Another tasty day in Tokyo

Today's Indian cooking class yet again did not disappoint. We are back in Tokyo for home cooking lessons.  This time the theme was: "easy south Indian cooking".  The term "easy" is relative, considering the teacher used an idly steamer, some puliogare mixes, and asafetida as one of the ingredients (proper Hindi name is Hing). Nonetheless, the menu was delicious and festive.  I'm looking forward to trying the recipes out on my guinea pig husband.

Above is the dhokla, a chickpea flour steam cake, topped with coconut and fresh coriander.

Aerial view.  The accompaniment is a mint and tamarind chutney.




Next up, rava idli, a semolina salted steam cake, to be paired with the lentil soup (sanbar).





Below is the upma, a savory semolina porridge.  I have to put in an applause for this dish.   Forget southern grits.  This porridge is unlike any American porridge.  A spicy, savory blend of onions, vegetables and curry leaves, it has the consistency of a cake, dense, chewy, rich. I ate two, but I could have eaten the whole plate.




Below is the tamarind rice.  Like fried rice but with tamarind!  Spicy and sweet mixed with peanuts, curry, and coriander.

Okay. So next up is this combination called Bhel puri (rice puffs with tangy sauce).  It comes in a spice pack mix and what can I say, but this is better than cereal.  I could eat the whole bowl for breakfast.  It has these delicious (of course fried) cracker things mixed with rice puffs, so it gives a "cereal" feel in your mouth.  Hold the milk--your taste buds will be in for a spicy surprise!  The chutney powder gives the dish some heat, but the fresh tomatoes, chopped onions and coriander leaves temper it nicely.  

Below is the dessert, meethi sewiyan (sweet vermicelli) with slivered almonds, cardamon and saffron. Apparently, this is a very traditional and common dessert.  I guess there is more to Indian desserts than my favorite--the gulab jamun.

 Finally, the finished products!

Lanterns and Lions

According to Wikipedia, Yokohama boasts the largest Chinatown in Asia (presumably not counting any city or town in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan).

That said, Chinatown in Yokohama is the cleanest, quietest Chinatown I've ever had the occasion to visit (I've been to five).  Although admittedly, I had forgotten this when I arrived Monday evening for the much-celebrated Lantern Festival only to be greeted by silent streets and empty storefronts.  At first I thought I had missed the celebration entirely, but I persevered and found the quiet pockets of revelers congregated at the two Buddhist temples in the town center.

The Lantern Festival is the end of the Lunar New Year (a two-week affair with parades, dragon/lion dances, and food).  Although perhaps not as elaborate a celebration as in other parts of Asia, the Yokohama festivities did not disappoint.  It was still quite beautiful to see the red lanterns hanging from the temples and to watch the lion dance.

This Onsen Life

The other weekend, we stayed at an awesome ryokan/onsen in Izu, at the Hamanoyu.  It's a fantastic ryokan, easily within distance from Tokyo/Yokohama and passes through Odawara (so you can hit up the castle on your way back).  The hotel shuttle picked us up when we arrived and dropped us back to the station when we departed.

We only stayed one night, but I can say, hands down, the food here was perhaps the best keiseki ryori of all places.  They, like most, accommodated our disdain for mammal/bird meat and gave us only seafood for our meals.

And now I am spoiled.  I can only go to ryokans with private open air baths in the room.

From our balcony, nothing but rippling endless blue.

I don't know how they do it, but they pump spring water into all of the rooms for the private onsen tub.

The menu was originally in Japanese, but they also had a simplified English menu.

Course 1 of the ten course meal.  

The meal isn't complete without a sushi platter

This was by far the best fish I've eaten, called Kinme-dai, boiled in soy sauce and sake.

Chilled asparagus and spinach soup

Fish Nabe, Yuzu-Citron Style

Strawberry Mousse

The breakfast was not as elaborate an affair, but it was equally phenomenal.

We didn't get a handwritten menu with this one, but it was still delicious.

Our hostess wrote Jeff's name on the sushi boat

      

And told us "good bye" and "see you again"

Of course, you may get tired of your private room onsen and want to go to the stone hotspring on the rooftop.  

A day in the life of a Hobbit

In September we went to Hakone, a scenic town that takes its namesake from the volcano upon which it sits.  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html

Hakone is famous for its hotsprings and can easily reached from Tokyo for day trip.  We wound up staying for two at a little ryokan called Yamagaso.  https://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/ryokan-single/?ryokan=Senkei+Annex+Yamagaso

We mostly lounged and ate, and didn't do any hiking, as most of the park was closed.  Last spring, Mr. Hakone gave a rumble and coughed up some ash, which resulted in the closure of most of the park for most of 2015, including during our trip.  That's okay. I'd rather not wind up like the poor folks of Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius got indigestion.

 

Of course, staying at a Ryokan means stuffing your face and soaking in the onsen! The spread was about a five course meal comprised of small dishes featuring local cuisine.

 

 The world's smallest potato!

 This was the best tempura I've ever had! They had some sort of lemon salt coating. So yummm...

So Japan is a land of short and thin (by American standards) people.  Jeff had some trouble with the accommodations.

Yes, this was the size of the doorway.  But you just have to duck.

It's all about cute.

 I've been pretty lucky to eat some good food in my life in a variety of places.  But I truly find my food home in Japan. Not only is the food tasty, but it is aesthetically pleasing and pleasant.  Take for example, the donut frog to the left.

And what about the bear, holding a hamburger.

Inside the cup, he says "I have a hamburger". How cute is that? The frog and bear make my day.

 This is one of my absolute favorite desserts--the taiyaki.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki  Why is this custard-filled goodness in the shape of a sea bream? I don't know but I love it!

On the left, we have ube (purple yam) ice cream and as some sort of tart thing (in yellow) to the side.  Very tasty.  Mochis are my life. And below we have green tea ice cream with mochi balls and some cornflakes for added texture.

 The grapes here are fantastic. They are full-bodied with flavor, beautiful and expensive--and worth every Yen.

















I haven't tried these shapely watermelons, but I'm sure they are delicious.

 Cake and flowers at Aoyama Flower Market, a delightful place to stop for a shopping break in the heart of Tokyo.