Food, Glorious Food

Earlier I listed strange foods I've eaten in my lifetime (see 'Weird Grub'). Some of you are asking what I've been eating in Japan, so here's a list or three.

What I LIKE and/or Can Cook

• soba (buckwheat noodles, yum) with daikon (big Japanese radishes)
• Japanese curry! (not as spicy as Indian curries) with boiled potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, chicken, and white rice (haven't found any brown or wild rice yet)
• garlic, garlic, garlic - Garlic makes everything better. It's the new butter.
• rice, rice, rice - I've eaten more rice in 3 weeks than I have in my whole life. It's good.
• SUSHI - can't make this yet but it is GOOD. Sushi means "stuff rolled up with rice," which usually includes seaweed, rice, and then fish or vegetables. Unlike Duke sushi, they don't put avocados in it here. Usually the vegetables are pickled, not fresh. Today I had something that translated as "pickled gourd shavings." It was better than it sounds.
• sashimi - raw stuff. Tuna, salmon, and some random white fishes are the best.
• tempura - fried stuff. Usually real food like fish, and unsweetened, but the batter reminds me of funnel cakes.
• tofu - They serve big blocks of plain tofu, but I like it mixed into dishes. Fried tofu is okay plain, though. You can also get some that is wrapped around rice, and this is really good with pickled ginger. Ginger is good with everything.
• onigiri - These are awesome little triangles of rice with other ingredients thrown in. Sometimes they have fish in the middle, but my favorite are the ones covered in sesame seeds (very refreshing), and the ones with umeboshi (pickled plum - not sweet but still reminds me of candy).
• Japanese omelettes - cold, sweetened egg. Sometimes served with rice inside. I like this in small amounts.
• gyoza - like Japanese dumplings. The Japanese fry them but the Korean (or Chinese) boiled style is better. Cheap and tasty.
• edamame - boiled salted soybeans, still in their fuzzy green pouches. Use your mouth to pop them open and eat the green beans inside. I LOVE these things, but they're usually served as an appetizer. I could eat them 24/7. My supervisor will only eat them with beer. I like a lot of things that my supervisor will only eat with beer, like edamame, crunchy peanut snacks, and grilled chicken & onion on a stick. We have an inside joke that goes like, "yes but only with beer." We laugh at my food choices and nobody knows why.
• miso soup - salty, hot, and good. They say it's good for you but I'm not sure why. Theraputic.
• yogurt - I think I'd die without dairy. All the yogurt here is sweet and soupy, but it's good mixed with cereal. You can also get expensive camembert at my little supermarket, which passes as real cheese even though it tastes more like brie.
• other - black sesame seeds, nuts (almonds are good here but the pistachios are too stale), too much chocolate, cereal (5 dollars a box), spaghetti, real coffee (thank you Em! - I love coffee), green tea (it's good here and my 'pearly whites' are suffering), Japanese beer, Chilean wines (the French ones are too expensive).

What I Could Learn to Like

• nato - Oh, the notorious, stringy fermented soybeans. The beans are brown and held together by this creamy, gooey stuff that strings like hot cheese. Nato tastes like fermented cacao beans, or coffee gone bad. So if you like French cheeses, coffee, and chocolate, you could learn to like this stuff. It may not deserve its reputation.
• some random, unidentifiable pickled veggies
• Asian potatoes - kind of weird and clingy (cloying?) in the mouth
• fish eggs - bright orange and translucent like bath pearls. I hear they're very salty and good but I haven't tasted them yet.
• grilled eel

What I Don't Like and/or Don't Want to Try

• fish flakes! You know that fishy flavor we work to avoid? They like it here and add it to soups and dishes all the time. It smells and tastes like fish food.
• raw horse and raw chicken - Need I say more.
• squid pops - John named this one. Who knows what they're called in Japanese, but they're whole squids on sticks, like popsicles. All weird parts included.
• the tentacled creatures at the supermarket
• green tea ice cream - I was disappointed because I thought I'd like this one. I like green tea, but not creamy green tea with loads of sugar.