Yesterday, while at the Ningxia night market, I worked up the courage to try stinky tofu. I found a vendor who was working on a big grill surface and brushing sauce onto skewered fried stinky tofu. The smell was much more mild than many of the other stalls I’d walked past, and she’d serve it up to me with Taiwanese kimchee. I figured it was my best shot at liking this classic dish.
The good news is that the tofu was hot, with a nice sauce and the outside was nicely fried. The kimchi was mild. Overall, it was a much more pleasant experience than I feared. But I confess that I didn’t actually like it. The tofu didn’t smell all that stinky, but it tasted stinky.
This may be an experience you want to have to say you’ve tried it, but I think it is challenging for a western palate.
Early on in our adventure to Japan, we encountered a mysterious yet enticing bag of potato chips.
Made by Calbee, the flavor is called “Happiness Butter.” It is a combination of sour cream, honey, butter, and parsley. “Happiness” is the best way to describe these chips. Sweet and crunchy – a snack food lover’s dream. We looked all over for another bag, but weeks later, were only able to find one – at a reduced price, because they were discontinuing the flavor. Cruel victims of a limited edition flavor? Or had that dastardly pigeon struck again.
Today we fly to Taiwan. We have spent 33 days in Japan, and there are still lots of things I would love to see and do and eat here someday. Overall, I would strongly encourage people considering a trip to Japan to go for it. It is a fantastic place to be a tourist!
Some quick highlights: delicious food for way less than you’d expect, kind strangers who go out of their way to help if you are lost or struggling with something, beautiful natural scenery, and great transportation.
I’m sorry we haven’t posted as many things as we want to – we have mostly been planning this trip on a night-to-night basis. More updates to come soon!
Inokashira Park Zoo, in the Tokyo area, is a really nice family-friendly zoo with a number of Japanese native species in it. We were especially excited to see tanuki (racoon-dog is the common English translation), the tiny local squirrels we had seen at a distance at the Daibutsu, and beautiful cranes and ducks.
We also learned about the leopard cat, which crossed over the ice to come to one of the islands, and the serow, an ungulate (think antelope) from northern Honshu. Both were super fuzzy and completely new to us!
If you get a chance, this zoo is worth a stop… and foreign passport holders get a discount on admission!
While reading about Kamakura, I learned that one of the favorite omiyage are a particular store’s rice crackers. I was interested, but didn’t believe the hype. (After all, it was a tourism magazine…) We went in and tried the samples – and I had to eat my hat. These were amazing!
I would have loved to buy out the store stock, but settled with three small bags. We chose the matcha, the mixed berry, and the tangerine. The three sweet ones we chose were all constructed in a similar manner, with a peanut in the center surrounded by crunchy airy rice cracker dipped in a flavored (yogurt?) coating and rolled in a powder of the same flavor.
The savory choices we tried at the store were completely different from the sweet options above and from other snacks I have had before (curry flavored toasted broad beans, for one). Overall, the Kamakura Mameya is really worth a stop. You should go with some room so you can try tasters!
Today while visiting the Daibutsu (Giant Buddha) in Kamakura, Japan, we happened upon a shop that served some very interesting (and delicious) soft serve ice cream. One of our new favorite foods is the purple sweet potato and this shop had it as one of their flavors! Purple sweet potato, as an ice cream flavor, is much loved in the Kanagawa area. We knew we had to try it. We got it swirled with matcha green tea. It was a treat for the taste buds. We also tried a blue colored “soda” variety. It was sweet and reminiscient of cream soda. Chandra thought it tasted similar to bubble gum ice cream. I highly recommend any of these flavors if you visit this area of Japan.
The Fugitive Pigeon was sighted today. It was reportedly staking out an Omamori (amulet) shop near the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in Kamakura, Japan. I hurried to the scene and was able to snap a photo of the pigeon. By the time I had alerted the authorities, it had escaped. The local shopkeeper said nothing was stolen, but I advised her to remain vigilant.
Since it’s the New Year holiday here, there are street food vendors en masse near the larger temples. One of the tasty treats we tried was a candy covered grape. One person skewers a large grape, the other dips it into a vat of hot grape candy and sets it on a sheet of wax paper. It solidifies quickly; by the time you hand them your change and grab your grape, it is encased in a hard sugar shell. Japan does a much better job with artificial grape flavor than the US, and this is a treat you shouldn’t miss!
Fun sights from Akihabara: Mandarake (an 8 story collectibles shop), the Gundam cafe, and sculptures located inside Yodobashi-Akiba of Godzilla and the Faaram Armor (from the video game Dark Souls 2).
the mint tea drinkers society 