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Miso Soup with Pork Spare Ribs

2008-11-28T17:57:00.007-05:00

It's been a while, but this recipe has been demanded of me, so alas, I revive this blog with a recipe I actually took photos for several months ago, but never got around to actually posting.

Miso Soup with Pork Spare Ribs:

First, our vegetables: 1/2 head of Napa Cabbage, 3 stalks of green onions (scallions, if you will), and 1 block of medium firm tofu.

For the meat, here I'm using about 2 lbs of pork spare ribs, cut into 1in. pieces. (Ask your butcher to do that) I like them because they do make for a nice pork broth to serve as the base for the miso, but you can use any meat you'd like here, such as chicken breast. If you're using a boneless meat, just go with 1lb. Or you can skip the meat altogether if there are vegetarians abound.

Slice the napa cabbage into 1 inch wide strips, the tofu into 1/2 in cubes, and the scallions into 1in. pieces on the bias. This makes for a more stew like miso soup, with substantial enough ingredients to stand as meal on its own.

For a lighter version, skip the cabbage altogether, cut the tofu into 1/4 in. cubes ,and the scallions into small 1/4 in. pieces. Then you'll get miso soup that's more akin the starter that you get at Japanese restaurants.

So in a large pot or wok, bring around 8 to 10 cups of water to a boil, depending on how much water your pot can hold (keep in mind all the other ingredients that'll go in later).

Start with the spare ribs, and let the water come to a boil again. Around 5 minutes or so.

Then all at once, add your cabbage, tofu and scallions, and cover.

When that comes to a simmer, add one whole cap-ful of dashi (around 2 tablespoons). If you're making a vegetarian version, keep in mind dashi is made from fish~

Cover and let simmer on medium high for about 5 more minutes. You want to cook the ribs until they really start to pull away from the bone and the meat can be pulled apart quite easily.

You can see how much the ingredients have shrunk after a while. Also, depending on the spare ribs you get, they can give off a lot of fat. So at this stage, I like to skim off some of the oil that comes to the surface.

And now we add our miso. There are quite literally 8 million manufacturers of miso in the world, but really only 2 main varieties: red ("akamiso") and white ("shiromiso"). As far as taste goes, more often than not, red has a deeper flavor than white, but again, that also depends on the manufacturer.

So when it comes to what varieties taste like what, it's really all up in the air. Most American supermarkets will have a very limited selection of miso to begin with. For example, this brand of miso was all I could find at Whole Foods.

Go to Japanese market however, and you'll find an entire shelf filled with nothing but miso. At the point, just grab whatever, and see how you like it.

For a large volume of soup like this, you'll need about 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of miso. Turn the heat down to medium, and spoon the miso (one tablespoon at a time) into onto your ladle.

And with another small spoon, OR CHOPSTICKS, break up the miso in the ladle until it dissolves completely. Miso doesn't dissolve that well by itself if you just lump it into the pot.

It's important to wait until the very end to add the miso, and on low to medium heat. Boiling miso will actually kill the flavor. So be sure to turn the heat down to medium to medium low before you add the miso.

Also, flavor to your liking here. 3 heaping tablespoons is for this particular brand of miso. Have taste before you add another tablespoon. You might need more or less depending~

And alas~ You have a nice hearty Japanese soup. You can add udon or ramen to make this a full meal.

SO, your ingredient list:

Miso Soup with Pork Spare Ribs

- 1/2 head of napa cabbage
- 3 stalks of green onions (scallions)
- 1 block of medium firm tofu
- 2 lbs of pork spare ribs
- 8-10 cups of water
- 2 tablespoons dashi
- 3 large tablespoons of miso

Japanese White Chicken Curry (Gratin)

2008-07-26T17:50:00.006-04:00

So it's not so much of a curry as is it is a cream stew... in fact, there's no curry in it all. I don't really know how it started, but since I was little, I've been calling this white curry, so the name kinda stuck. Oh well.

So just a heads up, this is also a two-day recipe, but it's not required really. As with any stews or thick soups, it's always better the next day because the flavors meld and whatnot, but if you can't wait, it's not a big deal.

SO HERE WE GO:

This makes a solid 4 to 6 portions. Our vegetables from left to right: 2 medium onions, 2 medium potatoes, a cup of mushrooms (4 oz, or half a container), two medium carrots (I ended up adding another one later), and one medium head of broccoli.

With white curry, I generally like to go with white meats, such as chicken, turkey, or pork. It keeps the dish nice and bright in my opinion. These are two chicken breasts that I pulled off a whole rotisserie chicken that I got at Whole Foods for $9.99.

I'll do a post later next week about making the most of these store-bought chickens. At under 10 bucks ($5.99 even at supermarkets like Safeway or Albertsons), they're pretty cost-effective if you're looking to make meals ahead of time.

The preparation of this dish is very similar to the nikujaga recipe. In fact, it's more or less identical except for the later stages. We begin by sweating the vegetables over medium heat with about two tablespoons of butter or oil or even non-stick spray.

Butter is preferable, as it compliments the rich-ness of this dish, and if you use oil, use canola or vegetable oil. The inherent flavor of olive oil, especially extra virgin, is a little overpowering if used here. The same goes for most (if not all) Asian dishes actually. Stick with canola, peanut, or vegetable oil. Save the olive oil for Italian dishes.

Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, just until the vegetables start to give off some of their moisture.

This is called "sweating," by the way. We're cooking until the onions start to turn translucent around the edges and mushrooms soften. Don't forget to season your vegetables here with some salt. No pepper though. You don't want little black specks floating around your stew~

Then, like with the nikujaga recipe, add enough water to cover your vegetables. Add at most 5 cups if you're only using 1 box of sauce mix.

And bring this to a boil. At this point, I also like to add around a tablespoon of dashi.

Then we add our "tasty cream stew sauce mix." The same goes with these mixes as with the curry mixes. If you made a cream sauce yourself (or bechamel sauce, if you want to be pretentious), it wouldn't taste the same. It would taste kinda like a chicken pot pie filling.

Again, concentrated cubes of Japanese goodness wins.

Because our chicken is already cooked, and the broccoli doesn't take long to soften, we add these in last, after we've added our stew mix. As you can see, I just shredded the chicken breasts by pulling it apart by hand into bite-sized pieces.

Give it a good mix, and cover and simmer over low heat for a good half hour to 45 minutes at least. The longer the better, depending on how you like your vegetables cooked.

Again* 1 box of sauce mix is good for about 5 cups of added water. I'd pick up a couple boxes so that you if you add too much water, you can thicken it back up, or if you like thicker sauce, then you can add single cubes until it's thick to your liking.

As you can see, a lot of the vegetables shrink down, and the chicken starts to break apart too. I used pre-cooked breast meat here, which does break apart like this in stews.

If you want chunks of chicken, go with raw chicken breasts or thighs.

Cut it up into cubes, saute it quickly over medium high heat to brown the edges, and remove from the pan. Then proceed with the vegetables and etc. Then add it back into the stew with the broccoli. Of course, thigh meat works just as well and tends to stay more tender over long cooking times.

From here, you can let this cool, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. This will give the stew a chance to settle and let the flavors meld. Again, this isn't mandatory, so if you'd like, you can skip the cooling, and move straight onto the gratin part.

In a small bowl, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave for about 2 minutes.

While that's melting, spoon some of the curry into an oven-safe dish, such as my French onion soup bowl! Also, turn on your broiler to its highest setting. I just use my toaster oven set to broil.

Once it's melted, add a little bit of salt.

And toss in a handful (about half a cup) of panko.

Give it a good stir and top your stew. Be liberal with this; the layer should be about a quarter inch thick. Pop it in the broiler, and stay watching it. It only takes less than a minute for the panko to take on a nice golden brown.

Serve alongside white rice and a couple slices of French baguette.

And top with parsley and garnish with green onion that you won't eat to be doubly egregious.

Extra points if you eat this in an over-exposed environment.

The gratin topping isn't really necessary, but it does add a nice texture to the dish.

The chicken for the most does retain it's shape.

And the carrots with the riffle cut is mandatory. If you don't have a riffle cutter, you can't make this dish. I'll fight you with my bare hands if you dare make this dish without a riffle cutting your vegetables.

What's great about stews like this (such as the Japanese hamburgers from the last post), is that the leftovers taste even better. So I strongly suggest making this in a large batch, and saving it for throughout the week. Split the pot up into individual tupperware containers and you can keep 'em for up to about a week and a half in the refrigerator, or freeze them and they'll keep for around 1 months to a month and a half.

Alrighty, here's your ingredient list for this dish:

// Japanese White Curry
makes 4-6 servings

2 - medium onions
2 - medium potatoes
2 - medium carrots
1 - head of broccoli
4 oz - sliced mushrooms (half a container)
3 tbsp - butter (2 for the vegetables, 1 for the gratin topping)
1/2 cup - panko
1 tbsp - dashi
salt to taste
water to cover

Enjoy~ I made this at the start of the week when I made the hamburgers, so I now have a solid week and a half of food prepared, so my next couple posts won't be whole dishes, but rather some small tips and things like that.

Such as that chicken thing I mentioned earlier. If there's anything you'd like me to make, or any questions you may have that you'd like me to blog about, let me know!

I'LL MENTION YOU IN THE POST AND YOU CAN BE FAMOUS. holy crap.

Japanese Hamburgers with Curry

2008-07-24T00:22:00.014-04:00

Minasan! Sorry I missed the weekend post. I went to go see the Dark Knight in IMAX, which was more important than anything ever. If you haven't seen it yet, then shame on you. If you're in a foreign country, like I know some of you are, then... well... ha.

Anyway, I made a bunch of stuff at the head of this week, the first of which being Japanese hamburgers.

Along with a dish called "omurice," which I suppose you can call a portmanteau of "omelet" and "rice," Japanese hamburgers are long considered a staple of the branch of Japanese cuisine that has been inspired by the West.

Unlike American burgers, Japanese hamburgers and a lot thicker and a lot softer, and are meant to be eaten with rice and served with a sauce instead of between two buns. It's closer to Salisbury steak than it is to hamburgers, actually, but taste a whole lot better. I've yet to come across an enjoyable Salisbury steak.

So let's begin. Just a heads up, this dish makes 8 quarter-pound burgers. Have one for lunch, or two for dinner, however hungry you are. I cook for the week, so scale down accordingly if you only want to make a little... but why would you? muahaha.

Our vegetables from left to right: A medium onion, about 1 cup of mushrooms (not 3 single mushrooms), one egg (sure, let's call it a vegetable), and one head of broccoli. You can get just the broccoli crown at supermarkets, but they're more expensive per pound, and when it's in a stew, the stem is just as tender as the crown, so why not.

Oh, and for the mushrooms, they're usually sold in 8 oz. containers, so we'll be using half the container, if that's an easier measure.

Our meat~ 1 and a half pounds of lean ground beef and a half pound of ground pork. The ratio you want here is 3 to 1, so this is where you can scale accordingly to however many hamburgers you want to make. I know it doesn't look like 3 to 1 in the picture; there was another half pound of beef that wouldn't fit on the board.

I'm not cooking it yet, it's just that I don't have any large mixing bowls here, and my large sauce pan was the only thing big enough, so... yeah.

Anyway, before you add any of the other ingredients, start by mixing the beef and pork together.

Then beat in one egg.

Then our binders and seasoning to help hold the ground meat together:

A sprinkle of nutmeg, about 2 teaspoons. It doesn't add too much flavor wise, but it does give the hamburgers a very nice aroma. It's one of those things you can't point out when eating it, but you'll definitely notice it if it's not there. And yes, pre-ground nutmeg works just fine in my opinion. Why? Because that bottle was 99 cents. That's why.

A cup or so of Panko. Panko, as so boldly stated with two layers of drop shadow on the packaging above, is Japanese bread crumbs. It's a lot lighter than American bread crumbs.

They're almost like coarsely ground bread crumbs whereas American bread crumbs are finely ground. Panko is great for topping gratins and other similar dishes where a nice crust that's finished under the broiler is called for.

This is dashi, which I have mentioned before in my post on nikujaga. It's made from dried fish, and it's what makes Japanese things taste Japanese. It just does. If you don't have this because you're in, say, Germany, or Ireland, then it's not too big of a deal. I've made this plenty of times before without it and it tastes just fine.

Here's half the medium onion, minced finely. It's important to dice this as small as possible, as large chunks of onion will prevent your burgers from holding together very well, and when they cook, they might fall apart.

Other things to add that weren't pictured: salt and soy sauce to taste. I usually go with about a couple teaspoons of salt and around two tablespoons of soy sauce (Note, this depends on your particular soy sauce. Some are made a LOT stronger than others, so add accordingly)

Divide it eighths, like a pie.

And form each one into ovals about an inch thick. Japanese hamburgers are rarely circular. And sure, add a sprig of parsley to make it look egregious. Now, wrap this plate in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for a day. This will allow all the ingredients to meld and to let the seasonings settle into the meat.

If you're in a hurry, or if you didn't know this was a two-day recipe because I never told you at the beginning of this post, then it's not a big deal. They'll still have time to settle while we make the curry sauce.

So, slice the mushrooms and the remaining half of the onion, and throw them in a medium sauce pot with about a tablespoon of butter. Season with salt and pepper.

About 10 minutes later they'll start to pick up a nice brown on the edges.

Alas, I use store-bought curry mixes. Why? Because it's easy, and, oddly enough, if you make this with actual curry powder, for some weird reason it just doesn't taste like Japanese curry, it'll taste like Indian curry.

Japanese curry is a lot more mellow. I don't know what they do with the mixes, but whatever it is, they've managed to harness all the Japanese-ness of Japanese curry into a single set of 8 one inch by one inch concentrated cubes of flavor.

Anyway, the above picture I didn't take, I found it on Google. I forgot to take a picture of the mix I use before I threw it away. Vermont is good, but I also like House. They're all good though, and the instructions are essentially the same. Add water, and when it comes to a boil, break in the cubes, and stir to make sure they dissolve.

It's really that simple. What's great about it being cubes is you can make as much or as little as you want. For this, I used the entire box. But you could easily make a single serving by adding about a cup of water to two of the cubes. Good stuff.

Broccoli cooks quickly, and since we're going to be heating this sauce up again later when we make our burgers, add them in towards the end.

Simmer for about 5 minutes, and let it cool, then park it in the refrigerator. Or, if you're going straight into making the hamburgers, then put it on the back burner on low heat with the cover on.

So now we can start making our burgers. The key here, like with cooking many meats, is to start on medium to medium high. A common mistake (and one that I made for a long, long time before I finally realized it), is to crank the pan all the way to high because you think that'll make things cook faster. While that's true, it means only the outside will cook faster, meaning the outside will burn faster, all the while the center stays raw.

SO, start on medium heat, and be patient. 3 minutes on each side. Of course, this depends on your range. Medium on some ranges is hotter than medium on other ranges. If after 2 minutes you see your burgers have already taken on a nice crust (as seen in later pictures), then flip it, and lower the heat, and go for longer on other side. Cover the pan during this time to let it sort of quasi-steam the burger too.

In the meantime, our sauce is on the back, heating. Be sure to stir it every once in a while to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom.

3 minutes later and we can flip. It's also important not to crowd the pan. Even though we have 8 burgers to cook, I'm making them in 2 batches. You want to give the burgers enough room so that they don't touch each other.

If you crowd the pan all at once, the juices from the burgers will fill the pan faster than they can evaporate, and this pool of juice at the bottom will thus prevent your burgers from generating a nice crust. If your pan will only allot 2 comfortably, then do it in 4 batches. It's worth it.

While you can't tell from the angle of this photo, try to flip your burgers to a new part of the pan. So instead of flipping them over onto the same spot, scooch it over just a little bit. The part of the pan where your burgers were before you flipped are actually a bit cooler than the rest of pan, so introducing the raw side of these burgers to the hottest parts of the pan will help you attain the same sear on the other side.

After another 3 minutes covered, remove them from the pan. Let the pan heat back up (to medium, medium high), and cook your second batch.

After the second batch finishes, introduce your first batch back into the pan.

Then pour the entire pot of curry into the pan. At this point, the burgers are still rare in the center. So we need to stew them in the sauce for about 20 minutes.

This way, the burgers also pick up the flavor from the curry, so it's not just burgers with curry sauce, IT'S CURRY BURGERS. Holy crap.

Because they look done from the outside, a good way to test the done-ness of your burgers is by poking it with a toothpick, and seeing what color the juice is that comes out of it.

If you look closely, you should be able to see that the juices coming out of this burger have a reddish hue to it. What you want for well-done burgers is clear juices. And because of the onions, egg, and panko, a well-done Japanese burger is still very tender.

Serve with white rice, a couple slices of French baguette, and EXACTLY two broccoli florets and EXACTLY two slices of mushroom. No more, no less, or you'll be dishonoring the entirety of Japanese cuisine.

Here's the classic top view, for whatever reason it is that makes top view photos cool.

I lie, you can serve as many broccoli florets and mushrooms as you like, but I find this whole pairs deal makes this presentation doubly egregious, which is always a plus. Especially the sprig of parsley.

GOLDEN BROWN CRUST.

GOLDEN BROWN MUSHROOMS.

GOLDEN BROWN BREAD, and I guess some hamburger too.

See? This is a lot less egregious, but it's really damn delicious. Slide a sunny-side up egg on top, and break into it, letting the yolk run down into the burger.

Nom.

So, here's an ingredient list. I realized I should have done this for all the past recipes, but... whatever. Alas!

// Japanese Hamburgers with Curry Sauce

1 & 1/2 lbs. - Ground Beef
1/2 lb. - Ground Pork
1 - Head of Broccoli
1 - Medium Onion 4 oz. - Mushrooms
2 tsp - Nutmeg
1 tbsp - Dashi
2 tsp - Salt
2 tbsp - Soy Sauce
1 cup - Panko
1 - Egg (2 if you want an egg on top later on)
1 box - Curry Mix

The dashi, salt, nutmeg, soy sauce, and Panko are all estimates. Flavor to your liking~ If you're unsure, then under-flavor for now. You can always sprinkle on more salt or soy sauce in the end, but you can't take away if you've added too much.

As for the Panko, what you're looking to do is sop up some of the moisture from the mix. Enough for the burgers to still be moist to the touch, but dry enough to hold their shape.

Here's a tip. To check your seasoning, make an uber-mini burger. Pick off a small bit of your mix, and fry that up. See how it tastes. Then you can season the rest of your mix accordingly. And if you've realized you added too much seasoning, then you can curse the heavens.

Enjoy! This dish is one of my favorites.

French Onion Soup & Roasted Chicken

2008-07-13T00:09:00.010-04:00

Sooooo, when I said okonomiyaki, I meant French onion soup and roasted chicken. I couldn't find the time to get to Nijiya Market, so BLAH. Here goes:

For the soup, our vegetables: Two medium-large onions, 1 sprig of fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, and 2 cloves of garlic.

For the chicken: One chicken breast, skin-on and bone-in. Roasting chicken with the bone in makes it a lot juicier than skinless and boneless chicken. You can always peel the skin off later too.

So in a large pot or wok over medium heat, sautee the onions in two tablespoons of butter with the thyme, bay leaves, and garlic until softened and carmelized.

While that cooks, preheat the oven to 400 and prepare the chicken by rubbing it liberally with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Feel free to add other herbs and spices to your liking, such as oregano or rosemary, but you'd be surprised how flavorful good chicken can be just roasted with salt and pepper.

When the oven is heated, roast the chicken for around 40 minutes while you make the soup.

After around 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, your onions will be nice and caramelized.

As you can see, they cook down quite a bit.

Add around a cup of red wine, and turn the heat to high to bring to a boil. When the wine is boiling, bring the heat back down to around medium and cook until the alcohol cooks out and wine evaporates.

This will take around 10 minutes or so.

Fish out the thyme and the bay leaves, and then sprinkle the onions with two tablespoons of flour. Stir liberally to break up any lumps, and cook for another 10 minutes.

The flour will combine with the wine to form a nice and flavorful coating over your onions.

Then we add 1 quart of beef stock, and bring to a simmer.

Cook for another 10 minutes, and season to your liking.

The classic preparation of this soup begins by pouring a serving into an small crock pot or similar oven safe bowl like the one above. Make sure to leave about half an inch from the top of the bowl for the bread and cheese.

Place a slice of toasted French baguette and layer gruyere cheese over it. Be sure to toast the bread first, or it will immediately sop up the soup and become soggy.

A couple minutes under the broiler, and the cheese melts nicely around the bread.

Garnish with a sprig of thyme because it looks awesome.

By then, your chicken will be nicely golden brown. Serve along-side brown rice and salsa.

You can see how juicy the chicken is when you leave the skin and bone on.

Nom.

---

Oh, and my bonsai tree fails. I'm beginning to think the seeds never sprouted.

TEAR.

Steak

2008-07-06T16:28:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a pretty effects-intensive commercial this weekend, so I won't have time to post a step-by-step for anything new. Sumimasen~

But I will be gathering ingredients throughout the week for okonomiyaki. So look for that this weekend! And... no bonsai update either because... well... it looks exactly the same.

Anyway, seeing as how Friday was independence day, I decided to be uberly American and make a steak.

This is around a 12oz. rib-eye steak with a red-wine & beef-broth reduction sauce with sauteed mushrooms and potatoes roasted in a red-pepper and sun-dried tomato pesto.

With steaks, the general idea is to start on high heat, and with a steak that's room temperature. If you take a steak straight out of the fridge and onto the pan, it'll cool the pan down too quickly, and you won't be able to get a nice sear.

For medium done-ness, as pictured above, it'll take around three or four minutes on each side on medium-high to high heat. Of course, this varies depending on the thickness of your steak (mine was about a half-inch), your range (gas, electric, etc.), and what kind of pan you use (steel, iron, aluminum, etc.). Some pans will retain heat a lot better than others, reducing cooking time, and vice versa. I used my mini-teppan grill for this steak, because mini-teppan grills are awesome.

It's integral to let steak rest after you take it off the pan. In this case, at least 5 minutes. If you cut into it immediately, all the juices will flow out, and your steak will dry up very quickly. Resting gives the juices a chance to cool down, regain some of its viscosity, and redistribute itself throughout the meat.

Oh, and a trick with potatoes. After you cut them, put them in the microwave for about 2 minutes to par-cook them before you season them and put them in the oven. This drastically reduces the time it takes to roast potatoes like this.

The potatoes above only took about 25 minutes in a conventional toaster oven at 375 degrees.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend!

Nikujaga

2008-06-29T18:44:00.006-04:00

Today's dish is a meat and potato dish called nikujaga, which quite literally means "meat-potato." Fair enough. It's a popular home-style dish, and synonymous with Japanese comfort food.

The traditional recipe calls for thinly sliced beef, like that used in sukiyaki. But I like large chunks... because why not. The beef I'm using here is prime chuck. You could easily make this dish with pork or chicken. The flavor won't change too much.

Our vegetables from left to right: 2 medium potatoes, 1 medium onion, a handful of baby carrots. They don't need to be baby carrots, I just had a bag of 'em lying around.

So we start by browning the beef over high heat.

Just until they pick up some color.

At this stage, the meat will still be around medium-rare.

Then we add our vegetables, chopped into bite-size pieces to match the beef.

This is sauteed for around 5 minutes, just until the onion starts to cook.

Then we add enough dashi broth just to cover. Here we are using about 2 and a half cups. Dashi is sold in most Japanese markets in a granulated form in packets, so making dashi broth really involves just adding water.

When this comes to a boil, the heat is turned down to around medium/medium-low, and we cover, and simmer for about half an hour, or until the potatoes soften. After which, we add around 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and sake. Then we add brown sugar to our liking. Of course, the soy sauce and sugar can be substituted for bottled sukiyaki sauce. Same ingredients~ Sukiyaki sauce can border on the sweet side though, so balance it out with some salt, or more soy sauce if it's too sweet for your tastes.

Cook uncovered over low for another 8 minutes or so to reduce the liquid and cook the alcohol out of the sake.

By now, the onions have dissolved, and, combined with the starch from the potatoes and reduced broth, forms a nice sauce. There's not too much sauce, but just enough to coat the meat and vegetables.

Served with some white rice, and this stew is Japanese comfort food at its best.

Nom.

Oh, and no bonsai tree update today.... nothing's happened.

... tear.

Sukiyaki

2008-06-28T17:34:00.031-04:00

So the window that I thought was North facing was actually the exact opposite, meaning my bonsai is now DOOOOOOOMED.

The window I moved it to now isn't North-facing either. It turns out there are no North-facing windows at all in my office. How sad. This window is at least next to my desk.

Anyway, a week in, and no sprouts yet. We'll see.

---

So I've decided to make a couple Japanese dishes every weekend. Today's dish is sukiyaki, a style of nabemono, or "steamboat," the Japanese take on the hot pot, where thinly sliced meats are simmered with vegetables in a dashi broth.

Dashi is made by boiling together konbu, a type of edible kelp, and kezurikatsuo, shavings of dried tuna more commonly known as bonito. The resulting broth forms the base of many dishes, such as miso soup, noodle broths, and of course, nabemono soups.

Many consider dashi to be fundamental to Japanese cuisine. Shizuo Tsuji, author of Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art, writes, "many substitutes for dashi are possible, but without dashi, dishes are merely a la japonaise and lack the authentic flavor."

Thus, I was willing to bike 8 miles to a Nijiya Market to get some.

"Osen"-style sukiyaki comes from a great Japanese television series "Osen," which is about a traditional Japanese restaurant and its struggles in facing modernization. The way they prepare sukiyaki in the series is a step away from what I've seen before, but it was intriguing, so I thought I'd prepare sukiyaki today in that way.

It starts with the beef. This is prime rib-eye, sliced thin. $19.99/lb at Nijiya Market. Expensive as balls, but I biked 8 miles to get there, so I figured what the hell.

These are the vegetables that will go in later. From left to right: firm tofu, scallions, enoki mushrooms, and napa cabbage. In the show, they use just fried tofu and another vegetable called shungiku, which are garland chrysanthemum leaves. Traditional sukiyaki also uses this (as do many Chinese hot pot dishes), but I'm personally not a big fan, as they're relatively bitter.

Here is where Osen-style sukiyaki differs from traditional sukiyaki, and also where I differ from Osen-style sukiyaki. In the series, they use a clay pot instead of a soup pot. I don't have a clay pot, so I'm using my mini-teppan grill. Also, rather than make the soup and cook the vegetables first, Osen-style sukiyaki browns the meat first.

Traditionally, onions are browned in butter before the broth and other vegetables are added. And the meat actually goes in last.

Here we are browning the meat first, almost like teppanyaki, a form of Japanese bbq where meats and vegetables are cooked on an iron griddle.

When the meat reaches medium-rare, that is when we add the sukiyaki sauce, which is a combination of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin (Japanese rice wine). Japanese markets usually have pre-mixed sukiyaki sauces.

The meat is simmered in the sauce for just a moment, and then removed.

In both the Osen-style and traditional sukiyaki, this meat (as well as the vegetables that are cooked later), are dipped in raw egg, and then eaten. I'm not too big on raw egg, so I just serve it over a steaming bowl of white rice.

Nom.

In Osen, the dashi broth is then added to the pot that the beef was cooked in, picking up all the meat juices and the remaining sauce. Unfortunately, my mini-teppan grill was a little shallow, so I had to mix a little of the broth in to pick up the sauce and juice, and then transfer that over to a taller soup pot.

The vegetables are then added. The noodles on the top are yam noodles called shirataki noodles. They're much chewier than noodles such as ramen or udon.

Covering and simmering lets all the flavors meld together. Especially in the tofu. In traditinal sukiyaki, the tofu is seared before stewing in the broth, and in Osen-style sukiyaki, the tofu is deep fried. These methods provide the tofu with a firmer texture on the outside, preventing the tofu from just falling apart as you try to pick it up. I just prefer straight up tofu, but it's all good~

With some of my leftover meat added back in because it had cooled, this is what traditional sukiyaki would look like. The raw meat is added at the very end, after the broth and vegetables have simmered away, and cooked to a medium rare-state, and eaten immediately.

I personally prefer the Osen-style where the meat is cooked first, as it allows for a slight char on the outside of the meat, but it is a little troublesome, especially in my case, where I had to switch pots.

Regardless, it was awesome, especially with a bottle of Calpico~

bonsai tensai.

2008-06-23T03:11:00.012-04:00

So I've come to the conclusion that, like many other things, I'm terrible with commitments. i.e. this blog. I don't even know what the last post was about.

Anyway, I'm working in Palo Alto for the summer, so I decided to get one of those desktop bonsai tree kits. Because when I think Palo Alto, goddammit, I think desktop bonsai tree kits.

I'm sure you've seen these around at places like Borders, and thought, "oh this is neat." Then saw that it was $5.95 and though, "eh... it's not $5.95 neat though," and put it back on that spinning rack with all the other $5.95 novelty desktop items, like the tiny zen garden kit.

Well "fuck it," I said, "I'm in Palo Alto, the city of champions!" and splurged and got the merry berry version.

I bought it a week ago, and as per the instructions, refrigerated the seeds in a damp paper towel for seven days. And alas, the planting begins:

That pellet in the middle is dried dirt, about the size of an Oreo. The instructions say, "Slowly pour 32.oz of warm water on the pellet, until it expands." To put it in perspective, 32oz. is a little under 3 Coke cans worth of warm water.

This is the pellet with a teaspoon of water on it.

Needless to say, it took a while to get it to look like this:

SEEDS.

And now it sits, basking in the sunlight of the only North facing window in my office.

I figure this is the only way I'll regularly update. I'll post new pictures of my tree at least once a week hopefully (read "once a month").

And this is what I made for dinner that day:

It's soy-marinated grilled chicken in vegetable curry.

Pineapple Express

2008-03-01T17:22:00.005-05:00

here's the red-band trailer for Pineapple Express, which is essentially just a trailer with the f-word in it.

written by seth rogen and evan goldberg, the writers of superbad, pineapple express comes out august 8th, 2008.

oh, and i'm now addicted to that mia song. i wasn't before, but i've quite literally been listening to that song on loop for the past couple hours now.

it's astonishing how easy it is to find things on the net...

Awesome.

2008-02-26T23:28:00.004-05:00

Transformers got shafted for best visual effects. I didn't even see the Golden Compass, so there is very little justification in my argument, but whatever. I understand that it must have taken a lot to build a world from the ground up, with castles and polar bears and golden compasses and whatnot, but at the end of the day, it feels like it's all been done before. Blame Lord of the Rings. And they already won for best visual effects.

Regardless, Michael Bay is awesome:

It didn't really make me want to get Verizon FiOs, but still. Solid commercial.

LINK DUMP.

// Compositing Stuffs

Into After Effects and all that jazz? Here's a link to some free pre-matted explosions and flames.

http://detonationfilms.com/missionstatement.htm

And if you have no moral qualms, hit up the Pirate Bay for torrents to VideoCoPilots composite stuffs:

http://thepiratebay.org/user/zemoghelp/

// Food

Haven't tried it yet, because it's expensive as balls, but apparently Peter Lugar's in Brooklyn has the greatest steak you'll ever slide down your throat. *Growl* Voted top by Fortune magazine and a slew of others, check it out if your ever get the money.

http://www.peterluger.com/

They cleverly hide their prices. BUT ALAS:

http://www.usmenuguide.com/peterlugar.html

// Media

A blog a frequent, in fact, I get all my movie news from here, is:

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/

It's a pretty entertaining blog, and surprisingly ahead in the news for a blog that's just run by a guy who likes movies.

// Movie Enthusiasts

While wafts of the Oscars are still in the air, if you're interested in watching the nominees for best short film and best animated shorts, check out the IFC center:

www.ifccenter.com

Every year they play all the nominees back to back for the price of single admission (separate showings for live-action and animation), which is great, because you rarely get the chance to watch these films.

HAY, I've got a script to finish. So I'm gonna go do that. I've been shitty about my blog, so I'm going to try to get back on it more often.

... that's what she said. (The Office returns in April!)

woot.

// tim

the office , jackie chan, & internet peoples

2007-09-09T23:35:00.000-04:00

the new season of the office starts on september 27th at 9pm! that's only 16 days, or 381 hours and 22 minutes, or 22838 minutes, or 1370280 seconds from now, or 0.09948 parsecs, or 13.788 fortnights, or 6 and 3/4 fathoms, or 0.488 migrations of an east african hornet, however it is you prefer to tell time.

let's take some time and inaugurate this momentous occasion~

does this mean we won't get to see the confrontation between on pam, jim, and karen though? gasp. i've had worries about yet another season of the office, considering where the last season left off would have been a good end, but we'll see. i'm still excited for this next season, hopefully nbc doesn't diarrhea all over this show.

and on another note, kudos to JD for sending me the single greatest video i've ever seen uploaded onto youtube.

oh jackie...

and for those of you who are have been there for all the internet fads, from numa numa to jib jab to homestar, then this should bring back some solid memories.

pandas, conchords, and sunshine

2007-08-05T03:38:00.000-04:00

With about a week left here in Washington, I finally made it out the national zoo to see those pandas. Me and a couple of other people followed this thing they called the "Asia Trail." They called it that because it was lined with some bamboo, and, as we all know, that's all it takes to make something Asian. They even line some of the habitats with fake plastic bamboo with spiky tops. Now that's dedication.

Today was pretty fucking hot, so a majority of this trail consisted of wading through crowds of little children with unnecessarily expensive cameras, and looking for these animals which were tucked away in the farthest corners of their fake forests, but to little or no avail. In fact, even after walking past 5 "Fujifilm Photo Spots" for the giant pandas, the first panda we found was this one.

Unfortunately, it had wandered beyond the fake bamboo perimeter, and was immediately cast in bronze by lasers. So I took a picture with it. But a little whiles after this we finally find them indoors in their feeding place tank pseudo-mountain top thing.

This is one of those rare instances where the backdrop actually looks somewhat kind of maybe real... kind of.

And here's that image 35 times a second with slight variations inbetween.

TANGENT.

So tonight I caught an episode of this comedy series on HBO called "Flight of the Conchords," and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. EVER. It's awkward comedy, akin to the Lonely Island and Stella, but in a New Zealand accent, which makes it even better.

Here's a video that will make absolutely no sense to you outside of the context of the episode, but hopefully it's intriguing enough to make you order HBO and watch it on Sundays.

Oh, and go watch Sunshine, it's fucking amazing. Here's the trailer:

Why yes, the trailer tells you absolutely nothing about the movie, other than the fact the Scarecrow is in it. But still, go see it. It reminded me a lot of Event Horizon, if you remember that movie, only a LOT less creepy and void of a screaming Lawrence Fischburne (which, in the case, is a good thing). And it's as visually beautiful as The Fountain, only with a plot that a normal human being would actually be able to follow the first time through. Point is, I embedded the trailer in my blog, thus alleviating you from one extra step to click a link and then press play. Thus, through the transitive property, you must go see this movie.

pew pew pew

2007-07-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH.

And for those of you who are amazingly bored, here's a damn good time-killer of a game. It's the first decent DDR based flash game I've come across. ENJOY IT CUZ I EMBEDDED IT IN MY BLOG VIA MY AWESOME HTML SKILLZ.

ira glass is the man

2007-07-16T22:34:00.000-04:00

i'm gonna be an embedding whore now.

here are several videos of Ira Glass, the host of This American Life (guy that was 2nd on my list of fucking awesome voices), giving some guidelines to good storytelling.

i think it's vital stuff for anyone with an interest in writing for film or television, which i don't... so i've seen this a thousand times and still suck at storytelling. i just watch it to listen to him talk.

so there you go. now noone has an excuse to suck at storytelling.
... except for me.

this american life

2007-07-15T23:46:00.001-04:00

i've never really had the inclination to "embed" things in my blog. i'm not an html savvy guy, so i figured i'd just provide the link, and they could see whatever it was for themselves.

but i am embedding this video, from This American Life, cuz i saw it a long time ago, lost the link, and finally found it just now. and i think it's worth watching, so here goes:

This American Life is a GREAT radio show, perfect for passing the time when you're doing tedious tasks on photoshop, or just sleuthing on a lazy sunday afternoon or whatever. you can listen to full episodes at www.thislife.org, and see clips from their show on showtime.

'my reputation,' '24 hours at the golden apple,' and 'the allure of the mean friend' are some of my favorites.

and of course, ira glass high up there on my list of fucking awesome voices, second only next to jeremy irons

d.c. metros are stupid.

2007-07-15T03:14:00.000-04:00

it's 3:18 am, and i'm in the office, because i really love my job. like, really.

see? there's my 6 monitor set-up. each one of those represents a characteristic of mine that reflects my work ethic.

1) DILIGENCE.
2) PERFECTION.
3) RESPONSIBLE.
4) INNOVATIVE.
5) ASIAN.
6) PANDAS.

shut up.

i'm here because the metro system here in washington fails to see the financial benefits of running 24/7 and actually closes. so now i'm stranded here in the office until it opens.

i should take advantage of this and do a lot work.

but i'd much rather spend the next 5 hours changing everyone's screen-saver to something profane... like a baby chimpanzee jerking it into a banana peel, or this:

american university blows.

2007-07-13T01:07:00.001-04:00

it's 1:24 in the morning, and i'm 2/3rds, wait, NAY, 25/36th of the way through writing a script for a documentary i'm getting progressively less interested in completing.

i kinda feel like this

and that is me trying to suffocate american university to death with my claws of fury, cuz this place blows... hard.

their dining hall costs 15 bux a meal. but me and my friend greg figure if we go in with a duffel bag full of tupperware, we can get out 15 dollars worth. so we fill up our shit, and this southern bitch who looked like a walking banana split came and yelled at us, and made us throw it away.

so in the end, i paid 15 bux for some tater tots and to dirty up my tupperware.

and the food tasted like i imagine how this would taste

but i didn't want to leave empty handed, so i took the first thing i could find, which was this basket of napkins.

take that, american university.

shibuyaaaa

2007-05-24T16:03:00.001-04:00

I couldn't find much time at Narita airport to do an update, so alas, the final post for my Japan trip is being done back in LA.

One of favorite places to go in Japan is definitely Shibuya; all the lights and gigantic tv screens makes it feel like Times Square, only cleaner.

The pink and blue neon sign in the background is for HMV, probably Tokyo's largest media chain, comparable to Virgin in New York, selling music and movies from around the world.

HMV stands for "His Master's Voice"... sounds kinda totalitarian if you ask me. Good thing they stuck to the acronym... like KFC.

Unlike music stores in America (or those that I've been to anyway), many Japanese music stores have their own sections for indie music.

I didn't snap a picture of it, but right as you walk into the store, you see a rack that has the current top 10. Of what chart, I have no idea, but it does make deciding easier. I picked up a compilation album for a group called Mr.Children (no space), which has actually been around since 1987. Throughout my trip I had their name all over the place, on the subway, on TV, etc, so I was glad to see they has just released a greatest hits album, so to speak, called B-Side.

What I particularly like about them is that their music spans all genres, rap, rock, blues, even electronica, which is rare when for what could be technically classified as a boy band (except they've gotten much older since their start... and man band just sounds weird.) B-Side is a great album to pick up if you ever get the chance to, whether it be in stores or online.

Of course, around Shibuya you'll still find the lesser known artists busking outside of subway stations or on any street corner that can manage the space.

These guys probably had the most elaborate set-up I had seen to date, with a projector and everything. They were reminiscent of a cross between Linkin Park and System of a Down, which I liked, so I picked up their album.

Shibuya, like pretty much any city in Tokyo, has several arcades, and this drum game it by far the greatest game ever made... EVER. They sell it in stores (with a smaller version of the drum, of course), but it can't play on American playstation 2's, which sucks major balls.

Check it out, London Police in Japan, woot.

Here's a wide shot of just a small part of Shibuya.

And the same place at day time. There are a lot less people...so to speak, but it's still cool.

Cuz you can see Asian Bruce Willis, HELL YEAH.

As usual, more picture of Shibuya can be found on my Facebook:

http://nyu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2176930&l=67241&id=839671

And for those of you who know the meaning of televised awesome, here's something for you~

go figure

2007-05-20T18:07:00.002-04:00

So, who would of thought, of all the places I'd be able to find a strong pilferable wireless connection, it's an hour away from the city in Shuhoukaku Kogetsu, an old school hotel in rural Yamanashi at the foot of the Fuji Mountain. Check out that view~ GROWL.

10 minutes down the road from the hotel is the Ukai Music Forest, a garden and private collection of European music boxes that's open to the public.

It's a pretty peaceful place, and its cafe has one hell of a view of the Fuji Mountain.

The music halls turned museums house all sorts of music boxes. From old school ones like the one shown below:

To newer ones available for purchase, like this DEVILISHLY CUTE one.

And they have fondue. Kick-ass.

AND SWANS. These are the only two swans the park has. I think they're a couple.

That night, dinner at the Shuhoukaku Kogetsu was pretty intense. It was traditional Japanese fare, with an enormous variety of dishes, all of which in small bite-sized amounts, and all of which awesome.

More photos of the food here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175412&l=c2432&id=839671

This morning I had to get up at 2am because my dad was intent on seeing the sunrise from an establishment near the top of Fuji Mountain. I spent most of the night watching the season finales of Scrubs and The Office (again), and didn't get to sleep until 12am, so it kind of sucked getting up. But it was worth it in the end, considering I got some pretty sweet pics.

Check that out, Planet Earth status.

More photos on my Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175401&l=a7e0a&id=839671

// tim

the office

2007-05-19T07:02:00.001-04:00

Headed down to Akihabara last night, Tokyo's electric city. It's probably the only place in Tokyo, or the entire world, for that matter, where you can have the opportunity to win what appears to be a catholic schoolgirl uniform from a claw machine.

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
I was actually surprised to find a number of bands busking in the streets outside of the subway station here. All the blogs and guides that I've read points these things towards other places like Shibuya and Shinjuku. But right outside of the JR station here, I was fortunate to find three of 'em, each within several yards of eachother.

What you'll often see is artists promoting their own albums, even though they've already been signed. And you can buy their albums right there.

These two were literally 15 feet away from the other girl. They took forever to get ready so I got bored and moved on to the next group, 10 feet away. These guys I liked.

They're a group called Myst, and they remind me a lot of Eric Clapton, but with a traditional Japanese musical influence. Their combination of fast-paced acoustics with old school drum and cymbal beats make for an interesting sound. I bought two of their albums, and I would defintiely recommend checking them out if you get the chance.

So the following afternoon I went back to Harajuku to check out a bridge called Jingo-bashii. Apparently a bunch of cosplay people like to hang out there on the weekends. Here are some pics:

oh, white people...

Anyway, afterward, I headed to Shibuya to watch the season finale of the Office, which was long overdue, but unfortunately inevitable because I don't get NBC in japan...

And I must say, sitting in an otaku cafe in Japan watching the greatest hour of television ever made with a box of vending machine yakisoba... hands down, the greatest experience of my life.

And for those of you who saw the episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

// tim

good eats around japan

2007-05-17T08:30:00.000-04:00

I'm in Shibuya once again, but this time at Wired Cafe on the 6th floor of Q-Front, which is a lot like Tower or Virgin. Internet here is free when you order stuff, so I got a raspberry tiramisu. I think they ran out of ladyfinger cookies to make it with though, because they used Frosted Flakes... not that that's a bad thing.

Anyway, here are some reviews of the restaurants I visited today~

Omete-Sando/ Harajuku

“Seven Seas”

Lunch Buffet – 1500yen

This is a fantastic lunch buffet very characteristic of the Japanese culture. The cuisine itself is not entirely Japanese, ranging from ham mousse quiches to tonkatsu and curry to bortsch, it’s its preparation and execution that makes his upscale joint a popular place for housewives to unwind while their husbands are away. Flavors are delicate, and don’t overwhelm the palatte, as many American buffets tend to do. When compared to most American buffets, the selection may seem minimal, but as with most of Japan, it’s about quality over sheer quantity. The care taken into each dish is apparent. Dishes aren’t served in large metal tubs, heating over boiling water, but rather in ceramic dishes. For 1500yen a person, the Seven Sea’s lunch buffet is highly recommended even if you're not in the Omote-Sando area.

Ginza Line => stop at Omote-Sando => Exit B5

Restaurant in underground, two escalators up from exiting the station.

Located in a plaza known as Diamond Hills, along the stretch of Omote-Sando hills, ripe with plently of window-shopping locations ranging from Prada to Ralph Lauren. woot woot.

^f-ing AWESOME chicken.

Odaiba

“Gazen”

Izakaya (Japanese-style tapas) => 200yen – 800yen

Izakaya translates to “snack bar,” essentially, but it’s far from the bags of Doritos and the bowl of mixed nuts that one may associate with the term “snacks.” Izakaya can be likened to the Spanish tapas, appetizer-sized dishes that are relatively inexpensive are perfect for sharing. With enough for a generous bite-sized serving for 4 or 5 people, these dishes are popular amongst Japanese businessmen looking to unwind after work. Izakaya restaurants are also a great place to go for wide selection of local beers and mixed drinks.

Tokyo Decks is Odaiba’s landmark mall, home to Joypolis, the amusement park run by Sega. Each floor is decorated to look like an old fashioned street market, with stone pathways adorned by paper lanterns. Each floor is a different culture, for example, the 6^th floor is called Little Hong Kong. Be mindful though, Tokyo Decks is two separate buildings, so manage your time wisely between the two. Little Japan on the 4^th floor of the building opposite Little Hong Kong is definitely worth checking out.

After splurging your holiday budget on all sorts of little knick-knacks, a buffet might not be what you have in mind, especially at 2000yen a person. Unfortunately, when it comes to dinner options, many of the restaurants on the 5^th and 6^th floors of Tokyo Decks are buffets. So instead, give izakaya a try and head up to the 6^th floor to a restaurant called Gozen.

With a view of the Rainbow Bridge that absolutely can’t be beat, and devilishly romantic, Gozen is great place to unwind. Try the ozashiki (Japanese mat) seating for the full Japanese experience. Their tuna and avocado summer rolls and Agedashi-style tofu come highly recommended. Although a seasonal dish, their stewed Daikon radish with pork is an award-winner at competitions. If they have it, it’ll be on a laminated insert. Unfortunately, the inserts are in Japanese, so ask for a translation if possible.

Yurikamome Line => stop at Odaiba Kaihi-Koen

Exit heading towards Tokyo Decks (look for the yellow labels next to the map that’ll lead you in the right direction)

Gozen is on the 6^th floor of the building on the right~

---

So by now I finished my tiramisu and ordered some random tea so it wouldn't look like I was just sitting here pilfering internet, but it turns out this tea tastes like balls. Well, not really, it's one of those odd flavors that only tastes odd because you're not sure what it is you're tasting, but once you know what it is, it's not that odd anymore. You know?

... yeah.

For everyone back in the States, Office season finale tonight!!

// tim

gran cyber cafe

2007-05-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

So right now I'm sitting in Gran Cyber Cafe in Shibuya in one of their ever-so-spiffy little booths for 480yen/hour, which comes out to around 4 bucks an hour, which is pretty sweet, considering you get access to the internet, cable television, a playstation 2, and a gigantic collection of manga. Unfortunately for the Japanese illiterate, like myself, the internet and the playstation is pretty much all I can use. Nevertheless, these places are great. You can even stay overnight for a flat rate 1200yen, which comes out to around 10 bux. Sure it's tiny, but hey, it's cheaper than any hotel around here at least.

It should be apparent by now that I didn't find a wireless network that I could pilfer here in Shibuya. Tear.

A great part of my day was spent in a city called Harajuku (like that Belle & Sebastian song), the self-proclaimed fashion capital of Tokyo. The metal sculpture that looks like two eyes is their town symbol. Not sure why that is, but it looks cool. Along the street pictured above, Takeshita, you'll find all sorts of small boutiques, crepe stands, and coffee shops. But you'll probably find the most amusement out of just people-watching. Here is where Tokyo's unique sense of fashion is most imminent.

A lot of up and coming fashion designers like to set up shop here, away from so-called "mainstream" fashion centrals. In many ways, Harajuku is like the fashion underground, where "indie" fashion designers like to gather. Their storefronts are often as vibrant as their designs.

ILL. oh, and yes, it was full of extra dope wear to select.

Even if you're not particularly into fashion, this place is worth checking out. If anything, for the crepes and random engrish.

Alrighty, I gotta go catch a train. Sorry this update was so short. Check out more photos of Harajuku on my Facebook.

http://nyu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173945&l=30f9c&id=839671

// tim

Ringo?

2007-05-15T05:07:00.000-04:00

(apple?)

Alright, I'll admit, it seems Apple Computers isn't entirely useless after all. At this very moment, I'm standing across the street from the Apple Store in Ginza, with my laptop perched atop a subway stop, and pilfering Apple's wireless connection. Turns out the house I'm staying in Denenchofu doesn't have wireless, or at least, a network that isn't password protected. People are kinda staring at me as they walk by... I wonder if this is illegal.

Oh well.

There's my laptop, and there's good 'ol Apple computers~

I'm staying in a house in a small town called Denenchofu. It's where my grandmother lives, and where my aunt used to live. My parents had bought it several years ago and have been renting it out to random people. Nobody's staying there right now, so we figured we'd stay there instead of forking over the money for a hotel. Hopefully, it'll still be free come this winter so I can use it again~

Apparently bidets are standard when it comes to Japanese houses. How awesome is that?

Ugh, someone just started smoking right next to me, and the downwind is blowing death in my face. Fucker.

I haven't gotten the chance to visit much in regard to music, but there are a couple music venues (the Japanese call them-

UGH, now another guy just joined him and the downwind is blowing double-death in face.

Anyway, the Japanese like to call music venues (like Webster or Bowery) "live houses," I guess for obvious reasons. It seems a majority of these are in a city called Shibuya, which is a lot like the best of Times Square plus the best of Soho. There's great shopping and great entertainment. I'm going to be heading down there later tonight; not sure if I'll be able to pilfer any internet when I'm there. There's one live house called "Shibuya O-East" which is supposed to very electronica heavy with "all sorts of wacky extras, such as bubbles, shadow puppets, and video embellishments." Woot woot.

Ok, this guy just scooched even closer. what the fuck.

I spent the majority of today in Hakuhinkan Toy Park, which is supposedly the biggest toy store in all of Tokyo. There are 4 floors of toys, 2 floors of restaurants, and a theatre on their uppermost level.

What's great about this place is that it's not that big size-wise (I would say it's no bigger than Wal-mart when it comes to measuring by the square-foot). But rather, their selection is absolutely ridiculous. Rather than put out their entire stock of an item on their shelves, they only put one or two. And if you want one, they'll go to the back and get one for you. It's all very space-efficient and what you end up with is an amazing collection of what seems like every toy ever made. Definitely a must-see if you're ever in the Ginza area.

I got some Studio Ghibli stuff, woot woot.

^cutest stuffed cat I've ever seen... ever.

Here's one of their displays for those automated stuffed animals. It makes me giddy.

More photos of Hakuhinkan can be found on my Facebook~

http://nyu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173561&l=b3ed0&id=839671

Ginza itself is comparable to Fifth Avenue when it comes to shopping. All the uber expensive brands have set up shop along the streets of this city. Prada, Fendi, Chaumet, Furla, etc. etc. Ginza is also home to the original Matsuya, one of the first department stores to open in the Tokyo region.

The Apple Store here absolutely beats the living shit out of any Apple store I've been to in America, even the flagship one in New York. It's 5 stories and has a small auditorium that hosts tech classes ever hour. They have an internet cafe too, but I figured it'd be odd if I went it in with my PC.

So far, Japan's been great. I'm glad I got I'm staying in a small town this time around as opposed to a hotel. At this point, I could really see myself living here in the future if the opportunity presented itself. There's practically as much English as there is is Japanese, and the cost of living isn't that much greater than New York.

Alrighty, I'm heading off towards Shibuya now. Hopefully I'll be able to find some sort of pilferable wireless connection there too. Oh, and posting picture through blogspot I've found is a bitch. So... I'll probably stick with Facebook albums.

AIGHT. check back often...-ish.

// tim

baka!

2007-05-12T00:58:00.000-04:00

This really has nothing to do with my Japan trip, but I thought it was amusing, so I thought I'd share it~

Why yes, that is a cat chasing a bear up a tree.

RAWR.

Full story here => http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06//060613-cat-bear.html

nihongo wa dekimasen ; ______ ;

2007-05-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

(I can't speak Japanese ::sadness::)

I took a semester of Speaking Freely Japanese, but I don't think I remember anything from that class... I've probably learned more Japanese from watching the two Deathnotes. Apparently the word 'baka!' ranges in meaning from 'oh silly' if you're an ambitious female journalist, and 'fuck all!' if you're a detective. Go figure. Either way, I'm leaving for Japan this Sunday, and I'm coming back the 23rd of May. This gives me 9 or so days to do everything in my 'Best of Tokyo: The Ultimate Pocket Guide & Map.'

(Tangent: If you're ever looking for travel guides, you should definitely check out Lonely Planet's. They're really well written and full of illustrations. woot woot. They also have a pretty comprehensive website=> www.lonelyplanet.com)

My parents have a house in Denchofu, so I'm going to be staying there. It doesn't have internet though, so I'm going to have to do this blog in a cafe in Tokyo... or something. Whatever, I'll figure something out. Good news is, while my parents are meddling in real estate business, I'll hopefully be free to roam around the city.

If anything though, I'm going to try to check out Japan's independent music scene. From what I've read so far, Shibuya is a pretty sweet place to go to see random bands performing on the street to gain exposure. Also in Shibuya is a massive record store called Disk Union that has a huge collection of indie music in its basement labeled, appropriately enough, 'Japanese Underground.' Should be fun~

If you're interested in checking out Japanese music, www.japanfiles.com is a good site to go to. They sell all sorts of Japanese music from every genre, and even have compilation albums, which are neat. You can sample all the tracks too, which is double neat.

Future posts will have more pictures VIA MY CANON SD1000K DIGITAL ELPH.

By far, the best fucking camera ever.... for its size... and its price. Either way, I highly recommend it if you're looking for a solid point-and-shoot digital camera. Any Canon camera is uber, really. It can also record videos, so expect some of those if I come across any bands performing on the street.

Alrighty, I just bought the new Deathnote, so I'm gonna go read that. Catch you guys later~

apples.