teamEggers

Yakiniku

Yakinuku is a term that literally means “grilled meat”, but without context you could very easily say “yeah. sounds special. I bbq every day in the summer.”

Enter the yakiniku restaurant, where the grill is built into the middle of your table.  Have you ever been to a fondue restaurant?  It’s a little like that: they bring you plates of raw meat and the occasional vegetable, and the friend you-trust-most-with-your-dinner will grill it up while you speculate on what, exactly, it was that you ordered. Add in copious drinking and the uncertainty of what you’re eating, and it’s a good time.

This is us in front of the place (will is inside,wrangling us a table ((we had been turned away at once place already because they were “full”)), then you have Nathan, Phil, & Jon).

I like that they always give you a little something when you sit down. The mandatory appetizer. I don’t love that they usually charge you for it, but whatever. Roll with the punches. This is pickled seaweed. Surprisingly tasty.

On to the meat.

The 3rd dish we had came with this adorable little tureen for squashing lemons. It looked like a garlic press. Will thinks this one was diaphragm, but whatever it was, it was incredible. Really tender and thinly sliced.

Dining out in Japan is not for the squeamish. Granted, you can just go to a ramen stand every day, but what fun is that? This next dish was not immediately identifiable, and the way it slithered onto the grill made you question what they heck you were doing in this strange place. At first we didn’t cook it enough, and it had the consistency of thickly ribbed raw oysters. Then the ah hah moment:  this is large intestine!

I’m pretty okay with eating everything, but mostly I’m curious about what it is. It’s exciting to figure it out.

I think we ended up with beef tongue, a really nicely marbled piece of beef, beef diaphragm, bbq squid of some sort, large intestine, raw ground beef with egg and ginger, raw liver, and then beef fried rice and lettuce at the end. I thought… “why stop now” and grilled the lettuce too.

It’s possible that my judgment was impaired.

go-chi-sho-samadeska!!! (thanks, that was really good!)

***

After dinner, we parted ways with Nathan & Phil, and the three of us went to a standing bar / yakitori stand…

…where jon ordered their finest sake and got this weird cup…

…and jovial old men grilled up your meat for you.

A quick, after dinner bite: pork tongue:

And that’s where our night ended.

Sakura Tea?

It seems a bit unreasonable, certainly unseasonal, but I think today’s kitkat flavour is … sakura tea? (you’ll remember from last year that sakura are the cherry blossoms that spring up in march/april)

Also, the tea looks a it… creamy. Last year I found a flowers-and-white-tea kitkat, and this doesn’t look like that! Maybe it’s sakura coffee.

I’m tempted to learn japanese just so I can translate my candy.

**

update:  it’ COFFEE not tea.  It’s SO good! omg.  oishii!!

Exploring Yokohama

Led by the rumblings of my stomach, I set out to explore a bit this afternoon.  I have a weird sense of place because, while everything feels familiar, mostly I have no idea what’s going on.

I’m struck mostly by their/my differences. I’m sure a bit of culture shock is to be expected, but I’m still disheartened by how much about this place I’ve forgotten.

A short walk down the street brings me to the Landmark towers, and I start to hunt for something that looks lunchy. You’ll remember my absolute adoration of the different kitkats and how … okay, let’s just call a spade, a spade. I have an addictive personality. When I’m alone I tend to stop in every convenience store I pass, on the hunt for them. I once stopped in 15 different places in a single day. I remember thinking last year “boy. I can’t even think of another flavour that they could make! They seem to have covered it all!

Well folks, take the foot out of my mouth because here’s… Ginger Ale.

When you’re in a store looking for one thing, it takes a singluar-focus (that I seem to lack) to keep your eyes from wandering to the other wares. This next one makes me laugh out loud in such a hardcore way. I love the Japanese take on English.

Rappers. You know. The thing you put your wiener in. Obviously. hahahahah. hah. ha. ahem.

And also…. yes, strawberries are stylish berries, but why was this in the soup aisle?

Eventually, my hunger overrode my curiosity and amusement, and I settled on Soup Stock for a curry and soup setto. You’re looking at Ginger Pork Stewed Curry and next to it is the Japanese 7 Vegetable Soup with Fresh Ginger.

The soup was the consistency of chicken noodle: the curious kind that allows solids to be suspended in a perfectly clear broth. Because of this, I expected it to be … oh… gummy? Boy was I wrong. It was fresh, light, and very bright. Ginger is such a lovely ingredient.  Everyone should use it.

The little lady next to Mr. Soup was the pork curry.  Again, the brightness of ginger elevates what would otherwise be a heavy dish, though this time it’s accentuated with what tastes like orange zest.  The Japanese really do know how to do fast food.

Remember last year, we talked about how everything seems to happen in malls?  I had been looking for something like a farmer’s market and I think i stumbled upon one. On the very left side, you can see photos of people digging in the dirt.

They’re selling things like oranges, mushrooms, noodles, carrots, etc.

I picked up some noodles for 500 Yen (~$5)

Finally, I bought the cutest bento boxes for jon to take his lunches in. I had been looking at them last year, and as luck would have it, they were all 50-70% off! kowai!