat whilst making all sorts of satisfied/astonished noises as we ate the raw meat the place was famous for. I'd recommend this place even more than the deep fried okonomiyaki. If you can believe that.

Posted by stupot at 12:38 PM Thursday 3 May | Post comment (0) comments

what can't you deep fry?

I often tell people about how Osaka's heavy food, down-to-earth people, comedians and drinking problems have so much in common with my dear Glasgow. I decided to marry the cuisines of Lanarkshire and Kansai recently when I deep-fried some Okonomiyaki. It looked really heavy - a chore to eat - but it was surprisingly light. Top scran - Recommended eating for anyone not yet obese.

Posted by stupot at 06:33 PM Monday 30 Apr | Post comment (0) comments

udon, undo and ushi unko

On Wednesday's bank holiday we headed over the bridge to Awajishima - the island connecting Honshu with Shikoku. I stayed at Dan's the night before and the good bottle of wine we'd polished off didn't feel like such a good idea at 5am as we rose in darkness. We met at the bike shop in north Osaka at 6 as the sun poked it's head out into an incresingly blue sky, suggesting the weather forecast had been correct. We packed the 22 bikes onto the truck and headed off, coffee's and pastry in hand.

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Posted by stupot at 02:51 PM Monday 26 Mar | Post comment (0) comments

more mister donut

Man, I know I lead a sad life when I go into mister d's and get excited when I spot the new 'double black sesame-seed donut' and a 'golden sesame-seed donut', but on the way back from my mid-week ride they were absolute bliss.......

Posted by stupot at 06:24 PM Thursday 1 Mar | Post comment (1) comments

vices

Posted by stupot at 05:09 PM Friday 16 Feb | Post comment (5) comments

ichigo daifuku

I had some small sweets left for me in my bike basket when I got home from work yesterday in anticipation of St. Valentines day. It was a lovely surprise - I realise that such events as a child were so thrilling and I've become cynical about so many things! They were homemade daifuku - pounded rice filled with red bean paste - so my secret admirer at least knows my wagashi problem. There was a strawberry in the middle which was a surprise and the fact it was sweet was cause for one of those mini celebrations you have from time to time, with your tongue. Due to the lack of chocolate and dairy products in traditional Japanese cakes, and food in general, I'm catered for very well.

Posted by stupot at 09:01 PM Wednesday 14 Feb | Post comment (1) comments

one cup

Went to meet a friend in Muji cafe today and there was some tasty, if sickly sweet, hot soy milk macha (green tea). Starbucks have a similar offering but even with my sweet tooth I find it a little much. In the food section there was nice new packaging for their own brand stuff and a great selection of one cup sake from all over Kansai which makes great omiyage (souvenir). The retro example pictured is from Kobe and the graphics beautifully printed onto the glass is much missed on contemporary drinks.

Posted by stupot at 10:32 PM Monday 12 Feb | Post comment (0) comments

higgelty piggelty

Korean yakiniku (bbq meat) is always a favourite in Osaka. I go out with the boys from time to time for a huge tabehodai (all-you-can-eat) and always regret it the next day when I have massive amounts of smelly wind: quite the departure from rice and veggies and man, do the guys take the 'all-you-can-eat' literally. This picture is a wee skanky, if typical, eatery in Nanba. Crates piled up outside, storage and kitchen bench on the street, numerous extractor fans winding their way around the building, bins on show.

Posted by stupot at 08:31 PM Thursday 8 Feb | Post comment (0) comments

the continuing love affair with sesame

I miss sesame snaps. I'd totally forgotten about them - the wee honey coated bars you get from health food and middle eastern shops in Scotland. I still love black sesame though and I've been putting more and more in my rice recently since I ran out of wee purple pickles I got as omiyage from Yamaguchi. What were they? The same pal bought me some sesame leaves from Tsuruhashi (wee Korea) when she was there taking photos on Sunday - they were laced with lots of spice and were fine just with rice. I had had a craving for Tenpura (read 'king rib supper from University Caf') so I knocked out some lotus root and pork mince fritters (get me). They were a bit rushed but they tasted no bad and I'm now beached in that way that you are after you ate tomorrows bento on top of dinner.

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Posted by stupot at 10:34 PM Tuesday 23 Jan | Post comment (0) comments

the great bean crisis

When I was in the supermarket last week I noticed that the natto section was pretty poorly stocked. As I'm not loyal to any brand, I chose some more expensive stuff for a few days. I had not seen that a TV show, put out the previous weekend, had suggested that eating the beans twice a day for 3 weeks could help lose weight easily. A friend had mentioned it to me and I immediately remembered a similar occaision a few years ago. In a shock revelation, the research proposed that getting your fat arse of the sofa, not watching crap TV and doing occaisional exercise was also considered to be beneficial to your health.

Posted by stupot at 10:11 PM Tuesday 16 Jan | Post comment (0) comments

food snob

The Japanese are not many things, but they are food snobs. That fact is not, however, totally unjustified. I am always exciting and curious (if only briefly) as a foreigner, and kinda cool being British, but there's always a gentle wince kept to give that sympathetic look with tilted head when we talk about British cuisine. The Japanese are a very proud people and they will seize any opportunity to talk about having the best food in the world, just as a Scotsman can tell you where the worlds most important inventions come from. Both subjects, as with everything in life, are interesting the first time you hear it but become an uninteresting cliche after a hundred people tell you.

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Posted by stupot at 08:23 PM Saturday 6 Jan | Post comment (0) comments

thursday night dinner

I thought I'd document a mid week dinner. I'm not sure exactly why but perhaps like a lot of stuff on this blog, it may turn out, in ten years, to be interesting to look back on. Tonight I had mediteranean food with Mr Lee in the fancy Kita Horie part of Osaka (god I've not had cous-cous for a long time) but last night was a fairly typical mix of natto, atusage tofu, greens, meat (beef) and miso. Notably there was no rice but almost every day I eat it along with the tofu and natto. Miso is much more on the menu as the temperature drops - a quick and easy soup which lasts a few days. If my accupuncturist is reading this - no, that's not my beer on the table. I've suddenly realised that the reason for this post is to let my mum know I'm eating properly. The lego men in the background are slowly taking over the living room........

Posted by stupot at 12:43 AM Saturday 9 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

The Day After St Andrews Day

It was a busy week: the culmination of months of preparation along with St Andrews day and the start of advent. I met up with my Language teacher at the exhibition on Friday and ended up in a Scottish bar. Actually it was her friend who had booked it and I had never met her before. It was a bizarre coincidence, triggered as we went through the door as I spotted the name Deeside which set bells ringing. The soltaire bar mats made concrete the thought.

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Posted by stupot at 09:51 PM Saturday 2 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

liquorice

There's that ritual, when you live in a foriegn land, that when someone visits or you go back to from where you came, that you get some motherland goods. These days I'm not too bothered but I always ask for a bottle of Isla malt and a cycling magazine. This time I added liquorice root to the list - as easy to find in Osaka as someone who likes the Chinese. I used to chew on these in Glasgow and now I'm back to having a stick hanging out my mouth most days (they're meant to be good for the kidneys and liver and for stopping smoking). I went to the accupuncturists the other day and when I stuck my tongue out for a general check I thought the doctor was going to keel over - he not knowing my tongue was caked in yellow from the liquorice sap. think he was about to tell me I had 3 days left.

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Posted by stupot at 11:41 AM Sunday 12 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

big kurashiki

We had a relaxing morning on the island before heading back to Okayama via the minimal ferry terminal, a tiny passenger ferry and another dirty wee ramen shop, where Fred got a lesson in how to make gyoza from one of the two old biddies running the place. We made Kyoto on the Nozomi in no time and were beside some very rich kids doing their daily homework routine on the 200km ride to Osaka. Fred and I were going to get their trainers off them, or at least their dinner money, but alas the shinkansen was too fast. We arrived in Higashiyama, just south of Gion, in the dark but the lanes were lit with that glow of a hundred years ago.

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Posted by stupot at 05:15 PM Thursday 2 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

fast food

A friend who left Japan once said that it was things like going to Yoshinoya that she missed. Yoshinoya is one of the biggest fast food chains and specialises in gyudon- a bowl of rice topped with beef. Yoshinoya restaurants are yet another lesson in space management where customers sit around a pier-like bar where staff can access them from the kitchen. If you go at 12.30 there is often a queue but, like a relay, people are constantly paying the bill while others arrive. Despite being predominantly male the clientele is varied with carpenters alongside accountants. The short, cheap menu means quick turn around and your bill is a plastic tab which cuts out any delay or room for error when you pay. Bish Bash Bosh - back in time for a nap.

Posted by stupot at 11:19 PM Friday 20 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

mugi tea for muggy weather

it's official - osaka is on fire again. the temperature and humidity have soared over the past 2 weeks to tropical levels. the heat bumps on my hands are back. now my fan (jesus - I'm turning into a spanish granny) and copious amounts of mugi cha have become as much a part of the daily routine as sweating like a glass-blower at the furnace (not as much of an exaggeration as you might think). mugi tea is basically wheat or barley tea - and we keep a vat in the fridge to quench the inevitable thirst. It can have a bit of a chocolate taste in my opinion, and it's very refreshing. in the same way irn-bru infamously out sells coke-a-cola, tea commands a massive market share in japan. It's funny to think that we sometimes refer to tea in the UK as 'cha' but I personally didn't have a clue why. where did it come from?

Posted by stupot at 05:35 PM Friday 14 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

black sesame

I cracked it. the peanut butter substitute that is. this week I've been eating more than my fair share of black sesame. I found the jam which I've had on toast in my local supermarket and it tastes pretty similar to peanut butter and has the same constistency. I've had the raw seeds just sprinkled on top of noodles and salad for a bit of texture and also black sesame tofu (above) where again there is more tha a hint of peanut butter. the tofu also has a hint of chocolate (the mould leaves a relief of the the name which is nice).

fanny-tastic. and no head aches.

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Posted by stupot at 08:18 PM Saturday 24 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

yakisoba

odd that you would steep 'fried noodles' in water before draining and adding sauce but nissin's UFO pretty well succeeds as a tasty emergency snack. the new tv commercial (or 'CM' as the japanese refer to it) is good fun - the designers playing on that child-like sensation of not being able to get enough of a pleasing scent. we've all done it I'm sure. I do it when I pass the local cream bun shop or ohagi shop. sometimes you just cannae draw enough air in.

Posted by stupot at 10:38 PM Wednesday 14 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

beans

I remember 'getting into' pulses about ten years ago but it's not since I moved to japan that I really found out the versatility - even of the humble soy bean alone. soy makes up a crucial part of my diet from tofu, soy milk, miso and natto to name just the main sources. we've been eating a lot of south asian food recently and yuka mixed tapioca with mung beans to make a rare dessert which certainly satisfied my sweet tooth. the tapioca was mixed with coconut cream and peaches and the mung beans cooked down with sugar. pure magic.

the azuki bean is probably the most common bean used for sweet stuff though - it's widely used in ice cream, sugary soup with mochi, added to jelly, boiled down to make anko paste when mixed with sugar and I eat it on an almost daily basis. there are worse vices I suppose.

Posted by stupot at 11:09 PM Monday 5 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

just when they get comfortable

my nice pair of brown leather shoes are near the end - the soles are going - they're still wearable but I've been concious of them looking decidedly more and more knackered as the days go by. today I had to put a good pair of chino's in the bin after a very good innings. again I could wear them but the holes were becoming a problem. throwing out clothes is difficult for me because they generally only become comfortable after you've had them for a few years, then they start falling apart. I'm the type of shopper who waits until everything dies and then goes and buys up a load of stuff at once. just now seems to buying season for me what with the bike and everything - it's been many years since I got new shoes so I went to shinsaibashi and bought some nice new leather shoes which will fit my feet in time. the arduous task of breaking them in lies ahead. I left the sensible birkenstock route and took a more japanese route of slightly pointed. I feel like ronald mcdonald without the dungarees.

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Posted by stupot at 12:31 PM Sunday 4 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

drill a hole in my head

food allergies are always an odd thing: different with each person and even within that person, subject to lots of change. when I was younger I just thought that you had an allergy and that was that - fortunately it's not that simple, but it's not an easy one to crack. my allergies pretty much vanished in my teens for some years and then came back with a vengeance. peanuts and fish though, have always been pretty much no-go zones due to the sudden and dramatic result of eating them (anaphylaxis). I try every once in a while, to eat foods my body can't cope with and sometimes I get a pleasant surprise. last week I noticed yuka had bought some peanut butter and I had nothing for my toast........

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Posted by stupot at 11:57 PM Saturday 3 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

shiso

the first time I saw shiso I wasn't drawn toward putting it in my food. I had never tasted it and plants with pointy edges, I had found out the hard way, were generally not to be touched. shiso is very delicate though, and its flavour strong. It's a fabulous herb for cooking and seasoning - often eaten as tempura, cut up into salads or I use it in pasta. the purple type is used to make umeboshi (pickled plums). try it out if you haven't - it's a taste sensation. perhaps somewhere between fennel and oregano on the tongue-o-meter.

Posted by stupot at 07:25 PM Sunday 7 May | Post comment (0) comments

omochi

I confess that although I will eat anything I am not allergic to, I've never been passionate about mochi (rice cakes) or udon (thick noodles) - it's just a texture thing. the longer I've been here though, just as after a few years drinking beer I aquired a liking for the finer tastes of whisky, the more I am enjoying my heavy carbohydrates (I am scottish after all). today we had yomogi (mugwort) mochi with anko (red bean paste) filling which comes wrapped in the yomogi leaf. of course, as everybody knows, mochi is imported from the moon where it's made by rabbits.

Posted by stupot at 10:43 PM Sunday 30 Apr | Post comment (0) comments

cosmo karaoke

the europeans landed in osaka on friday and we went out to play: firstly for a feast, then the mandatory karaoke. should you ever wonder what you might get should you cross a luxemburger, a japanese, an italian and a scotsman in a karaoke booth - it's not a pretty picture - basically a howling mess where everyone picks songs that are in too high a key and far too long. great fun!

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Posted by stupot at 08:10 PM Sunday 23 Apr | Post comment (1) comments

hamburger onigiri

there's a great supermarket near where I work and there's a wee wumin that does just rice balls. from the huge choice she had in her old fashioned display case, I eventually plummed for hamburger. I am now no longer a hamburger onigiri virgin and my life is much richer as a result.

Posted by stupot at 08:04 PM Sunday 23 Apr | Post comment (1) comments

yakiniku

korean food, if not politics, is sure to be a lasting part of the culture in Japan. they can't get enough of it. neither can I. kimchi, bibinba, barbecued beef, dog. kimchi, the chinese cabbage and chili sauce combination, takes pride of place in most supermarkets these days: it's getting to be as much a part of popular japanese culture as the boulangerie and white earphones have become.

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Posted by stupot at 08:11 PM Friday 31 Mar | Post comment (0) comments

The unicorn

The new ad campaign for kirin's nuda drink reminded me of the hidden katakana characters for kirin found within the mythical mascot. They are pretty much invisible at first glance but a while back I was told that you can find them if you look carefully (I've highlighted them above). So the next time you settle down for an ichiban, see if you can spot the cryptic message.

Posted by stupot at 11:18 PM Saturday 11 Mar | Post comment (0) comments

sankanshion

Today's ride started in the bitter cold. the rising sun was trying to help and mist clinged to the distant mountains as it so often does but the slight head wind kept limbs cold for most of the outward run. Yokan got broken out at half time - as is common on our rides - it's a kind of jellied sweet (usually made with red beans). Very sweet, very heavy, very nice. I bought some a few christmases ago for my folks, and although it may have been a nice thought I think the postage ended up costing more than the gift. Rice paper next year.

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Posted by stupot at 05:42 PM Monday 6 Mar | Post comment (0) comments

yuka takes leave, gary held back

in the week that saw gary glitter being found guilty of lewd acts in vietnam and tens of thousands protesting against the government in thailand, yuka came back from her week away there, relaxed and none-the-wiser.

the food was, as I'd suspected; exotic; sweet; creamy; hot. her fascination with the seriously sugary vietnamese coffee continues and a trip down the mekong river was as close to a scene out of apocalypse now as we might imagine - the sound of helicopters apparently just out of ear shot.

the sex industry in thailand also lived up to the stereotype and lots of geeky, shady japanese guys were easy to spot around the well known spots in bangkok, salivating over the local product. I have to say it's the reason why I've never been drawn to the country, but yuka loved vietnam and is sure to return although she's not sure how my serious nut and fish allergies would fare. amongst the food brought back was a bag of rambutan, a kind of lychee-like fruit that is opaque in the middle and has a slightly creamy taste.

Posted by stupot at 05:58 PM Sunday 5 Mar | Post comment (0) comments

industrial sushi

there's always something to celebrate and as winter has been dragging it's heels somewhat we got the sushi in last night to celebrate the wonderfully pagan mid-season festival of setsubun which now-a-days sees the shops bursting with families buying up the soy beans and sushi like they were peanuts and pumpkins. despite lacking child or pet to dress up as a demon and pelt with the traditional dry beans, we still observed the fact that we're half way through the cold bit. as we wolfed down our giant rolls of rice we buried ourselves under the kotatsu to hide from the howling wind outside and hoped that that would be enough to ward off the bad luck.......

Posted by stupot at 10:42 PM Saturday 4 Feb | Post comment (0) comments

studying's brutal

it's all become a bit competitive. the calender clinging to the fridge door is inescapable and as I'm a grazer as well as a big eater it means that I not only 'clock in' every day but have to face up to any slacking with every visit. my big push to learn more japanese is under watch as well as the bike training. as it's the off season I'm trying to do 3 rides a week but the weather often means I find 'pressing jobs' to do instead. I'm trying to get in about 160 kms tho. I'm also trying to get in three quarters of an hour worth of the old nihongo every week day but it's amazing what will try and distract you from hard graft. even ironing shirts suddenly becomes attractive.

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Posted by stupot at 12:00 AM Friday 3 Feb | Post comment (0) comments

hoshi kaki

a friend stayed over last weekend and helped finish a bottle of 12 year old caol ila (which was threatening to evaporate) as well as the oatcakes I'd brought back from scotland (in japan - the sought after authentic compliment to whisky during the bubble years). having put the night to the back of my mind, yuka returned home with some sun-dried kaki which he'd brought from his grandparents in ishikawa as a 'thank you'. I like the fruit but I hadn't realised people dried them. I suppose there's so-bloody-many in october that you have to find something to do with the ones you can't sell. apparently they are really expensive to buy so we'll make the most of them. they taste similar to dates.

Posted by stupot at 12:09 PM Sunday 22 Jan | Post comment (0) comments

yuba

there are a lot of small, irritating things that happen everyday, that you often just put up with. our oven (of the small, electric variety) wasn't the most expensive in the shop and so every morning when I heat my soy milk, the oven does its poor calculation of weight and zapps it to burning point. occaisionally if I'm concious enough I'll stop it 30 seconds early. anyway - the point I'm getting to is found in the unwanted comedy moustache you get when you drink it and the milk skin attaches to your top lip. or worse - you actually drink it.......

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Posted by stupot at 10:26 PM Sunday 15 Jan | Post comment (0) comments

heavy but good

so since food is the great japanese pastime, and since british cuisine is held with such low regard here, it was nice to try and eat some good food while I was in scotland.

on my first day there I visited the ship inn in irvine (pron. irvin) and had, along with my pint of eighty shilling, lamb shank and vegetables. the food there is unpretentious and wholesome - a bit like the food in general. on my second day I had a lamb curry (the lamb theme tailed off a bit after this) in portobello whilst visiting my sister and it was good to try some dry basmati rice for a change. as well as curry with some heat in it.

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Posted by stupot at 11:21 AM Thursday 5 Jan | Post comment (1) comments

Posted by stupot at 11:57 AM Monday 26 Dec

turkey and toys

christmas is always a great chance to catch up with family, eat a lot and take some time off. this year was certainly no exception whilst visiting scotland. it's nice to see all the traditional decorations - a flashing doraemon climbing up an apartment block in osaka in santa claus outfit is just a bit odd - but then there are no mantlepieces in japan and there really isn't enough room for a real tree.

the temperature in south west scotland was comparable to osaka, which fueled concerned looks by some who didn't realise it could get so cold so near the equator. it doesn't help that japan runs from so far north to so far south, but it's about as near the equator as scotland is the north pole (the popular belief in japan being that scotland is an arctic wasteland).

what was interesting was how dark it got there - if cloudy, it really didn't get particularly light during the day and 9am felt like 7 in japan. a reminder as to why christmas overtook the mid-winter solstice celebrations of old - there's still no escaping the lack of light.

Posted by stupot at 11:56 AM Monday 26 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 04:42 PM Sunday 18 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

ice cream by drip

whilst I've found some pretty nice soy ice cream in japan, I've never really found a great brand. until today! we got some I.V. tonyu (soy milk) ice cream from hankyu department store and it was de-licious - the packaging in itself said it would be a good product, the flavours were mouth watering to choose from and it lived up to all the haagen dazs traits on show. at 263 yen for a thimble it's not cheap but I felt worth it. I got rum and ichijiku (fig) which was a little rich and sweet, but then I didn't buy it to be dull and tasteless! try some.

Posted by stupot at 04:28 PM Sunday 18 Dec | Post comment (2) comments

reality tv

I'm now quite accustomed to seeing large fish being gutted on prime time tv and tonight we marvelled at some beautiful big fish being caught at sea and then prepared and eaten in the studio as celebrity guests drooled, 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing over the delicacies. the healthy thing that strikes me most is that food here is understood and has a history: it's mainly seasonal (local) and people are educated as to how it is caught or picked. although satsuma's are something we associate with christmas, it never really dawned on me that they are actually harvested in cold weather. everyday's an education!

Posted by stupot at 10:44 PM Thursday 15 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 07:02 PM Monday 12 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

it's (almost) a wrap

so as the year marches on, today was put aside for gifts and cards. for the shopping part I headed to kintetsu department store in tennoji and their wonderful food hall. whether you are in Japan or not, the next time you come to osaka I recommend going to the food hall in a department store. perhaps tokyu hands, den-den town, horie and a department store food hall. it's magic. especially at this time of year.

today was very much a food theme with some toy shopping thrown in for good measure (any excuse, eh?). the sweet and cake section is a wonder to behold in kintetsu: it's a huge underground labyrinth which smells amazing and the food looks even better. so much care goes into the packaging too and this is all before you eat any of it. three of the counters we went to today started again after failing to wrap our chosen gifts with perfection - notably this was not through lack of skill, but more in trying to be flawless. we suspect the staff were later sacked though.

I remember an assistant wrapping a present in scotland for yuka and the look of astonishment on her face at the mess of sellotape and crumpled paper. I admit that before I met yuka - a botch job would absolutely suffice.

as I was looking for typically japanese stuff, the locals were often buying french tea and italian wine. the frivilous youngsters shopped for christmas presents for loved ones but the old guard remained, doing their best to buy annual gifts of gratitude, and so maintaining the tradition of o-seibo.

Continue reading "it's (almost) a wrap"
Posted by stupot at 06:25 PM Monday 12 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

the pied piper

sometimes you don't need to look at your watch. sometimes things just always happen that remind you when you are. like the 5 o'clock chime for children to go home. the 11am kerosene van doing it's round in winter with its cute, heidi-esque, falling snow, kids choir anthem.

at eleven o'clock every sunday, without fail, the ramen man comes by our neighbourhood and the haunting tune of his traditional pipe music echoes around the streets like the pied piper himself. there's a security in always hearing him and there's also a feeling that time passes by so quickly. another week has ended, another has begun. on countless occaisions I've wanted to go and see him but I'm glad I haven't broken my image of him. his invisiblity and the secrecy of it all fuels the imagination. sometimes I think that if I look out the window all the local kids will be following him. or at least the local vermin.

in any case, when the tune fades into the distance and the stillness of the sunday night resumes, I know it's time for bed.

Posted by stupot at 11:12 PM Sunday 11 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

daikon

Posted by stupot at 12:28 AM Tuesday 6 Dec | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 11:59 PM Tuesday 29 Nov | Post comment (2) comments

sushikatsu

breaded, deep-fried pork (or chicken) cutlet sounds like the invention of a west of scotland chip shop, but infact it's the brainchild of some gifted japanese scholar. in an event that must have been like stumbling upon the holy grail, another genius decided to stick it in a sushi roll. fantastic. the combination of health and heart-disease combine to leave only the feeling of deep satisfaction. curry-katsu is also fairly high up on the mouthwatering scale. if only lunchtimes were always like this. who says it's all about raw fish anyway?

Posted by stupot at 11:50 PM Tuesday 29 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 11:49 PM Wednesday 23 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

stewpot

it's nabe time again and there's nothing better than getting home to a hot mixture of chicken balls, shrimp, tofu, cabbage, pork, mushies and leek. or whatever. cooking it up on the table whilst sheltering under the kotatsu is a one of the great joys of autumn and winter. we were given the pot for our new home by our sister in law - so cheers naho! when the ingredients are gone we usually finish off the soup by adding ramen noodles - I'm not the biggest fan of udon (much to yukas continual grief) it's a texture thing - how do you eat yours?

Posted by stupot at 11:37 PM Wednesday 23 Nov | Post comment (1) comments

Posted by stupot at 06:07 PM Monday 21 Nov | Post comment (0) comments

ohagi

today was another peach of a day weather wise and after stretching the legs along the river I popped out to get some ohagi cakes from our local. the women are dead nice and the smell of the steamed hinoki wood, grilled rice and sweet red azuki beans is a very tempting combination.

today was also a day for picking up the new year postcards. I can't believe it's almost that time already - last year we left it too late so I made sure we got our pack of postage paid, plain postcards for the printer (easy for you to say) before they sell out. got some long johns from uniqlo as well: they have a big warm-biz campaign on just now. perhaps now I'll fit in a bit better with all the old timers at the bath house.

Posted by stupot at 05:29 PM Monday 21 Nov | Post comment (1) comments

Posted by stupot at 10:52 PM Monday 24 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

Kaki

today was stereotypically autumnal. as I cycled over the mountains to Koyasan in the sun, the smell of burning crops was all around, fruit was ripe on the trees and in the shadows, the air had a definite bite to it. the combination reminded me of Hallowe'en and it's only a week away (it was the smells mainly).

Japanese Obon, or 'ancestors day', in August is the largest celebration after New Year and it's all a bit like Hallowe'en. for me, a lot of traditional religious practice in Japan is much like Paganism. the Japanese light up their houses to guide their departed back and offer food for them to eat during the three days of Obon just as Celtic Pagans traditionally did the same thing.

In Scotland we tend to celebrate New Year more than Christmas so infact living in Japan doesn't feel particularly alien to me at that time of year. given Scottish weather I tend to have a lot of respect for the sun too - you can certainly understand the pagans perspective.

I headed back over Kimitoge ('toge' is pass, 'ki' the old name for the wakayama area and presumably the 'mi' is the verb to see), which was a key part of the original pilgrimage trail to Koyasan, where this time last year a wee farmer stopped and chatted. I remember he went to his van to get me a key? but I later found out Kaki is the name for Persimmon which sounds quite similar. he was on his way to market and gave me 4: bless his cotton socks. the road to Koyasan today was littered with makeshift shops selling the fruit. no sign of my farmer today (and I could have done with the fuel) but I got back home eventually after a near miss with a lorry and then a chase with the sun before it set. before you know it the gloves'll be out and everyone will be complaining about the cold!

Posted by stupot at 10:51 PM Monday 24 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 03:58 PM Sunday 23 Oct | Post comment (1) comments

hangover cures

no.47: kari pan
the humble curry bun rivals irn-bru in its ability to ease the suffering of a hangover. infact the combination of the two should probably be researched more thoroughly. it should be noted that japanese curry is a mild, sweet stew-like food - not sharp and hot.

for some reason last night it slipped our minds that mixing hot sake, beer and an islay malt is not the best preparation for a busy sunday morning. ah well. life trundles on regardless.

Posted by stupot at 03:45 PM Sunday 23 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

cafe au ma god

it might seem fitting that as the leaves change from blue to red, so too do the labels underneath the vending machine coffee. an urban sign to tell you that autumn has once again arrived. during the summer you can subject yourself to not only vending machine coffee but cold vending machine coffee and you generally have no choice. that is not to say that it's 'iced coffee' - this is simply cold nescafe. a sobering thought. it's surprising what an addiction can lower you to.

which reminded me of some of my better cups of tea or coffee and alistair gow of clachan of campsie.

alistair is a legend in central scotland not only for his ability to build the best bike wheel around, but also to keep you in conversation for two hours longer than you had anticipated. despite having heard about him for many years, I only got to know him shortly before I left - his shop sits at the foot of the campsie hills in a tiny, sleepy village (clachan). he sorted a few wheels for me while I supped on fantastic tea that was in endless supply - if the pot ran dry his assistant would be called to brew some fresh. alistair, like a farmers wife offering seconds, looked personally offended if you declined.

his shop could be described as a disaster zone: it really gives meaning to the phrase "looks like a bomb hit it", but sitting in the far corner and only occaisionally looking up from his bastard of a truing jig, he could answer almost any product related question pointing to a toppling stack of boxes to find a jersey, or an old wooden chest drawer to help find a fixing. calls would come in, in the background, from all over the UK and the interesting thing I noticed was that most of the crap lying about was far from that - it was new, high quality goods ready for shipping.

the best thing about alistairs and any good bike shop is the personal service, blether and cup of tea. my goal now is to find the japanese equivalent of big al - the only trouble is, is that even though I've gotten friendly with some local bike shops they're all so terribly well organised. I can work on that though.........

Posted by stupot at 11:28 PM Tuesday 18 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 06:54 PM Monday 17 Oct

times gone by

we were walking in our local neighbourhood the other night when the tune to 'auld lang syne' came pumping out of several shops as the merchandise was being taken inside for the night. it's a funny tradition in a country so culturally and geographically apart from scotland but one used throughout the service industry: golf driving ranges use it to usher you out, convenience stores too, as well as random wee local places. the japanese version 'hotaru no hikari' (fireflies light) is most commonly associated with graduation ceremonies where similar feelings are presumably felt with the passing of a big day. I'm sure rabbie would be very happy.

on a related theme I bought some dog like biscuits the other day - the packaging for which had caught my eye on more than one occaision. trying to reduce my sweet-tooth related after dinner nibble purchases I thought these looked ideal. yuka said some people keep them for emergencies because they are very simple and last a long time. I still don't get the whole piper thing but they certainly are bland and have enough carbohydrates to pass as scottish cuisine.

Posted by stupot at 06:48 PM Monday 17 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 03:59 PM Monday 10 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

YAKITATE!! JA-PAN

spotted by a friend in a local convenience store, here we have battle of the bread (called pan here). looks like maple hot cakes are selling like, well......hot cakes. but what's this?! - look out for marbled cocoa bread at number four!

incidentally, one of the big manga sensations of the hour is 'yakitate!! japan' - a story about a young guy who trys to make a national bread for japan. yakitate means freshly baked and the second part is a pun, or as the japanese might pronounce: "pan!"

Posted by stupot at 03:35 PM Monday 10 Oct | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 07:02 PM Friday 30 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

I pass this fig tree every morning on the way to work and even if I forget about it, I'm reminded by a whiff of the creamy, almost ripe fruit which is a delight to the nostrils.

a block further on though is goya - a totally different kettle of fish. goya is, for some, another odd looking and foul tasting vegetable. with many a food intolerence, I'm simply a beggar who isn't a chooser and if I don't react to it - I'll generally eat it. to me goya tastes fine. I spotted this handsome specimen on a vine on the way to work the other day and it got me thinking about why we actually eat it. bitter melon, it's english pseudonym, goes a bit further to describing the intense flavour of the food we usually eat in chanpuru - a tofu and pork stir-fry dish.

but there's more to this than just dinner. goya has recently been the subject of a lot of medical research and in the Philipines and India it is already used as an anti-diabetic drug, lowering blood sugar levels with an insulin-like chemical. it's also good for recovery from viral infections and is even used in the US as an alternative therapy for AIDS.

so next time you pig out on a carton of ice cream - you might just want to finish off with a big ugly gherkin. itadakemasu.

Posted by stupot at 07:00 PM Friday 30 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 07:48 PM Thursday 29 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

roll up, roll up....

I remember very well noticing supplement tonics the first time I came to Japan. there's something very japanese about them in the fact that they are immediate and they suit modern living perfectly: if you are about to keel over from too much work, you can hold out a hand and you should be able to reach one - they are everywhere. batteries for the urbanite - the salaymans kryptonite. you can pay up to 10 of your british pounds for a classy, all-singing-all-dancing, herbal chinese number or you can just part with 100 yen and get some juice with vitamins and caffiene in it like I do.

there is something definitely appealing about the olde worlde brown bottle, like some miracle cure from the mid-west, a hundred years ago. this is old skool red-bull - who needs sulph when you've got a starbucks and a vending machine near by? chemists, the country over, have a fridge packed with these foul smelling little beauties. they kind of remind me of some of the odd tasting sweets I grew up on - like a bastard child of 'kola-kubes' and 'parma-violets', if you will. the main difference is that these drinks claim to be good for you, and because of the packaging I fall for it - hook, line and sinker.

Posted by stupot at 07:41 PM Thursday 29 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 06:32 PM Sunday 18 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

on this harvest moon

they say americans are always talking about the weather - or is that the english. certainly the japanese seem to be at it too and in all respects, it's understandable. lets face it - it's human nature and not just small talk.

It's just that these days, for many of us urbanites, the weather doesn't really have an affect on us. there just isn't much of the hunter/gatherer left in us and it seems that some of us only look up if we're inconvenienced. sometimes there are just too many buildings. with my grandparents having been farmers I was educated in, from an early age, the art of weather speak. I can still hold a transglobal conversation with my gran limited to only the basic elements. I watch the weather fairly religiously too - but thats probably just the cyclist in me coming out.

anyway, we've come to yet another delicate point in the transition of seasons and things are changing. the moon and sun are strangely magnified at the moment - the setting sun looking truly like the burning ball of fire it is and the moon living up to its reputation as a reading light. I've yet to see the rabbit there, but that may well be just down to lack of imagination.

we're right in the middle of tsukimi or moon-viewing season at the moment and it's not hard to see why. the smell of the burning rice which represents autumn in our kanji will soon fill our noses in a welcome combination with the cool air.

meanwhile - the mcdonalds hamburger chain has come up with a rather appealing advertising campaign as they have to become increasingly savvy with their marketing. perhaps based on japanese senga art, they've used a simplistic and powerful style. sadly thats where the appeal ends. one look at the fare on offer and the first ever generation of obese japanese children kind of puts you off your dinner. or is that meant to be a breakfast.

Posted by stupot at 06:31 PM Sunday 18 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 01:26 AM Wednesday 14 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

chick murray

obvious things aside, there's little I really miss from Scotland. when you have a good reminder though - it jogs the memory something chronic. like going for dinner tonight.

my brother-in-law's back from singapore for a week and we were chatting at the driving range over some tea and a cigarette last night, as guys do. apart from reminding me that osaka is actually hotter than singapore because of the humidity (remembering singapore is on the equator) he was mentioning a french guy he knows there who speaks Japanese very well. anyway - he was mentioning that although he's skilled, he does speak like a woman. an unfortunate side effect of having the bread knife teach you, but an effect one must consider none-the-less.

so the father-in-law rocks up this evening to take me to curry with mates in tsuruhashi and I have this on my mind. it's funny - we get on very well in a low but increasingly communicative relationship. Junichi is your typical Osakan male - with full on dialect. to say he asks friends if they're making money would be an understatement. we're doing pretty well tonight, both of us becoming more adventurous with our language - me trying not to sound too feminine. and we get to tsuruhashi - where douglas junior made the movie. you know. black rain. tsuruhashi is raw - both culinary and culturally. it's the real, modern, urban osaka - visually grotesque but bursting with amazing food and very genuine people with some great anecdotes. there are less sword weilding bikers these days though.

after picking up a seemingly random man (Junichi tends to keep his cards close to his chest) the curry shop we ended up at was both authentic and tasty: nan, lassi, long grain rice, samosas, the lot. five others joined us including Yuka and it felt strangely like being back in scotland (indian curry is scotlands national dish). it was interesting to watch the locals slightly perplexed with the food and saying "karai" (spicy) alot and asking for chopsticks and not too sure about the foriegn beer and definitely not into the rice. it's a funny thing isn't it - the japanese are particularly proud of their rice. it is nice though. just not with indian curry.

so my father in law works at a major food-sauce company who supply to trade and the mystery guest we met on the street was one of the chefs. I found out tonight that there's nothing worse than sitting across from a chef who works in a major food sauce company - they eat far too clinically. but tonight I shall rest well with a belly full of pukka scran.

Posted by stupot at 01:25 AM Wednesday 14 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 12:51 AM Tuesday 6 Sep | Post comment (0) comments

ramune

drinking "ra-moo-nay" is one of many things I do to stay a child. usually I'll try to do a handful of things each day - and being in japan it's made a lot easier given there are so many different experiences. there are far too many glum faces on the street - too many adults, not enough children.

anyway - as soft drinks go - ramune is a crazy. firstly you have to open it and I'll admit to having phoned the trouble and strife for instructions on my debut - rekindling her memories of long hot summers. first you take off the wrapper and you're confronted with a green plastic thing and a blue plastic collar covering a glass bottle. now this is where I went wrong - the instructions suggested placing part of the green plastic thing on top and pushing down hard but I had visions of broken shards of glass in my arm. obviously this wouldn't be a great idea for a kids drink so I pushed and pushed and eventually it gave way and alot of pressure was released. when I started drinking I realised I'd released a glass marble into the bottle which gets caught in the pinched neck (you can see it in the final photo). WOW - a toy and a drink. fantastic.

the taste itself is a bit like cream soda.

a toy and a drink, eh? who would have thought. and for 88 yen. a bargain.

Posted by stupot at 12:50 AM Tuesday 6 Sep | Post comment (1) comments

dinner

Posted by stupot at 08:39 PM Monday 5 Sep | Post comment (1) comments

Posted by stupot at 11:23 AM Tuesday 30 Aug | Post comment (0) comments

101 uses for the soy bean

the soy bean is used almost as much as rice in japanese cooking, from the bean itself (edamame) to tofu, soy milk, soy sauce, miso paste, natto (fermented beans - see june), and of course, soy sauce.
if you are allergic to milk - Japan is a great place to be.

it's an amazingly versatile thing and fermenting it allows for longer life expectancy for human and bean. allegedly miso paste evolved from battle: when a clan was under seige a tactic used by attackers was to starve them out - until someone spotted a horse eating fermenting beans and the original natto or miso was born.

I've included the picture above to prove the point as well as show that some stereotypes are kinda true. of course most japanese, especially young things, eat a french breakfast consisting of a coffee and a 2 inch, or 50mm wedge of pan (yes, the japanese decided to use the french word for bread) slathered with butter. Actually we generally only get around to having a traditional breakfast if we have the day off - just like we'd only have a 'full' breakfast in scotland at the weekend.

here we have then, 4 types of soy in a traditional breakfast - luxurious rice with wheat/whole beans topped with fermented natto and a bowl of miso shiru with spinach and tofu pieces.

it almost rivals porridge as a start to the day.

Posted by stupot at 11:22 AM Tuesday 30 Aug | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 05:37 PM Saturday 23 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

out of the frying pan...

sitting down to a fairly typical afternoon of earthquake announcements on TV (actually narita airport has been closed), sounds of a local matsuri (fesival) in the distance and fans doing their best to move the hot air around.

at the end of a busy week, yuka and I are basking in 5 days off work. we saw danny krivit, down-town, last night where we enjoyed some very classy house until the wee oors. it was really the perfect tonic for a hot night: go somewhere even hotter and dance for 5 hours solid. it was a good crowd and the grand cafe is certainly a great venue.

Yuka has 'sweat-blisters' too, but my heat bumps are all over my feet and hands. slightly worrying, but as my unfazed wife puts it, I'm just "acclimatising".

She received some lovely rice sweets from her work - presumably for working un-godly hours for the past while - and they are the type with flakes of gold in them. as if to concrete the view that japan is an expensive place to live, even the sweets are made of gold.

Posted by stupot at 05:36 PM Saturday 23 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 10:54 PM Tuesday 19 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

watch I did

I saw star wars this afternoon. I had had a craving for cinema for a while - it's been a year at least, and although the first two episodes were utter pish, I sensed there would be more to this one. it was like I had been drawn in by a force.......and I was right to have listened to my feelings.

I eventually arrived at the new town, mall complex just before the movie started but the seats were 2400yen (or �12.25) in the premier cinema, so I went for a salad and a nan-curry-hot-dog over at mos burger - quality fast food. I even had to wait. it's funny that you get a menu-calorie chart as the paper on your tray at mos. only in japan, neh? anyway - I guess my meal equated to the difference between a reclining chair and big speakers in the premier cinema and waiting for my absolutely adequate 1800yen seat in economy at the next showing.

there was only 8 people in the cinema which probably accounts for the high seat prices. or is it the other way around. and you know women get in for 1000yen on wednesdays? bloody sexist - mind you I think wages aren't equal. and most things aren't, so actually it's probably fair. I should have waited til tomorrow and put on some lipstick.

they say malls are our new cathedrals and certainly many aspects of this statement are true: they're gigantic structures. alot of people go there on a sunday. you go there if you feel down. you get brainwashed by salesmen. and so, like a modern urban dweller I headed off on my weekend to worship my religion.

and, you know, I really felt better for it. yoda never threatened burning in hell.

Posted by stupot at 10:54 PM Tuesday 19 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

soul food

feeling a little off today, yuka mailed me to ask what I'd like for tea and when I said 'some soul food', I should have guessed she would suggest nikujaga. or mick jagger as we affectionately refer to it.

it's a traditional food of sorts but odd in the respect that it's meat 'niku' with potatoes, onions and sugar. yes folks, it's sweet mince and tatties. a variation on a scottish national dish - but the japanese add sugar - the cheeky monkeys. don't tell anyone though - if scotland, the sick-man of europe, finds out, he'll be demanding golden syprup poured over every main course. it does beg the question though, of why the japanese diet is so healthy even when they add sugar to alot of cooking (take sushi {rice} as the obvious example).

I suppose it's moderation. and I guess it's the fact that uncle mick is just an occaisional dish which is one of those filling and simple comfort foods. tonight, being a fairly average meal, consisted of a tofu salad, natto (see tramps-muccus, june), rice, chicken salad as well as mr jagger; our little sweet friend.

so there you are. nihongo ryori is not just about raw fish and seaweed (though more often than not it is). and it's comforting to know that no matter how different we all are, we often fall for the same things in time of need.

ps. I clattered my head a cracker on the back door to our apartment building on my way to the hospital today and it really, really hurt. this is a main exit to a 'public' building for goodness sake. I'm going to check the building standards.
as soon as my vision returns.

pps. oh. I sniffed out a macha (green tea) kit-kat today. another unique take on a quality snack.

Posted by stupot at 10:39 PM Thursday 14 Jul | Post comment (3) comments

Posted by stupot at 08:31 PM Monday 11 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

101 uses for.......

I'm not big on eating crap - usually because I'm allergic to it - and I don't seek out home comforts from the motherland. but yesterday I found a new favourite - green tea flavour mcvities digestives. a quality snack to go with a nice cup of tea and a sit down. as you can imagine they're a bit on the sweet side, but being japan there was only eight mini-biscuits inside (so the diabetes will be kept at bay for another week or two). I think they say that the extra air pumped into the packaging is to keep the stuff in reasonable nick opposed to deceiving you that you're actually getting your moneys worth. but to be fair the biscuits were in all intact. there was even foil wrapping to prolong freshness so I knew it was money well spent.

all washed down with a carton of green-tea flavoured soymilk. although this concocts thoughts of chai and exotic asia it unfortunately tasted of piss. recommendation - stick to the biscuits.

Posted by stupot at 08:31 PM Monday 11 Jul | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 06:19 PM Tuesday 28 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

takoyaki

people don't visit Osaka for the culture. even the castle is a reconstruction. but the best thing about living here is the food. it's great, it's everywhere, it's what people talk about.

whilst japan has many delicate foodstuffs, osakan cuisine tends to be a reflection of its down-to-earth residents. perhaps most famous and the reason many people visit, is okonomiyaki: a kind of a cabbage pancake with your favourite topping, finished with brown sauce and fine seaweed. ehhhh. it tastes better than it sounds. infact it's superb.

a more visible sight and perhaps just as famous is takoyaki - literally fried octopus balls. yes, octopus have balls too. these are great fun to make at home - see a recent meal above (most people have a cheap, specific griddle) - but you can pick them up beside the train station on the way home.

they consist of; a simple flour, egg and water batter; finely chopped pickled ginger; tempura 'bits' (like those magic waste bits of batter from the chippie); spring onions and of course, octopus. the reason they burn your mouth is because you can never wait 'til they cool down. they're irresistable. mmmmm.

Posted by stupot at 06:19 PM Tuesday 28 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 10:20 PM Sunday 26 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

pass the parcel

packaging is just something you can't escape from in japan. it's still a big part of the culture, it's a beautiful tradition: an artform. but the translation to modern society often leaves a bad taste in the mouth: you certainly get a grasp of why the japanese (have to) recycle.

you get a plastic bag in almost every shop you visit, even if you don't buy anything. I'm pretty sure this stems from the gift culture that is still a wonderful and integral/evident part of living here. you visit someone - you buy a present. you come back your holibags - you bring a present. (this is the reason postcards are often difficult to find - even in tokyo). so anyway - you go to a shop - you get a bag. as many as you want. it makes them happier if you request more. they're making them out the back.

a nice example of plastic engineering, however, can be seen in modern rice-ball wraps. they enclose the seaweed outer sheet and the rice while keeping them seperate and when you pull the packaging apart in sequence (it feels like rubik designed it the first time you try) the two are married.

but japanese packaging is traditionally so natural; bamboo, leaves, paper.
I'm not disputing the fact that opening most packages in this country is special, intriguing, a real experience. it's just that now it's usually plastic and as many layers as possible. I remember that when I shopped in Sainsburys in the UK they gave a penny back because I always used my panniers on the bike (well, they did it twice anyway) - a pretty pathetic gesture given that in Ireland you pay 20 cents for a plazzy bag in a 7-11. apart from anything else - that's good business! but it certainly shows you the difference in mentality. and japan certainly sits on the fence with the UK when it comes to the issue, even if for different reasons. I'd say the british reason is just pacifism. that could be said for recycling in general. it could be said for a lot of things. oh - my dad was reminding me that plastic bags caught in trees are known as witches knickers. tonights call was definitely worth it!

anyway - I'm investing in the polythene bag industry - and soon you're gonna be paying me for the privilege! hoo-hoo-ha-ha!

Posted by stupot at 10:18 PM Sunday 26 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 01:47 PM Tuesday 21 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

whats for dinner?

so most brits have a hard time comprehending japanese cuisine. it's all fancy and arty and that. and if you eat it in britain it's at a rip off house with medium to poor quality ingredients, whipped up by some teenager just out of catering school who's only taste of asia has been spare ribs and bbq sauce with chicken balls and MG sweet and sour sauce from the local 'dragon wok'. so I guess it's a fair misconception. if that makes sense.

I have to say - I even winced a little recently when I was confronted with (raw) chicken sashimi (see also tramps mucus -06.05). this was something I hadn't been told about. and jesus - I'm in asia! I'll get SARS or some mad flu strain that's incurable and I'll sweat away my final hours in a country hospital before breathing my final breath (thank god I got repatriation in my insurance).

but no - it was nice. aided perhaps by the soy sauce. but certainly a beautiful texture and being japan the chicken was probably killed in the kitchen and bought from a neighbour (I had it in a very rural area in shikoku). anyway - I trust.

whale-on-the-menu is another well known fact about japan. I saw this poster on the door of a restaurant in kyoto - choose your cut. infact choose your bloody whale. sperm or blue? it's not cheap though and it's becoming less popular as people become more understanding and sympathetic with the cause (there actually aren't that many left to eat). apparently whale spotting is becoming a more popular leisure activity for more modern types in japan. I'm not sure if this is on whaling boats and you can 'harpoon-your-own' for dinner, or if it's more of a WWF/greenpeace venture. probably the latter.

but it's out there - you can get it if you pay. man, you can get pigs ears, raw horse (okay - raw anything), varying degrees of deadly blowfish, fermented soy beans. at the end of the day - whale's just another tradition and some traditions die hard. that doesn't mean I agree or not. I've never even tasted the stuff. but it's far from being an underground business. although whaling is banned (except for research purposes - and japan seems to do a lot of research...) it is still very publicly sold at reputable businesses. and this being japan - you know it's not frozen.

Posted by stupot at 01:46 PM Tuesday 21 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

just not right

with today being the first day to start using the fan in our bedroom (I've not slept properly for a week), it's no surprise to see all things summery around; parasols, ice cream promotions, bamboo shades outside windows and people generally sweating. It was a bit of a shock though, to see what I witnessed today in the supermarket. since the Simpsons immortilised japan by visiting many years ago, some things have become synonymous with the country - futuristic toilets, unusual games shows and expensive living - which was highlighted of course with homer buying that square watermelon.

my consumer choice today was not shape but rather what colour of watermelon I wanted. to be honest blue might have been a more appealing choice - a kind of a friendly reference to all that sci-fi food we were brought up on back then, in the world of arthur dent and in other low budget bbc sci-fis. a time when people actually had an imagination when it came to dangerously tampering with nature.

people really do have too much time on their hands or is it just me? am I just a cynic? is our choice of food really so limited that we have to invent new stuff? jees. japan moves another step further away from the real world - but it certainly makes doing the shopping a hell of a lot less of a chore!

Posted by stupot at 11:38 PM Saturday 18 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 03:19 AM Thursday 9 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

tramps mucus

it's funny - when I arrived in Japan last august I still couldn't bear the smell of natto, never mind eat the stuff. now i can't get enough of it.

it looks about as appealing as tramp mucus poured over out-of-date baked beans. but actually there's more truth in that statement than you might think - natto is essentially fermented soy beans and despite everything - it's damn healthy. I guess it would have to be for you to try it, but once aquired, the taste is very good. I don't know if I could go back to baked beans now - just that sugary sauce which puts me off a bit (mind you I just had a vision of a doorstep slavered in melting marg and heinz beans poured on top on a cold winters morn).

anyway - natto is meant to contribute to a healthy heart, help keep camcer cells away and generally make you a demon in the sack. I'm not sure about the last bit there, but essentially it's kryptonite. again - why do you think the japanese live so long? it's just they have no sense of smell.

Posted by stupot at 03:18 AM Thursday 9 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

Posted by stupot at 10:22 PM Saturday 4 Jun | Post comment (0) comments

cup ramen

I never really 'got' pot noodles. okay - so the advertising was 'off the wall' and as a student with lack of funds, uneducated taste buds and a need for a quick fix - sometimes I turned to them for ease, but really (and snobbery apart), they are a disgrace to the word food.

Continue reading "cup ramen"
Posted by stupot at 10:21 PM Saturday 4 Jun | Post comment (0) comments