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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Monday 31 December 2007

Christmas!

Christmas was fairly low-key for us this year. We invited some friends to join us for some roast turkey on the Sunday before Christmas, and it was fun to introduce turkey to our guests who had never seen a whole roasted turkey before. Thankfully the turkey turned out well! Our guests also brought some yummy Japanese food to share with us. Their food was gorgeously presented in a beautiful tiered urushi (lacquered) box called jubako. The top tier contained some home-cooked ebi (prawns), beef and boiled eggs, and the lower level had some delicious sekihan which is a traditional celebratory dish made with mochi (glutinous) rice and adzuki beans. We then enjoyed some trifle and homemade dango for dessert after. It was good food and great company, and lots of cultural exchange! We also played some games on Rob's wii and they looked like they enjoyed it. Here are some photos on the day:

Rob carving the turkey:


The yummy food our guests brought:


Our guest cooking the dango in our kitchen. The dango was made with tofu and mochi-ko (glutinous rice flour) and hand rolled by our guests' two daughters!


For Christmas day itself, although both Rob and I had to work, we managed to put together another roast dinner with a whole chook to enjoy with Kim's company. Christmas is semi-celebrated in Japan in the sense that there are Christmas decorations and sales around, but it is not recognised as a holiday. However the New Year in Japan is pretty big and the week-long holiday period that I'm enjoying now makes up for the lack of one during the Christmas period.

Here's wishing a Happy New Year to everyone who reads my journal!

Saturday 22 December 2007

Baking stuff

It has been so long since I last posted an entry on my cooking. In fact, that was back a couple of months ago when we were staying in New York for a couple of months during Rob's job training, and I had a lot more time to try new and different recipes. Now, it seems like I have almost non-existent free time, and what little free time I have is taken up doing chores or running errands or studying Japanese. A few weeks ago while shopping for things we needed for the apartment, I impulsively bought an electric mixer and an expensive tube pan which cost almost 3000yen! I've always loved the lightness of sponge cake (which is very similar to angel food cake and chiffon cake) but the couple of times I tried to make sponge cakes without adequate equipment (no mixer for one) turned out disastrously enough to not try again for a good few years. Sponge cakes are notoriously difficult to make, and even though I was happy with the volume and taste of the one I made on Monday, I have a lot of room for improvement for the texture. Rob reassured me that it was still a pretty good outcome considering I am still not used to the oven which is a convection (fan-forced) oven. In the last few weeks, I've made four batches of brownies in this combi oven, and I have finally found a good temperature and cooking time to make nice non-cake-like brownies). I wonder how many cakes it will take to make one I'm happy with? [edited to add: Thankfully not too many - click here for Orange Chiffon Cake.]

Voluminous cake!


I achieved yet another accomplishment in baking on Monday - I finally proved to myself that I can indeed make and bake bread without a breadmaker! It was a gradual progression from full reliance on breadmaker to knead, proof and bake the bread (did this for a year while in Perth), to using the machine just for kneading and doing the proofing and baking myself (for another year in rural Japan when I had a crappy breadmaker that did not bake properly) to finally do the whole breadmaking by hand. I don't have a choice, since we don't have a breadmaker due to very limited space in this small kitchen, and I want to eat wholemeal bread which is a rare thing in Japan. Plus good bread here costs a lot! Anyway, I was pretty happy with how this loaf turned out - good crust, nice crumb and doesn't taste too bad!




We'll both be working on Christmas Day itself, but we'll be having an early celebration on Sunday in our tiny apartment with the Japanese family we met in Hakone. I found a 6kg turkey to roast, which I am quite apprehensive about since I have never roasted a turkey before, and it is notoriously easy to get dry tasteless meat. Hopefully all that practice with baking in the oven will afford me some advantage points! Wish me luck and hopefully we won't have to go hungry without a turkey on Sunday!

Monday 17 December 2007

Thai food @ Chao Thai, Tokyo

While in Shibuya, we went to an authentic Thai restaurant called Chao Thai, complete with Thai chefs and waiters (yes, I know this entry is somewhat delayed, but I've been busy!). We were fortunate to have Kim with us who was a fantastic authority on Thai cuisine. Honestly, I don't have much of an interest in Thai cuisine since I consider it an inferior cousin to is neighbouring Malaysian cuisine, which has bold in-your-face flavours and lots of variety. But in Japan, where Malaysian food is greatly lacking in the restaurant scene, I can't afford to be snubby towards Thai food without suffering from deprivation of that kind of food. Chao Thai is in a pretty good location close to the busy crossing in front of the Hachiko exit at the train station.

The restaurant was nicely decorated with Thai touches, and there is even a small area near the entrance where you can buy some Thai groceries. Service was great as always in Japan, although the Thai's hospitality and politeness are also world famous. The menu pricing was relatively reasonable, and exect to pay about 2500yen/person for a satisfying meal (incl drinks). We gave Kimmie full freedom to order since she was the expert on Thai cuisine.

Ordered some prawn springrolls and fried fishcakes to start. The springrolls were okay, a bit on the bland side if you don't use the dipping sauce. But the ingredients were fresh. The fish cakes were tasty but a bit too greasy.

Spring rolls and fish cakes:


Then our order of papaya salad and a spicy beef salad arrived. I'd heard about Thai papaya salad and was looking forward to it, but it wasn't really too impressionable and lacked a bit in flavour - I expected it to at least have some sweetness from the papaya. The beef was really spicy thanks to the glob of chilli seeds that came with the spoonful I took. The dish was okay, but other than the chilli spicyness (which was good), it didn't really have much pronounced flavours to talk about.

Papaya and spicy beef salad dishes:


The star dish of the night would have to be the fried whole fish. Lots of flavour, very crispy and not too greasy. I liked it a lot. Then we ordered some coconut ice cream, pumpkin custard and steamed rice cake for dessert. They were all pretty yummy, as desserts ought to be.

Yummy fried fish and assorted dessert selection:


Overall, it was an okay experience. Food was good, but not fantastically great. Perhaps I did have a slight expectation for bolder flavours more similar to the Malaysian cuisine. However, I do sometimes forget that yoshoku (foreign food) restaurants have to cater for the Japanese tastebuds which generally prefer mild subtle flavours.

Monday 10 December 2007

Bright busy Shibuya

Shibuya may be one of Tokyo's more popular shopping and entertainment districts, but its main attractions for me were Hachiko and the huge crossing which is reportedly the world's busiest. Rob had told me of the beautiful tale of Hachiko the dog, of his loyalty, of how the dog greeted its owner at the station every day, and how he did so for ten years after its owner had passed away. Since then I've wanted to see the statue built in Hachiko's honour. And to also see the world's busiest intersection. Lucky for me, the statue of Hachiko is situated right next to the said crossing.



The brightness of the area reminded me a lot of Times Square at night, with all the big screens (except that the quality and clarity of the screens are so much better here!!). I was amazed at how busy this place was! Every time the pedestrian light would turn red, people traffic would build up on all sides, and the moment the green walking man came on, whoosh the sea of people would converge and merge from all sides. The road is cleared for vehicular traffic by the time the red pedestrian light came on and the cycle happens again. There were so many people! Truly a sight to behold. Being night time, it was somewhat difficult to capture the moment on camera, but here are a couple of shots which I hope gives an idea of the experience.

Photo 1: Red man, pedestrian traffic builds up on all sides waiting for the green man to come on; Photo 2: the green man flash on, and the road is swarmed with people:

Saturday 8 December 2007

Colourful Harajuku

On Sunday we hung out with Kimchee and her friend in Harajuku and Shibuya. We went to Harajuku mainly to look at the weird, wonderful and colourful characters who come out every weekend to cosplay. It was quite late in the afternoon by the time Rob and I arrived, and Kim said that we'd missed some interesting characters. Nevertheless, there were still plenty of exhibisionists remaining for our viewing amusement.

The first character of interest was this guy dressed in a pink bunny suit. Of interest because he is a middle-aged, and also because he is a man. Most of the others are young schoolgirls. The second shot is of a cross-dresser who was very well made-up and dressed, but his mannerisms seemed somewhat awkward - I've seen guys who act far more feminine than he did.



Then we saw a girl with a very cool costume (albeit somewhat scanty for the weather). Her hair and attire reminded me very much of one of the characters from a video game like Final Fantasy. Her costume also had tiny feather wings at the back. She was definitely the most photographed cosplayer at that time. There were many more cute costumes, and at my request, Rob grudgingly posed with two girls.



Before we left the area, we encountered 'Maria', who had beautifully rainbow-coloured hair. Gorgeous figure too, for a guy. Yes, while Maria was singing, he could pass off as a female. His talking voice, however, was deep and masculine. His song involved him moshing his head which was a pretty amusing sight. Loved the hair.



It was fun checking out the people who find an outlet for their creativity/rebellion in such a monotonous society on weekends at Harajuku. Afterwards, we headed to the main shopping area in Harajuku, and the street was absolutely filled to the brim with young fashionable things.



Stay tuned for photos on bright n busy Shibuya!

Wednesday 5 December 2007

Indian @ Nawab, Tokyo

Kim visited Tokyo for the weekend and stayed at our place. On Saturday night, we brought her to Nawab, an Indian restaurant just a few minutes' walk from our apartment. We'd first stumbled upon this gem a few weeks' ago when we'd just moved into our new apartment. One of the best things about this small restaurant is that the chefs and most of the waiters are Indian, ensuring that this place can serve pretty authentic Indian fare and not just watered down Japanised versions. Of course, I'm sure that they do cater to the mild Japanese tastebuds, but the option is there for those of us who want a stronger spicy kick. I have often wondered if Nawab has a strong clientele base in this area, where I haven't encountered many gaijin (foreigners).

The ambience was wonderful, and this place offered lovely warmth from the chilly December air outside. Service was impeccable, as always in Japan. There were occasional points of slight confusion on both sides as to whether we should communicate in English or Japanese, but the staff spoke great English and there were English copies of the menu (although I was the only one who was handed a menu in Japanese, an occurence that I am already used to in Japan). The menu offering is quite extensive, and prices were very reasonable, which I'm sure is largely due to Nawab's location in this quiet part of Tokyo as opposed to the more crowded and subsequently more expensive regions of Tokyo like Roppongi and Shibuya. Expect to pay 1500-2000円 (~AU$15-$20) per person for a very satisfying meal. Although all three of us love hot spicy dishes, we didn't order very spicy ones since Kim had to sit for an important exam the next day and she didn't want to deal with any toilet issues.

The Chicken Tikka arrived at our table sizzling on a hot plate. We ordered four pieces, which was 1200円 (the two pieces option was 650円). The chicken was moist and bursting with all the spicy flavours - it was delicious. Next came the Chicken Briyani (1150円), one of my favourite Indian dishes. It was a very tasty dish, with its only shortcoming being that short-grained Japanese rice was used, which meant that the rice was moist and slightly sticky instead of the fluffy separated long-grained goodness that I'm used to. It was a perfectly fine dish on its own, but not the briyani that I love.

Chicken Tikka; and Chicken Briyani:


Kim ordered Dahl Spinach (900円), which was perfect for our order of Plain Naan (350円). The dahl was delicious and flavourful, but I wonder if it is easy to source lentils in Japan. Perhaps that would account for why this dish was relatively pricey. The naan, by the way, was super fluffy and soft, with a texture much like most Japanese shokupan which is famously soft. Whilst I wouldn't associate soft and fluffy with typical naan, it did a brilliant job at sopping up all the yummy dahl. Rob loved the Mughlai Naan (700円) (with cashew and raisin stuffing) from our first visit, and he is of the opinion that it is the only variety of naan worth ordering.

Dahl Spinach with plain naan; and Mughlai Naan:


The total bill came to just over 5000円 for three people (including mango lassi), and all of us were quite full. Nawab is a great find, and I'm glad it's so close to our apartment.