prasantrin

Hey! There are pics of me on eG somewhere! They're just usually blurry. . . Oh, we were camera equipment shopping at Yodobashi Camera in Umeda, not Hankyu. I love Yodobashi Camera.

You mean a funny-looker? I just noticed how sad that fish's mouth looks. Poor little fishy. I would have posted more in almost real-time, but by Sunday night, I had started to feel very much under-the-weather, and by Monday, I was most definitely sick. I still managed to eat (though not with as much abandon, so I'm glad I got some really good meals in before the sickness set in), so there are still pics and posts to come! I'm due to return to Japan today, and I'm hoping they let me go! I'm quite sure I still have a slight fever, and if the SARS-era initiated protocol is still being enforced, they may just detain me! If not, well, I'll just use the time in quarantine to post a little more. I sure hope they have wi-fi in quarantine!

I'm not Peter, and I can't even play him on TV, but the sake tour wasn't conducted in English. We were very fortunate, however, to have Peko join us for the tour (he wasn't originally part of the tour, but had asked to bring his former professor from the US to the factory so the Kitagawas asked me if they could join us--the professor had to cancel at the last minute, but Peko still came). Peko is fluent in Japanese, so he translated for us. Plus he had the benefit of having made the tour a couple of times before, so he was well-versed in a lot of the terminology. When I broached the subject of the tour with my student, the family was keen on showing us around, but was a little worried about the technical language. Miho (my student) could probably have done a lot of the easy stuff, and her mother could have helped out, but the more scientific stuff was out of their league. So we were very very fortunate, indeed. One more thing... The funniest part of the tour (for me, at least) was while Peter, Peko, and Mr. Kitagawa were tasting the sake. I don't drink much, and my student is a teenager so she doesn't, either, so we spent a lot of the time looking at stuff around the room. At one point we had a conversation that went like this: Me: They sure do talk a lot, don't they? Miho: Yes. . . and they drink a lot, too! If only she knew... Peter forgot to mention our omiyage! Little glass containers of umeshu (my favourite!) that you can put in the freezer to make umeshu sorbet! I still haven't tried mine.

Yesterday my friend said, "I hope you feel better tomorrow, so you can enjoy Yung Kee," and I replied, "Even if I'm not, I'm still going to order roast goose! I want that roast goose!" Then she said, "Well, at least you'll be able to take some good pictures of it!" I'm lucky to have friends who are very supportive of my picture-taking habit! Not big on liver sausages, but the hot pot sounds good. I heard the pea shoots were good there, so that may be our vegetable dish.

My four all-time favourite quotations from any blog: I'm sure there were more, but those were the top four! I wish we could have seen some of your book-binding work. I am envious of all those with artistic talent, and I love to drool over people's works (not literally, of course, as that would be rude!). I can't wait to see the follow-up to the black cake fruits! October or November, perhaps, for your follow-up blog?

You know, that was on my list (probably gleaned from one of your reports), but my friends were confused, and they said, "Why would you go to Sai Kung for roast duck?" Then Felix looked it up on Open Rice and said the reviews were not so good, so he cautioned us away from it. I was a little sad, because I really wanted some duck! Razor clams! Must remember that. I'd heard of them, but had never had them before. I think "bamboo clams" are an appropriate name for them, too. They certainly did look like bamboo. Tung Kee was actually quite busy when we first went by. We got there rather late (8 or 8:30), and they were the fullest of the restaurants along the water. By the time we got around to deciding where to eat, it was probably 8:30 or 9. Yesterday was not quite as successful in terms of eating. A wrench has been thrown in my plans, and I am sick!! I've been trying to soldier on, and I think I'm feeling better this morning, but I'm not sure how things will happen. Our plans are lunch in Mongkok then dinner at Yung Kee. I want some roast goose, even if I can't taste it! Any other suggestions for Yung Kee?

I want to be a member of the second school! It sounds like they have more fun (at least more of my kind of fun!)! I think his family has had to work too hard and too long, though, to feel free enough to spend a lot of money on food. Felix, however, is in the computer business, so he loves to have the newest and coolest gadgets. That's his only indulgence, I think. Now onto dinner... We managed to get back to the apartment without getting drenched. It was still raining when we left the Four Seasons, but by the time we alighted from the bus, it had stopped. Lucky us! Erin and Felix live in Shatin which is not the most happening place. I can see the race track from one of their windows, and there's a nice view of the mountains from the others. They do live relatively close to some good bus lines and one of the subway lines (taking the subway involves at least two transfers, though), so that's a plus. We decided to hit the Sai Kung area for dinner, since it's only about 30 minutes from their apartment by bus. It's right by the water, and it's known for seafood. The restaurants really push the set menus, but you can also order from tanks, and have them cook your very fresh seafood however you like. Felix didn't join us, as he didn't want to limit our eating (he can eat fish, but no shellfish). It was thoughtful of him, but a little sad since we couldn't order as much food as we otherwise would have! I'm sure pictures of the Sai Kung area have been seen on eG before, but I just wanted to add a few more. I felt really sorry for the big guy. His eyes looked so sad... And I felt sorry for this guy, too. Can you imagine being that big and not being able to even turn around? I was wondering if people actually bought fish like him. What kind of fish is he and how would he be prepared for eating? I can't imagine whole steaming or frying him. In the middle row, you can see a poor crab trying to escape from his horrible living conditions. I'm all for knowing where your food comes from, but I have to admit, I'm a softie when it comes to animals. I like to see them living freely or at least in comfortable conditions. I could probably still kill a cow and butcher it if I had to, but I'd like to know it lived a good life before I did so. So what could I do but put some of these creatures out of their miseries by eating them? We settled on a place called Tung Kee. It was the first place we saw, but we did walk around a bit before selecting it. All the restaurants were busy, and all had the same types of set menus, but we chose this place because they were the only ones who weren't aggressively selling themselves. They didn't bother us at all as we walked by. I liked how they clear the tables just like they do at dim sum places in Winnipeg--just wrap everything up and go! But here they do it with real cloth tablecloths! None of that plastic stuff! We wanted to order off-the-menu (I think most people order set menus at these places), because I really wanted spicy salt prawns. We figured out that we had to go and select any off-the-menu seafood, then tell them how we wanted it cooked. The staff at this place don't speak English, so the manager helped us out with how to do things. He also convinced us to order a couple of these babies What are they? They look like bamboo with pulsating snot coming out of one end. He suggested how we should have them cooked, and we went with his suggestion (though I didn't actually hear what he suggested). Spicy salt prawns--these were really good! The shells were perfectly crispy so I could eat the whole prawn, including the heads! We ate and ate and ate. Finally, we only had about 4 prawns left, but we still hadn't received any of the other food we ordered. It was a good 30 minutes (possibly more) before this came out--yung chow (?) fried rice. It was good, but it could have been flavourful. It was an excellent vehicle for enabling me to eat more of the garlic from the spicy salt prawns, though! Then our pulsating snot came out, cooked in black bean sauce. It looked like squid, but was far more tender and sweeter. I'd never had these before, but would definitely order them again (if I knew what they were). The black bean sauce went really well with the rice, too! Then another 30-ish minutes went by, and our vegetables finally arrived. We had ordered stir-fried seasonal vegetables (ong choy in this case) with mashed garlic. This was more steamed than stir-fried, and it lacked flavour, so much of it went uneaten. All-in-all, a very good first day of eating.

How about doctortim? Or Ce'nedra? Both are in Australia, and both cook Asian.

No, it's still CX, but I never think of Cathay Pacific as being CX (just as I never think of Toronto as being YYZ--who thinks of these abbreviations?). I wonder why Cathay ended up being CX... I thought I read CP was going to have in-flight internet access sometime soon, but maybe it was Emirates. I can just imagine eGulleters everywhere dragging their computers out mid-meal to write about them. Poor flight attendants would never be able to get anything done! So...my first meal in HK. My flight managed to arrive in HK about 30 minutes early, so when I walked out of immigration/customs, my friends were nowhere to be seen. I thought I'd pass the time by browsing. I was still full from lunch, but there appeared to be a little Chinese fast food place by the arrivals area, so I walked over to see if I could find some cha siu bao. I had been dreaming about cha siu bao for weeks before arriving (and I even resisted making my own, because I knew I'd be eating the good stuff once I arrived). But darn it all! It was a ramen place! Then I spotted a bakery, so I went to find some cocktail buns. I couldn't figure out which ones were the cocktail buns (coconut buns? mexican buns? coconut cream buns?), and they didn't look very good, so I went for some water, instead. I finally spotted my friend sans husband, and we went up to Pacific Coffee to decide what to do next. It was pouring rain outside, and we could take a bus back to her place, but we would have to walk a bit. Or we could go straight to Central to find one of the dim sum places on my list, but that would also involve walking in the rain (with my luggage in tow). So we decided that since her husband wasn't with us, we could sneak over to one of the hotels and have afternoon tea! Now don't y'all be disappointed with me. I wanted to experience the colonial side of HK, as well as the local side! Plus we could get to an afternoon tea location without having to walk outdoors in the pouring rain, and I could leave my luggage with coat check while we ate. Prior research allowed me to narrow our choices to the Four Seasons or InterContinental. I had had tea at the Peninsula once before, about 9 years ago, and I thought the food sucked. Ling's observations of her and Henry's recent experience there confirmed that the Peninsula would not be the place for us. After looking at maps, we decided on the Four Seasons. Look how happy I am to be in HK! And a non-blurry picture of me, at that! Clearly my friend is a better photographer than my mother! (See this picture for reference.) My friend, Erin, is pretty happy, too! Her husband is on a very strict doctor-imposed diet, so he can't eat many many foods, like sweets, rich foods, fatty foods, etc. She feels too guilty eating them while he's around, so she avoids them, too. Plus he's a local, so he and his family cringe at the thought of spending so much money on food, when you can get really good food for much less. This visit of mine is Erin's chance to indulge in rich and expensive foods, as well! Because it was Easter weekend, we were told the AT had some additional treats, and was thus a little more expensive than usual (HK$250 each, instead of ~$400 for two). We were fine with that, but we didn't quite understand what we were getting, so we made a few goofs. First, we headed up to the buffet table. There wasn't a huge variety of sweets, but there were certainly enough to keep us occupied. There were no savoury items, though, and we thought that was a bit weird. From the left, clockwise, we have carrot cake, a tray of marshmallows, macarons, and a few other little things, creme brulee with whipped cream and blueberries, and bread pudding. Bottom row, left to right: hot cross bun, tiramisu. Bottom L-R: almond and cherry tart, peach cobbler, Middle L-R: tray of sweets, cinnamon balls with custard (they were like churros), Top: assorted chocolates (the left ones were like milk duds), and fruit cocktail. We tried to take a little of everything, but we had an awful lot of sweet things! The hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows was a special offering in addition to your choice of tea. It was good, but I've had better. My favourite of these was probably the tiramisu. It was very rich, but not too sweet. Erin loved the carrot cake and the bread pudding. We had been eating for maybe 20 minutes, and we were both already feeling a bit ill from all the sweets when they came out with this monster We weren't expecting it (I don't know why we weren't, but we just weren't), so had already indulged in all the sweet stuff. But we had to at least try to eat more! Bottom tier--finally! Some savoury items! Little sandwiches, egg salad-filled gougere, and salmon millefeuille (sp?). The salmon millefeuille was outrageously good, and the pollack-topped very stale rusk was outrageously bad. Scones and accompaniments--the scones were heavy, but not as heavy as I remember Peninsula scones as being. I just don't like scones made with eggs, I think. I much prefer flakey scones. The clotted cream was very nice, though. The top layer--we were really really feeling sick at this point. We both like to eat, but can only eat so much. Plus remember, we front-ended a lot of the sweet stuff from the buffet table. Clockwise from 10:00, chocolate cherry parfait, some kind of almond cream tart, key lime tart in a chocolate crust, and little puffs filled with pastry cream. The parfait was very good, but we couldn't eat more than a spoonful each. I managed to eat the top of my little puff (I just wanted the crunch of the caramel), and Erin ate all the fruit off the top of one of the fruit tarts. We did both manage to eat the key lime tarts--they were perfect. Not too sweet, not too tart. It was the last thing we both ate, and we managed to do so without getting sick all over each other. Bloated yet happy, we left to find our way home.

For the first time ever, I flew CP. I liked it, and if it were more convenient for me, I'd probably fly it more often. The seats were comfortable (I did have two seats to myself, though), I had my own TV...what more could I want? Other than to sit in business class, that is... My first meal was airplane food. It was actually decent, though the main dish was a bit sweet. The gomadoufu was my favourite, and the gelatinous things on top were good, too. They just tasted like chicken stock to me, but I liked them. The main dish was some kind of beef thing with noodles. Sweet, but flavourful. The other choice was chicken, and it looked less tempting from what I saw. Also included were a little souffle cheesecake and an ice cream bar! I never eat ice cream bars, but I gave in this time. It was good! But by the end of my meal (about 90 minutes into a four-hour flight), I was quite full, and therefore worried if I would be able to eat as soon as I got into the city...

No way! I only ask other people to eat them for me, then when it's my turn, I get them all to myself! On the first day alone, I felt sick from eating too much twice! Should I feel good or bad about that? I'll try to borrow a card-reader and get some pics up.

My mother is in a similar situation, but whether it's because of age or medication or both, we are not sure. It's disheartening, though, because she is one of the people who taught me to really love food, and now she gets much less enjoyment from it. She does still enjoy eating, but I've noticed the foods or dishes she prefers tend to be on the sweet or salty side (at least for my taste buds). And to help her enjoy food more, she seems to place more weight on texture than she did before. Chris--have you ever considered using a neti pot? Not really food related (I use kosher salt to make my saline solution--does that count?), but it does wonders for stuffy or almost-stuffy noses. Anyone with allergies or sinus problems should use one!

Have you ever seen the huge tanuki in Mashiko? That thing has balls bigger than most people's heads! (I think he has a penis, too, but I could be wrong about that.)

OK, but no eye-rolling! I like to squish my cotton candy down so it's nice and compact. Then I take a chunk of it, and squish it down a little more (it should still have a bit of air in it, but I like it dense-ish). Then, if you sort of lick the outside, it crystallizes so when you pop it in your mouth, you get a crunchy outside but soft inside. I'm a little obsessive...And I like the the colour change when it gets wet.

I think it was uzura and suzume, but don't quote me on that. The sorbet was carrot. I liked it, but sometimes the little bits of non-pureed carrot got in the way of my enjoyment. I can't remember the name of the restaurant at all, but I could ask next week (assuming my student even knows the name of the place, which I don't think she does because it seemed it was the first time for her to go there, as well). I actually haven't had pastries from Doutor in many many years, but when you need a quick fix, they're fine. I never liked their coffee much, but that's because it was always too strong for me, but I know a lot of people who do like it (mostly Japanese). I don't think the stuffed animals were actually for sale. I think the hunter guy just wanted to show off his catches. BTW, I found some info that there will be kyogen performances subtitled in English in Tokyo on the 29th! I think you should drag Scud out to one of them. He can thank me later.

I'm at Kansai International and will be off in about an hour. I've got my list (a beautiful Excel spreadsheet narrowed down to 5 A3-sized pages), and I'm going to eat well! Thanks to all those who contributed to this topic and thus to my upcoming eating extravaganza!

It's one of my trade-offs. I can only have a burger if I've gone to the gym first (plus it's a 40-ish minute bike ride--return trip)--I hate exercising, but I love my burger! Plus eating after exercising helps burn calories more efficiently, or so I like to tell myself as I rationalize all my bad eating habits! Back to the original topic--years ago, I recall going to McD's (in Japan) for breakfast with some friends. One of them brought some bread with her, and although we had all agreed to go to McD's, she didn't order anything (except for asking someone to order some tap-water for her) and instead openly ate whatever bread she had brought with her. I remember being shocked that she would do such a thing, and I told her that I thought it was rude. She replied that it was OK (in a tone of entitlement), since McD's didn't sell what she wanted to eat (remember, though, we all agreed to go there). I also remember one of the staff walking by and doing a double-take at my friend eating her non-McD's meal. I think had my friend not been caucasian, the staff would probably have said something, but back then, Japanese people were a wee bit more apprehensive when approaching foreigners. Back then I thought she was rude, but at this moment, I'd really like to bring my own root beer to my burger place. But I guess that would make me rude, too. Is it still rude if I ask? I would be more than happy if they would buy a few cans just for me and then charge me a premium for them, but failing that, I want my own root beer!

Generally speaking, it just tastes bad. If you're going to experiment, you'll need to at least taste your product. If Hershey's tastes bad, then your chocolates will taste bad, but how will you know the true badness is from your recipe or from the chocolate? I can't really help with the recipe adjustment part, but I can tell you that I once tried to use Hershey's to make hot chocolate, and it was grossly thick. Wait a minute, are you talking baking chocolate? Or eating chocolate?

What about water? Would it be bad to bring your own water? Or a beverage the restaurant doesn't carry? My favourite burger place is a teeny tiny little shack that only has four beverages on the menu--coke (in a bottle), mineral water, ramune, and cold oolong tea. The mineral water is Y150/bottle, but I always have a refillable water bottle with me (I usually go to the burger place from the gym), so I usually just drink what's in my bottle. Is that rude, too? I'm guessing yes, but I just can't bring myself to spend Y150 on bottled water, not to mention the guilt over wasting a plastic bottle... And since they only have four beverages, none of which is root beer, could I bring my own root beer? I've been thinking of asking if I could do that. I really like root beer, and there's no way a restaurant in Japan (other than the Hard Rock Cafe) is going to carry root beer.

LucyInAust--Sorry, I can't see the pictures at all. I think you'll just have to send me some samples, so I can see what they look like! Seriously, beautiful stuff. And I'd certainly be willing to take the non-tempered caramel-filled ones off your hands! I love caramel-filled chocolates!

It only took a week to finish the first full day! That's not bad, at all! The little red bottle is shichimi, I think, and to the right of it is nori. Did they have bonito flakes? I never use them, and my favourite okonomiyaki place doesn't, either, but I still see them at okonomiyaki places sometimes. Did you eat it using the spatula, too? I see a lot of people doing that, but I'm always too afraid of burning myself. Some people say I have a big mouth, but it's more figurative. Really!

fwiw--for what it's worth Not wanting to give up any foods I loved is why I went with WW (although I've fallen off the wagon). You can still eat anything, but in moderation. This might be the wrong place for this (and if it is, moderators please feel free to delete), but hummingbirdkiss mentioned how thankful she was to have a site like eGullet to discuss this topic. One thing no one has mentioned (that I saw, anyway), was this quotation from JP: I don't think this site has ever shied away from discussing health issues or eating healthfully rather than eating for volume (though people do tend to encourage the latter more so than the former). But is there enough balance between the two?

When all else fails, hit a department store. They'll have everything you're looking for, though not as much variety and perhaps at a higher price.

I don't do South Beach, but fwiw, I don't believe it's a fad diet in the same sense the grapefruit diet or cabbage soup diet might be. If you do the reading, by the time you finish all the stages, you're eating a reasonable diet, with emphasis on "good carbs" (whole grains, etc.), and lean proteins. It's much more balanced than, for example, Atkins. I still prefer WW, but the most important thing is to find something that works for you, then stick with it. If you (general "you") don't at least try, you'll never succeed.

Awesome, simply awesome! Now I'm trying to decide which place(s) to try during my visit in April. I'd like to try both Ukai Toriyama and Tofu-ya Ukai, but I don't think I can eat as much as you can! I may actually try to hit Tsukiji this time, since I keep promising myself I'll go, but I never ever do. I'm assuming I'll have better luck at Daiwa than you, since I at least look Japanese (and hopefully once I start speaking, they won't kick me out).