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?