JFB: The Japanese Foods Blog

Hiro’s father, proprietor of the infamous Hot Dock custom...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Hiro’s father, proprietor of the infamous Hot Dock custom motorcycle shop, has the boys from the shop over for dinner and roof-top xbox game sessions on occassion. In addition to being the big boss he’s also a great cook.

This is homemade edamame, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with. It’s a Japanese staple snack and is always present at bars and restaurants and often at dinner tables in general, so I must include it at some point on this blog. It’s also super easy to make. Take fresh soybeans, boil them, remove from water and dose liberally with salt. You eat them by sucking the salt off the outside and extracting the beans from the pods with your teeth. Umai!

Here we have a blurry picture of a nice Nabe ready to serve from...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:00:00 -0400

Here we have a blurry picture of a nice Nabe ready to serve from the hot plate. It’s a chicken stock based soup with chicken, leeks, and mushrooms. It also features kiritanpo- which is made from mashed rice formed around a chopstick (this is how Moco described it to me). I’m sure I’m leaving something out, but if you see Nabe on a menu somewhere definitely get it!

Japanese-Style Wedding

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:00:00 -0400

So to a westerner’s eyes, Japanese people have a seemingly endless number of strange customs, and weddings cannot be excluded from this category. According to Hiro, weddings are either traditional Shinto-style, or French-style. My first reaction to the idea of French-style weddings in Japan was “but you’re Japanese!”. The French style weddings have the added oddity of being held in christian churches even though the vast majority of nihonjin, as Japanese people call themselves, are extremely secular, at the very same time that they cheerfully participate in certain ancient spiritualist rituals.

The food at these weddings follows the apparent world-wide custom of not being particularly good.

Photo

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:30:00 -0400

Some beef and mustard concoction. All of the food was...

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Some beef and mustard concoction. All of the food was “french” in probably the same way that there exists many “chinese” restaurants in the States.

A rather blah chicken salad.

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:30:00 -0400

A rather blah chicken salad.

Hiro liked the dessert the best.

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Hiro liked the dessert the best.

Yeah, they do that too…

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:00:00 -0400

Yeah, they do that too…

So I’m not in kansas (japan) anymore kids. San Francisco...

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:19:04 -0400

So I’m not in kansas (japan) anymore kids. San Francisco certainly has some good foods available, but I’m not eating much of it yet. I did join some friends for a very nice morrocan meal at Tajine on Polk street. I had the an awesome tajine ghanemy, badly pictured here. It includes lamb, peas, artichoke hearts, and a little couscous on top. Recommended!

It is often the case that the food you can get at airports is...

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:00:00 -0400

It is often the case that the food you can get at airports is about as a good as the food they serve you on the plane, but there are exceptions. As we waited in Narita for the plane to take me back to San Francisco and a fate unknown, we had a very nice bon voyage meal. Here we have katsudon, which is deep fried breaded pork cutlet with scrambled egg and onion over rice. The sides are pickles and miso soup. This is japanese comfort food and I’ve eaten it many times.

Hiro had Tempura Chazke. The pot contains soup-like stuff that...

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:30:00 -0400

Hiro had Tempura Chazke. The pot contains soup-like stuff that you pour over the rice and tempura. That’s tofu and some pickled radish on the side.

If you’re ever in harajuku you might want to check out...

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:00:00 -0400

If you’re ever in harajuku you might want to check out cafe liberte. They’ve got a nice balcony and interesting food that is a weird japanese take on mexican cuisine. The cafe is on the top of a building that holds the tokyo hipsters club, which features some cool books and clothes.

Here we have a very bad picture of some very good tuna sashimi over rice with salad.

Taco rice.

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Taco rice.

I had a BLT and avocado burrito. I would also highly recommend...

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:00:00 -0400

I had a BLT and avocado burrito. I would also highly recommend the maguro and avocado burrito.

So Hiro’s dad had promised to not only take us to his...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:45:00 -0400

So Hiro’s dad had promised to not only take us to his favorite chinese restaurant, but also to his favorite unagi restaurant. I have to say that since unagi is one my most favorite foods in the whole world, that makes him one of my most favorite people in the world.

We start out with this lovely appetizer of sashimi (raw) shirasu, which are larval sardines with some wasabi, fresh ginger, and shiso- the latter is a strong tasting mint-like plant that often comes with sashimi.

Some standard seaweed appetizer on the left, on the right...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:30:00 -0400

Some standard seaweed appetizer on the left, on the right we’ve got a nice okra, pea pods, and asparagus thing with dried maguro flakes on top.

Katso sashimi. Crazy good.

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:30:00 -0400

Katso sashimi. Crazy good.

Motsu nikomi. Hiro’s dad told me to try it before telling...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:30:00 -0400

Motsu nikomi. Hiro’s dad told me to try it before telling me what was in it, and I immediately said “it must be guts”. I was right of course. You’ve got some nice pork intestines and various vegetables in a rich broth. It was delicious.

Chu toro (fatty tuna) sashimi. Also excellent.

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Chu toro (fatty tuna) sashimi. Also excellent.

A closeup of the unagi liver that is in a bowl of kimo no...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:30:00 -0400

A closeup of the unagi liver that is in a bowl of kimo no osuimono, or unagi liver soup. The soup itself is really good, but the liver, which of course I had to eat, was not so good. At first it didn’t taste like much of anything, but then was a bit pasty and very bitter.