20070715 Kamen Rider

Today I went to Sakae to hang out with some friends. Little did I know that there’d be a Kamen Rider show going on. These pictures aren’t so good, because they’re from my phone, but it was a good time, nonetheless. Henshin!!

A couple of weeks ago, a few of my students took me out for a great night out. Perhaps it was a goodbye party, perhaps it wasn’t - I can’t really say now right now. Anyway, the specialty of this place is tofu. In America, if you have a place that specializes in tofu, it’s probably like a vegan or vegetarian place. But here, it’s just another kind of delicious food that you can have. Because some of the specialties included raw horse meat and other deliciousness. So anyway, enjoy the pictures.

Frontiersの送別会

Last weekend, I went to this construction site near Meijo Koen and took a bunch of pictures. I realize that this kind of thing doesn’t appeal to everyone, but this is the kind of stuff I like. I hope someone else out there might like it, too.

20070708

 
Oh yeah, and I also found this nice little restaurant that was open to the outdoors not too far from my local Daei. I love eating in the open air, so it was great. The thing that was significant for me, though, was that there was a menu that I could read the whole damn thing without a dictionary. I was so proud. I had a hotate salad (scallop salad) and a small unagi donburi.
  

Sorry for the late post, but I’ve been busy lately. Anyways, a couple weeks ago, first a friend and I went to this place in Nagoya called Sunshine Sakae. It happens to be the building with the Ferris wheel which is adjacent to the building where my school is. Anyway, on the second floor they have this place where they have a bunch of ramen shops, with styles from all over Japan. It’s actually similar to the Yokohama Ramen Museum, but on a much smaller scale. Anyway, every summer they have what’s called a “Ramen Fight”, where you get to vote on which of all the ramen shops is the best. This day, we had some Kyuushuu style tonkotsu ramen, which was pretty good, but I’m looking forward to trying all the rest of them.

Oh, and afterwards we went to karaoke and met up with an Australian friend of mine, Derek. We stayed out until past 6. Why do you do karaoke so late, you might ask. Well, I’m actually usually ready to go home a lot earlier, but the trains are stopped from 12 until 6am, so we’re kind of stuck. But my new place is a 15-minute walk from Sakae, so that means I’ll be able to easily go home at a reasonable hour.

June 2007 Karaoke

I am really really stressed out these days.

  
Sorry for the long delay in posting. I’ve been very busy lately, and for right now I can’t say too much more at this time. So for those of you that requested pictures of karaoke and drinking, here you go. Here are some photos from a couple of weeks ago, when we had a going away party for Chris-sensei. We went to this awesome tabehoudai (all you can eat) and nomihoudai (all you can drink) shabu-shabu place, then, of course did karaoke until the light of day.

chris sendoff

I’ve been following Ben and Nate’s trip around Asia, and all the cuisine they’ve been sampling. Apparently, the best bowl of noodles in the world is in Tokyo! Obviously, I have to try this Jiro Ramen the next time I’m there.

Today, I felt like having some Korean food, so I went to this place called Kannichitei　( 韓日亭 ), which just means Korean-Japanese restaurant. Had some bibimba, which I used to call be bim bop in America. Nothing special, and definitely not spicy enough, but the place was clean and pleasant, and the other patrons all were speaking Korean, which made it like a mini-vacation.

I haven’t posted in a while, because I have been super busy for the last week. Also, it’s not something I can discuss on this blog. I will hopefully be able to talk about it next week.

This is a followup to my earlier post that I made about a ramen place in Fukuoka. This past Tuesday, a couple of students and I went to a new ramen place that opened up in Nagoya about a month ago. It’s popular (there’s usually a line outside) and they serve Kyuushuu-style ramen. Well, hearing about it, it started to sound a little familiar: they use a shokken (a little vending machine where you buy tickets) to make your basic order; you have to fill out a slip of paper to more specifically describe the way you’d like your order served; each seat is divided by a small wall, and you’re not supposed to talk while eating. Of course, this sounded just like the place I visited in Fukuoka. And as it turns out, it’s the same chain.

This time, though, it was a little bit different. First of all, we went to this Spanish restaurant first, where we ate some paella and tapas. It wasn’t clear to me that we were still going to the ramen place on the same night (my listening comprehension is still that bad; I had for the longest time thought we were going to try it on another night). So I was actually full before we went. Second, the ambience was ever-so-slightly different. The lights were a bit brighter, and the dividing walls were a bit smaller, so it didn’t have the same “peep show” feel. And it was a brand new place, so it didn’t have the same antique kind of feeling. So the actual bowl, although it was excellent, didn’t have nearly the same impact that the Fukuoka bowl had. (BTW, I circled the exact same ” 基本 ” items that I had before, to make it a good comparison.) But this bowl seemed to have a sweetness that I don’t remember before, and it was slightly more watery. Now, it’s quite possibly that it had the exact same consistency and flavor as the stuff in Fukuoka (though I doubt it). Eating a bowl of ramen on a full stomach (not something I try to do very often) makes a big difference from being halfway to starvation, as I had felt on January 2nd. Anyway, I will investigate this place further, as it is quite convenient. Another example of my lack of Japanese skill - my friends were somehow under the impression that I liked the ramen so much that I ate two bowls in Fukuoka, and they kidded me about wanting another one here. I could never hope to eat two bowls of ramen at one time, even if I were starving for a week, I think. It’s another example of how much work I have yet to do on my language skills. One more point to note - the basic bowl is 100 yen more than the one in Fukuoka. I think that might have contributed to my disappointment. Anyways, I give this Rating: 4.5 Godzillas

Today there was a Thai Festival in Central Park in Nagoya. There I ate some Pad Thai and saw these boxers dancing (careful, it’s kind of loud).

Afterwards, I came home and made nikujaga ( 肉じゃが ) using a recipe that my favorite student sent me as part of her homework. Basically just beef and potatoes, it turned out delicious, a lot milder than I thought, and also not as heavy on the stomach as you’d think for a meat and potatoes dish. I also discovered the joy of ito konnyaku, which is like this very healthy spaghetti like stuff that comes from a plant. It’s really cheap, and it seems to have a lot of potential for all kinds of uses. I can’t wait to try it again in some other recipe.

So, yeah, this was an average Sunday when I didn’t have anything in particular planned. Sure, I had a nice time, but, damn, it would have been nice to share it with a significant other, you know.