Once Upon a Tokyo

Hottest Day on Record

The news says that yesterday was the hottest August day on record. So of course it was the same day that I and my roommate decided to ride our bikes to Sangenjaya, a station 4 stops away.

We were on a quest for some gourmet kakigori, shaved ice, and we heard of a place that was relatively nearby. Deciding to make a whole day of it, we would also take the old-fashioned tram that winds its way through the suburban Setagaya ward. By purchasing a cheap all-day pass, we could hop on and off the Setagaya line, with various sites such as a series of shrines and old-fashioned buildings that date older than the country of America itself.

First of all, the kakigori. We rolled up to what's basically an ice shop, with a small refridgerated truck parked along the street outside-- obviously they have to supplement the shaved ice with a side business. The shop itself (not a restaurant by any means) was basically the size of a small kitchen, with seating for about six people on rickety chairs and wooden tables. The feel is one of a local matsuri festival. The Obasan grandma tending the store was seated outside, as if waiting for us, the only customers. Friendly and talkative, she asked if I could read the menu, which was all in Japanese, and even though I said "a little bit" she proceed to read the entire menu in English-- "melon, strawberry, banana"-- while I and my roommate shifted on our feet in amused discomfort. We ordered on the "fancy" side of the menu -- Black Tea for me and Green Tea for my friend.

She gleefully chatted away about the difference between American crushed ice and Japanese shaved ice including a bit of history that I completely missed. The machine she used was 73 years old, but ran with a giant motorized belt that she turned on with a long lever. She layered the ice with tea that she hand-ground with a mortar and pestle and added some sweetened condensed milk. Here is the picture:

 

Some of the best desert I ever had! Not sure if was worth the exorbitant price of ¥650. Heck, the one-day pass and various drinks and snacks? The rest of our day combined was only just above above the same price!  

About the time we were finishing, the shop swelled with four or five other customers dropping in and out, so surely this little spot was a local favorite.  

here I am with the old ice machine, although we might have to go back to use a flash next time. 

Potato Chip Hand

Next up in strange Japanese objects, we have a real item with a wonderfully fake commercial. I present to you the ポテチの手 (Potechi no Te) or Potato Chip Hand. Ever wished you could eat potato chips with chopsticks? Well, that's just silly. But you still don't want all that salt and grease on your fingers, right? Now you can use the Potato Chip Hand instead! Check out the cool features, such as the "No Broken Clutch System," "Finger Easy Cleaning System", and "Non Touch Table System." The video is meant to mimic a home shopping channel TV show, but the product is real. It's from Takara Tommy, the same toy-slash-food manufacture that brought us Giga Pudding. Who wants one for Christmas?!

Thai Festival Part II

Remember the Thai Festival I talked about? I got to meet up with my friends Rachael and Brad White, and Rachael was there on behalf of JapanEats.tv, a really great food blog that she's networked with. I didn't get to do much besides say hi and eat and run, but it was a blast getting to mingle with crowds, until it got too much and I had to get out of there!

Visit JapanEats.tv and also take a look at Rachael's mad reporting skills:

Tokyo Bites: 2010 Thai Festival from Japan Eats on Vimeo.

Always Something New To Do in Tokyo

I visited my friends' church today since it was their "youth sunday" and he helps out with the student worship band. It doesn't have as late of a service as Jesus Lifehouse, which has something like 5 services on the weekend now, so it allowed us to visit Omote-sando and neighboring Yoyogi afterwards.

The big thing? A GIANT Thai Festival. How giant? Check out this picture:

Rachael was already there with her friends from Japaneats.tv, who were there to blog about it all. Also already there? Thousands of people. I think this is one of the first festivals of the "season," as it were, and that plus the awesome weather at the moment (well, and plus awesome Thai food) caused quite a sensation. We had some spicy spring rolls, pad thai, some other kind of skewered meat, and papaya ice cream.

On the way back through Shibuya, one whole part of the street was closed off for some kind of folk dancing, too. Truly some random encounter. Guess it's matsuri (festival) season in full swing!

Whale Meat

I present you a link to an article from The Atlantic regarding Japan, called "I Ate Whale Meat."

As the article points out, hardly anyone really eats whale meat at all, and it has become more of a political issue than a cultural one. What I think is really disingenuous is mentioned in the article here:

"Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling established by the International Whaling Commission in 1986, Japan continues to harvest whales in the name of scientific research, culling an estimated 900 last year alone. Anti-whaling groups have called the program a thinly-guised method of restocking grocery and restaurant supplies of edible whale sashimi and cured whale ham."

In other words, they hide their fishing in the name of Science-- due to a loophole that allows them to hunt and kill whale for research, and "since it's already dead, might as well sell it for food."

I haven't ever eaten it myself, although I've certainly had my fair share of odd things to eat here and in China. Who knows what will happen if I was put in a place where I would have to actually make that choice. I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it.

Prague Spokesmen

Looking through my cell phone for pictures to share, and I forgot to share this one, snapped up while walking a random street in Prague this summer.

It features two unlikely spokespeople-- One is the head of the world's largest organized religion, the other is the head of the leading national superpower. Together, they fight crime! I mean, together they endorse green tea!

The funny thing was, I REALLY wanted green tea while in Germany (especially when I was feeling ill) and I couldn't ever find it. So, in "old Europe" Czech, green tea's no problem. In modern-day big-city Munich? Not so much. Maybe the Pope and the President need to reach out more...

More at Maccas

Talking about McDonald's as being one of the very few *easily* accessible restaurants the other day reminded me of their newest campaign, featuring this monstrosity:

The MEGATAMAGO! (aka the Mega-Egg!)

And to think, it used to be a big deal that they had a (*gasp*) quarter-pounder! (They even had a special promo built around being able to eat the *whole thing!*) But now they have a triple decker Big Mac with a giant egg, bacon, and of course, lots and lots of mayo-sauce.

And in case you were wondering about ALL the different burgers that Japanese McDonald's have, this summer they have the Nippon All Stars, which feature special burgers for a few weeks at a time. 

And no, I haven't eaten any of them. If I *do* ever happen to eat at Mickey D's, I usually get a side salad and a "shaka shaka chicken" which is basically a chicken cutlet with spices that you shake in a bag. You can have a spicy chicken salad with no dressing!

Big Mac Tokyo

One of the things about my apartment is that there aren't a lot of nearby restaurants I can casually stumble into when wandering outside my door. Most other places (those of my friends) seem to be conveniently near a major street and all the convenience stores, ramen shops, and izakayas that entails.

Me? I have to make sure I get on my bike and ride at least a couple of minutes, or take that much longer to stroll. And even then--- the result? Starbucks or McDonald's.

I was just reminded of it again with this report from the Economist: Tokyo is one of the few places where you can earn your Big Mac within minutes-- our salaries are just That Good.

Or terrifying. 

Lemon Cakes

So, the big book club event went off fine. I prepared for many days so it wouldn't be a problem-- cooking up a big batch of spaghetti ahead of time, buying veggies, etc. All I had to do on the big day was to cut up some veggies for salad and crudités (love the way that word makes cut-up vegetables sound so elegant) and to make a lemon cake.

For some reason, I had it in my mind to make a lemon cake. It's one of the few things that I get a craving for and can't quite get the same thing over here. Now I guess I know why. It's a pain in the butt to make. Lemons aren't that expensive (compared to most produce around here), but it's still a hassle, and then I don't really have a zester or a juicer, so I have to make do. No buttermilk either, but I can use lemon juice and milk and fake it. Butter itself is super expensive, and cakes take a lot of it-- once you convert all your recipe stuff into metric and try to get the right measurements....

Anyway, I'm making a bigger deal of it. The real fun was putting it into the aluminium pans I bought from the 100-Yen shop. The package of tins came with 3, but the recipe said to divide it into two 8-inch loaf pans. (There's that darn U.S./non-metric stuff again.) So I filled the batter to the top of each. Can't fit both in my oven, so only one goes in for now. The recipe didn't say that the darn thing would rise, and rise and RISE, and keep on RISING! I thought I had created a slowly dripping volcano of lemon cake batter. The top was getting browned nicely, but batter still kept creeping forth from the side until a little mound of mutant side-cake grew next to it. Luckily, the oven uses a inner plate (like those mini-lazy-susans in a microwave), so the batter didn't go all over the oven itself. But it was funny, and made the first cake come out deformed.

Thank goodness there WAS three tins in the package, so I could divide the remaining batter between the two remaining tins in the mean time.

The cakes did taste amazing, I have to admit. Even the mutant one. 

Winter's not over yet-- let's order in.

Since it's been raining for about 30-some hours by now, I've resigned myself to the fact that winter is not over yet. Still, it could be worse. According to my lesson plans from last year, we had a "snow day" about this same time. Also-- thank goodness for my Playstation 3.

One of the first things I learned how to do in order to function in a new country is to learn how to order from Domino's pizza. I usually go for the traditional "Domino's Deluxe" which is the closest thing we can get to an American-style pizza, but it's also fun to look at the menu and see what new and exciting offerings there are.

The newest pizza in the line up is the Whole Cambert Cheese Fondue Pizza.Thanks to some rough translations, it's described as "Simmering-sticky whole Cambert cheese, that's this luxurious fondue sauce." In other words, as a topping, there is a WHOLE BLOCK OF CAMBERT CHEESE, plus potato, ham, shrimp, broccoli, and black pepper. A large, which serves about 4-5 Japanese people, will set you back about $35.