Oishii Tabemono - Delicious Food

When people think of Japanese food, they obviously think of sushi.




Above is a picture of 'kaiten sushi' - or sushi on a conveyor belt! Literally. The restaurant has a conveyor belt snaking through all the tables, and you sit and watch as various types of sushi go by, and grab what you want! It is so fun. And at 100¥ per plate, it is a cheap and yummy way to have a nice lunch with lots of different tastes. My favorite is the eel. It just melts in your mouth.

But sushi aside, there is a lot more to Japanese cuisine, such as the wonderful world of noodles! I recently had the privilege of attending an udon-making event organized for foreigners at my local community center. Udon, pronounced ooo-don, is a delicious hand-made thick noodle, which is served alongside salad and soup.

When my hands weren't covered in flour, I managed to get a few shots of the udon making process.

After working the dough into a ball, it is then flattened, by foot, into a large circle.



Don't worry, there's a plastic sheet over the dough!



Then, you fold the flattened circle of dough into layers, and cut them into strips.



The next step is boiling the noodles in a delicious broth of veggies, seaweed and fish flakes. I know that sounds gross but it is really good. The udon is then removed from the broth and cooled in a dish. But what is kind of weird is that they serve the broth and the noodles seperately - but you're supposed to take the noodles from one dish and then put them into the dish with the broth. I guess that keeping the noodles separate, they don't get mushy.


Yum yum. Delicious, but a bit tricky to pick up with the chopsticks.

The day after the udon making, I was invited to a nabe party by the lovely Yoko who cooked us the delicious nabe, which is sort of a stew made with kimchee cabbage, spices, and anything else you want to throw in, such as eggs, chicken, shrimp, or even smoked French meat.



Hmm I wonder what Yana is thinking as she looks so longingly at the nabe? Perhaps..... 'These poor fools.... Little do they know... I'm going to eat all of it. ALLLLLLL!! *evil laugh*'



In Japan, before you start to eat, you say, 'Itadakimasu!' which means 'I'll recieve'. So, all this talk of food has made me hungry, so I'll go eat now. Itadakimasu!