If ever there was a side note that needed to be posted, if you don't all already know, you NEED to check out EthicalPizza.com. Set up by the same guy who ran SFVegan, and did the first animal kill counter, this site has some amazing video tutorials on making your own delicious vegan pizza in your oven.
I think we were at Deva Deva Cafe, eating their amazing vegan pies when I said something about making it ourselves. Of course, it was easy to say back then because in Japan... most people don't have ovens!!! (shocking...) Anyway, the tiny little broilers they have are used mainly for fish, and even putting a little garlic bulb to roast can be a tight fit.
So make sure to check out EthicalPizza.com. So far we've made their dough recipe maybe a half dozen times, and it has always came out great. We can't even find parchment paper, so we have just been giving the crisper a little grease and so far, none of our pizzas have come close to sticking. Here's a quick, not so whole foods recipe that we tried and ashamedly love:
Vegan BLT Pizza
1 pie's worth of dough from EthicalPizza.com
1 small head romaine lettuce
1 tomato
1 bacon replacement (we used bac-os... yikes...)
3 Tbsp vegan mayo
Salt + Pepper
Prepare dough as you like (we used some whole wheat flour). Roll out, and add 3 Tbsp of mayo on top and spread around like a sauce. Add sliced tomato + bacon replacement on top and put in the oven for around 10 minutes @ 500F. While pizza is baking, chop up lettuce and mix in a bowl with 1 Tbsp mayo and salt and pepper. After 10 minutes, add the lettuce mixture on top and finish baking for another 5 minutes.
We've also tried a the basic recipe on their site (great!), potato/artichoke (great!), and bbq with the new Gardein bbq nonsense (blech...). Marinated tofu and leftover pasta sauce is killer as well. I think I'm making up for all that lost pizza I've missed in the last few years...
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Vegan Japan on the Cheap(ish)
3 months ago, you could not have guessed that we would be spending 89 days in Tokyo by taking a look at our bank accounts. We managed to nab some cheap tickets (although not as cheap as some... less than $500 round trip?), but little things were creeping in here and there as we were getting ready to leave. In any event, we made it home with enough yen to give away as souveneirs, and enough USD to grab a bite on the way home from the airport. We are pretty much completely broke, but it was definitely money well spent, and all of the things we came up with during our little sabbatical will surely pay off in the future, financially and otherwise.
There were times we were cutting it close however, so let us share some tips with you so
you don't end up one of those people frantically sending facebook messages to all your friends, asking to borrow money for airfare home.
1) Continue earning income during the trip
This might be a no-brainer for those types who have 'jobs' and get things like 'paid vacations'. But if you are like us and are unemployed... ermm.. self-employed!... then you are going to have to do a little planning ahead of time. An obvious thing to do is set up some english lessons while you are abroad, private or otherwise. I'll let Lauralyn explain more since she was the one who was doing this, but even in Japan, where the amount of english teachers is extraordinary, people are still happy to fork over about $35.00 usd/hr just to hang out and talk.
BUT, we also supplemented our income with our little online store. It really wasn't too difficult to set up, and I think we had some more issues than most might, but having something bringing in $200-300/mo can really help out. I recommend checking out Tim Ferriss for some more info on that, although some of his techniques were a bit too black hat for us.
2) Make your trip longer
One GOOD thing about being self-un-employed is that you can take a trip for as long as you want. The benefits for staying for 3 months vs 2 weeks are innumerable. Not only do you get a chance to immerse yourself in the culture of your host city, but you will save a TON of money by renting an apartment vs. staying at a hotel. We were able to find places for around $900/mo for 2 people, and there are places even cheaper than that (and certainly places more expensive, if you've got the cash). Compare that to a mid-range hotel in tokyo and you can get ten times the duration if you are willing to sacrifice having your sheets cleaned every night and having fresh mints on your pillows. And if those mints are super important, just head over to the Y100 Daiso and DIY.
3) Cook your own food
A big part of being in another culture is enjoying the cuisine. To some, preparing your own food while on vacation is even blasphemous. But people in Japan cook their own food as well. As described in my last post, we ended up with pretty radical changes in our diet, but by switching to more traditional Japanese foods, and avoiding bread and mock meats and etc., we got to experience the preparation of the local cuisine, which is as important, if not moreso, than consuming it. Plus we saved a ton of money, and we would have saved even more if we conjured up the bravery to ask for a 'pointo cardo'.
I'm gonna bug Lauralyn to post some tips from her perspective as we wrap up this project. I'm happy to say that this blog has been a personal success for me, and I am working on starting on a new blog with a more general focus, as well as doing some guest blogging. But don't fret, we still have a TON to write about Japan...
There were times we were cutting it close however, so let us share some tips with you so
you don't end up one of those people frantically sending facebook messages to all your friends, asking to borrow money for airfare home.
1) Continue earning income during the trip
This might be a no-brainer for those types who have 'jobs' and get things like 'paid vacations'. But if you are like us and are unemployed... ermm.. self-employed!... then you are going to have to do a little planning ahead of time. An obvious thing to do is set up some english lessons while you are abroad, private or otherwise. I'll let Lauralyn explain more since she was the one who was doing this, but even in Japan, where the amount of english teachers is extraordinary, people are still happy to fork over about $35.00 usd/hr just to hang out and talk.
BUT, we also supplemented our income with our little online store. It really wasn't too difficult to set up, and I think we had some more issues than most might, but having something bringing in $200-300/mo can really help out. I recommend checking out Tim Ferriss for some more info on that, although some of his techniques were a bit too black hat for us.
2) Make your trip longer
One GOOD thing about being self-un-employed is that you can take a trip for as long as you want. The benefits for staying for 3 months vs 2 weeks are innumerable. Not only do you get a chance to immerse yourself in the culture of your host city, but you will save a TON of money by renting an apartment vs. staying at a hotel. We were able to find places for around $900/mo for 2 people, and there are places even cheaper than that (and certainly places more expensive, if you've got the cash). Compare that to a mid-range hotel in tokyo and you can get ten times the duration if you are willing to sacrifice having your sheets cleaned every night and having fresh mints on your pillows. And if those mints are super important, just head over to the Y100 Daiso and DIY.
3) Cook your own food
A big part of being in another culture is enjoying the cuisine. To some, preparing your own food while on vacation is even blasphemous. But people in Japan cook their own food as well. As described in my last post, we ended up with pretty radical changes in our diet, but by switching to more traditional Japanese foods, and avoiding bread and mock meats and etc., we got to experience the preparation of the local cuisine, which is as important, if not moreso, than consuming it. Plus we saved a ton of money, and we would have saved even more if we conjured up the bravery to ask for a 'pointo cardo'.
I'm gonna bug Lauralyn to post some tips from her perspective as we wrap up this project. I'm happy to say that this blog has been a personal success for me, and I am working on starting on a new blog with a more general focus, as well as doing some guest blogging. But don't fret, we still have a TON to write about Japan...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Macrobiotics in Toledo
So our Japan trip is finally done. We stopped briefly in Portland, OR and got to visit some of the great food carts that opened up while we were gone, like Native Bowl and Homegrown Smoker. Both were amazing, and they are stark reminders about why we need to get back to Portland as soon as possible.
We are now staying in a little suburb near Toledo, OH, and this might be harder than being in Japan. About an hour away is Ann Arbor, which has a Whole Foods (blech) and the People's Food Co-op (YES!) so we are certainly covered for any rare essentials, but the day to day is a bit rough. The local Kroger's, the midwest grocery superchain, has a 'natural foods' section, which, to its credit, carries alot of decent stuff. You can buy tofu dogs, varied alternative flours, gluten-free this-and-that, and even agave nectar.
Unfortunately, they have notsomuch in the way of organic produce. I hadn't been too interested in organics until recently... I had found that a few things (like avocados!) were worth buying organic, but other than that, I couldn't really see the point. Now, like many of us, after doing research on big agribusiness, GMO products, and various other horrors, I am finally understanding the importance of real organics.
In Japan the organic and 'eco' movements are very 'in'. In some ways, its great because I think if you truly believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism solves the environmental issue: people will pay out of pocket to save the earth. But the bad part is that because we live in a capitalist society, people are going to try to make some money off of this. And therefore, there's going to be greenwashing, and theres going to be 'natural' product labeling, and there's gonna be people just doing organic food as a way to get paid. Tokyoites seem to have cash (no car payments, possibly no rent, low unemployment...) and to some I'm sure organics are just another luxury item, like Louis Vuitton or the Green Car Trains, or $100 watermelons.
That being said, a large portion of the eco-food movement is centered around macrobiotic cuisine, which is much like a vegan diet, but stricter on the healthy food part, and much less strict on the animal products part. Seemingly, it is okay to eat fish and even some dairy or meat on occasion, although they are way out there on the yin & yang scale that the macrobiotic philosophy is built upon. In our experiences, the only non-vegan things we saw while exploring some 'macrobi' dishes was honey. But you would certainly not see things like refined sugar, white flour, or anything like nutritional yeast or frozen 'soy nuggets'. While all of those things can certainly be vegan, they aren't neccessarily healthy, eco-friendly, or part of the 'whole foods' way of life.
Now, I must admit, before leaving for Japan I was a bit... chubbs. I was getting close to 215 lbs, and not feeling so great about it. But being in Japan separated us a scary distance from things we knew and loved, like nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and even bread. But in doing so, I discovered the value of fresh foods, the pure tastes of simple cucumbers and eggplant, and really how to enjoy cooking. And I lost 30 lbs in 3 months.
So I'm going to take a break from 'nooch and Tease and Mock Duck and Oreos and try to get into the healthy, 'real food' side of veganism. I've been meaning to challenge myself with some books that I know I will disagree with. I can only read so many self-congratulatory books on animal welfare, so I picked up a book by a -non vegan!- and decided to give it a shot. It's 'Cook Food' by Lisa Jervis and this book seems the one I have been waiting for. I have been getting really tired of near 3-hour recipes that call for such exact and exotic ingredients, and have longed for something that just tells me 'how-to-cook' instead of what-to-cook.
Anyway, I meant this to be kind of a wrap-up post, but I think Lauralyn and I still have a couple of posts in us before this project is finished. I also picked up a couple of Japanese vegan and macrobiotic cookbooks that I am planning on translating, so I will definitely be posting up some recipes. So keep us on your RSS for a little bit... even if we haven't been posting so much :)
We are now staying in a little suburb near Toledo, OH, and this might be harder than being in Japan. About an hour away is Ann Arbor, which has a Whole Foods (blech) and the People's Food Co-op (YES!) so we are certainly covered for any rare essentials, but the day to day is a bit rough. The local Kroger's, the midwest grocery superchain, has a 'natural foods' section, which, to its credit, carries alot of decent stuff. You can buy tofu dogs, varied alternative flours, gluten-free this-and-that, and even agave nectar.
Unfortunately, they have notsomuch in the way of organic produce. I hadn't been too interested in organics until recently... I had found that a few things (like avocados!) were worth buying organic, but other than that, I couldn't really see the point. Now, like many of us, after doing research on big agribusiness, GMO products, and various other horrors, I am finally understanding the importance of real organics.
In Japan the organic and 'eco' movements are very 'in'. In some ways, its great because I think if you truly believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism solves the environmental issue: people will pay out of pocket to save the earth. But the bad part is that because we live in a capitalist society, people are going to try to make some money off of this. And therefore, there's going to be greenwashing, and theres going to be 'natural' product labeling, and there's gonna be people just doing organic food as a way to get paid. Tokyoites seem to have cash (no car payments, possibly no rent, low unemployment...) and to some I'm sure organics are just another luxury item, like Louis Vuitton or the Green Car Trains, or $100 watermelons.
That being said, a large portion of the eco-food movement is centered around macrobiotic cuisine, which is much like a vegan diet, but stricter on the healthy food part, and much less strict on the animal products part. Seemingly, it is okay to eat fish and even some dairy or meat on occasion, although they are way out there on the yin & yang scale that the macrobiotic philosophy is built upon. In our experiences, the only non-vegan things we saw while exploring some 'macrobi' dishes was honey. But you would certainly not see things like refined sugar, white flour, or anything like nutritional yeast or frozen 'soy nuggets'. While all of those things can certainly be vegan, they aren't neccessarily healthy, eco-friendly, or part of the 'whole foods' way of life.
Now, I must admit, before leaving for Japan I was a bit... chubbs. I was getting close to 215 lbs, and not feeling so great about it. But being in Japan separated us a scary distance from things we knew and loved, like nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and even bread. But in doing so, I discovered the value of fresh foods, the pure tastes of simple cucumbers and eggplant, and really how to enjoy cooking. And I lost 30 lbs in 3 months.
So I'm going to take a break from 'nooch and Tease and Mock Duck and Oreos and try to get into the healthy, 'real food' side of veganism. I've been meaning to challenge myself with some books that I know I will disagree with. I can only read so many self-congratulatory books on animal welfare, so I picked up a book by a -non vegan!- and decided to give it a shot. It's 'Cook Food' by Lisa Jervis and this book seems the one I have been waiting for. I have been getting really tired of near 3-hour recipes that call for such exact and exotic ingredients, and have longed for something that just tells me 'how-to-cook' instead of what-to-cook.
Anyway, I meant this to be kind of a wrap-up post, but I think Lauralyn and I still have a couple of posts in us before this project is finished. I also picked up a couple of Japanese vegan and macrobiotic cookbooks that I am planning on translating, so I will definitely be posting up some recipes. So keep us on your RSS for a little bit... even if we haven't been posting so much :)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Daily Eatins
I thought I'd do a quick post on what we have been eating every day, as a guideline to other vegans on what exactly there is to eat here. There's a pretty wide variety of food, and my cooking skills are improving every day by working with the local ingredients. Most of the dishes are simple 1 and 2 pot meals, and Japanese are pretty big on side dishes it seems, so feel free to mix and match.
Maybe I will have Laura do a part II on this soon, since she has her own things she makes as well! Fear not vegans, there is lots of delicious food out there, even in Japan.
- Vegan Ramen - sesame oil + garlic + ginger, then add water, boil, add a bit of instant konbu dashi and some soy sauce, and add udon + tofu + whatever. Top with some bean sprouts.
- Inari Sushi - these cute little football looking things make up a good portion of our breakfasts. They are just sushi rice with some yuba wrapped around them. Our local suupa, Sameto, has them half off if they have any left after 11pm, so we often get 10 of em for $2!
- Pancakes - Japanese people seem to dig pancakes, there is a big section at the store next to the "homemade cake" stuff. Unfortunately, many contain dairy products, but who uses a mix anyway. Maple syrup is expensive, but it is expensive anywhere.
- Chickpea Cutlets - Vital wheat gluten (guruten @ Natural House) + chickpeas (a bit expensive here, so bring your own dried ones or have em shipped). Recipe is in the Veganomicon.
- Yakisoba - get some noodles from the suupa, fry em up with some veggies (Japanese eggplant are good and super cheap, with onion, carrot, whatever), add some Kagome brand veg. sauce and maybe some vegan mayo that I bought at Loving Hut :O.
- Japanese Curry & Rice - this is a scary one. Right when we got here we made some curry and it had pork in it :(. I figured the same box would have the same ingredients as it does when I get it at the asian markets in the US, but nope. Anyway, many natural food places carry a veggie curry roux mix that you can use. Add pickled ginger and you are in heaven.
- Spaghetti Neapolitan - see post below
- Mos Burger - fast food joint that uses veg oil for frying potatoes, and has a vegan rice patty burger with stir-fried carrots, burdock, lotus root, etc inside. (kinpira burger) Pretty good :)
Maybe I will have Laura do a part II on this soon, since she has her own things she makes as well! Fear not vegans, there is lots of delicious food out there, even in Japan.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Ketchup Spaghetti is Delicious
I'm gonna do up a quick post about a food that we have fallen in love with. We've already made it twice, and will probably make it again later this week: Japanese style Spaghetti Neapolitan.
Made with the freaky Japanese ketchup that comes in a soft bottle, plus the AMAZING Japanese eggplant, which tastes so entirely different than what we get in the US. These なす are deep purple, but almost flat white inside with an even texture, probably because they are so thin and short... but they are full of flavor! Very little bitterness too, and the recipe takes care of that so by the time you bite into one, they are just sweet and salty and delicious :)
Serves 2
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced
olive oil
1 japanese eggplant, chopped
salt
oregano
enough spaghetti for two people
200 ml Japanese style ketchup (if using american ketchup, try to avoid heinz and use a less salty/sugary ketchup)
1/2 cup of beans (whatever you like, here there are small cans of mixed beans)
Cook spaghetti until done, drain and set aside.
While spaghetti is cooking, sautee garlic and onions in a generous amount of olive oil. When onions start to soften, add eggplant, a few generous pinches of salt, and maybe 1/2 tbsp dried oregano. Cook until eggplant loses most of its bitterness. Add more salt if this takes too long.
Add spaghetti noodles to the onions of garlic, mix up, then slowly mix and add the ketchup. Add beans, heat until hot and the noodles are evenly covered and sticky. We'll add some pics when we remake it later this week, or check the photobucket for a pretty sad picture that does not properly convey its deliciousness.
Enjoy! Kind of reminds me of mac and cheese with the saltiness, plus I usually use ketchup on mac and cheese anyway.
Made with the freaky Japanese ketchup that comes in a soft bottle, plus the AMAZING Japanese eggplant, which tastes so entirely different than what we get in the US. These なす are deep purple, but almost flat white inside with an even texture, probably because they are so thin and short... but they are full of flavor! Very little bitterness too, and the recipe takes care of that so by the time you bite into one, they are just sweet and salty and delicious :)
Serves 2
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced
olive oil
1 japanese eggplant, chopped
salt
oregano
enough spaghetti for two people
200 ml Japanese style ketchup (if using american ketchup, try to avoid heinz and use a less salty/sugary ketchup)
1/2 cup of beans (whatever you like, here there are small cans of mixed beans)
Cook spaghetti until done, drain and set aside.
While spaghetti is cooking, sautee garlic and onions in a generous amount of olive oil. When onions start to soften, add eggplant, a few generous pinches of salt, and maybe 1/2 tbsp dried oregano. Cook until eggplant loses most of its bitterness. Add more salt if this takes too long.
Add spaghetti noodles to the onions of garlic, mix up, then slowly mix and add the ketchup. Add beans, heat until hot and the noodles are evenly covered and sticky. We'll add some pics when we remake it later this week, or check the photobucket for a pretty sad picture that does not properly convey its deliciousness.
Enjoy! Kind of reminds me of mac and cheese with the saltiness, plus I usually use ketchup on mac and cheese anyway.
Monday, August 10, 2009
This past week..
We have been up to a lot of different things.. I already had one job interview at an international kindergarten (unfortunately it didn't seem to go very well). It was a large group interview where the owner mostly just talked about her school. The only question she asked me was very well explained in my cover letter. Anyways~ I have another interview in Yokohama tomorrow, so hopefully that will go better.
Dan and I are planning on checking out some game centers tonight. We have been researching about UFO catchers since winning is not as obvious as it looks. Last time we were at one we tried winning a Rilakkuma towel that was in a rectangular box with no luck. So this time we are going to be prepared.
This past week we did a lot of stuff, and ate at a lot of delicious vegan restaurants.. I guess I will do a short day-by-day rundown.
Sunday 8/2
We checked out of the hostel and were picked up by Dan's friend Take and Take's mom. They drove us from Asakusa to Shinagawa (which ended up taking around about an hour). When we got to their house, Take's mom made a huge delicious vegan dinner. We even got to use their nice Japanese bath complete with hot sauna :)
Monday 8/3
Dan and I decided to go out and see Shinjuku. We stopped at a number of stores including DiscUnion, MaruiOne, Innocent World, Don Quixote, and MaruiCurren to name a few. It was really hot that day so we also checked out a few game centers we happened to walk by. When we got back home, we went with Take's family to a vegetable restaurant named めい (Mei). Take's mom made sure to get us completely vegan food.. the main dish was shabu-shabu.
Tuesday 8/4
Dan stayed at home on Tuesday while I went out to Harajuku to meet up with Tokyo lolitas (as well as lolitas visiting Tokyo). I did PuriKura with them and sat around and chatted while they ate a little cafe on Omotesando. After that, I split up with them to go eat at a vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. I ordered a sandwich and dessert as the same time, which turned out to be kind of a mistake.. since I ordered the Yomogi Sweets Sandwich. The sandwich turned out to be more sweet than the peanutbutter cheesecake I got for dessert. They were both delicious though, just a little too much together. I decided to eat at Pure Cafe because it was right by Natural House. I had to stop there to buy some vital wheat gluten.. it was surprisingly easy to find. It was next to all the wheat flour and the package said グルテン (guruten) on it.
I returned home with the wheat gluten and Dan and I prepared dinner for everyone. We made chickpea cutlets (from the Veganomicon) and lentil soup. The ingredients for the chickpea cutlets were suprisingly easy to find, all though a bit expensive. We decided to try using another cheaper kind of bean next time we make the recipe.
Wednesday 8/5
We really wanted to eat at Deva Deva Cafe in Kichijoji, so we pretty much planned our day around it. The Vegan Japan Restaurant Pocketguide talks pretty highly about it and mentioned that they had vegan mayonnaise-potato-corn pizza.. so we just had to go see for ourselves. The cafe is very small, but cute and clean on the inside. The offer a range of vegan desserts that changes daily. Dan and I shared the "mayo pizza" and a "pork" cutlet burger.
They were both incredibly delicious. I couldn't decide which I like more. Afterward we ate a piece of their peach pie complete with vegan whipped cream on top. We found out later that Deva Deva Cafe offers a free dessert if you visit while it's raining!
After we ate we walked around and found Inokashira Park. It is a short walk from Kichijoji station and is home to the Ghibli Museum.
While we were walking around the park we were lucky enough to come across a guy that was getting ready to perform a comedy routine. It was in Japanese, but it was still really funny :)
So this is turning out to be a rather large entry.. I think I will let Dan finish up with the rest of the week on his next entry :)
Dan and I are planning on checking out some game centers tonight. We have been researching about UFO catchers since winning is not as obvious as it looks. Last time we were at one we tried winning a Rilakkuma towel that was in a rectangular box with no luck. So this time we are going to be prepared.
This past week we did a lot of stuff, and ate at a lot of delicious vegan restaurants.. I guess I will do a short day-by-day rundown.
Sunday 8/2
We checked out of the hostel and were picked up by Dan's friend Take and Take's mom. They drove us from Asakusa to Shinagawa (which ended up taking around about an hour). When we got to their house, Take's mom made a huge delicious vegan dinner. We even got to use their nice Japanese bath complete with hot sauna :)
Monday 8/3
Dan and I decided to go out and see Shinjuku. We stopped at a number of stores including DiscUnion, MaruiOne, Innocent World, Don Quixote, and MaruiCurren to name a few. It was really hot that day so we also checked out a few game centers we happened to walk by. When we got back home, we went with Take's family to a vegetable restaurant named めい (Mei). Take's mom made sure to get us completely vegan food.. the main dish was shabu-shabu.
Tuesday 8/4
Dan stayed at home on Tuesday while I went out to Harajuku to meet up with Tokyo lolitas (as well as lolitas visiting Tokyo). I did PuriKura with them and sat around and chatted while they ate a little cafe on Omotesando. After that, I split up with them to go eat at a vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. I ordered a sandwich and dessert as the same time, which turned out to be kind of a mistake.. since I ordered the Yomogi Sweets Sandwich. The sandwich turned out to be more sweet than the peanutbutter cheesecake I got for dessert. They were both delicious though, just a little too much together. I decided to eat at Pure Cafe because it was right by Natural House. I had to stop there to buy some vital wheat gluten.. it was surprisingly easy to find. It was next to all the wheat flour and the package said グルテン (guruten) on it.
I returned home with the wheat gluten and Dan and I prepared dinner for everyone. We made chickpea cutlets (from the Veganomicon) and lentil soup. The ingredients for the chickpea cutlets were suprisingly easy to find, all though a bit expensive. We decided to try using another cheaper kind of bean next time we make the recipe.
Wednesday 8/5
We really wanted to eat at Deva Deva Cafe in Kichijoji, so we pretty much planned our day around it. The Vegan Japan Restaurant Pocketguide talks pretty highly about it and mentioned that they had vegan mayonnaise-potato-corn pizza.. so we just had to go see for ourselves. The cafe is very small, but cute and clean on the inside. The offer a range of vegan desserts that changes daily. Dan and I shared the "mayo pizza" and a "pork" cutlet burger.
They were both incredibly delicious. I couldn't decide which I like more. Afterward we ate a piece of their peach pie complete with vegan whipped cream on top. We found out later that Deva Deva Cafe offers a free dessert if you visit while it's raining!
After we ate we walked around and found Inokashira Park. It is a short walk from Kichijoji station and is home to the Ghibli Museum.
While we were walking around the park we were lucky enough to come across a guy that was getting ready to perform a comedy routine. It was in Japanese, but it was still really funny :)
So this is turning out to be a rather large entry.. I think I will let Dan finish up with the rest of the week on his next entry :)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Electric City Akihabara
Of course, last Saturday we woke up extremely early as usual, I think around 6AM. We still aren't over our jet lag, but I think we are getting better day by day. Anyway, we decided to head over to Akihabara because we wanted to buy an HD camera for the trip. I know buying electronics isn't exactly fitting with a minimal lifestyle, but we wanted to document our trip for y'all as well as our families and friends, plus we make youtube videos and things like that to document our art projects. The camera that we were looking for was reportedly around $200 USD but we couldn't find it at any of the big stores like Yodobashi or Bic Camera. Ah well, a similar model was more than a hundred more than we wanted to spend so we decided to pass for now and just use my camera phone, which seems to take unusually good pictures.
Nonetheless, Akihabara was a lot of fun. We first went the wrong way out of the station, and wondered where all the crazy anime and video game stuff was. After walking a bit, hitting up a combini and getting some natto, and sitting and people watching, we headed back into the station where we saw a sign for “Akihabara Electric Town”. Headed out of that exit, we saw the amazing sight that is Akihabara, complete with numerous small electronics shops. We did encounter an unusually fluent-in-english Japanese guy, but he was trying to collect money for some sort of trip so we kind of blew him off. Anyway, walking a bit into the main area, we saw a cute little toy shop that had all kinds of rilakkuma, video game, and other otaku type stuff. Even a mega man energy drink shaped like his energy tanks! We spotted a staircase that headed up, so we thought “oh lets check out the upstairs”. Little did we know we were in an otaku style department store that had 8 or so stories, and each floor had maybe a dozen shops!
We spent probably 2 or more hours there, just checking out all the merchandise. There were some interesting shops, like high end audio stores, and a really crazy model showcase, but mostly... porn! Lots and lots of porn, anime-style and regular. Laura was a bit weirded out, although I pretty much expected it. Even for me though, it was kind of shocking to see so many people just standing around browsing hentai manga and seeing the figures with like triple F cup breasts was a bit unnerving. Regardless, if you are open minded I recommend checking it out for the pure spectacle.
Afterwards, we went to a huge game center, and I got to play the new version of Beatmania IIDX. I used to be pretty obsessed with this game, but I hadn't really played in years, save for a few times right before we left for Japan. Everyone else there was amazing, though, I was pretty much shown up by a duo of highschool girls. Laura really liked this game called JuBeat, where there are 16 little screen placed inside buttons, and then these markers fly at you 3D style, and you tap them to the beat. Pretty dope.
We were pretty beat, so we headed back to the hostel, and hit up the 100 yen store for some food to cook. We ended up with maybe a pound of udon, a half pound of frozen veggies, and some fried tofu slices for 300円. Pretty decent, I put in some shoyu and some mirin for the broth. We checked for a dumpster, but they were inside a back area. Ah well! Afterwards, we went out for some beer with other people at the hostel, and then stopped at Mos Burger for a midnight snack of vegan Kinpira burgers and fries :)
Nonetheless, Akihabara was a lot of fun. We first went the wrong way out of the station, and wondered where all the crazy anime and video game stuff was. After walking a bit, hitting up a combini and getting some natto, and sitting and people watching, we headed back into the station where we saw a sign for “Akihabara Electric Town”. Headed out of that exit, we saw the amazing sight that is Akihabara, complete with numerous small electronics shops. We did encounter an unusually fluent-in-english Japanese guy, but he was trying to collect money for some sort of trip so we kind of blew him off. Anyway, walking a bit into the main area, we saw a cute little toy shop that had all kinds of rilakkuma, video game, and other otaku type stuff. Even a mega man energy drink shaped like his energy tanks! We spotted a staircase that headed up, so we thought “oh lets check out the upstairs”. Little did we know we were in an otaku style department store that had 8 or so stories, and each floor had maybe a dozen shops!
We spent probably 2 or more hours there, just checking out all the merchandise. There were some interesting shops, like high end audio stores, and a really crazy model showcase, but mostly... porn! Lots and lots of porn, anime-style and regular. Laura was a bit weirded out, although I pretty much expected it. Even for me though, it was kind of shocking to see so many people just standing around browsing hentai manga and seeing the figures with like triple F cup breasts was a bit unnerving. Regardless, if you are open minded I recommend checking it out for the pure spectacle.
Afterwards, we went to a huge game center, and I got to play the new version of Beatmania IIDX. I used to be pretty obsessed with this game, but I hadn't really played in years, save for a few times right before we left for Japan. Everyone else there was amazing, though, I was pretty much shown up by a duo of highschool girls. Laura really liked this game called JuBeat, where there are 16 little screen placed inside buttons, and then these markers fly at you 3D style, and you tap them to the beat. Pretty dope.
We were pretty beat, so we headed back to the hostel, and hit up the 100 yen store for some food to cook. We ended up with maybe a pound of udon, a half pound of frozen veggies, and some fried tofu slices for 300円. Pretty decent, I put in some shoyu and some mirin for the broth. We checked for a dumpster, but they were inside a back area. Ah well! Afterwards, we went out for some beer with other people at the hostel, and then stopped at Mos Burger for a midnight snack of vegan Kinpira burgers and fries :)
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