I like to eat a lot.

One of the reasons I was excited to move to Japan was because of the food.  I love Japanese food to the max.  About 90% of the time I would go out to eat in Los Angeles, I would end up in a Japanese place.  Well, it's a lot different living in Japan.

To be honest, I'm not sure how the Japanese live so long on their diet.  Maybe because they eat a lot of naturally preserved foods, it helps preserve their bodies or something because literally there is so much frying, batter, soy, and grains being ingested I don't know how they are alive.  I also don't know how to read the menu so maybe I'm missing...everything.

Pizza bao isn't cheating right?

Unfortunately, I haven't eaten too much Japanese food since I got here.  I've had McDonald more than I would like to admit publicly, but its publicly obvious while I tuck my muffin top down into my pants. 

I resisted painting the shells pink.

I've also hosted a taco night, eaten an American style Christmas dinner, made regular sandwiches (which they can't seem to get right here) and eaten a lot of bao (Chinese style steamed buns) from the convienie stores.  My work makes it hard to eat well bc we get small breaks in between classes, and my lack of Japanese language ability makes it damn near impossible.  Here's a taste of what I've had so far:



1. Miso-Katsu

blarf.

Nagoya is actually famous for miso-katsu (mee-so cat-tsew). It's pork that is breaded and fried with a sweet miso-based sauce on top. 

I accidentally ate some one day between classes.  I went by a place next to school.  I walked by 5 times trying to figure out what the hell they served and what cost what on the menu.  Was that a special lunch only menu? Crap.

It's not on my list of favorites, its pretty fatty and I will say I barfed up 10 times later that night.




2. Okonomiyaki

nom nom nom

I love this crap.  I know I talked about it before, but I'm giving it double props.  Its shredded cabbage mixed in an egg and flour batter.  You can mix in any ingredients you want (all savory, please) and then you throw it on a griddle pancake style, cook it until it's nice and browned, and then paint it with some brown fish sauce, a bit of super thick Japanese mayonaise (what what heart attack!), and finish it with a few dancing bonito (fish) flakes.

A place by the school allows you to make your own, but after an ordering debacle (I thought it went well...) the chef made mine in the kitchen.  Lame.  I chose cheese, bacon and octopus.  Shrimp can suck it.  I also drank some supposedly green tea that smelled more like brown rice tea, and then proceeded to hallucinate for 45 mins.  Check please!



3. Green Tea Jelly

You can stuff it with red bean also.

I had this as a dessert dish at our Bonenkai last night.  It's like a lighter version of jell-o, and made from matcha (green tea).  It wasn't sweet and was topped with powdered soybeans, which were actually suprisely sweet.  I ate mine and then stole someone else's.  You snooze you lose. And I eat more. Surprise jelly feast!


5. Ramen:
I've also been eating a bunch of ramen, and unlike in the States, its perfectly acceptable here.  No judgment of your economical status.  I no longer have to eat ramen in shame!  So, a little history lesson: Instant Ramen like we have all had from the styrofoam cup that destroys the world, was made by a Japanese man attempting to allow busy workers to enjoy this national dish on the go.  Arigato gozaimasushita, Momofuku Ando-san!


Real ramen has totally different noodles and comes in almost as many varieties as Cup-o-Noodles (see here: So many flavors of ramen love.) and depending where you are in the country either the noodle quality or the soup quality is the main goal.  Oh, and you sllluuuurrrrppppp!!!!! up the noodles to show how much you are enjoying them.

Anyways, since I have so many different types of ramen and instant ramen at my fingertips, I may or may not scoff at my old pal Cup-o-Noodle in favor of ramen that is more like the original.

I bought this at my grocery store in the fridge section $3

 Just add hot water! and Voila real noodles, egg and pork!

Damn those are some awesome looking noodles and coasters.

For those of you that have been to Daikokuya with me in LA.  They have the same type of ramen at 7-11 on the shelf waiting to be loved long time.  I got the spicy kind and I think the little "3" on the package means for 3 people, but I'll just continue to pad my muffin top and eat it all myself.







I'll take the camera to the store soon.  For the record, it's not that expensive to live here as you might think.  I got a  6 piece sushi/4 piece sashimi combo with a tallboy and salad for about $6 tonight at the local store.  Awesome! And even though I'm in Japan, it doesn't get much better than Mitsuwa in Little Tokyo to be honest. But it is pretty nice to live within walking distance of 3 grocery stores, a Walmart type place, and about 700 convenience stores. 

Japanese shopping cart!