Food

One thing I've discovered since being in Japan is that I love to try new recipes.  Not only that, but I love to create new recipes - look in the cupboard or the fridge and throw things together that you think might work well together.  Over the past few months I've had a couple of great successes (The kabobs from the previous post point in fact), and a couple of edible-disasters.  I call them edible disasters because though we ate them (and Travis even said some of them were good, bless his heart) I would never make them again.

The stuffed peppers and the shrimp fried rice turned out rather well, if I do say so myself.  I have learned a few things though.


1) You CAN overuse Worchestershire sauce.  Small doses only
2) Saffron is extremely overrated.
3) Garlic can basically be put in everything
4) Everything is better with bell peppers
5) Celery goes bad faster than two people can eat it.

Happy Cooking! :)

Summertime is here!

summertime is upon us - and I have the proof!

 

Travis broke out the grill skills. We may have the smallest back yard on the planet (note the fence about 4 feet away) but we can do the summertime grilling with the best of them!

The Kabobs turned out really well, and I think part of it was the marinade I used on the meat.  I discovered it online, and decided to try it out.

 Beef Marinade

I didn't blend the marinade, I just stirred it together, and it turned out WONDERFULLY.  I may use it as my go to marinade any time I cook beef from now on! (Of course some of credit has to go to Travis for the excellent cooking.)  

YAY for Summer!

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival

This past Saturday Travis and I drove across the country to Hirosaki.  We wanted to experience their Cherry Blossom festival.  It was only 120 km to Hirosaki from Misawa (75 miles), and being the Saskatchewan girl that I am I figured it would take about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to get there.  Unfortunately for me, Japan is not nearly as flat as Saskatchewan.  We decided to avoid the toll roads, and take the scenic route through the mountains.  It was a beautiful drive, and we were able to enjoy the mountains, rushing streams, and all the newly green growing things.  However, an hour long drive it wasn't!  Due to the amount of switch backs, curves, and just driving up (and down) the mountains it took us about 2.5 - 3 hours to get to Hirosaki.  It may have been faster to take the toll roads and highways, but the views we got through the mountains more than made up for the longer drive!

I'd love to say that the day was perfect, not a cloud in the sky or whisper of wind.  Of course, if I said that, I'd be a liar! It was cloudy, a bit windy, and a tad drizzly in Hirosaki by the time we got there.  We found a parking spot and got out and spent about 4 hours wandering the Hirosaki park and castle grounds. 

I'll let you be the judge, but I think it was well worth the crappy weather and drive!  I'd do it again in a heart beat.

 ~Kristen

 You can see some of the rain drops in the water, but mostly I just love how the trees canopy over the castle moat.

 I want someone to row me around on a rowboat under there.  I would eat bon bons and write poetry and drink of nothing but red wine.

 All those beautiful cherry blossoms... and all I keep noticing are the dandelions
!

 My attempt at being artistic!

 The inner castle moat. (from the outside).

 If only those blossoms were just a little bit more in bloom, I think this picture would have been about perfect.

 Overlooking the castle inner moat (from the inside) up on the hill.

 Smiling in the rain!

Seafood in Japan

Japan is only 225 km (or 140 miles) wide at its widest part.  That means that no matter where you live in the country, you are no farther than 112.5 km or 70 miles from the coast at any given time.  Fishing is huge business here in Japan - something that Travis and I have gotten to experience and enjoy.

About 20-30 minutes from Misawa there is a huge fish market.  Every single thing that they sell there was caught THAT DAY, and they throw out everything that they don't sell by the end of the day.  (Which both guarantees freshness, and explains part of the garbage problem Japan has).

The fish market had things that I couldn't even identify:

(I'm pretty sure it's an eel.... I think? :D)

things that I don't think I'd ever want to eat:

But such a good price!  3 for about $7.50!  (....it's only a good deal if you know what the hell to do with it once you have it!  lol)

So that is $35 dollars worth of Octopus tentacles.  Yummy???

So apparently if the squid is red it is 15x the price?  If only I read Japanese!

They also sell things at the Fish market that are not even edible - though still fish to be fair.

How would you like to own your very own blow fish?  You could eat the meat and possibly die - (If it isn't butchered properly, Fugu, or blowfish meat can be fatal) - or you could just own a hard dried shell of a deadly, stinky fish!

Travis and I weren't very adventurous, we only bought shrimp/prawns.  However, I have to say they were some of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen, and they cooked up deliciously.  We'll have to go back and try some more seafood soon.