Culinary Escapades

Post IX

So today I went for dinner. I have been very lucky and been invited in to many of the residents homes – and I must say they are invariably beautiful inside. Today though, unlike when I went to the mayors house where they prepaired a very western-friendly meal of steak and tempura, I ate the most traditional Japanese food I have had so far. I must admit I was nervous. When I looked at the spread,  sea bream sashimi was the least adventurous looking thing. Yeah, LEAST adventurous. Now, sashimi is already on the adventurous end of my personal spectrum, so I thought to myself: oh god, this is going to be tough. Now, I suggest you get comfortable, whilst I walk you through my culinary escapades.

First up, sashimi. Yellow fin and seam bream. Both prepared expertly by the local resident, and absolutely delicious. Maybe it’s worth mentioning at the outset that this was not a dinner party per se, but rather us being fed. I have no problem with that, and it was very nice, but it was my first experience of eating in that manner. Next up, mystery fish stew. This was a whole fish, roughly diced up in some kind of sauce (head and all). To the eye, it provoked fear. But, to the taste, it was a lovely meaty white fish, in a very delicious (cold) broth. Mind you, it was a bit fiddly to eat – picking out the meat from inbetween the bones with chopsticks was certainly a stretch of my chopstick abilities. Next, more mystery fish. This time, it looked boiled, again cold, and again delicious. It was almost pink looking with an exotic looking tail (can you tell I am not used to eating fish?). Then, and closer to familiar, sushi. Not a sushi roll, but a big slab of rice topped with ginger, octopus, sea bream and prawn. Everything but the prawn I managed to eat, and though this was not as nice as the other fish dishes, it was still nicer than I had anticipated. Finally, Fugu. Now, you’re probably thinking ‘Fugu, hmmm now why have I heard of that before?’ Well I’ll tell you. It’s because it is that seriously poisonous puffer fish from that Simpsons episode that nearly kills homer. THAT’S WHY. I had made a promise to myself before leaving to never try Fugu – it always seemed like a pointless adrenaline junky type thing to eat, and not being overly keen on fish, it didn’t seem worth risking my life for. But, the urge to be polite overcame me and I ate it. It was deep fried, and tasted almost like chicken (not in the cliché sense, but it really is almost exactly the same as chicken, but a nicer texture). And so far, my nervouse system hasn’t started to slowly shut down whilst I remain conscious so perhaps it is safe to say that I have not been poisoned. Though, perhaps that will change later, in which case this is my last blog post! But yeah, not something I will eat again in a hurry, though it was very tasty.

All in all the meal was delightful, and I ate more fish in a single night then I have in my entire life (I am not exaggerating). So, moral of the story, just eat everything and sometimes you will be surprised.

On a lighter, but still food related, note I want to share some of my favourite taglines from Omiyage. For those who don’t know, omiyage is a small gift (usually a biscuit) from a specific area of Japan, that colleagues buy for each other when they go on vacation. As its summer, I have accumulated a fair few. Here are my favourite English taglines:

1.)    This sable, made with the finest ingredients, tastes really good! It surly will make your tea break happy and wonderful!

2.)    A delicious financier was made. Please spend happy time.

3.)    White chocolate sand.