Japan Tastes Good

So, skiing, for the most part, is over. I've still got one last card up my sleeve, the fabled Niseko ace, but that's still a week off in the future. If I haven't been skiing on the weekends, surely I've at least been climbing right? Well, my month-pass at B'nuts ran out and I've been trying to focus on getting things in order for my month long absence from Sendai, so no climbing either. My main adventuring lately has thus been constrained to attempts at increasing my girth through gluttony, my favorite sin.

Tsuke-men at Hi-no-de ramen. Dip the noodles in the soup and slurp them down

During a little get-together at a friend's house some folks were kind enough to make and share gyoza with the rest of us. I only have pictures before the cooking - they disappeared too quickly afterwards to even think of getting a picture. I had to make sure to get some too!

Raw gyoza (pot stickers) ready to get fried up

This next one was so tasty that it gets on this post even if it's a darn blurry photo. Found this place while searching for a new neighborhood restaurant with tiny-restaurant-hunting accomplice Ken.

Suki-yaki - don't forget to dip the noodles, meat, and veggies in the raw egg before you eat them!

On another night I tried another new neighborhood izakaya with great results. I had fish cooked in a refreshingly non-Japanese way that was absolutely delicious.

Salmon at a small neighborhood izakaya — Salmon and a beer

One can hardly talk about "delicious food" and "izakaya" and not bring up Tomiya. With that in mind, I've been able to make it out to my favorite place a few times in the last few weeks. My weekends have become mysteriously open since I stopped skiing.

Some of the delicious things offered at Tomiya

This next photo might not seem like a big deal, but you need to realize, western style omelets don't exist in Japan. Seeing this thing was a big surprise for me.

Another surprise at Tomiya - pizza. I've come to realize there is nothing that that man cannot make, and make well.

That pizza tasted even better with the amazing spice of "free". I had promised to my fellow Tomiya fans one late night that the next time I came, it would be with at least one cute girl. I pulled through, and my keeping my promise was repaid with pizza and other happy things. More about the night at Tomiya in its own post.

Tomiya isn't the only old favorite I've mine I've been able to go back to. This time, Amber Rhonda! An imported (read: craft) beer place.

After Amber Rhonda it was off to Argento to enjoy some good wine. Oh, and a little something else... Sorry if this ruins your appetite after all the other photos, but mmmm....

Having slices carved of a leg at Argento

The lovely cured ham as presented by the shop's master

Finally we ended up at an okonomiyaki place. They're something like Japan's answer to pancakes, and seeing as I'm heading to Hiroshima (world capitol of delicious okonomiyaki) it's almost guaranteed there'll be more photos like this in the future.

Monjya. The best bit is the part that gets burned on top of the grill at the end

I have been eating out a bit the last few months, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten how to make food myself. In particular, my beloved breakfast sandwiches grace my morning plates even here in Japan.