I Heart Japanese Food!

Oh boy...I just googled some Japanese/English translations and came across one that cracks me up:

Watashi no hobākurafuto wa unagi de ippai desu!!

It is total nonsense...10 points (of who knows what) to whoever can figure out what it means!

Anyhow, I was looking through some more of my picture files and I found pictures from Japan that got my stomach growling (and my heart-aching to be back in Japan).

One year, while visiting my grandma, I began documenting various Japanese foods items. I would walk around grocery stores and markets taking pictures of the produce, meats, prepacked meals. It wasn't until I returned to the States (and went grocery shopping at my local Vons) that I realized how weird this might have looked to the average Japanese person. Imagine someone walking through your supermarket with a camera in hand, happily snapping photos of the broccoli, packaged pasta and ground beef...definitely weird!

Anyhow, there was hardly a food item, meal, restaurant or snack shop that I didn't take a photo of. What can I say, I am a glutton for good food! Haha...

Ok, back to the photos... Here is a picture of some fantastically packaged sushi items from a grocery store in the Shibuya Area. Let me be the first to say that this grocery store sushi is better than most sushi you will ever eat in the United States.Can anyone say "oishi" !!!!

This photo was taken in a Japanese bakery. Honestly, there is nothing like a Japanese bakery! The European style breads infused with Japanese tastes are TO DIE FOR (and yes, I was shouting just now). The photo you see below is of a couple dozen very lovely Japanese "hotdogs-on-a-stick"!

The quality of this next photo isn't very good, but that is probably because I was in too much of a hurry to eat this particular dish than to sit around and fuss with trying to get a good picture. The name of this is Ten-Zaru Soba or Tempura w/ Cold Soba noodles. This is by far one of my favorite Japanese dishes...Yum!!!!


Here's another one...she is the apple of my eye...and those Japanese apples, could they be any prettier? Notice how the green apples above are in little green sleeves and the red apples are in little pink sleeves...so cute and they taste even better than they look!

Here's that darned kid again..."Momo" made her way into another shot of my food...Or maybe I was taking a photo of her and she happened to be eating??? Who knows, anyhow, here she is eating some "shaved ice" in an alley in Harajuku (yeah, the same one Gwen Stefani always sings about).

Are you bored yet? I hope not, because I have tons more food photos to share. I will spare you though, and only subject you to a few more (for now)...

This photo isn't food, but it is a really cool restaurant near my Grandma's house. When you walk in they give you a card that you take to various food stations where you order your food. There is (among many other things) a noodle station, an Italian station, a Chinese station & a drink station. When you order, they give you a beeper so you can go find a seat in one of these really cool booths When you are done eating you take your card to the cashier at the exit of the restaurant and pay for your meal. The food is amazing, as is the atmosphere! Here's a pizza from the Italian station... the picture really doesn't do it justice, it's divine.


Ok...the last two photos, I promise.

This is a delicious dinner that my mom and grandma made one evening when we decided to eat at home. This is a common dinner for us when staying in and consists of cooking on a hot-plate (teppan) that you put in the center of the dinner table. All of the raw items (i.e. beef, mushrooms, sprouts, onions etc) are put out on the table and each person can cook whatever they like. It is really fun and interactive and when you add all the side dishes (rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles, salads, etc) this is a killer meal.


Last but not least...In Japan, a chocolate ice cream bar tastes way better when you are standing ridiculously close to a rack of squid that is drying in the hot, hot sun...