Serious Ramen! I mean it!

We had a little R&R in Tokyo last week and met up with our friend Mark "Magnum" Williams who introduced us to a ramen shop in Akihabara. Jangara specializes in Kyushu ramen and has several shops in Tokyo. I lived in Kyushu for over 10 years and am quite serious about ramen. There are many pretenders, but  Jangara is serious ramen. The above pictured bowl is the top of the menu version and the orange item in the soup isn't a carrot. It's karashimentaiko a Fukuoka delicacy. This was simply the best ramen I've had this century!  Expect to stand in line if you go there during lunch hours, but it is well worth the wait. So now we have a dilemma every time we hit "Akiba", Star Kebab or Jangara for lunch. It's going to have to be a coin toss.

Strawberry Fields

As the January wind rages over the vinyl covered "strawberry fields" here, I'm sure the original fields of Beatles song fame are covered with snow in New York's Central Park where the concept of fresh strawberries in January is as alien as a Boston Red Sox fan in Yankee stadium. But, I digress. Baseball season is a long 2 months away.
Today, I must tout the joys of being able to enter heated greenhouses and gobble down massive berries like the one pictured here. The southern tip of the Chiba peninsula sits on the edge of real winter for the rest of Japan and the tropics to the south. Fierce winter winds rage here howling like banshees in the Irish night, yet we get no snow and the temperature seldom goes below freezing. Due to these favorable climatic conditions there has arisen a booming business in strawberry and flower picking, all of which you can pick to your hearts content for a specified amount of time. Of course all of this for a fee. Today being Sunday I'm sure there will be a caravan of tour busses coming from Tokyo/Yokohama and points north on the infamous Tateyama expressway. The evening traffic jam headed back to "urbania" is something to behold. I have seen it many times as I return from the opposite direction after a fun and frolic weekend in Tokyo. I'm sure such a traffic jam is no joy for parents of toddlers with bulging bladders and a bad disposition.

So if you feel you can inhale about 2 large strawberries a minute, you can challenge my former student's record of 60 in a half hour, hop on a train, give me a "tweet" when you get here and "Let me take you down" to strawberry fields.

Adult or not, 20 is a milestone.

Monday morning holiday here in old Nippon as it is "Coming of Age" day. A holiday to celebrate all who became/will become 20 years old this year or last, wife isn't even sure which. These new adults all put on traditional kimono and go to a ceremony in their hometown, where the boys and some of the girls too, generally speaking, act like the imbeciles they really are. Japanese kids are basically coddled until 20 which is way too long in my opinion. Of course the news tomorrow will report on the few who will not see 21 as they go out drink too much and drive to fast. However, for the casual observer it is a feast for the eyes to see all the beautiful kimono on the way to and from the ceremony. My boy has 2 years to go before his and we have yet to decide if he will participate or not. Actually it will be his decision entirely.
We will observe the day by doing a little shopping, buy train tickets for a trip to Tokyo and enjoy a warm meal of "nabemono" this evening. Tomorrow should see a "return to normalcy" as Woodrow Wilson so full of hope once said. I hope your life has finally returned to normal after the holiday season.

Brown Rice "Mochi", the safe way to get energy!

Just a short post today to share with you something my wife "discovered" last night. After our trip to the in-laws where I voiced my love for "mochi" made from brown rice,"genmai" in Japanese, she decided to try put the rice in a food processer and see if a glutinous mass resembling "mochi" would result. To my surprise it did. She shaped them into small, sausage sized, patties and let them set overnight. This morning she browned them, a toaster oven is fine, and added them to miso soup. I am no fan of white rice mochi. To me it is bland and dangerous-at least 9 people died last week when it stuck in their throats. "Genmai mochi" is much more palatable and not as dangerous as the white globs of commercial...stuff.
I don't expect to convert you to a "mochi" eater, but if you need to carbo load for running or cycling, it is a great source of energy that won't constipate or kill you like white rice "mochi".

Temple at Dawn

Temple at Dawn
Originally uploaded by osiodhachan

On my early morning "power walk" I passed Yasuoka temple near the Sea of Japan coast in Shimonoseki. The ferocious winds of the last few days finally abated and the early morning calm was striking. The local dog walkers were stunned by the encounter with a "foreign devil" who greeted them loudly in Japanese. I'm sure I was mentioned over "mochi" & green tea in several households!

New Year's feast!

New Year's feast!
Originally uploaded by osiodhachan

New Year's day in Japan means we feast on food prepared the day before and watch zany TV programs. This year we are visiting my in-laws and enjoying a little different taste. There are many other pictures of "osechi" on twitter. Check them out!