A Traditional Japanese Blog Post
We spent yesterday in Osaka.
We bought a lot of food while there: takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, a bun filled with melon flavored cream, a crunchy angel food bun, and various beverages. I need to do a post on all of the beverages that we have had while in Japan.
Takoyaki is fried balls of octopus that have been breaded. Ours were served in the traditional manner (super hot with barbecue sauce, dried octopus flakes, and other toppings). They were crisp on the outside and gooey in the center. They were very tasty, though you couldn't really notice the octopus with all of the dough. My pictures turned out blurry, so perhaps we will have to have them again.
The okonomiyaki we had had shrimp, octopus, and pork in it (also cabbage - they always have cabbage). It was topped with barbecue sauce as well as Japanese mustard. It was hot on the outside and gooey in the middle just like the takoyaki. It was very tasty, and when we make okonomiyaki in the future, perhaps we will do it a bit differently.
After we ate we bought some things at the 100 yen store (think dollar store), and looked at all the other things that were for sale (Live eels, dead fish heads, fruits, veggies, clothing, bric-a-brac, tons of food preparation items (including takoyaki fryers), candy, and everything else under the sun).
While sitting outside of Osaka Jo (which would be a good name for a person... "I'll get you back Osaka Jo!") we wrote traditional Osakan Limericks, which I will not subject you to (unless you ask for them).
We got on the wrong train going home, and ended up having to buy food from a convenience store. We bought bean filled pastries, ramien, and a cabbage/corn salad. The lady gave us two pairs on chopsticks and two toothpicks.
They seem to like giving out toothpicks here.
Today we went to north east Kyoto and saw a very disappointing kung fu museum (not a single sumo was seen. Ninjas were in short supply as well.) Alison reminds me that it wasn't Actually a kung fu museum as much as it was a Martial Arts Center (which happened to have a historic building in it). Either way, it wasn't really all that cool.
After that we went to the Museum of Traditional Handcrafts, and ambled around it. It was really very cool. I am amazed at the things that they did to make these handcrafts back before there were machines.
We went up to the Handicraft Center to look at hand crafted things. We found some pretty cool souvenirs (We got something for each of the people who watched our kids while we were gone.) I also found some traditional Japanese mitten socks and mitten shoes!
so now I can wear my socks and shoes while I am wearing flip flops.
I need to get bigger flip flops though.
We saw a restaurant named eggs, so we decided that we wanted to get some eggs (traditionally everything in Kyoto comes with eggs on top, even McDonald's Hamburgers). We read their menu, but the only thing with eggs on was the traditional ham and eggs crepe. We ended up going to a place down the street and getting traditional Japanese omelettes (which apart from having eggs on top are stuffed with rice or noodles, sort of like a burrito that is (for some odd reason) stuffed with rice or noodles. It was very Mexican (except for the noodle part)). They put mushrooms on the top of my omelette, and barbecue sauce on the top of both of ours.
They love barbecue sauce in Kyoto and Osaka. Traditionally they put it on top of not only omelettes, but also okonomiyaki, takoyaki, rice, and traditional McDonald's hamburgers (one of these days we will quit making fun of Japanese McDonalds and try one, but until then you will be hearing more about them.)
As the day neared an end we sat down in Heian shrine and saw a traditional Geisha dance of the spring, and two traditional non-geisha dances of the spring. They were interesting. The best part was when the Geisha were listening to scary stories and were too afraid to sleep, so they took turns sleeping.
After that we walked down the road toward the train station and got in a traditional Japanese bike accident with a traditional Japanese school boy (not really, he missed us by the Planck Length).
Anyway, I should probably go to sleep as Alison is already fast asleep even though I have been dictating this as I typed it.
We bought a lot of food while there: takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, a bun filled with melon flavored cream, a crunchy angel food bun, and various beverages. I need to do a post on all of the beverages that we have had while in Japan.
Takoyaki is fried balls of octopus that have been breaded. Ours were served in the traditional manner (super hot with barbecue sauce, dried octopus flakes, and other toppings). They were crisp on the outside and gooey in the center. They were very tasty, though you couldn't really notice the octopus with all of the dough. My pictures turned out blurry, so perhaps we will have to have them again.
The okonomiyaki we had had shrimp, octopus, and pork in it (also cabbage - they always have cabbage). It was topped with barbecue sauce as well as Japanese mustard. It was hot on the outside and gooey in the middle just like the takoyaki. It was very tasty, and when we make okonomiyaki in the future, perhaps we will do it a bit differently.
After we ate we bought some things at the 100 yen store (think dollar store), and looked at all the other things that were for sale (Live eels, dead fish heads, fruits, veggies, clothing, bric-a-brac, tons of food preparation items (including takoyaki fryers), candy, and everything else under the sun).
While sitting outside of Osaka Jo (which would be a good name for a person... "I'll get you back Osaka Jo!") we wrote traditional Osakan Limericks, which I will not subject you to (unless you ask for them).
We got on the wrong train going home, and ended up having to buy food from a convenience store. We bought bean filled pastries, ramien, and a cabbage/corn salad. The lady gave us two pairs on chopsticks and two toothpicks.
They seem to like giving out toothpicks here.
Today we went to north east Kyoto and saw a very disappointing kung fu museum (not a single sumo was seen. Ninjas were in short supply as well.) Alison reminds me that it wasn't Actually a kung fu museum as much as it was a Martial Arts Center (which happened to have a historic building in it). Either way, it wasn't really all that cool.After that we went to the Museum of Traditional Handcrafts, and ambled around it. It was really very cool. I am amazed at the things that they did to make these handcrafts back before there were machines.
We went up to the Handicraft Center to look at hand crafted things. We found some pretty cool souvenirs (We got something for each of the people who watched our kids while we were gone.) I also found some traditional Japanese mitten socks and mitten shoes!
so now I can wear my socks and shoes while I am wearing flip flops.
I need to get bigger flip flops though.
We saw a restaurant named eggs, so we decided that we wanted to get some eggs (traditionally everything in Kyoto comes with eggs on top, even McDonald's Hamburgers). We read their menu, but the only thing with eggs on was the traditional ham and eggs crepe. We ended up going to a place down the street and getting traditional Japanese omelettes (which apart from having eggs on top are stuffed with rice or noodles, sort of like a burrito that is (for some odd reason) stuffed with rice or noodles. It was very Mexican (except for the noodle part)). They put mushrooms on the top of my omelette, and barbecue sauce on the top of both of ours.
They love barbecue sauce in Kyoto and Osaka. Traditionally they put it on top of not only omelettes, but also okonomiyaki, takoyaki, rice, and traditional McDonald's hamburgers (one of these days we will quit making fun of Japanese McDonalds and try one, but until then you will be hearing more about them.)As the day neared an end we sat down in Heian shrine and saw a traditional Geisha dance of the spring, and two traditional non-geisha dances of the spring. They were interesting. The best part was when the Geisha were listening to scary stories and were too afraid to sleep, so they took turns sleeping.
After that we walked down the road toward the train station and got in a traditional Japanese bike accident with a traditional Japanese school boy (not really, he missed us by the Planck Length).
Anyway, I should probably go to sleep as Alison is already fast asleep even though I have been dictating this as I typed it.
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