All posts filed under: Japan

Once upon a time in Tempura

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We were waiting for a train and I was hungry. I can’t emphasize how important that fact was, because I turn into a psychopath when I am hungry. Its irrational, I know, but I have always been afraid that one day (through my own negligence or some fluke of a missed meal), I’d starve to death. I’m a tinderbox of neuroses, and this is just another one of them. I become what I like to call Hangry. hungry + angry = Hangry (the capital h has to stay because, to me, it is ‘another person’). We went into a small restaurant on the train tracks and that’s when I met her. Originally I was in disbelief that anyone could be so crispy. You know those plastic versions of restaurant food? The kind that they put in shiny display boxes to entice customers? Well, she was there, tooting her tempuraness like a fluffed hen. One look and I knew. Served with a side of light soy sauce and some toasted green tea, Hangry ran away.

Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake

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When it comes to cake, there’s not really much to say really. You either love it or hate it. Or hate it because you’re, well… crazy. I’m disappointed and ashamed to say that my German, is one such non-believer. He has his reasons.  Too much apfelstrudel can cloud the mind. His aunt was, and actually still is, a prolific cake baker. With no one to try out her medleys, she turned to her niece and nephews. Again and again and again. You would think it was every child’s dream to try lots of different cakes, almost everyday for months on end? Apparently not. They never quite recovered from the shock of ‘cake testing’. But still… Even faced with such evidence, I can’t be diplomatic about this. Unless you’re suffering from gingival hyperplasia, or any other such strange gum swallowing disease, cake is always an option. As the wise old saying goes: Only fools fall foul of… cake! Ok, so maybe I made that up. But it does sound ancient and wise, no? And so it should be, ancient …

Life is like a Bento Box

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So I bet you’re going to call me out on the fact that I said I wasn’t going to blog? Although the season and spirit of Christmas still hangs in the air, for me, its over. I think its time to get back to doing what I love. So far, every moment of this trip has been amazing. Tokyo… Hakone… now Kyoto. It would be a crying shame to selfishly keep all that I have seen and learned to myself.  This picture is a taste of what lunch is like in Hakone for a mere £9 you can eat like… that! Did I mention there was roasted tea on tap? In my usual hyperbloic tone: Its really rewritten everything I ever thought about taste, nature and… well… stuff. Blog. A. Blog. A. Blog The cogs in my head won’t stop turning, urging me to over-share. I’ve got that New Years’ feeling and the compulsion to dive into nostalgia and reflect, like I was staring in my own version of Melancholia, has gripped me. I’d hazard a …