Food Adventures, Now With 20% More Conveyor Belts

Come May of this year (come what May of this year?), it will be four years since Beetchie and I traipsed our way through Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Four whole years is unreal, isn't it?

It's a sad reminder that I've not done any overseas vacations in quite the while.  But never you mind me and my First World problems; I'll get by.

Kyoto gave us a lot of things to eat, now that I'm flashing back (not flash dancing because I don't do that, H1) to that time.

I finally got to live out an anime fantasy and eat manju from a street cart.  Well, it wasn't on the side of a rural road but it counted.  Not that it mattered because I ended up disliking the soy bean type powder coating on said sweet dumpling.  I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

Then there was our kobe steak dinner which cost us a tasty arm and leg.  And let us not forget the BEST freaking movie popcorn I ever ate.  It was all caramel and amazing and I'll never get to re-live those good times again.

We had many a foodie adventure in Japan but there was one that involved Conveyor Belt Sushi at an awesome little place in the grand indoor/outdoor mall in Kyoto.

It was there that we ate plates and plates of sushi each.  It was incredible and incredulous how many plates of sushi we ate.  But what I was really thankful for other than the fabulous tasting meal was the fact that I did not have to take Beetchie to the hospital because she decided to eat fugu.

I had to make sure that at least one of us was not dying in the street so that said person could take the other to the hospital.  It certainly was a good thing too because she came out of there feeling slightly light-headed.  Oh, but for full disclosure, since I had no idea how to get to a hospital and the Japanese could not direct me to any place because they didn't know, I think things may have been grim for Beetchie.

Ah yes, those were fun times because no one lost an eye...or their life.

But a fugu event was not going to happen at my second outing at a Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurant because that happened just a few weeks ago at the Palisades mall.  I highly doubt I will ever find fugu at the Palisades Mall but then, I was highly doubtful that I'd find a Conveyor Belt sushi restaurant there either.  Oh, but we did and you know? East Japanese Restaurant wasn't too cringe worthy.

Back to Hatsuhana

A few weeks ago, H1 and I went to Hatsuhana on 48th for Restaurant Week.  After hearing it was good, Luuuiiiiisssss wanted to go to partake in the $35 share of awesome times as well.  We decided that on Friday, we would bring little Boohead in to the city for an afternoon of fun with stops made to the Lego Store and Nintendo World, ending it with dinner at Hatsuhana.

Having already had the samples of the Restaurant Week Menu, H1 and I opted to do something a little bit different.

Sadly, the Box of Dreams was not within reach because H1 was not that hungry.  The bento of nine sushi extravaganza offerings would have to wait for another time.

The one thing that sucked at our first adventure was that I did not feel comfortable taking pictures at the restaurant.  H1 and I used our camera phones instead and those pictures were not very appealing.  This time, I asked our cutie waiter (same as last time!) if we could take pictures of the food.  As long as we weren't spies, he said it was okay.  Funny!

Even though I assured him we were not, please do not expect great pictures anyway.  Ha.  Sorry?

For H1's pick, she had their regular pre-fixe menu.  It came with a choice of miso soup or salad, seven pieces of sushi with her choice of two rolls, and a choice of ice-cream for dessert.  H1 chose a spicy tuna roll and a yellowtail with chives roll.

The blurry bit is the soy sauce bowl.

Adventures in Restaurant Week, Part 1: I Can Haz Sushi Again

I am apologizing in advance for the way that Internet Culture has affected me some because I am now quoting lolcats.  It's shameful, I know.

The point though is that after a three and a half year self-inflicted hiatus from the world of sushi, I can finally eat it again.

Before eyes roll signifying a questioning of my sanity, I have a perfectly logical and smug explanation for my misgivings.

The Sort of Street Eat Adventure

This week, I braved it and bought sushi from stacked plastic containers, from a couple of Japanese guys selling the goods on the street in Midtown.

Alright, it was not as shady all that.

I did buy the sushi bowl as described but they're from Washoku, a Japanese eatery that takes lunch orders and delivers on 50th some the times or all the times? during the week.

They happened to have an extra lunch packed and I snatched it up with the help of H1's $6.00.

Pricey, yeah? It was actually worse - it was $6.50!









It was pretty good and yummy on the tamago 'noodles' there, but with a tiny bit of tuna and tons of rice, which really was not worth the money paid. Ah well.

I was properly impressed by the do-it-yourself-by-adding-hot-water miso soup mix. Of course, I could probably buy a packet of that for a few cents at the grocery... meh.



I sadly did not have my camera when I was on the street and did not get to take a picture of the cute little Japanese guy who sold the eats to me, nor a picture of their 'shady' operation.

I did however, as can be seen by the pictures, get a manu that was not in English.

Anyway, it's been days now since I ate it and I'm still here.

Really, there was nothing to worry about but this is what I'm going to have to do if I make it to China.

I'm re-developing my cast iron stomach!

Now if only I could stomach alien M&Ms...



Currently listening to: "Ticks & Leeches" by Tool.

The Kyoto-Ho to Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 12

Day 12 - Thursday, June 7th

The last thing that happened in Kyoto was that we got liquored up at 10 AM on our final day there. Thanks to some sake happy old women selling the good stuff at the market in Kyoto Mall, we were drunk off 3 samples of high class sake. Fun times with the cute old ladies. Oh those bitches will try to sell you anything after they've made you proper drunk.

We took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and this time the kids next to us were not noisy. It was fairly uneventful save our sushi bento boxes we ate for lunch on the train.



Once we got to Tokyo, we made our back to Akihabara to the Capsule Hotel to drop off our gear, then headed off to Ginza to go to Japan Sword.

Japan Sword, according to Frommers, is one of the most well-known sword stores in Tokyo and is like a museum of antique swords and armour. They weren't kidding. We got the tour and I couldn't gaze for too long because that place was beautiful and their collection was nothing short of amazing and that's an understatement. I was unworthy. Also, the prices on those antiques made my head hurt.

The main point of this trip was to buy Bunji his functional katana. And although I promised him a Hattori Hanzo from Okinawa, I didn't quite make it and decided this was second best. It's not due here until the 18th, so we'll see... I'm nervous that he won't like it. But at least it's not zinc alloy! It'll have to do until I can afford the real thing.

After much stressing about dropping all that cash, (and who am I kidding, I stressed the entire rest of the day), we made our way back to Shinjiku so that Beetchie could check out the Gay scene once more now that we had more time.

Oh did we see plenty of the gay boys. They were fabulous. We hung out there for a while with a bunch of English speakers (all theatre actors) from all over including Europe and America. Those boys were bitchy but cool. And we ran into celebrity when we met the voice actor for Zero from Tekken 5! Ha.

And then it all went downhill. We met a bridge and tunnel rat. But he posed as a New Yorker, tricked us and touched us. ::shudder:: Just kidding. That Jersey-ite was cool enough and very happy to see us as we were him.

We returned to our capsule and settled in for the night - our second to last in Japan.

The WTF Moment of the Day:

The Cost of our 100 yen piggyhs rose. We may have won 7 pigs for 100 yen but the pain, grief and suffering of carrying said pigs more than took its toll on us. Beetchie was ready to ditch their little piggyh asses when we got back to Tokyo because the locker we offloaded them in tricked us and cost us so much money to bail them out, it wasn't even funny.

We were under the impression that every day after the initial 4 days would cost 100 yen. Oh, were we wrong. The total cost of the extra 2 days those pigs were in the locker came up to 2000 yen.

WTF.

But, I, being a lover of pork, could not leave their little porky selves behind. Not to mention I had some presents in the locker with the piggyhs that could not be left behind. I like to feel that I went to Sanrio Puro Land for a purpose other than trauma.

The Shooed Away Incident Count:

2 times -

1. For some reason the ever so reliable Japanese metro was not so reliable! It got to a station stop before the one we needed and for some reason could not go further. We were booted off the train because of course, we didn't understand that we had to get off until the conductor came around and gave the sign for no, which oddly likes like you're going to get your head chopped off.

2. This time we actually we got shushed and yelled at. Apparently this woman thought we were speaking too loudly (we were talking in hushed tones) when she was trying to sleep at a capsule hotel.

And then I heard in perfect English, mind you, that "some people had to work". Yet, 10 minutes after we went to bed I didn't hear anything when two other girls came in practically shouting to each other for five minutes.

Racist effin' Japanese biatch.

I could very well respect her need to go to sleep because of work but the attitude was highly unncessary. Seriously, you're at a capsule hotel and you don't expect to hear noise? The fact that you're in a cube surrounded by other cubes in extremely close quarters with a place with no curfew, means your ass is going to be disturbed by people shuffling around with their coming and going.

And I did not need to hear about people and work. I know about work and I know about going in for 7 AM and leaving the next morning at 4 AM only to go back to work 2 hours later. On a Saturday. Whatever, her stupid cranky ass should have found itself home or in a better hotel if she was so concerned about waking up at 7 AM after going to bed at 10 PM.

That stupid bitch is still making my blood boil. Could you tell?

The Day's Eats:

1. A Cheese stick. Which was kind of like a cheese cake/cream cheesey thing on a thin layer of sponge cake.

2. My high class custard roll.

3. Sushi Bento. That was some good sushi. And it was a lot.

4. Shabu Shabu. Oh the good times. We had the kimchi broth and the pork broth. And we ate 25 pieces of beef and pork per person. 25 pieces of meat each! Ugh. It was 2100 yen for all you could eat in 90 minutes. Those peeps cut us off after the 4th round but luckily for them, we couldn't handle much more after that.

The Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 2

Day 2 - Monday, 5/28

We awoke at 5 AM to go to one of the largest and best Fish Markets in the world -  the Tsujiki Fish Market. It was a bit underwhelming at first but we weren't exactly sure we had run across it. The streets are filled with little shops selling packaged goods from seasoning to dried fish.

I was half expecting fresh fish strewn about in these stalls but found nothing at first. As we walked further we realized we were exactly where we needed to be. I found my fresh fish eventually including a bunch of other strange things I'd never seen before and can still not properly identify.



I guess for 200 yen you really can buy nothing but bullsheet.  Just kidding of course.  Man, if someone were to prepare this for me, I'd be all over it.

I managed to not be killed on those busy streets but I did not escape my foot being caught on a plastic thing on a shady corner and taking a really bad spill that had my knees badly bruised and hurting for a few days. I also twisted my foot which seemingly cleared up after 2 days but I must have busted it up something fierce because it started to hurt again 3 days ago. I'm in pain as I write this. Weak. We can catagorize that as the 1st incident/misadventure for the day.

Next we went to Asakusa for the giant temple there, known as the Sensoji Shrine.

Sensoji is crowded, has tons of tourist stalls selling all manners of trinkets to traditional clothing and of course, street eats leading to the giant shrine, pagoda and gardens.

At the entrance of the actual temple is this massive lantern that could kill a small village if it fell on it. On either side, are the Japanese gods of Wind and Thunder. It's a great spot and here are some pics for you guys to see. I'll send the entire set when I upload them to shutterfly sometime this week.

How I can just kill a man...or tiny village, or two little girls from NYC.

Various shops when you get inside!

All part of the temple grounds.

Incident number 2 involved Beetchie drinking the shrine water when really all you are supposed to do was intake, spit and not swallow. You'd think that swallowing the germs of millions of people would deter anyone but anyway....

We then went to Ginza to catch a Kabuki show but a wrong turn took us not to the Kabuki theatre but a high class theatre featuring Japanese Traditional Dance. We went, and were amongst of sea of upper class Japanese elite all decked out in suits and many of the women were wearing kimonos. And in we bounced, two kids from NY looking like two hot messes. Yeah, we were stared at but that's okay because our yen paid for our seats...up in the balcony...off to the side but whatever!

The show was decent. Beetchie's convinced it was a slow version of the L-Word.

Our day ended on a high note. We ate at this little place in the area near our Oakhotel Inn.

Quote of the Day:

"The Holy Water, it burns!" - Beetchie

Things We Observed This Day - Volume II:

1. Those Japanese wrap everything up. Everything! They enjoy present wrapping, I guess. And it's so easy to be conned by two little old people when they're so sweet. Curses on them!

2. The Subway is on time. Always. Though I mean, I did see a minute late train. Shameful! Transfers are rough though and costly. It costs you to transfer subway lines. Ugh.

3. You may not be able to smoke and walk but you sure can smoke and bicycle. Those bullshitters.

4. 230 dollar pair of chopsticks that I really wanted but could not justify spending that money on them. Oh but how that pure silver sparkled...

The Day's Eats:

1. Sushi donburi breakfast at 6.30 AM from the Tsujiki Fish Market. Yes, X. Fresh fish from one of the best fish markets in Japan that early in the morning = good times.

2. Sweet potato soft serve ice-cream and tofu soft serve ice cream

3. Street eats of fresh red bean soft cookies

4. I finally ate manju on a stick! and hated it. The coating of that weird bean powder really didn't sit well.

5. Beetchie had a No. 6 which was a Teriyaki McDondalds Burger which turned out to be a weird sausage patty and anything but beef. I had a No. 2 which was an Fillet o' Ebi. I'd have to say I got the better eats this time around.

6. Flan from the high class cafe in Ginza.

7. Awesome food from the man we now fondly refer to as Hattori Hanzo. He fed us grilled mackerel, various meats on sticks and some bad assed fish balls - yum, and for some reason scalloped potatoes with pasta sauce?

The For No Reason Picture(s):

1. Here, have a ninja on a rooftop!



2. And this thing!

Within the vicinity of a Temple, no less. For shame.

The Shooed Away Count:

2 times -

1. At the Fish Market.

We ended up in an area we were not supposed to be at which was closer to the warehouses for arrival of the fish and shipments. Yeah. I knew it was too busy for us to be there! Beetchie made us get shooed away not to mention almost killed.

2. Our trip to try Pachinko in our neighbourhood.

The place was closed and we barged in there, wondering why it was so hard to get in. Beetchie insisted we push our way through the giant curtains and my ass almost tripped again.

Let's Go Back...To The Before Time

As in September 24th, 2005. Don't worry, it's not that far back. I'd like to recall some good times that happened the week leading up to October. Seeing Corpse Bride with my friend Beetchie. The movie itself was alright. It wasn't of the "Nightmare Before Christmas" variety/quality storywise but animation wise, well...We don't expect anything but greatness.

Good times, I believe I said. I'm getting to that right now. Beetchie and I went to St. Mark's right after the movie. We strolled over there from Union Square and found ourselves in the most hideous, boring street fair. We talked about her three week adventure in Europe this past August. The bottomline: Spain is full of thieves. Germany is full of fleas.

Then we milled around the Japanese grocery trying to decide to buy one item neither of us had tried. There were lots and we felt a little overwhelmed but finally we agreed on a strawberry type pancake thing. It was decent but meh, I think we've had better.

Then we stormed Toy Tokyo. And I will storm it again sometime soon, mark my words! We had fun and we bought tons of Gloomy Bear things (hence the picture at the beginning of this post)...Postcards and toys. I love the dead white boy. I know it's wrong. I know. I'm sorry. Truly.
We were having a hard time finding Luigi paraphernalia for Beetchie to have signed by the man himself - Shigeru Miyamoto san. For those of you who don't know and I'm sure there are many though it's not right. He is the creator of such legendary Nintendo games as...Wait for it. The Legend of Zelda (ooooo....ahhh), Mario and Donkey Kong. To put it this way: he's often described as the spielberg of video games.

The signing was on the day after and Beetchie and I had every intention of going early on the day of the signing to line up. However, after overhearing our conversation about looking for Luigi, a patron of Toy Tokyo approached us and said, "oh, you guys are going to the signing by Miyamoto tomorrow, right? You should probably go soon. My friends are already lining up there." What? No...

So with this in mind we traipsed some more in St. Mark's on a hunt for Luigi (Toy Tokyo can give us Yoshi and even stinkin' Toad but not Luigi...Poor thing, he gets no respect). We came up zilch. I was sorely disappointed to see that a mario pocketgame which I rocked as a kid back in Trinidad (and no longer had in my possession) was being sold in this vintage videogame shop for 129 dollars.

We then went to Kenka - this funky Japanese restaurant in St. Mark's which Beetchie fondly refers to as "the one with the raccoon with the big balls and red glowing eyes out front". It was quite good. Next victim...uhh, friend who comes around, they're coming with.
Dinner was followed by cream puffs are too good for me to talk about right now because it makes me sad that I don't have one to stuff into my mouth right now...
After the ...Dessert...Yes, dessert...We made our way to midtown to scope the situation with the Nintendo store. When we got there at 8.30 pm - like the guy said, people were waiting. People had been waiting from as early as 7 a.m. Freaks.

So what do we do? We became freaks too and camped out! Securing spots 46 and 47 in line was good times and thank goodness we didn't give it up considering when we left after the signing over 1,000 people were waiting to see the Man and he was supposed to do only 200 signings. So yes, I became a 48th & 5th Avenue Ho. Sleeping (using the term lightly because at most I got only 30 minutes of sleep before an idiot whose name was ironically Isaiah started preaching about the Zelda series) on the street next to my good friend and some random kid from NJ.

With no Luigi to have signed, Beetchie opted for the only worthy thing at the stupid Nintendo store - a 1UP Mushroom t-shirt. I bought a copy of "The Wind Waker" as backup. But thanks to the other awesome HOchie - my little figure of Link was brought to me the next morning. I happily went with him to the signing. Fiddling in front of the Man who was wondering what the hell I was going to give him to sign since I had nothing in my hand and finally fishing little Kujaseph (that's a gross misuse of a name to give Link, I know) out of my pocket to have signed. I gingerly put him on the table in front of Miyamoto san and Link unceremoniously decided to throw himself down. Miyamoto balanced him and started signing away but could not give me his English/Japanese signature. Instead I got it in Japanese and I was confused as to why the Man was drawing on Link's little green hat. Oh, and I was laughed at when I brought Link out of my pocket...either because a/ Miyamoto thought I was cute or b/Miyamoto thought me an idiot. I suspected the latter so I had to research the internet to ensure he actually signed his name and not 'To Idiot" on it.

After being on the street and dirty for so long, Beetchie and I wandered angrily (thanks to the messed up subway runnings and that thanks to the damned yankees game and ha, they're not in the w series anyway...muwahahaha) over to her Aunt's sushi restaurant for some good time lunch. Unfortunately I was not very hungry so I could only manage one roll but it involved soft shelled crab and eel. What was really good was that lychee iced tea. Mmmmmm.
Ok, so finally after being on the street and dirty and in a sushi restaurant and dirty we parted ways and I went home. Took a shower. Came out smelling like 5th Avenue as opposed to 48th & 5th. Went to bed soon after...went to work the day after. Was persecuted for my insanity. Came home. Got incredibly ill. Stayed home for two days due to the cold I mostly likely got from the random NJ kid who sat next to me on the street. Went back to work...still ill but had no more days to spare. But it was still worth it!

October 1st: It's Saturday!!!! And I was taken to dinner by the family and it was awesome. Ah, good times...good times.

Goo'day.

Music currently playing: "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" by The Cast of Avenue Q.