yakiniku - BBQ heaven

MJ: So you might have read Nico's blog about the list of things we want to do in Japan before we pack up and leave for our new home of Perth. At the top of the list for both of us was definitely go to a yakiniku restaurant. Yakiniku is just amazing - and anyone who like meat will certainly get an overload of it and feel completely satisfied and way too full.

It is also a fairly expensive meal out as far as it goes in Japan - reasonable yakiniku is about 5 times the price of normal meals. So because Nico and I have been saving for a while, we hadn't made it to yakiniku until now.

We found a restaurant quite nearby, prepared our stomachs by not eating all day and headed off.

Japanese BBQ is quite different from Aussie BBQ - you order the meats by cut, and it comes on a plate with about 5 or 6 pieces - all bite size. Then you put them on the BBQ in the middle of the table, cook very quickly and pop it straight into your mout. TO. DIE. FOR. I tell you.

So looking at the prices, we went for the 'All you Can Eat Course' - and boy we ate!

The first of many orders...

bite sized BBQ

'one karubi' in the middle

When the 'one karubi' is cooked, you cut it with scissors to eat it!!

It was such a good night - we almost had to roll home... If you are ever in Japan - definitely do it!

Next stop on the list - the movies.

Not only ski - Sapporo Hokkaido Japan

Nico: I wanted to take MJ to Hokkaido while we live in Japan. Especially to Sapporo. Now we don't have enough time and money to go to there so I'd like to write about Sapporo where I love same as MIyako island.

Hokkaido is famous for skiing. But the place for skiing in Hokkaido is really far from city. So if you want to ski there, you should rent a car or join the tour.　But if you want to have some yummy foods and sight seeing, onsen, you should go to Sapporo.  

Before I met MJ, I went to Sapporo lots. With my friends and alone. Because there are lots of yummy foods like sushi, ramen, sea foods, sweets. Maybe you think you can have them in Tokyo. But it's not the same. You might be suprised when you have them in Sapporo.

taken from http://www.welcome.city.sapporo.jp/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jogaishijo1.jpg

When I went to Sapporo, I always went to Sapporo wholesale market. There is my favorite fish market. There are lots of fish markets at there, but I always bought crab at the same fish market. Because the market sells crabs which still alive, and boils them after you choose the crab which you want to buy. The clarks of the market put your name tag with your crab. Because after the crab is boiled, you can see which one is yours.

I usually bought hair crab or snow crab and shrimps. I chose the crab and waited about 20 minutes for boiling it. And took it to the hotel for eating.

taken from http://www.tsukukuma.co.jp/store/images/goods-botan-cc.jpg

 

Do you know one of the beer brands in Japan? It is Sapporo. Yes, the name is same as Sapporo city. There is Sapporo beer restaurant. You can drink premium sapporo beer and have the dish with mutton and vegetables.

　
In Japan, mutton and lamb are not so popular. But in Hokkaido, they are more popular than any other place in Japan. They are soooooo good!

Early Feburaｒｙ, there is a snow festival in sapporo city. There are lots of snow statues in both sides of huge park. They are unbelievably amazing.

 If you have time, you can go to Otaru. Otaru city is beautiful. There are brick buildings and canal. Otaru is also famous tourist attraction. There are lots of yummy sweets factories and shops, sushi restaurants, grass workshops `Kitaichi grass'.

 taken from http://www.kitaichiglass.co.jp/c&r/a.gif

This is cafe of Kitaichi grass hall. This cafe is really romantic.










Aaaaah Hokkaido -next time!

Autumn in Japan

Nico: Now it is early Autumn in Japan. I love Autumn the best. There are the words like these in Japan. `Autumn of appetite', `Autumn of reading' .  Today, I'm going to write about ` Autumn of appetite' a little.


 In Autumn, I usually buy sweet potatoes and chestnuts on the internet. Of course you can buy them at super market but I love to have my favorite ones.

Sweet potatoes : ` Annou-imo' is the best. This sweet popato is Tanegashima production.

This sweet potato's sugar content is really high. If you can bake it well, the sugar content would be higher. Can you see some honey out from this sweet potato?









Chestnut : `Yume-amaguri' is the best. This chestnut is Kochi production.

 

taken from http://www.takeda-seika.co.jp/image/kuri-yumeama/img3.jpg

This chestnut is little bit small. But the sugar content is higher than other chestnuts. I usually boil them and cut in half, and eat with a scoon.

Yesterday,my mum made chestnut rice for me and MJ. I love chestnut rice. It is easy to cook but you should use chestnuts which are peeled.

I also love `Kuri-sekihan'. `Sekihan' is made with glutinous rice and red beans. `kuri' means chectnuts in Japanese.








Fruits : Kaki.

Kaki makes me feel ` Autumn is coming' and reminds me of when I was a child. I don't know why...But they do.










I'm going to have ` kuri-sekihan' for lunch tomorrow!

What I want to do in Japan before moving to Perth

Nico: First, I'd love to say `Thank you' for people who gave their help to apply my visa. I think they must helped it lots. So really really thank you.

Actually, I didn't expect to get the visa in early September. So me and MJ started to get ready for moving really suddenly. We promised each other to make happy memories until we leave Japan; not only prepare for moving. But it's really hard. One of the reasons is I worry way too much. For the first week after we knew I got the visa, I did lots of things for moving to Perth alone. MJ has to work until 17th Oct., so she couldn't do lots even though she wanted to. So I started to feel like we can't move to Perth on time. I thought there were too many things to do.

But gradually, I became to think we're OK. MJ did lots of things in weekends, and her colleague N and his girlfriend, and her other colleague K gave us their help. Though I am worried about it a little bit, I can feel safe.

So, I thought about our own promise. What will we do in Japan until moving to Perth?

1: USJ. We have annual pass of Universal Studios in Japan. So we'll definitely go to USJ.

2: Yakiniku. There is a yummy yakiniku restaurant near our apartment. We have saved our money for long time, so we haven't had yakiniku since we started to live this here.

taken from http://img2.blogs.yahoo.co.jp/ybi/1/83/fa/shissaning46/folder/239052/img_239052_29502537_0?1316704320

3:  Movie. We have reward cards of one of the Japanese movie theaters. I have the reward which I can watch a movie for free. So we should take it. Oh! I noticed just now it'll be the last time I can watch a movie with Japanese subtitles!!!

4: Eel. This is only for me. MJ doesn't need to have eel. She doesn't like it. But you know? Recently eel became more expensive than ever before. It's getting harder to get eel each year. So Japan started to import Tasmanian eel in earnest. I don't know if I can find a nice eel restaurant though, I'm going to try to find it.

taken from http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/36/f6/7f08a22aff546cbd189744afe94762dc.jpg

5: Katsu-don. MJ's sister really loves katsu-don. When we went to Perth for wedding, MJ promised her sister to make it after we move to Perth. So MJ has to learn the way to cook katsu-don from my mother.

 taken from http://pub.ne.jp/karihomaru/image/user/1288697577.jpg

So, we have to do lots of things before we leave Japan. But we're going to get some more happy memories in Japan.