Enjoying the Hibachi

I bet you thought I wouldn’t post again. It has taken a while hasn't it, but I’m happy to say I’m prepared to show you the Hibachi style of food preparation that we were lucky enough to enjoy. A traditional charcoal hibachi was the type of hibachi we enjoyed cooking our food on when we visited this restaurant. Nothing is as good as grilling your food over a fire. This was no exception.

Traditional hibachis can be very attractive objects in themselves and are presently sold as antiques. The samurai and aristocrats originally used hibachis but this form of cooking gradually spread among ordinary people. Their design developed throughout the Edo period. It is a flat surface of heat that was very easy to cook on.

This is the front of the hibachi restaurant.


Here Cliff, Makoto and I are cooking beef. To the right is a portable hibachi grill with another variety of meat. On the plate on to the farthest side of the gill, is a plate with meat and vegetables. Saying that this food was awesome is an understatement. We sat and sipped on plum wine as we dined. It was so yummy. This was probably the one time that we ate beef while in Japan. We regularly ate some variety of fish and vegetables that I thoroughly enjoyed.



Here are some examples of the food we enjoyed. I have to say the chicken was my least favorite of it all. It was still good but if given the choice I would stick with the beef.








The Grand finale was at the end of the meal - we enjoyed steamed clams in a broth that was out of this world. It reminded me of times growing up in NY and going to a seafood restaurant called Lundy’s. I grew up eating Ipswich steamers and some of the best lobster and seafood that I have ever had. Yum!


I hope this post inspires you to get out and utilize your grill. I know you are thinking "I need
to go to the store now!" Oishi!

Osaka (A day of pure gluttony)

Osaka
大阪市



Osaka has traditionally been referred to as the "nation's kitchen", tenka no daidokoro or the mecca of gourmet food. There is no doubt that we ate plenty of food on this day.

We ate Okonomyaki and it was awesome. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese-style pancake cooked on a hot plate. Made predominantly with pieces of meat, seafood and chopped cabbage, after grilling, a brown sauce is spread on top of the pancake and dried bonito shavings and green laver is sprinkled on top of the sauce. Some people also add mayonnaise to the toppings. Okonomiyaki is eaten all over Japan, but is particularly popular and delicious in the Osaka area. In my opinion today was a day of gluttony.





We also took a subway and went to Osaka tower. We ate again...I couldn't believe it - we went to a Kushikatsu place. Kushikatsu is “food grilled on a stick” made up of pieces of pork and vegetables fried on a skewer after being coated in bread crumbs. There are many types of kushikatsu shops around Osaka including those that offer freshly fried kushikatsu with a dipping sauce. I somehow didn't take any photos of this food which is pretty astounding but I did get a shot of the sign outside of the Kushikatsu shop and a street view. It's pretty cool.



Here are photos of us being up in Osaka Tower. Osaka Tower (大阪タワ) is an observation and radio tower built beside the headquarters of Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. Besides functioning as a radio and television tower, it also relays radio communication for the taxi companies.

Here's a a photo of Cliff and Makoto at the top



While at the top of the tower we saw Billiken. Who is Billiken you ask?
Billiken was a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Ms. Florence Pretz of St. Louis, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream. In 1908 she patented the Billiken who was elf-like with pointed ears, a mischievous smile, and a tuft of hair on his pointed head. His arms were short and he was generally sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him. And he’s naked….you even see the crack of his ass depending on which statue of him you happen to be looking at. A replica of the statue was placed in the second-generation Tsutenkaku Tower in 1980. Presently he resides on the fifth floor observation deck (that’s where we were) and has become closely associated with the tower. Each year thousands of visitors place a coin in his donation box and rub the soles of his well-worn feet to make their wishes come true. In October 2008, the Billiken of Tsutenkaku took a journey all the way from Japan to its founding city of St. Louis where it was visited by students of St. Louis University High School, whose mascot is also the billiken. Bet you didn’t know that little tidbit of info. Pretty wild if you asked me!



This is a shot of Billiken's butt! I couldn't resist. :-)


I think this would be an appropriate ending!
Hope you enjoyed it.

The beauty of Sakura

Sakura or Cherry blossoms are the symbol of the Japanese spring. The blossoms flower from late March through early April, suffusing the surrounding landscape with soft hues of brilliance and at the same time, they blanket their environment with a beauty that evokes a feeling of calm and softness unlike anything else. The peak-viewing season is extremely short and the blossoms can be gone in as little as a week’s time. The fleeting nature of the cherry blossom has occupied a special place in the hearts of the Japanese and all those who embrace this wondrous time in their country.

The cherry blossom is seen as a model for life and death and is a symbol that embodies both the glorious and ephemeral natures of our existence. I am personally impressed by how this beautiful and pure cherry blossom transforms the people who are graced by its presence. It is the epitome of nature's unlimited beauty. For those who choose to contemplate it, are reminded of life's impermanence. We can truly appreciate the constantly changing and regenerating natural world through the sakura in all its glory and evanescence.

Enjoy these images as you think on these things.

Along the bank of a river in Takayama

Cherry amidst the grounds at a shrine

A lovely close up of these beautiful blossoms

Itsukushima Shrine/Miyajima

Here I am like so many people who pose in front of the sakura for a photo.

I truly love this time and am so happy that on both visits to Japan I was
fortunate to experience the sakura. It gives me pause even now to contemplate
on the beauty of the world.

The real Day 1 of our Culinary Travels! Akashi, Japan

It's a short little trip from the city of Kobe to Akashi - quite easy and so well worth it. A quick jump on a bus and then on to a train and you are there! Probably took about an hour tops from the Asakawa's home in Kobe the the Akashi train station.

Once we arrived at Akashi station we didn’t waste any time and headed out to the open markets. These markets are frequently found in just about all of Japan’s cities and towns. I love going to these markets. In my opinion they are quite the visual feast. They are jam packed with interesting varieties of fresh and dried fish, fruits and pickled veggies, freshly cooked and processed food, kimonos, kitchenware and the list goes on. It is
not what one can find here in the states but is so readily available in Japan. What a treat!





Akashi is well known for its catch of octopus and other fresh fishes since it is a
seaport town. We saw so many varieties but the main feature was the octopus.


We went there especially to eat one of our favorite dishes: Takoyaki

Takoyaki which is literally fried or baked octopus is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings). This food is soooooo good. We really enjoyed it!


There was much more to this day and I will post more about that in the next entry. I have so
much to share.

First Day in Kobe, Japan - The Asakawa Household

Here in Kobe it is a warm atmosphere with some wonderful people we finally reunited with after 4 years. In the photo to the left, is Makoto Asakawa and his mother, Hiroko. The photo to the right is Cliff and Makoto's father, Tadao. Below is one of typical spreads graced upon us in this household. This is typical of breakfast at this house. There is green tea, rice, miso soup, meat and vegetables, ikanago, pickels, chikawa, kamaboko and egg patties. Cliff and I feel so fortunate to be invited into their home and feel so welcomed. It is easy to be here. The food is fantastic and well worth having if you haven't ever tried things of this nature. I will talk about these foods more - I think they are so interesting
and so so good. I am particularly interested in cooking, so learning the Japanese culinary arts from everyday people is a special treat. If we all had many lifetimes to live, I'm certain I would have ventured into becoming a chef. I think it is artful and so nurturing....and of course something we all need to sustain us.

I have to mention before I go any further with posts.......we could have easily had a travel channel tv show on the foods of Japan. It seems every step of the trip we were dining on some fantastic food from this wonderful country. We had many many different food experiences and I will share many of them with you along the way. I highly recommend any and all of it!

Here in Japan - sorry for the lack of posts!

Well......this will be short and sweet. We have only a few days left in Japan
and as hard as this is to believe, we have had little or no internet. I will be
posting when I return since I have kept a diary of each day spent and have tons of photos. So we can all make believe Im still there as I write my posts. It has been such a fantastic time. :-)
Thanks to all of you who have signed on. Sorry to disappoint with no postings. But please stay
tuned because there is a lot of great stuff to share and I am going to share it because I am without a doubt feeling very much like Mochigirl in Japan :-).

sending hugs you`re way

Wendy