Ok sorry for this weeks blog being a bit late but as usual my time has been limited. I originally thought this week was gonna be a bit slack, but it turned out to be well hectic again.
Saturday was Ayaes birthday so after work I headed home to pick her up and then we went to an organic restaurant. Ayaes pretty obsessed with organic food so this was a treat for her. The food here was unsurprisingly expensive but delicious nonetheless. We both ordered set menus which had about 12 different minature courses each although I had no idea what I had actually ordered.
This meal was proper lush. Each tiny portion of food was presented like a work of art causing a small sensation of guilt when you eat it. Of course it was all 100% organic, and there was lots of salads and steamed vegetables, and also some really awesome pork curry type thing. So yeh that was awesome.
The next day we both had a free day so we went to the Nagoya zoo and took a picnic. We had both been before last winter but going in the sunshine was a lot nicer (its still sunny here!!, (well, it was at the time of writing!). Also because of this we were able to go round the zoo in record time and stick to the awesome animals (monkeys, bears and elephants). Once we`d done that we decided to go shopping in Sakae. After blitzing the designer stores, we were both well hungry and happened upon a small foodcourt in the basement of one of the many department stores. Being as Ive been trying to try as many different dishes as I can while Im here I was delighted to find a Pizza Cone s
hop. A Pizza Cone is as it sounds; like an ice-cream cone but instead of ice cream, tomato sauce and cheese (and whatever other toppings you desire), and instead of a wafer cone, a pizza dough cone. This is then put into a massive oven thing and served to you pipng hot. This was again an awesome dish. Ive always found pizza to be a very cumbersome street dish (that is, walking and eating a pizza while holding the box is rather inconvenient. Sure you can just buy one slice but that’s not gonna fill you up much is it?). So the Pizza Cone solves all these problems. That’s Japanese inventiveness for you!
After this I was still hungry (all right, it doesn’t solve ALL the problems!), so we headed to the Mitsukoshi department store food market. I had been here before, but not since last winter and had forgotten how awesome it is. Anyone that visits Nagoya, I recommend you check this place out! It’s a big food market filled with loads of weird and wonderful dishes. Altho its all pretty pricy, its all cooked on site so its well good. Because its difficult for pictures to do this place justice I took a movie (see below). Particularly of note were the biggest Tempurified meat thing Ive ever seen!
As we headed outside the street had a couple of different live bands playing. Everytime Ive been to Sakae theres always live bands playing, and good ones too. One of the bands playing was a really decent rock band, and the other was a Latin American pan pipe band. Both were really good, and we sat and listened to them as we chowed down on our gourmet cuisine. With the bright neon lights of Nagoya, and the Sunshine Sakae ferris wheel in the background, it was a pretty awesome moment.
Monday I had a hectic morning of going shopping (to the other other supermarket the other side of Nisshin), then returning to make a massive curry, with home made naan, and rice in time for Ayaes return from Uni (Im a house husban
d now!). Just as we were about to eat I got a call from my boss saying a teacher was sick so could I get to Hekinan as soon as possible. Hekinan is about 2 and a half hours away so I hurried my lunch and got there as fast as I could. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong station so it took a while before someone from the school could pick me up. By the time I got to the school I had 15 minutes to prepare 5 lessons, and the first 3 were back to back without even the usual 5 minute break. I did alright considering and basically did the same Halloween based lesson for all the classes. Halloween is a pretty big deal out here (commercially - no one really goes trick or treating I think), and especially at the ACC school, where all the schools are covered in Halloween themed decorations. In fact all the schools are having Halloween partys today and tomorro, and some unlucky teachers have been roped into entertaining the kids all day without getting paid. Thankfully Im not one of them!!!
When I finished work it was about half 8 and I was knackered considering I`d been doing stuff literally all day. By the time I got home it was quarter past 11, so I went straight to sleep.
Tuesday, and I went in with Ayae to her Uni as she needed to get her coursework checked. I quite like going to her uni, it’s a pretty nice setting. Futuristic buildings surrounded by plenty of greenery and plants and stuff. As we sat and had lunch in the cafeteria I observed some breakdancers spinning on their heads and wotnot which was pretty cool.
Wednesday and we went to visit Ayaes parents. To get to Irago by public transport is always a chore and involves about 4 different trains and 3 different buses, but we got there in the end.
Whilst we were there we decided to take it easy and Irago is the kind of place where its hard to take it any other way. Although the warm weather has pretty much gone now, it still has a very slow, chilled out pace, which was exactly what I needed. On Thursday I was invited to help out and learn a bit about Ayae`s Minshuku (A Japanese Inn that her parents own and run). After donning an apron and some boots I headed down to the Irago fish market where Ayaes dad was bidding for various fish. The Irago fish market is famed for its fresh fish as the ocean in Irago has very little contamination.
The market consisted of a series of small plastic tanks with live fish in, and lots of hoses pumping fresh seawater into them. As the market is next to the sea, the water goes back into the sea, and the cycle continues. Since the tanks are open at the top, the water is constantly overflowing so the floor is always wet (thus the reason for the boots).
The various hotels and restaurants from around the area send someone to go and buy the fresh fish. In Ayae`s family`s case, her father heads down. It is run like an auction with each tank, or set of tanks going to the highest bidder. Because of
this there is a constant buzz in the air, and lots of noisy shouting.
After Ayaes father had bought all the fish he needed we organised it. I should state that at this time most of the fish are still alive. My duty was to sort the Abalone (kind of like oysters) from the other shellfish. Abalone are a particular delicacy and carry with them a high price tag. After sorting them out I took the different buckets to the truck to be loaded up. I did this using a walking stick like implement thing with a blunt wooden handle at one end and a spike at the other. The spike hooked underneath the bucket so it could be dragged along, as they are far to heavy to be carried long distances.
In addition to the shellfish, Ayaes dad also bought some buckets of other small fish I cant remember the name of. One thing I do remember however was the Yellowtail. He only bought one Yellowtail fish (or Amberjack), but it was a pretty huge one. After we had loaded the truck up with everything else, the still live Yellowtail had to meet its maker. It seemed to be minding its own business, swimming round the tank, when suddenly the water was tipped out by Ayaes dad. After flopping about on the floor a bit it was eventually still enough and he whacked it with the blunt end of the walking stick like implement. It was still moving after this so he slammed the spike end right through the fishes brain causing a sickening cracking sound. As the fish lay twitching I have to say I was a little bit shocked, (although not as shocked as vegetarian Ayae!). I eat a lot of fish and m.jpg)
eat, but seeing killing like this first hand does make you think a bit. Still, every fish we eat has to be killed somehow and this is at least fast, if a little gruesome. I should also point out here that Ayaes dad isnt some kind of crazed fish murderer, hes a very warm hearted gentle guy so I don’t wish to give the wrong impression of him. Also he`s got that spike stick implement thing…..
In all seriousness he is a very nice man. In fact because their family is Buddhist and Buddhism is generally against harming living things, he has to get a special blessing thing each year to allow him to kill so many fish. Hes been doing it for 22 years so that’s a lot of fish!
When we
got home we unloaded the fish and went to the kitchen of the inn. Here I watched Ayaes dad cut up the fish expertly. When he got to the Yellowtail, he chopped its head off, and extracted a special bit from inside the throat. He told me it was a very special tasty bit, and set it aside for later. He also descaled and decapitated/gutted the other small fish. As I watched him do this at lightning speed he offered me a go. I accepted altho I was a little nervous due to the fact the knife was ridiculously sharp and really quite big. As I tried to slowly descale the fish, the knife slipped and I nearly cut my thumb off. Still I persevered and took about 5 minutes to do one fish. After this I left it to the professional and went back to the house.
.jpg)
That night we got to eat some of the Yellowtail. The special tasty bit from the throat we had in a stew type thing, and we also had some sashimi (raw slices) taken from the body. In addition to this we had the some of the expensive Abalone in a butter sauce. This was really really gorgeous, and what with the extreme freshness (they were alive just a few hours ago) it was a very unique culinary experience.
In fact although I didn’t know it, most of the fish I have had at Ayaes parents house has been similarly fresh (caught and bought in the morning, then killed and eaten at night). Thanks to ice boxes we have also been able to enjoy Irago fish in Nagoya. Whenever Ayae comes back, she brings some sort of fish in an icebox (last time it was some lovely Fugu steaks we had for breakfast).
Since I had work Saturday I left Irago on Friday, leaving Ayae to chill at her parents (and rustle up some fresh fish!). The journey home was a proper ordeal. I got on the wrong bus (although there wasn’t actually a right bus to begin with), and then had to get a train and well, basically it was a proper chore. Im normally quite good with public transport, but this week I seem to be losing it a bit….
Hmmmm…..
Anyways that’s about it for this week. Not really anything planned for this week but Ill try and do something to write home about.
Thanks for reading and all the great comments from last time. Let me know how this one finds you. Are the pictures slowing the page down?, or am I writing way way too much about food? This blog has pretty much just been on that now that I think about it!
So yeh….
Peace Out
Jack
Saturday was Ayaes birthday so after work I headed home to pick her up and then we went to an organic restaurant. Ayaes pretty obsessed with organic food so this was a treat for her. The food here was unsurprisingly expensive but delicious nonetheless. We both ordered set menus which had about 12 different minature courses each although I had no idea what I had actually ordered.
This meal was proper lush. Each tiny portion of food was presented like a work of art causing a small sensation of guilt when you eat it. Of course it was all 100% organic, and there was lots of salads and steamed vegetables, and also some really awesome pork curry type thing. So yeh that was awesome.
The next day we both had a free day so we went to the Nagoya zoo and took a picnic. We had both been before last winter but going in the sunshine was a lot nicer (its still sunny here!!, (well, it was at the time of writing!). Also because of this we were able to go round the zoo in record time and stick to the awesome animals (monkeys, bears and elephants). Once we`d done that we decided to go shopping in Sakae. After blitzing the designer stores, we were both well hungry and happened upon a small foodcourt in the basement of one of the many department stores. Being as Ive been trying to try as many different dishes as I can while Im here I was delighted to find a Pizza Cone s
hop. A Pizza Cone is as it sounds; like an ice-cream cone but instead of ice cream, tomato sauce and cheese (and whatever other toppings you desire), and instead of a wafer cone, a pizza dough cone. This is then put into a massive oven thing and served to you pipng hot. This was again an awesome dish. Ive always found pizza to be a very cumbersome street dish (that is, walking and eating a pizza while holding the box is rather inconvenient. Sure you can just buy one slice but that’s not gonna fill you up much is it?). So the Pizza Cone solves all these problems. That’s Japanese inventiveness for you!
After this I was still hungry (all right, it doesn’t solve ALL the problems!), so we headed to the Mitsukoshi department store food market. I had been here before, but not since last winter and had forgotten how awesome it is. Anyone that visits Nagoya, I recommend you check this place out! It’s a big food market filled with loads of weird and wonderful dishes. Altho its all pretty pricy, its all cooked on site so its well good. Because its difficult for pictures to do this place justice I took a movie (see below). Particularly of note were the biggest Tempurified meat thing Ive ever seen!
As we headed outside the street had a couple of different live bands playing. Everytime Ive been to Sakae theres always live bands playing, and good ones too. One of the bands playing was a really decent rock band, and the other was a Latin American pan pipe band. Both were really good, and we sat and listened to them as we chowed down on our gourmet cuisine. With the bright neon lights of Nagoya, and the Sunshine Sakae ferris wheel in the background, it was a pretty awesome moment.
Monday I had a hectic morning of going shopping (to the other other supermarket the other side of Nisshin), then returning to make a massive curry, with home made naan, and rice in time for Ayaes return from Uni (Im a house husban
d now!). Just as we were about to eat I got a call from my boss saying a teacher was sick so could I get to Hekinan as soon as possible. Hekinan is about 2 and a half hours away so I hurried my lunch and got there as fast as I could. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong station so it took a while before someone from the school could pick me up. By the time I got to the school I had 15 minutes to prepare 5 lessons, and the first 3 were back to back without even the usual 5 minute break. I did alright considering and basically did the same Halloween based lesson for all the classes. Halloween is a pretty big deal out here (commercially - no one really goes trick or treating I think), and especially at the ACC school, where all the schools are covered in Halloween themed decorations. In fact all the schools are having Halloween partys today and tomorro, and some unlucky teachers have been roped into entertaining the kids all day without getting paid. Thankfully Im not one of them!!!When I finished work it was about half 8 and I was knackered considering I`d been doing stuff literally all day. By the time I got home it was quarter past 11, so I went straight to sleep.
Tuesday, and I went in with Ayae to her Uni as she needed to get her coursework checked. I quite like going to her uni, it’s a pretty nice setting. Futuristic buildings surrounded by plenty of greenery and plants and stuff. As we sat and had lunch in the cafeteria I observed some breakdancers spinning on their heads and wotnot which was pretty cool.
Wednesday and we went to visit Ayaes parents. To get to Irago by public transport is always a chore and involves about 4 different trains and 3 different buses, but we got there in the end.
Whilst we were there we decided to take it easy and Irago is the kind of place where its hard to take it any other way. Although the warm weather has pretty much gone now, it still has a very slow, chilled out pace, which was exactly what I needed. On Thursday I was invited to help out and learn a bit about Ayae`s Minshuku (A Japanese Inn that her parents own and run). After donning an apron and some boots I headed down to the Irago fish market where Ayaes dad was bidding for various fish. The Irago fish market is famed for its fresh fish as the ocean in Irago has very little contamination.
The market consisted of a series of small plastic tanks with live fish in, and lots of hoses pumping fresh seawater into them. As the market is next to the sea, the water goes back into the sea, and the cycle continues. Since the tanks are open at the top, the water is constantly overflowing so the floor is always wet (thus the reason for the boots).
The various hotels and restaurants from around the area send someone to go and buy the fresh fish. In Ayae`s family`s case, her father heads down. It is run like an auction with each tank, or set of tanks going to the highest bidder. Because of
this there is a constant buzz in the air, and lots of noisy shouting.After Ayaes father had bought all the fish he needed we organised it. I should state that at this time most of the fish are still alive. My duty was to sort the Abalone (kind of like oysters) from the other shellfish. Abalone are a particular delicacy and carry with them a high price tag. After sorting them out I took the different buckets to the truck to be loaded up. I did this using a walking stick like implement thing with a blunt wooden handle at one end and a spike at the other. The spike hooked underneath the bucket so it could be dragged along, as they are far to heavy to be carried long distances.
In addition to the shellfish, Ayaes dad also bought some buckets of other small fish I cant remember the name of. One thing I do remember however was the Yellowtail. He only bought one Yellowtail fish (or Amberjack), but it was a pretty huge one. After we had loaded the truck up with everything else, the still live Yellowtail had to meet its maker. It seemed to be minding its own business, swimming round the tank, when suddenly the water was tipped out by Ayaes dad. After flopping about on the floor a bit it was eventually still enough and he whacked it with the blunt end of the walking stick like implement. It was still moving after this so he slammed the spike end right through the fishes brain causing a sickening cracking sound. As the fish lay twitching I have to say I was a little bit shocked, (although not as shocked as vegetarian Ayae!). I eat a lot of fish and m
.jpg)
eat, but seeing killing like this first hand does make you think a bit. Still, every fish we eat has to be killed somehow and this is at least fast, if a little gruesome. I should also point out here that Ayaes dad isnt some kind of crazed fish murderer, hes a very warm hearted gentle guy so I don’t wish to give the wrong impression of him. Also he`s got that spike stick implement thing…..In all seriousness he is a very nice man. In fact because their family is Buddhist and Buddhism is generally against harming living things, he has to get a special blessing thing each year to allow him to kill so many fish. Hes been doing it for 22 years so that’s a lot of fish!
When we
got home we unloaded the fish and went to the kitchen of the inn. Here I watched Ayaes dad cut up the fish expertly. When he got to the Yellowtail, he chopped its head off, and extracted a special bit from inside the throat. He told me it was a very special tasty bit, and set it aside for later. He also descaled and decapitated/gutted the other small fish. As I watched him do this at lightning speed he offered me a go. I accepted altho I was a little nervous due to the fact the knife was ridiculously sharp and really quite big. As I tried to slowly descale the fish, the knife slipped and I nearly cut my thumb off. Still I persevered and took about 5 minutes to do one fish. After this I left it to the professional and went back to the house..jpg)
That night we got to eat some of the Yellowtail. The special tasty bit from the throat we had in a stew type thing, and we also had some sashimi (raw slices) taken from the body. In addition to this we had the some of the expensive Abalone in a butter sauce. This was really really gorgeous, and what with the extreme freshness (they were alive just a few hours ago) it was a very unique culinary experience.
In fact although I didn’t know it, most of the fish I have had at Ayaes parents house has been similarly fresh (caught and bought in the morning, then killed and eaten at night). Thanks to ice boxes we have also been able to enjoy Irago fish in Nagoya. Whenever Ayae comes back, she brings some sort of fish in an icebox (last time it was some lovely Fugu steaks we had for breakfast).
Since I had work Saturday I left Irago on Friday, leaving Ayae to chill at her parents (and rustle up some fresh fish!). The journey home was a proper ordeal. I got on the wrong bus (although there wasn’t actually a right bus to begin with), and then had to get a train and well, basically it was a proper chore. Im normally quite good with public transport, but this week I seem to be losing it a bit….
Hmmmm…..
Anyways that’s about it for this week. Not really anything planned for this week but Ill try and do something to write home about.
Thanks for reading and all the great comments from last time. Let me know how this one finds you. Are the pictures slowing the page down?, or am I writing way way too much about food? This blog has pretty much just been on that now that I think about it!
So yeh….
Peace Out
Jack
This movie still doesn`t really do it justice but hey what can you do.
2 comments:
yeh, this blog is more like "japanese cuisine" than "jacks year in japan"!
im still loving it tho dude, just keep writing whatever you feel like, coz its all interesting!
im officially loving the sound of the pizza cone too, you should try and find a new obscure food for every blog! then have a little survey to see which one is the awesomest! or maybe thats a little OTT...
oh and i sympathise with the transport thing...i remember when we tried to go to hot springs in nikko....oh god....
anyway, keep having an awesome time!
Z
Photos are definitely not slowing the page down too much, Jack. They add to the interest. Now if you can just find a blogger that sends tastes and smells too, you'll have cracked it!
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