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foodbytesback · 4 years

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I Ranked This Year's Lays Flavors

Ah, another year, another line of limited-time only Lay’s flavors (Layvors, if you will) that leave everyone saying “yeah, ok.”

Sometimes these flavors are so “yeah, ok” that they’re immediately forgotten as soon as they’re off the shelves. Since 2019 was about 10 years ago, I had to do a quick search to remember if I even had any of last year’s flavors. And it turns out that between “Electric Lime and Sea Salt,” “Kettle Cooked Classic Beer Cheese,” and “Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Remix” (Hey, Lay’s? What the fuck??), the only one I had ever even seen in stores was the beer cheese one, and I didn’t get it for reasons I will explain later.

But that was then, and this is now, so there’s four new flavors to take a look at, all inspired by regional favorites (like they do every other year), and I’m gonna rank them because this is a food blog, of course I’m doing that. Spoiler alert, there isn’t anything as cursed as “Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Remix” this time around.

(Also, yeah, they “officially” released in July, but I haven’t seen them anywhere until now.)

#1: Carnitas Street Taco

Right off the bat, there’s heavy notes of cilantro and lime, with hints of onion. And if you’re trying to differentiate “street taco” from “taco,” those are pretty important flavors to go after. However, not even the alleged inclusion of pork fat, according to the ingredient label, brought anything that would make it specifically “carnitas” flavored. My parents also said that they tasted some heat from the jalapeno that’s also in there, but I guess my tolerance for heat has been ruined by eating whole bags of Fuego Takis in one sitting. The fact that it’s a wavy chip makes me want to dip it in guac, because wavy chips need a dip. While this is my #1, I can understand how it may be dead last for some people who don’t like cilantro. Just kidding, those people are wrong.

#2: Nashville Hot Chicken

Unlike the last one, this one isn’t subtle with the spice. Which is good, because hot chicken is basically just cayenne flavored. The spice blend itself seems to also have a good amount of chili powder in it, giving it some earthier notes. Surprisingly, this one does have a noticeable pork fat flavor to it (traditional hot chicken is made with lard in the sauce). Also surprisingly, the spice doesn’t seem to build up as much over time, making it much easier to eat a whole bag in one sitting than, say, Fuego Takis. Not that anyone would do that.

#3: Kettle Cooked New York Style Pizza

I was more-or-less expecting these to taste like pizza Pringles, which is sorta a weird thing for me to say since I pretty much only eat that flavor if someone else buys it, so I don't have the best memory of what that flavor is. That is, until I tasted this chip, and instantly knew, “yes, this is that, but better.” While other pizza chips kinda just taste vaguely zesty, these chips had a distinct tomato flavor that I would almost go as far as calling “fresh.” While these are very good chips in their own right, they just get kinda overshadowed by the more unique flavors mentioned above. Also, I feel like the kettle chip might have been better suited for the hot chicken chip to simulate the fried exterior of the chicken, but that’s just me.

#4: Philly Cheesesteak

I just don’t like cheese flavored chips. They all taste like the same processed, powdered cheddar cheese product, and this one is no exception. This, paired with my general disinterest in beer, is why I never tried last year’s beer cheese chips. Anyway, this one does also have notes of what I will call “if you bit into a beef ramen flavor packet, but also there’s no salt in it,” (how a cheese-based chip flavor ended up tasting undersalted, I will never know) so it still gets points for doing a better job of incorporating the beef flavor into the chip than 2016’s Brazilian Picanha chips.

There is a rumored fifth flavor, chile relleno, available only at Wal-Mart and 7-11, but there isn’t a 7-11 anywhere near me, and the Wal-Mart that is near me is a deathtrap. It looks like it probably would’ve tasted like cheddar powder and vague spiciness, anyway.

I am so fucking dehydrated now.

#food #chips #potato chips #lays #junk food #all food bloggers do is be bisexual eat hot chip and lie

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tenortower6-blog · 5 years

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Pochito, Por Favor, Mascot!

Sandwich and carb lovers, gather round. When I heard that Pochito, the popular Chilean food stall from Ramsgate Markets had opened up their very own eatery in Mascot I put it on the top of my list to visit. There's a range of classic Chilean sandwiches and Chilean empanadas!

Pochito's mother and daughter team Patricia and Paulina Bustamante come from an extended family that all work in the food industry. Paulina says, "My parents and I emigrated to Australia in the late 80's. My mum grew up in Chilean restaurants, delis, and butcher shops. She is the aunty in the family you know when you come over to her house you will get a great feed with food constantly flowing out of the kitchen."

For those of you unfamiliar with Chilean cuisine Paulina explains, "Most people think Chilean food is Mexican food with tamales and burritos and our food is spicy. Our food is actually not spicy and we don't use much chile at all. People may not know Chilean food is all about great produce, we have some of the best seafood!".

Monica and I both share an unabiding love of a sandwich (don't get us started on Liz Lemon and the Sandwich Day episode of 30 Rock) so I knew exactly who to visit Pochito with.

"The sandwich in Chile is part of the nation and part of the culture. If you ever go to Santiago there is a sandwich shop (Sangucheria) along most of the streets. Chileans love their bread, we have several different sorts of bread which we will always have on the table for breakfast, lunch, dinner and 'once' afternoon tea. Sandwiches are the combination of what we love and enjoy, pork/steak, avocado, mayonnaise (a key ingredient in any sandwich and in any Chilean household)," says Paulina.

When I pull up and walk inside I all the patrons appear to be South American which is a good sign (Monica and I are the only non South Americans). It's a small cafe with a few outdoor tables and some indoor share and single tables and ordering is done at the counter.

Pochito means a moment of post prandial bliss where body and mind are in a happy-drowsy state after a satisfying meal. And yes carbs on a cold and windy winter's day help enormously in that regard.

Mote con Huesillo $8

Monica leaves it up to me to order because we share food brains-we both want to eat the same things. We share a Mote con Huesillo drink, one of the drinks I tried and loved in Chile. It's a peach drink scented with cinnamon with barley at the bottom and a whole sun dried poached peach in it. It's not overly sweet which I like and it's fruity. I think this would be delicious both hot and cold-hot would be a little mulled wine-ish.

Traditional beef pino emapanada $6

We've basically ordered one of almost everything on the menu. We start with the empanadas (and a warning: they do sell out quickly because they are popular). The most popular is the beef empanada with a baked pastry and filled with saucy spiced beef mince, onion, olive and egg. It's warming and delicious especially the filling.

Four cheese empanada $5

I have to say I love deep fried empanadas a bit more than the baked one because hello deep fried! These are made using a different pastry and we try the four cheese one (cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and feta), all gooey deliciousness especially when you add a little hot sauce to it for a bit of kick.

Garlic chilli prawn and cheese empanada $7

The prawn and cheese fried empanada has some garlic and chilli in it as well as tasty, chopped prawn mixture. Next time I'll ask for a bit of pebre (coriander, tomato, onion and garlic salsa) on the side too.

Lomito $12

If the beef empanada is the classic empanada, the lomito is the classic sandwich. So what makes a good lomito? "A good lomito starts with the pork. The pork has to be full of flavour, tender and juicy. There's nothing worst then biting into a dry lomito and having to add condiments like mustard," says Paulina. Indeed, their lomito has the softest melt in the mouth oven roasted pork, smashed avocado, tomato, mayonnaise and pebre on a milk bun it is a perfect mix of meat, salad and bread.

Completo Original $13

There are two completo hot dogs, the original one and an Italian version and we went for the original. The original has a juicy smoked pork frankfurt sausage with sauerkraut, smashed avocado, tomato and mayonnaise. We adore this combination as the sauerkraut and avocado gives the rich sausage a necessary lightness and tang. Paulina explains, "Avocado is life in Chile, and we put it on everything even before the hipsters knew about smashed avo on toast. Avocado is used on most of our sandwiches and even our national hotdog 'El completo'".

Choripan $8

The choripan is a simple but delicious hot dog filled with a grilled South American chorizo and pebre on a long roll. It's tasty but I think out of the three sandwiches we really loved the lomito and the complete original the best because of the salad component.

Barros Jarpa $8

"What do you think that is?" Monica says eyeing the sandwich the woman next to us is eating. After a quick discussion ("Should we get it?" "Yes, we'll take leftovers home to the boys") we head back to the counter to order it along with another sandwich. The soft, warm milk bun is filled with ham off the bone and melted cheese. It's simple but done well and although we've eaten a lot we eagerly finish our quarter portions.

Chemilico $10

We were just going to have a bite of this. And that Dear Reader is how we ended up convincing ourselves to order the Chemilico too. It's lean rump minute steak, plenty of grilled onion, a free range fried egg on a soft milk bun. The beef is very tender and this is such a tasty breakfast sandwich with a runny yolked egg that spurts out the yolk. "That's very suggestive!" I say.

Sopapilla $2 and Sopaipilla Pasada $5

I have so many memories of eating sopapillas aka pumpkin fritters. There's a salty version as well as a sweet version in a citrus sauce. I like both because they remind me of my travels to Chile. The dessert version isn't overly sweet or citrusy but balanced quite nicely.

Calzone rotos $2 and Alfajore $4

It's time for house made sweets and there are two on the counter, a calzone rotos, a biscuit dough that is deep fried with lemon zest. The name means "broken undies" and I guess they are twisted undies. I like the alfajore shortbread sandwich filled with dulce de leche in the centre. It's perfect with a cup of tea.

Tres leches cake $8

The tres leches or three milks cake is a sweet, milk soaked sponge. Although South American sweets can be very sweet, I liked that this wasn't overly sweet. There is a layer of fluffy coconut cream on top, berries and edible flowers.

Before we know it, it's 3pm and it's time for them to close. But then people keep streaming in wanting empanadas and food and they accommodate them. We can see why they got so busy that they didn't have time to go back to the markets.

So tell me Dear Reader, Have you ever tried Chilean food? Do you ever see something that someone else is eating and order it? Are you a sandwich lover?

This meal was independently paid for.

1021 Botany Rd, Mascot NSW 2020 Monday & Tuesday closed Wednesday to Friday 8:30am–3pm Saturday 9am–4:30pm Sunday 9am–3pm Phone: 0412 603 100 facebook.com/pochitosydney/

Source: https://www.notquitenigella.com/2019/07/16/pochito-mascot-chilean/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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toddlazarski · 7 years

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Milwaukee’s Best Grilled Cheese

Shepherd Express

Contradiction is part of the core curriculum of college life. It’s a time of striving, worldliness, perspective, difference-making, while most of at least two years are spent focused solely on how to dupe the local liquor store counter man. It’s a time of intelligent thinking and wisdom, combined with poisoning brain cells and endless cigarettes. For me, there was a Woody Allen-ish romantic montage of Nietzsche, lofty poetry, and independent city living, all while, really, mom paid the rent, and my palate was sated, happily, lustily even, by grilled cheese. Not just grilled cheese, but a hastily slapped together, George Foreman-ed sandwich, with whatever-was-on-sale enriched flour white bread, two Kraft singles, and, nothing else. I’d have a second had an extra long nap fortified my appetite enough. Which it often had.

It wasn’t just because the kitchen of the slum-lorded duplex on 18th and Kilbourn was generally a war zone, with but a sliver of formica counter space to concoct any kind of foodstuff without contact with multitude expanding bio experiments. Or that I was a poor college student, subsisting on Leinenkugels, dreams, and depleted funds from too frequent late-night forays to Marquette Gyros. Well, it was that. But, also, the fact remains: grilled cheese is the most satisfying of youth-time creature comforts, running alongside, perhaps even topping, peanut butter and jelly. After all, there are fewer ingredients, yet more magic: The calculus involves the Maillard reaction - the chemical breakdown between amino acids and sugars that makes toast taste better than bread, and cheese - ideally, unsophisticated American - transforming itself into a rivulet-like goo of warm, salty smackiness. It’s the richest of hoped for satisfactions when you’re halfways between the kitchen’s of youth and the future apartments of the partially employed, shivering yourself to sleep on a futon, drunk on Henry Miller hot plate reveries.

It was about when I started having the funds to add bacon to the formula, to take the time to butter the bread, possibly chop tomatoes, to splatter with Frank’s Red Hot or whatever was on hand, that I realized I was actually, maybe, becoming an adult. Ready for the sophistication of a complex world, for the nuances of real life, which is best tackled when you embrace your roots, your simplest times, the grandma-makes-it-best comforts, and build upon them. The habits of youth aren’t all meant to be gotten over. Sometimes they are just in need of tweaking. College wasn’t the time - for a lot of things. But with some remove, it’s nice to look up, out, and sample Milwaukee’s best grown up takes on the simplest, most childish of caloric releases.

7. Elsa’s

A place no stranger to contradiction, Elsa’s is part bustling, waiters-in-ties, big city gastropub, with ornate doorways, columns, and a tablecloth aesthetic, and part fat guy destination of rich burgers, pork chop sandwiches, and stellar chicken wings. There might be some sticker shock at the sight of the tightly packaged ten-buck All American Grilled Cheese, but there’s an attention to detail, starting with the golden brown char on the bread. Then there’s the medley meld factor - American, white cheddar, Colby and Swiss topple and coalesce, with thick cut Nueske’s bacon struggling for air, asserting itself with grease through the dense meltiness. Tomato slices pop make it all pop - warm and cool, heavy and bright contrasting factors that is the grilled cheese at its best. A harmonious dichotomy. Like dining next to Herb Kohl while licking your fingers of cheese goop and Texas Gunslinger jalapeno hot sauce - a uniquely Elsa’s experience.

6. Saz’s

Between the catering gigs and the ubiquitous summer festival circuit presence, it’s easy to see why Saz’s is oft forgotten as a Cream City brick and mortar. But inside the west side joint you can find a solid and friendly old school circle bar, with dozens of TV’s worth of sports, signed jerseys, Christmas lights in January, and a train going by out back setting the scene like a forgotten industrial corner pocket of a Norman Rockwell. There is also something of a signature sandwich therein, though the Brisket Grilled Cheese is just as much a ‘melt’ as anything. Either way, cheddar can be tough to truly make melt, and here they go halfway, creating a more solid pocket for the buttery, fatty brisket wedges. Pork fat is still king within the folds of a grilled cheese, but the beef is an inspired turn, with the sharp, earthiness of the package cut by a not-too-syrupy onion BBQ sauce. Lightly toasted sourdough keeps things neat, a quick package of meat, cheese, and bread, like you were at Summerfest and sliding toward the next stage. Here though, there is nothing next but another beer and match on the tube.

5. Palomino

It’s not exactly a grilled cheese, but the pimento - the ‘P’ part of the PBLT - takes on such an ideal of swirling soft meltiness, piqued by peppery brightness, that it’s in the appropriate hot spirit. Spread generous between a just-short-of-toasted Italian hoagie, made supple and sturdy by crisp lettuce, fatty and happy by thick cut, black-streaked bacon, it’s a sandwich luxurious enough for guilt-laden satisfaction, but tightly enough structured to dip greedily in Pal’s tangy homemade hot sauce. It’s hard to endorse anything on the menu that isn’t the griddled brisket burger or the hot fried chicken sandwich. But, the pimento - warm, creamy, spicy - especially when prefaced by the curds - light battered, so sheeny and bubbling they might as well have been fried at the table - makes for the best possible Milwaukee cheese binge. Even in a city where that can be done on every street corner.

4. West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe

It’s hard to feel anything but gloom on a late January Monday, post snow and mid state of slush, a time of gray in the sky and soul. So, it’s really the greatest testament to this friendly ‘Stalis corner grocer that keeps making ‘Best Of’ lists that they can warm such a situation with a bit of comfort and coziness. They call it the Cheesy Joe, and add sloppy Joe mix to make for a double dose of childhood comfort in one adult-leaning sandwich. While it’s a combo and name your dad might have to describe a favorite late night snack after too much of his special juice, there’s a rich golden brown finish on the white bread, indicating the amount of butter used for everything at grandma’s house when you were tiny and she deemed it necessary to put “meat on your bones.” Between, two warm, liquefying slices of American envelope the salty, crumbly beef. By the end of the sandwich, especially, the two components are running tag team, softening together, entwined, fond of each other, like a sated eater should certainly feel about life and the rest of the day. If that doesn’t work one of their Bloody Mary specials may do the trick - they garnish with a mini grilled cheese.

3. Camino

Maybe nothing captures the Fifth Ward flux like Camino’s grilled cheese - it takes the greasy, buttery, flattop texture of an old school diner melt, and infuses it with kimchi. All Americana nostalgia meets ancient Korean side dish staple. It’s Zad’s welcoming the worldwide foodie aesthetic of Cermak Fresh Market. It’s Rockwell Automation across the street from high end condos and the pricey, pristine Laughing Taco. Predictably, despite the sweet roll of the fusiony name ‘kimcheese’, it actually hardly works on paper - dichotomous, yes, as kimchi is primarily a side, and we’re used to it mostly in rice or sausage situations. But, also, between the aging vegetables and multiple cheeses, isn’t that an intestinal overload of microorganisms? In practice, it actually takes a mouthful minute too. But once they settle together, it’s simple: the salty, spicy, brininess of the fermented cabbage mash props up the liquid goo of very melty American, Swiss and provolone with an intense, pungent punch. Like a pepper jack, but with live chiles. And there’s plenty of residual sauciness to keep the tongue bouncing and guessing and trying to categorize throughout. It’s a grilled cheese of happy co-existence, an innovation on the simplest of staples, showing you don’t have to choose exclusively between old and familiar and new and daring.

2. Uber Tap Room & Cheese Bar

On the weird gauntlet of 3rd Street downtown drinking, often only explored pre or post Bradley Center, this generically named cheese castle stands alone. It only takes a few steps in the door for a sharp aroma punch of the wall-full of milk proteins and fat, and the deceivingly simple menu cashes in on their weapons cache, featuring cheese boards, mac n’ cheese, and a thinking fat man’s glut of grilled cheese - salami and cheese, BBQ pork and cheese, waffle grilled cheese. Any should do the trick because the technique seems perfect. An example: the ‘Spicy Gourmet’ with smoked pepper jack and ghost pepper cheddar yields an inner mash that is piping and just this side of soupy, with stretchy strings of rubbery happiness connecting mouth to cheese pocket post bite, the softness contrasted by a crunchiness of crusts, the griddle char marks on the bread bleeding butter, garlic aioli swimming throughout subtle and spicy, a bright punch of scrunchy sundried tomatoes drowning in all the delectable, magma-ish mouth-fill. Even the presentation is careful and neat - the two halves stacked ceremoniously among a smattering of extra salty chips. Before you realized going out downtown was mostly homogenized meatheadedness, these are the kinds of visceral pleasures one might imagine Old World 3rd Street could afford. The 36 Wisconsin beers on tap make it easy to not feel too nostalgic that you grew up past those innocent college days. And such serious takes on beer and cheese help make it more than passable that this is what we’re known for as a people, and that a Kings vs. Bucks matchup is now a big Saturday night out on the frigid winter Milwaukee streets.

1. Comet

Aside from being named for a tabloid headline-grabbing statutory rapist whose mistress shot his wife in the face, there’s nothing to not like about the Buttafuoco, Comet’s cheesy tomato menu star. From the black char spots from the broiler on the rich and creamy mozz and provolone mix, to the way said cheeses drape over and fuse to the Italian hoagie roll, to the roll itself, so soft, just getting toasty, to the occasional brace of red onion, mixed with running warm mayo, from the hot pepper mash pop, and tomatoes that somehow don’t interfere with the structural integrity, to how quick the servers are to agree to add bacon to the whole contraption. Then there’s the way the bacon itself - crisp and thick - assimilates itself to the sandwich, a refreshing reminder that meat doesn’t have to be a centerpiece to shine, and that any joint with ‘bacon’ in the WiFi password knows how to do it. There’s lettuce on top too, but it seems like a joke, such is the bruising nature of this behemoth, which includes a bit of everything on the taste spectrum. It’s both exciting and a bit too much. Leaving bad breath and the need for a nap - like so many good memories of first apartment East Side nights. It’s a sandwich indicative of the young neighborhood itself, of ‘Welcome to Adulthood’ - reminding that it is both delicious and daunting, a continuous race for funds for such cheesy vices, and is but a struggle to not get fat on the finer things.

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tottblog · 7 years

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I hope your Friday was good and your Sunday miraculous. I had the privilege of hosting my sister here in Japan last week. Having her here allowed me to appreciate my growth in knowledge of the Japanese language and culture compared to her blank slate. This is no mockery of her entertaining attempts to live and speak as the Japanese do but a celebration of my improvement; I mean, this is my blog!

Some of our attempts:

Ramen

For her first meal, we headed to Honmokuya- a tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen shop- for her first real bowl of ramen. Known by sailors as Black Door Ramen. A well seasoned man stands behind the counter waiting for your order from the ticket machine that guards the entrance. You select from the machine the size, toppings, and whichever of the few drinks he offers and hand him the tickets. And then with three words, you customize your order:

light/thick (broth)

more/less (oil)

al’dente/soft (noodles)

And in a few minutes, he hands you your warm, hearty, and heart warming bowl of ramen. Nothing fancy but you don’t come here looking for fancy.

I told her to practice eating with chopsticks! When all else fails, scoop and slurp!

Kamakura

Sakura season in Kamakura

Komachi Dori

We walked down the street, glistening under rainfallen and the nightlights, lined on either side by shops- food vendors and souvenirs.

We peeked in a few shops, some longer than others and we picked out some things- she more than I- for her to take back to the family. I had been here only once and was nearly as entertained as she was. I was glad she got to see some of what we imagine when we in the West think of Japan- Yukatas (the summer variant of the kimono), Torii gates, and shrines.

“Sushi-Go-Round”

I don’t think you can call a trip to Japan complete, at least not your first trip, without having a taste of sushi, even if it is from the convenience store. (Don’t tell anybody, I told you that.) But one of the things that seems to be increasingly popular among visitors and Japanese alike is the “Sushi-Go-Round”.

I don’t know if that’s the official name for it but it’s certainly been the most popular (preferred to kaiten or conveyor belt sushi). As the name suggests, the person preparing the sushi- prepares a number of sushi dishes for 100 yen, more or less, usually two pieces per plate, and loads them on to the belt, floating along until they catch the eyes of a diner!

But if you don’t see what you want or your concerned that its been on the belt too long – especially during slower periods of business- you can order it up fresh! You keep the plates on the table until the server comes and tallies your plates for the grand total. I wanted to try the chawanmushi, especially because I heard everybody else ordering it. But by the time I got the words out of my mouth, they were sold out.

Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine

Yokohama

Kushiage

Japan loves food on sticks! Yakitori, dango, chocolate covered bananas and anything penetrable by a skewer or suspended between chopsticks! But this one! Scattered through the streets with some friends, we were looking for somewhere we could eat without delay- and together. After a few shut downs, we stumbled across this place, stuffed in a walkway hanging off one this in obscure street. We gazed the menu for a moment but it was simple. Endless tea, all-you-can-eat salad, miso, and rice with your choice of an 8-12 “course” kushiage. The kushiage consist of a variety of foods pierced by a skewer, coated and fried.

Kushi connotes the stick and age, fried. The difference between Kushiage and the probably better known tempura is that tempura doesn’t involve sticks and it is batter dipped in a more airy batter resulting in a crisp snack. Kushiage is prepared through more similarly to the standard breading procedure- flour, egg, bread crumbs.

I had the 12 course.

Onion

Mushroom

Broccoli

Chicken and leek

Tofu

Lotus root

Sweet potato

Quail eggs

Shrimp

Asparagus

It’s not that I can’t count. I just can’t recall the other two.

Available on the table for dipping was, believe it or not, ketchup and mustard, grey salt, ponzu and some teriyaki based sauce. I shall return.

CupNoodle Museum

Museums are another ubiquity of Japan. I’ve visited the Ramen Museum in Shin Yokohama, but wasn’t too impressed. If you know what to expect, you might have a better experience. After you’ve paid the small admission fee, maybe 300 yen, you are granted access to two exhibits, one, the history of ramen presented in black and white, and detailed in the Japanese syllabaries and the other ramen throughout the world, with little more information than the general “foodie” would know. Theirs also a souvenir shop and a slot car track. On the lower floors, there are a number of ramen shops that you must stand in line and pay at the ticket machine for your “samples”. How much ramen can you eat?

But I figured I’d try out the CupNoodle Museum. I personally believe it was more of a museum. I don’t know what more I would expect of it but within a museum devoted to such a specified topic, I guess they do an okay job. We began our tour with a video presentation that speaks of the times and thoughts that inspired Momofuku to invent CupNoodle and how he became the chairperson for the industry.

The rest of the museum elaborated on the contents of the video with photos and text blocks along the wall with a vague art forms and philosophical quandaries on the topic of noodles in a cup and the inspiration that it potentially births. I enjoyed it for what it was but wished I got there earlier before the “Make your own Cup Noodle” tickets were sold out.

Shibuya Crossing

We continued on to Shibuya, not just to be tourists- drawn to the busy intersection featured in movies, tossed to and fro by the excited crowds and the snooty horns of impatient drivers. But I thought it would be a good launching point into our exploration of Tokyo. Honestly, once we arrived, I didn’t really know where to go from there.

We did visit a Krispy Kreme (’cause you just don’t find those in the states.)

(Actually, you probably would never find one as bound in the details and with flavor offerings like this one.) and we wandered into an izakaya for some cheese sticks (not mozzarella), wings, and yakitori- that is if yakitori includes pork

Harajuku

Named Tokyo’s fashion capital, Harajuku was worth a visit. Lots to look at. One of those kinds of places that you can go without a plan and not be disappointed, if you go on a weekend or before things close at 10 during the week. After work, there wasn’t much I could do. I was tired, and a bit bothered to learn that we had begun this journey with the desired end at a 4 floor 100 yen store, comparable to a dollar store. But hey, she’s just visiting.

Nabe

Perhaps our best experience was motsunabe- or offal hot pot. I never told her what offal was. Granted what we were eating wasn’t so bad: it included chicken knees cartilage. I don’t know if this would’ve sounded any better if I just stopped at chicken knees. But it wasn’t really the food that made the time. We sat down with a Japanese friend who isn’t fluent in English but speaks more English than I do Japanese. We ordered a round of sake and were treated to what I guess we could call soup. It was some rough chops carrots and potatoes with chunks of chicken in small bowls of the broth they were probably used to make.

Motsunabe mound

Then came our personal burner, our nabe pot and a mound of cabbage, garlic, chiles, and chicken knees. Flame on! And as it boils, the cabbage is flattened in the heat, lowering the mound to its demise. We laughed and joke as we tried to master the language and read the menu, teaching each other of the differences in our cultures. John, the guy who runs the shop, even joined in for some of the fun.

Her child like fascination and the incessant appearance of her phone, capturing and sharing every detail of the slightest contrast to the world she’s known, reminds me again to enjoy all of Japan, or any new experience I find my self in- even in the slightest. Things that I would smile at one day and take for granted the next. To cherish these things is easier when you have somebody to share them with.

Slurping Noodles, Sipping Sake, and Seeing the Sights I hope your Friday was good and your Sunday miraculous. I had the privilege of hosting my sister here in Japan last week.

#cup noodle #donuts #japan #kushiage #nabe #ramen #sake #shibuya #shop #shrine #sister #Sushi #tokyo

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