A Very Keiotic Year: Food and other things that make one happy

Note: If you accessed this page from Facebook, please scroll all the way down and click "view web version" first. Otherwise, the layout is distorted due to a wrong link. Thank you :)

Dear friends,

These days, we probably all could use something to cheer us up and distract us from the madness out there. If you are tired of only one subject coming up whereever you go, over and over again, you are welcome to discover some of the yummiest cultural experiences Japan has to offer. :)

We came for the coffee... and discovered so much more

Because Shimokitazawa, as you may remember, is just a very lovely place and Essi and me are big fans of cafés, we revisited it a couple of weeks ago only to discover new fantastic places - like this cupcake heaven:

Kawaii!

You can tell it was still Halloween time

Even at noon, Shimokita is amazingly empty. In all cafés we visited, we were the only customers! Like in this tiny café called "Ballon D'Essai", where all you can find is two of these small tables, one couch and a couple of armchairs. And, of course, one worker making your delicious coffee. Very hipster indeed ;)

Affogato (espresso with ice cream) and cafe latte... mmmhhh

Unlike the numerous chain cafés that can be found all around Tokyo, these are all small and cozy places lovingly designed in an overly cute, cartoonish Japanese style.

This is where you get amazing crepes - and it' all pink inside!

Of course, you don't need to go this far to have a good coffee. Should it happen that, let's say, your class gets cancelled, you can just go to a place next to campus - like we did with ChocoCro...

Tiramisu latte *-*

... or Café Veloce ;)

Maple latte - it's autumn, after all

Next to Shibuya, there is an area called Omotesando, where another great - no, even one of the best cafés is waiting for you. Its specialty, Lattest, has the same name as the shop and it is a small, but strong shot of coffee flavoured with whatever you like. It is so addictive we even had to come back some five minutes after we left, just to take another cup of coffee for takeaway. The workers were very happy about that :D

Chestnut and hazelnut lattests

Going traditional...

When my family asked me if there was any food in Japan I didn't like, I had nothing to answer. This is simply because everything I ate here so far was just damn good. Of course, if you don't like certain things it doesn't mean you will like them in Japan, but it seems like there is no such thing as bad quality food - even in convenience stores.

Thursday is foodie day - it's the day we girls meet up for lunch since we have class at the same time. While we sometimes go to the university cafeteria, there are the special occasions when we explore the area around the campus where you can find dozens of different restaurants. Usually, you see businessmen on their lunch break hurrying around, and then four lost girls inbetween who can't even decide on what to eat.

Well, when we do decide, we end up somewhere like this:

My first tempura! Zucchini, pumpkin, mushrooms, beans, sweet potato... Do I still need to say it was GOOD?

Even our field trip to Zoshigaya was not only interesting in terms of culture, but also when it comes to food. I tried something very traditional and oishii - delicious! It's tayaki, a pastry filled with anko - red bean paste.

On Friday two weeks ago, my Chinese friend Shosei took me for a really traditional Japanese dinner: Shabu-shabu, which can be best described as Japanese fondue, but much more diverse. Several ingredients are cooked in different kinds of broths directly at the table. The ordering process was very complicated to understand the first time, and I am grateful for Shosei's patience in translating and helping me to choose. :)

So you can select two different kinds of broth, and then choose between dozens of ingredients, including meat and vegetables to be cooked in the broths, as well as several side dishes - like a kind of mashed potato with cream. You get sauces as well, and we drank shochu, a kind of liquor, with tea.

Chinese five spices on the left and seaweed broth on the right

The spice broth comes with an explanation what every spice means and does for your health. If you like the benefit, you can order more of them individually

Shabu-shabu is a very social dish - you spend a lot of time preparing and eating the food, and it is especially nice in the cold time of the year. The restaurant is also used as an izakaya, a Japanese bar where salarymen usually come for a drink after work together.

Sauces: A sweet sauce with soy, and sesame sauce as well as our ingredients: cabbage, tofu, mushroom and radish

Shosei :)

... and being unfaithful

Living in Japan means eating only Japanese food? Maybe it's true for the first couple of weeks. But you get tempted to explore foreign food as well, even if it's just to see if it's any different from what you get at home.

One day, Essi and I visited a Korean restaurant for lunch. Korean food is known for being much more spicy that Japanese food, which relies on the ingeredients' natural taste without modifying it too much. I ordered rice porridge because it sounded interesting, and definitely didn't expect this:

Even if I didn't know how to eat it properly and the spicy part was missing, it was still yummy - and probably even healthy

Japan loves Italian food (is there a country that doesn't?). So it was just a matter of time when I would visit one of the countless Italian restaurants, apart from a pizzeria of course. It all started when I was invited to join fellow exchange students and dormmates Kelton and Tatia to a chain restaurant near our dorm, called Saizeriya. It also has a restaurant next to campus - surprise! - and very low prices for good quality food and reasonable portions. This pasta was only 300 yen:

Pasta peperoncino

Now you may know that Japanese love curry, but their curry is quite different from original Indian food - which we tried last week in a restaurant next to Shibuya. We happened to come in just in time for lunch buffet, where you could get as much naan bread, salad, rice and four different sauces. Too good to stop!

Not in this picture: green naan bread *-*

And at home?

In case you were wondering if I ever cook at home - sometimes I do, and then it looks like this:

While fruit and vegetables are incredibly expensive, you can get a big pack of mixed veggies for sauté for less than a hundred yen in any supermarket and make uncomplicated dishes with them. Lately, we also invested a little more time and made sushi on our own:

Okay, we cheated just a little bit

Since the day a big parcel full of warm clothing, cute gifts and lots of love from my parents and family friends arrived, I definitely don't need to worry about getting good coffee anymore. I can now brew the best morning coffee ever - Turkish style! Now this has nothing to do with Japan, but rather with missing home...