Simple words for the day:
Zaru soba – cold buckwheat noodles with shredded seaweed on top. Eaten with the sauce/soup on the side.
Oyako Don – chicken, egg, onions served over rice.
These two are some of my favorite Japanese foods. More, please!
Category: Japan
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Red bean desserts.
I had my filling of red-bean desserts today. Red bean is a very Asian sweet–I know there are red bean breads in China as well–so, I decided to eat some desserts with red bean to experience the flavors.
Granted, I have had red bean before, but not in the way that I had it today. First, for lunch, I had the dessert pictured on the far left–I forget the exact name of it, but it was warm and the white balls were similar to mochi textures. Apparently this dish was rather healthy.
When I met up with my former classmate in the evening, I tried this “Frozen Green Tea Drink” at Doutor Coffee. It came with red bean and the same mochi bit on top.
I really need to learn how to make these desserts for myself! I imagine they’re a bit complicated, but probably not impossible.
I’m on a rampage to “discover” the differences in taste/style/portions of American food companies in Japan.
So, today, I went by Starbucks. I faintly remember from two years ago that the experience in a Japanese Starbucks is different from an American one. There’s still the ambience of relaxing, but it’s quite different–for one, the prevalence of free wireless is not so common in Japanese Starbucks. Actually, the Japanese rely more on Internet access via their cell phones rather than through laptops.
I ordered myself a green tea frappucino–yes, green tea has become one of my favorite flavors of Japan, by the way. The small size was incredibly small–could probably pass as the kid’s size in the US! That makes me sad.
The frappuccino was creamy, had the taste of authentic green tea. I felt satisfied after drinking this.
I guess when I get back to the US, I will order the green tea frappucino there and compare afterwards.
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Haiti Cafe in Shinjuku.
Spent the day out with friends; I basically had an “International” meal day. For lunch, I met with some friends and we ate Indian food. For dinner, I was with another group of friends, and we were walking around the streets of Shinjuku, trying hard to find a decent/fun place to eat. We came upon this restaurant called Haiti Cafe; Haitian food. This was a new one for all of us!
So we walked in, and the atmosphere was very island-like with some voodoo statues and such. The menu was probably a fusion of Japanese and Haitian flavors–I ordered a curry actually–but, it was still new and interesting to us all. We felt really amused by the experience; at the end of the meal, we were served coffee, which came with rum to mix in. Interesting!
What more can I say? Eating curry rice in Building No. 11 at Sophia University makes me feel really nostalgic for my exchange student days (from 2006). Same taste, same price, similar atmosphere–but completely different set of people. I felt strange walking onto campus and seeing the exchange students there this time–they’re all younger (no doubt), they’re all unfamiliar.
I guess all I will ever have from those days at Sophia will only be memories now. Life moves on, and memories are all that we can carry on with us after the experience.