The conbini (convenient store) is a ubiquitous concept on every street corner in Tokyo. They have a bit of everything and you can find any “emergency” product here.
From cup noodles to paper undies, the conbini makes life much easier. You can even find Fancl beauty products, nail polish, staplers, gas cans, paper clips, light bulbs, ice packs…. Goodness, whatever you could dream up of getting at 3am in the morning, go to the cobini and they would sort you out.
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Last week, the kangaroo was unwell with exhaustion, flu, and two hangovers. I have never really thought about what he would like to eat when he gets sick until his last bout of flu which happened last month (he tends to get ill after his hardcore business trips).
Usually he hoovers anything on his plate, but that evening, he asked me what I was going to cook and I chirped, “Teriyaki salmon!”
“Oh babe, nooooooo. No salmon. That’s not sick food.”
I was so puzzled, “Honey, why not?”
“It’s just not sick food. Remember I grew up on a farm and never had any seafood until I was 20.”
I was tickled but dismayed: What do I cook?
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I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t have any pictures of people who came to my housewarming party. But, that means I had too much fun to take out my camera to snap away. I did have a couple of blurry ones but they look too dark to post.
From 11am to 630pm on Saturday, I chopped, marinated, skewered, grilled, stir-fried my guts out. I looked forward to having a big cookout and even jumped out of bed at 9am just to make the apartment party-ready. Cooking for 14 people is no small feat so I decided on easy dishes like fried rice and noodles and since it is summer, grilled chicken wings and kebabs seemed the perfect, easy choice.
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Just a short pictorial of what has been brewing in my kitchen. Sometimes I go through periods where I struggle to think of what to whip up, but there are days where I feel inspired to be a cooking demon…
Here are a couple of non-Japanese dishes I have been making:
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I am PMS-ing like hell — my sugar cravings have gone through the roof and I have found three mouth-watering snacks right here in Tokyo:
Calbee nori (seaweed) potato chips
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Last night wasn’t my first time trying chicken sashimi. In fact, a Japanese friend who lives in Singapore invited the kangaroo and I out to dinner and ordered a tiny plate of six delicate chicken sashimi slices. I thought it was fish because it didn’t have that butcher’s meat taste in the least. I even I had a second piece and relished the tangy sauce that came with it.
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Although I am a cooking monster most days, Friday nights are about taking a break from a busy work week. So if the kangaroo is around, we would have a casual dinner out with a couple of drinks.
The kangaroo’s favourite food is a hearty steak with a side of fries and salad. We always go to the Hobgoblin, an English pub, in Akasaka where we live. Unfortunately, the quality keeps changing as they often switch chefs. Sometimes you get peas and mash with a mediocre char-grilled sirloin, or a sickly sweet salad with a tough cut and burnt bits, or a pile of French fries and a perfectly juicy piece of beef.
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When I first got to Tokyo, I slurped on ramen indiscriminately. I would have it for breakfast, lunch, or supper. High in calories and low in nutritional value, ramen is a popular one-person dish that is deliciously addictive with its savoury broth and slippery noodles — a taste of heaven but your waistline will go to hell.
Then I became more discerning, like most foreigners who hang around for a while longer, and found there are hugely varying degrees in terms of types and quality.
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Nugget potato (minced chicken nuggets and potato wedges) with hot sauce.
Sometimes it’s easy to just focus on the bad and the weird in Japan. For instance, there was a guy who for no reason cut up his female neighbour into pieces and flushed them down the loo, or the guy who screamed at me in the Tokyo Met pool, or quirks like the popularity of maid cafes.
Japan is the fifth safest nation in the world and it has one of the nicest and most honest people on the planet.
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Just when I am running out of culinary ideas, my sensei saves the day. During our lesson today, we were learning new vocabulary related to hobbies (hikingu, joggingu, snowboardo…) and we came to ryori, which is cooking. We were also doing frequency words, so she was surprised to find out that I cook everyday.
We had a fun discussion on what types of dishes I can make, where I shop, how often I shop, and my schedule that manages to fit in working and cooking up a storm.
Even more pleasing to her was I made an effort to cook a few Japanese dishes (oyako don, asari miso soup, zaru soba, yaki udon) sometimes. She recommended a delicious and easy-to-make Japanese favourite: chicken thigh in mirin (sweet rice wine) and soy sauce.
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