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Well here is the food post for this week! We have buta (pork) kimchi, katsuo sashimi, Japanese hambagu (hamburger), fried miso pork and cabbage, grilled shitake and katsuo salad and home made shiyo ramen.

We had the urge for sweets today... well we have the urge everyday but it wouldn't be very healthy if we were eating sweets everyday right?? We picked up some yokan and mizu manju which is very refreshing in the summer and also got some warabi mochi and Mr Donuts Pon de Ring which is nothing like Westernized donuts. These Japanese style Pon de Ring donuts are very mochi mochi and delicious!

We decided to go get more sweets today. We picked up our favorite cakes from SobuBert in Mobara and also grabbed some dangos. Saku is always jealous when we eat sweet stuff. If you have a sweet tooth then Japan is a great place to be. It's easy to eat a lot of yummy desserts because most of the cakes and snacks here are NOT overly sweet or rich. Just right.

We found a little shop by Kazusaichinomiya Station that sold Japanese style deserts like yokan and daifuku. A daifuku is is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans. What was interesting about this store called 角八 (Kadohachi) was that it had not only the very popular ichigo (strawberry) daifuku but also Mikan daifuku!  Very interesting taste and kind of messy to eat!

We found a nice little teuchi (hand made) soba shop right by Togane Stagion called 手打蕎麦 逸香. As always we found the restaurant on Tabelog. Its a bit on the pricier side compared to other soba restaurants but the soba is very good. Firm and fresh with no floury taste that can sometime be associated with teuchi. We had tenzaru (tempura) and kamo sero (duck). Both were very delicious but what really blew me away was the dessert they had (which I forgot to take a picture of since I ate it so fast). They had warabimochi, a jelly-like confection made from bracken starch and covered or dipped in kinako. Simply delicious!

I don't really drink much alcohol and while everyone tells me nama beer is the best in Japan, the taste of beer just doesn't grow on me. I do however love sweet things as you can probably tell from this blog. So for me if I have to drink alcohol in Japan it's Chu-hi.

Here's Wiki's explanation on what Chu-hi is: Chu-Hi is an alcoholic drink originating from Japan. The name is derived from "shōchū highball" and is usually flavored with fruit or soda. It is a seasonal drink and can be served either hot or cold. The traditional chuhai is lemon flavored with a shōchū  base, though some modern commercial variants have a vodka base. The flavors available have recently also multiplied, including lime, grapefruit, apple, orange, pineapple, grape, kiwi, ume (plum), yuzu and peach. Sold in bars and restaurants as well as supermarkets, the alcohol content can be quite low, allowing those with a low tolerance for alcohol to imbibe safely.

My favorite is Horoyoi Chu-hi Lemon. With only 3% alcohol it tastes like lemon soda but is is still strong enough to put me to sleep!

Getting stuck at home injured isn't such a bad thing especially in Japan. There is still good TV to watch and great food to eat. We've had great meals staying at home this past week.

I'm not much of a drinker. Those who know me will know I do not drink at all which makes me a social outcast in Japan (^_^). I have been trying much lighter drinks like Chu Hi (second drink on the right) and coctails that they sell at the super.  I can pretty much have half a can shared with my wife! We also found Hoppy (first drink on the left), a beer like drink with 0.8% that supposed to be mixed with Shochu but I drank it straight. 

Meals this week were good! Starting from the second row below and left to right, minced katsu with Japanese curry! Kimchi fried rice, Miso soup with chives and eggs, boiled spinich with natto sauce, tofu, fish and veggies!

Third row features more veggies and bincho maguro sashimi with rice and tarako (fish eggs). Next to that was hayashi chu ka, cold ramen noodles with vegies and fried eggs and sauce.

The last row was home made okonomiyaki and more fish and pototatoes and rice with... yes butter! Butter gohan and Miso!

My wife and I found a nice little Yakitori shop called Tori Chu in front of Togane Station next to the old Pachinko parlor. As she put it, it was like time slipping back into the 70's with old enka playing on the small tube and drunk workers eating yakitori and drinking their Hoppy and Shochu mixes. The chicken was not pretty but sure tasted good. They were once  80 yen a stick up to recently but now 100 yen each! Taste pretty darn good, but if you do not like a smokey environment and alcohol smell, beware! Otherwise a cool place for a nice meal and travel back in time!

If you haven't noticed from my blog, I do post about food almost as much as I post about golf... okay maybe more on food! (^_^) Fact is nowhere on earth in my opinion does food compare to eating in Japan. But eating in Japan is not only about eating out. You can eat equally as well at home which is what we do most of the time. Luckily my wife is able to prepare dishes that make me want to stay home and eat all the time. Best thing of all we have found is that groceries are not only fresher and have a larger selection than Canada they are much cheaper than we expected. The last few days have been quite a feast.


Today for lunch we had homemade Maguro don. Fresh Maguro cut into cubes and we like it with natto and a raw egg! Last night was Sukiyaki with meat that my wife won as a present online (believe it or not winning presents and prizes is a very common thing in Japan). The sukiyaki was awesome, maybe the best I have had.



After that we had dessert which was not homemade but purchased in from Sobubert a chain bakery that is prominent in this area. Simply delicious! Yes that is four pieces for the two of us!



Today for lunch we had meat left over from last nights Sukiyaki and made Gyu Don or Beef Bowl that you see at the famous chain store Yoshinoya except ours was home made! Who needs to go out and eat?


Yes I am definitely trying to gain weight. 

We headed over to Chiba today with my wife's family to have a Birthday Lunch for her Mom at Maruman Sushi right behind Chiba Parco. My wife and I had been once before and for a nice sushi restaurant the prices are very reasonable and the fish super fresh. I had the special Toro set with different pieces of maguro toro which just melted in my mouth. We are definitely going again!

We stopped by in Chiba today for a some hand made udon at Shi Man To very close to the Chiba city hall and just behind Chiba Sogo. Lately we have been using a website called Tabelog which is a collection of restuarants all around Japan rated and reviewed by customers. Great thing is that it is so detailed on location and menu offerings with pictures taken by the customers. This really helps potential customers find the shop and decide what to eat! Here are the pics I took of my Tempura Udon set. Very delicious and reflective of the shops good ratings!