Oishii!

Here it is, folks: the much-anticipated and long-planned Japanese Food Entry!

Things have been pretty quiet around Tsu the past few weeks (aside from my awesome birthday party, which I'll post pictures of in my next post), so I've decided to showcase the many food photos that I've taken over the past six months.  When I first got here, I took photos of all of my food - to the point where my students knew about it and made fun of me for it!  But it was all leading up to this.  Some of these might be repeats on this blog, and a lot of them have appeared on Facebook, so if you've seen them before, I apologize.  In the mean time, sit back, relax, and feast your eyes on the oishii (delicious) foods of Japan.

Sarah's student Yoshiko made us this FEAST after she dressed us up in summer kimonos back in September.  That's a huge slab of Matsusaka beef right there, surrounded by shrimp, salad, and vegetables.  And on the table next to it?  A block of tofu.  Oishii.

Yoshiko had us over for Sarah's birthday.  We had yakiniku, which is grilled meat.  She had a huge plate FULL of meat, plus a huge plate of vegetables, plus a huge bowl of yakisoba (noodles).  Oishii.

Ise Udon is a type of Japanese noodle in a soy sauce kind of soup.  It always hits the spot.  You can also order it on ice!

Akafukugori is not my favorite - green tea shaved ice with a huge chunk of red bean paste in the bottom.  It's a little to sweet and bean paste-y for my tastes.

My student Mariko took my mom and me out for lunch when she was here.  How delicious does this look?

Dessert plates come with three desserts here.  As they should.

Sarah and I went to Nara and I got this delicious ham and vegetable cheese bread.  Not exactly Japanese, but definitely tasty.

Traditional festival fare.  This stuff is all over the place!

Stressful day?  How about some shopping and a trip to the Italian buffet?  I think so.

Traditional Japanese tea ceremony green tea and  sugar cake

Sweet potato ice cream

After Peter's student took us to Kyoto, he took us out for some okonomiyaki.  Grillin' right in front of us!

Burger and fries at the amusement park!

My first takoyaki (octopus)

My second takoyaki, from a street vendor - the way it should be

We went for a hike in the mountains with one of my students and stopped at this charming little coffee shop.  How great is this table set-up?

Japanese fast food: Mos Burger

Indian food: nan and curry.  I ate way too much of this when I first got here.

My favorite "too lazy to cook" meal: a Bento from Kamadoya (bento chain).  I get the "ozeki," or the sumo wrestler variety.

I went out to lunch with my students.  This was the appetizer.  I didn't like it.

This was the main course - bento boxes stacked 2 layers tall full of awesome Japanese food.

Christmas salmon!  How cute is that?

So. Many. Desserts.

Best iced coffee I've had here.  I went to a little coffee shop that is halfway between my apartment and OBC.

...and the famous, cute coffees.

Here are a few of the more American meals I've had here:

Starbucks in Kyoto

Mr. Donut at Saty

McDonald's in Tsu



I cook a lot at home, and I've been pretty proud of a few of my meals:

Salmon, fresh vegetables, and pasta

A pretty good stir fry

Octopus pasta with fresh tomatoes

Well, there you have it, friends!  A sampling of the fantastic foods I've gotten to eat so far during my time in Japan.  I hope you enoyed this little departure from my normal blogging.  Hungry yet?

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends and family!  I realize that I should also wish you a Merry Christmas, seeing as how I completely dropped the ball on updating my blog before I jetted off to the US for the holidays.  I was so wrapped up in finishing up my classes, saying farewells, and packing, that I didn't have time to fill you in on the last few Japanese days of 2010.  Now, I'm back in Tsu after a wonderful trip home to see my family, and so far, 2011 has been great.

Christmas at OBC

Christmas at OBC

I was very lucky in my travels in that all of my flights went off without a hitch.  We had a few delays, but nothing major.  Granted, my parents drove me through a couple of snowstorms en route to and from the airport, but it's nothing us Minnesotans can't handle.  If you ask my family how my Christmas was, they'll tell you that I slept through it, which is, I must admit, a little true.  Hey, jet lag isn't easy!  And it's a compliment to them that I feel comfortable just passing out on the living room floor for a couple of hours while they play a rousing game of "Smart Ass" (best Christmas gift of the year, I'd say).  All in all, it was a wonderful MN Christmas: I put some ornaments on the tree, finished wrapping gifts about an hour before Christmas Eve mass, celebrated mass in English, lounged with my puppy, caught up with great friends and many family members, and even managed to fit in a Marshall Tiger basketball game and a nominated film ("The Fighter") in the week I was home.

They saved my Christmas ornaments to put on the tree!

Christmas Eve

Christmas in the Tate house.  It's the best.

My last night in America with my parents

Thanks, Amanda!

And while I was over at the DeBoers' for our annual Christmas party, complete with shrimp scampi and Swedish meatballs, guess who showed up to surprise me?  None other than Andy, who had driven from Madison all day.  It was great to see him and spend a day with him before meeting up in the Detroit airport and heading to Japan - especially since that almost didn't happen.

Wonderful Christmas surprise

Luckily, my flight out of Detroit was delayed because Andy had to RUN to the gate to make to there on time.  His flight from Madison was delayed something like 6 hours due to fog, so he barely made it.  We were the last people on the plane, but it worked out.  I think my grandmother's rosary-praying helped us out!  I wasn't looking forward to coordinating a reunion in Japan while arriving on different flights.

Andy and I had a great time during his visit.  We visited Ise, Nara, and Nabana no Sato (a HUGE Christmas light illumination).  Our plans to visit Kyoto fell through, but we took in the local sights and sounds of Tsu.  I took him to the castle park and to Saty, the department store, so that he could get a real idea of my everyday life in Japan.  Worst part of the trip: my camera broke on the second day while we were in Nara, so my photo documentation is limited.  But he had fun sitting in on my classes, and my students enjoyed meeting him.  I'm glad he has a better idea now of what exactly I'm talking about when I tell him stories!

Inner Shrine of Ise

Purify.

Train ride to Nara.

Yet again, our pictures are not taken well.

So we'll do it ourselves.

He liked feeding the deer.

This is right after this one pulled on his sweater.

Todaiji

And now it's back to real life - or as real as life can be here in Japan.  I've got six and a half more months of teaching ahead of me, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with my students and friends here.  Oh, and I'm looking forward to some warmer weather!  Yes, Minnesota is cold, but central heating is a beautiful thing.

Take care!

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