What I Eat

I thought I'd take some photos and put them on the blog to document my typical evening meals here in Japan. No, I'm not always eating sushi and drinking sake, as some friends have asked. I'm a big fan of stir-fry and different noodles. It's fast, easy, and you can add about anything you have in your fridge. I'm always partial to chicken, though beef sometimes makes its way into the fry, and I always have carrots and potatoes on hand. Green beans, onions, cabbage, and broccoli are other featured items. For a while, I was mixing everything together with okonomiyaki sauce and some other spices, which is - the sauce - a thick, brown, sweet sauce that goes well with noodles, meat, veggies - you name it.

Well, that got boring after 2 months, and Carly thought it was gross (which then convinced me that it was beginning to nauseate me, too). So I then got hooked on curry rice and curry noodles (udon, soba, ramen, everything!). You just throw the hard, dissolvable curry blocks into the stir-fried mixture near the end with some water remaining, and after a few minutes of stirring, you have a thick Japanese curry delight. I like to make the taste a little bolder by adding turmeric powder and cayenne pepper. Behold, curry soba with green beans and chicken.


The other night I was at the store and saw this half filet of fish for 88 yen (about a dollar). It was chilled, so I think it had been frozen, and it was smothered in a sticky, golden-brown sweet sauce with sesame seeds (right?) on top. Remaining skeptical, I realized it was the best choice with the 400 yen in my pocket. But, with a little time in the fish grill, it turned out to be quite nice. One of the teachers said it was cod most likely. I don't know, but it was a fine addition to the meal.


Continuing on with my love of soba, here is some yaki soba that I made the other night with soy sauce and okonomiyaki sauce. There is some lettuce in there (in place of cabbage) and carrots for texture. And so that's a frequent night's meal for me, though there is far more variety than what I show here and I make sure to get my veggies to keep me strong. Just wanted to share what I've been eating lately.