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5 days in food hell


torakris

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I just came back from a 5 day trip to the resort town of Usami on the Izu penninsula. I took my 3 kids (husband was working) and my friend had her 2 and we went to her parents vacation home with her parents (everyone is Japanese). I know my friend hates to cook and is also one of the pickiest adult eaters I know but I had hopes for her parents.

Breakfast every morning was toast and tea or coffee with yogurt and fruit. This is hard to mess up and was decent though variety would have been nice. I brought along some apricot preserves which I and the mother enjoyed but my friend won't eat anything except strawberry or this whipped chocolate spread that even my kids wouldn't touch. Lunch (except for one day that we ate soba but with no scallions or wasabi because my friend and her mother don't eat them) was either onigiri or curry rice. The salmon onigiri were quite good because the salmon was good, the curry rice was from a retort packet. :shock: On the first day when they said they were going to have curry rice for lunch I offered to start it because the friend and mother wanted to lie down for a while. I went into the kitchen and couldn't find any meat or vegetables anywhere so I asked what they wanted to put into their curry and then they said they weren't actually going to make it, just warm up the retort packs.

Dinners were mostly retort packs as well (teriyaki meatballs, simmered gobo and konnyaku, more curry, etc), one night we had a lot of fish that had been picked up at the market, Japanese style heavily salted salmon that is grilled, some squid sashimi, and shirasu (baby anchovies) nothing was done to these they were just dipped in soy sauce or eaten plain. One night we had a miso soup with tofu, just tofu. There was always some kind of purchased pickle on the table and of course no meal (both lunch and dinner) could be complete with out sausages. There were sausages on the table every time we sat down, and these are not good sausages, think bad, bad cocktail sausages. I was shocked at how few vegetables they eat, even when we went out to eat it was only ramen or soba. The mother seemed to be saving her favorite dish for the last day, this was the only thing that was actually cooked. She sauteed some chicken thighs (no salt or pepper), tossed in some boiled bean sprouts and then poured a can of cream of mushroom soup! :shock: voila! dinner! oh and there were some scrambled eggs on the table too (no salt or pepper either) and some tasteless tomato wedges straight from the refrigerator. We did have some peaches and grapes that were pretty good.

The kids also ate more snacks in these 5 days then they normally eat in a month, I couldn't believe the junk that was on the table all day long. "Ok kids beofore we head off to the pool lets get your energy up with a big bag of potato chips!"

Nice to be home!

Did get a pretty decent tan though! :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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forgot to mention the hard boiled eggs and the hard boiled corn on the cob and I mean really hard boiled for a very long time! :blink:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Oh, you poor thing. I just cringe for you. Never mind, it will make home seem that much homier!

We have friends too, whose kids seem to live on snacks and spend the rest of the time in the doctor's office! Don't get it. We have an amazing variety of food available - not like when I was a kid and an orange at Christmas was a big treat! But the kids never see fresh fruit or veggies just candies, cookies, potato chips and good old McDonald's.

Eat well, Kristin!

Anna

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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The fish doesn't sound so bad.

the fish was really the best part! but I just kept thinking of all of these things they could do with it, unfortunately I was quite limited by the fact that they had nothing in that house (that they spend a couple months a year in!) All I could find was salt, soy sauce, ketchup and a fat spread that they kept referring to as butter.

And how could I have forgotten the pasta!

The latest in retort technology! pasta sauce in packets that is just sqeezed onto the hot (or cold) pasta, no additional cooking required. We had our choice of tarako (cod roe) and cheese or umeboshi and shiso (this was for cold pasta). I felt like such a bad mom encouraging my kids to eat this stuff that I didn't even want to put in my mouth! :shock:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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She sauteed some chicken thighs (no salt or pepper), tossed in some boiled bean sprouts and then poured a can of cream of mushroom soup!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

I LOVED this bit.

Where is that thread on how bad we AMERICANS eat - like everyone else is munching on glorious freshly-prepared food while we neanderthals only eat processed crap.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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What . . . no pictures?

:wacko:

I actually thought about taking pictures :biggrin: but decided not to waste my memory since we can only store 24 pictures, time to upgrade to a bigger memory card!

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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She sauteed some chicken thighs (no salt or pepper), tossed in some boiled bean sprouts and then poured a can of cream of mushroom soup!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

I LOVED this bit.

Where is that thread on how bad we AMERICANS eat - like everyone else is munching on glorious freshly-prepared food while we neanderthals only eat processed crap.

she must of gotten this out of some magazine and it was probably touted as some great American dish. She really made a big fanfare over this one and I didn't have the heart to tell her I had never eaten a dish made with cream of anything soup before. At least to my knowledge, who knows what was in soem of those dishes at church potlucks :blink:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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After this experience, do you think it's worse to be the guest of people with no taste in food or to be the host of same? I'm thinking that if one is a guest, at least there is the possibility of escape.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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She sauteed some chicken thighs (no salt or pepper), tossed in some boiled bean sprouts and then poured a can of cream of mushroom soup!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

I LOVED this bit.

Where is that thread on how bad we AMERICANS eat - like everyone else is munching on glorious freshly-prepared food while we neanderthals only eat processed crap.

she must of gotten this out of some magazine and it was probably touted as some great American dish. She really made a big fanfare over this one and I didn't have the heart to tell her I had never eaten a dish made with cream of anything soup before. At least to my knowledge, who knows what was in soem of those dishes at church potlucks :blink:

That dish belongs in the White Trash thread.

You poor thing, Torakris.

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After this experience, do you think it's worse to be the guest of people with no taste in food or to be the host of same? I'm thinking that if one is a guest, at least there is the possibility of escape.

I would much rather be the guest!

I offered to cook one of the meals but the mother would go shopping while we were at the pool and I was really at a loss with what to do with what was in the house.

Did I mention the coffee was instant and so was the creamer, it actually was turning yellow because it was so old! :sad:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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I'm not a very religious person but I've always believed God has a great sense of humor. It's good to see He's sharing it with others!

My condolences on your vacation in food hell...

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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I am astounded not just by the lack of interest in food, but at how American it sounds when it's at its worst.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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I am astounded not just by the lack of interest in food, but at how American it sounds when it's at its worst.

It is quite sad but judging from the popularity of these types of processed foods, this seems to be a common way of eating and I am sure it is playing a huge role in the sudden increase of obesity in this country.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Kristin, I... I...

:sad:

Sometimes there just aren't the words.

Still, there's my hospital food thread.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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I was shocked at how few vegetables they eat, even when we went out to eat it was only ramen or soba. :

well........

at least you got a tan kris

are you sure you aren't in poughkeepsie ny - this pretty much defines how my in-laws eat all the time(green vegetable - huh?)

actually we just returned from a sibling vaca in northern vermont - great fresh fish, meat, sausage, chicken and..........

what's a vegetable? i bought bagged salad and I was the only one who ate it!!!!!

don't despair - as long as you provide them the variation someday they may actually choose it( uh...do you guys think that's likely with my 49ish year old husband?)

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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[Did I mention the coffee was instant and so was the creamer, it actually was turning yellow because it was so old! :sad:

sweetie --

as onle librarian to another(and we know what people who work in libraries are like) if you EVER make it to the states and new jersey i will

a) cook for you

and

b) take you out for lunch at lou's place - course you may encounter tommy but that is another hazard :laugh:

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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It is quite sad that we have such a poor opinion of the dining habits of people in our own country, and such an exalted notion of standards in other countries, Japan included. Kristin's experience, wretched as it was, does a lot to correct the balance.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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I was shocked at how few vegetables they eat, even when we went out to eat it was only ramen or soba. :

well........

at least you got a tan kris

well that was the important part! :biggrin:

and it will only be improved by our 4 day camping trip to the beach next week.

where i will be doing ALL of the cooking! :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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[Did I mention the coffee was instant and so was the creamer, it actually was turning yellow because it was so old! :sad:

sweetie --

as onle librarian to another(and we know what people who work in libraries are like) if you EVER make it to the states and new jersey i will

a) cook for you

and

b) take you out for lunch at lou's place - course you may encounter tommy but that is another hazard :laugh:

New Jersey here I come! :laugh:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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It is quite sad that we have such a poor opinion of the dining habits of people in our own country, and such an exalted notion of standards in other countries, Japan included. Kristin's experience, wretched as it was, does a lot to correct the balance.

Word, fresco. Kristin, you took that bullet for us; and I salute you!

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