Buck-A-Shuck!!
Before going for a show in Downtown on Sunday night, we went to The Fish Shack on Granville St. for an early supper. They have the Buck-A-Shuck deal (oysters for $1 each) from opening till 5pm daily, so we arrived at 4 and ordered 3 dozens of oysters for ourselves… and those were just the appetizers!
Feel like my blog has been abandoned for a while… Have been really busy lately and couldn’t really squeeze in time for writing. Anyway, this post is just a quick update of random things.
Here we go again... 回転寿司!!
Today was the deadline for paying the overnight bus fee to Kyoto, otherwise my reservation would get cancelled. The website said I had to pay by 6pm… but I couldn’t leave work yet! So I kept hitting Cmd-R on my keyboard, hoping to re-reserve once I get dropped off the list. But nothing happened… My status didn’t change. So I took my time and finally arrived at Lawson, the convenient store next to my dorm at 7pm. Then I realized, I didn’t have enough cash to pay for the fee! Crap… The 7600Yen roundtrip ticket was the cheapest I could find, and I had to get it (Seriously, Shinkansen one-way costs more than that!). So I ran to Yokosuka Chuo, where the Post office was… Yeah, I hate my bank… it’s a Post Office bank, so ATM machines are inside Post offices (there’s one nearby my house, but it’s closed at 4pm). The Chuo branch was still opened, so I withdrew some money, crossed the street to a convenient store and got it over with. When I was about the make my way back, I spotted this-
Not 100Yen sushi, but 90 YEN SUSHIIIIII!!!!
OK, I walked by this area every few days and I couldn’t believe I didn’t see this. Or maybe my mind wasn’t on Kaiten Sushi at those moments. But I have been craving for Kaiten-Sushi, particularly after having it last week. Not because I love Sushi… but because last time was just so, memorable. Don’t get me wrong, not the taste, but the cost. 2600 yen = 10 dishes for lunch. For a student like me, this made my heart ache. Then people kept telling me about 100yen Kaiten Sushi after hearing my experience. I couldn’t stand it no more, I had to have it again, just to even out the costs. 😀
Yesterday when I was at Akihabara, I saw 130 yen Kaiten Sushi… I stood outside the place, in the rain for 5 mins… debating weather to step inside or not. I really wanted some sushi, but 130 yen still wasn’t the cheapest! So I ended up not having it, nor dinner… because I spent some money on something afterwards (What’s with my mindset of balancing things out?). Last night before sleep, I actually searched on the web to find 100yen Kaiten Sushi places in town- Since there’s no work tomorrow (Spring Day or something), I planned to eat at this place with good reviews near Uraga Station.
But how could I resist? Standing right there in front of the tempting 90Yen banner and with some cash in my hand, I walked in w/o second thoughts.The place could seat around 60 people, with four conveyor belts. It was busy, yet fast flowing… There weren’t many waitresses, but was convenient enough since everything was done electronically: From getting a seat at the ticket machine, to ordering using a touch screen menu.
Touch screen menu makes it easy to order things not on the belt. Select an item, and wait for the friendly waitress to bring it over! It's a nice menu with pictures and Japanese names, learnt some new words today!
First items I saw were .... strawberry short cakes. They were 200 yen btw, too early for dessert.
My first round (clockwise): Grilled Tamago, Mayo Mentaiko, fresh Squid, Ikura. Love the Tamago best!I had another plate after... I know eggs are cheap, but its good. The squid however, was watery... Ikura at the place I went before easily costs 240 yen... almost 3 times!
French Fries! Roasted Beef sushi! So american. Not surprising though, Yokosuka has a US Navy base. On the conveyor belt, sometimes you'll also see a piece of pineapple, tofu pudding, NY cheesecake, caesar salad... etc.
Tiny white fishies, which I love when cooked and salted... go well with rice. Tasting them raw felt soft and tasteless.
Lightly grilled Salmon... Delicious. I think i love the smell +taste of grilled sushi more.
Deep fried Osyters. LOVE!
Many eggs. Steamed seafood egg, and another plate of grilled tamago w/ cheese.
When the belt came out with 2 plates of Tamago-Yaki... these two people took them... T_T
So I ordered it, along with Uni sushi. Uni was not fresh though, tasted bitter... Thankfully I have my tamago-yaki to rinse away the bad taste.
Stuffed. Rested for 10 mins because I was too full to walk.
Overall spent 1400 yen for 14 dishes plus the steamed egg. 1200 yen less than what I spent last time (with only 10 dishes). Honestly, the quality was nowhere near as good (not as fresh, smaller piece), but it’s expected. Which do I prefer? The cheap place of course. I really don’t care too much about eating 550yen middle class bluefin tuna… all I need is to enjoy and pick up any plate I want without calculating the price! Sure, I would come across some disgusting Uni at times, as long as I don’t get sick or parasite infections… I’m fine.
HamaZushi. I should come often, but they don't give out point cards like the other place...
One draw back is I tend to get carried away and eat too much… like what happened today.
This is my latest creation: Frozen wrinkled Daikon (white radish)
Oh, and frozen expired tofu too.
I have simply bought too much food in my previous grocery shopping spree. Since I haven’t been cooking much in the past week, most food was just lying helplessly in the fridge… forgotten and expired. Some (even the pumpkin) became frozen.. Remember the grapefruits that I bought early last month? there are still 2 left… I cut one up this morning, barely any juice left. As I’m writing this, I suddenly remember the bananas.. they must have turned into charcoals by now.
Anyway, I tried to not be もったいない (wasteful) so I dumped all the expired goodies into my miso soup for lunch today. Tasted as good as they were fresh, except for the radish…. no matter how long I cooked it, it was still crunchy like those pickled ones you find the supermarket… Is it supposed to be that way? I was dreaming of those steamed soft melt-in-your-mouth radish with soy sauce.
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White Day in Japan was several days ago. As a tradition, guys would give gifts to ladies, as a return for the Valentine’s chocolates. It’s a custom that ladies at work would give chocolates to their male colleagues on Valentines day, to show gratitude. The Jap term for this is 義理チョコ. What I received from some colleagues… though I did not give them any chocolates :-<
Some chocolates from AB-san
Mamadors from O-san, they are just white bean cakes. They are bought from Shinjuku... Japanese really know how to do business.. with all these different "editions" of the same sweets.
Home baked cookies from Mayor-san.. he bakes way better than I can lol
Now I really wanna buy a oven, to bake things and share the edible ones with my coworkers. And I need a rice cooker too.. I am very sick of udon/spagetti now. With a rice cooker, I can finally eat Natto with rice and make congee once in a while too! Plus rice cookers save so much cooking time! A bowl of hot rice, Natto and some soy sauce can satisfy me!
Saw these on Amazon JP- I love how Amazon can deliver to convenient stores, so I can pick up after work.
Can a 1000W toaster oven bake anything other than toasts??
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Oh and also on White Day, our office had a worker’s strike! It was rumoured to begin on Monday, but somehow got delayed.
So what is a strike really like in Japan?
It's 5pm and office was almost empty.
WTF right? Yeah, a strike in Japan (or maybe just in my company) is basically employees have to leave work by 5pm. Which is a normal time for North Americans to leave work (assuming arrive work at 9am). Plus, many employees here arrive earlier than 9! Some didn’t even want to go, as they had unfinished work. =_=;;
The higher people settled things fast too, people were back to their “normal” work hours the next day haha
So Canadian teachers who are on strike now.. consider yourselves “lucky”, because you don’t have to work at all(besides protesting on streets)!
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Some random musings…
I am craving for steaks and pizzas recently. So one day after work, I went for a American restaurant, hoping for a steak fix. I saw they were advertising with gigantic posters of meat. I walked in and ordered the same thing.
I was stupid.. they weren't steaks at all.. they were just hamburgs (hamburger patty). Argh... and every bite was soft and oily. Portion was little too, each piece is half size of my palm! I needed something to rince the fattiness in my mouth and fill my half empty stomach... so I went for crepe afterwards -_- But yeah, Japanese love hamburgs. And I guess if I really want steaks, I'd better go to some fancy steak houses.
For my Pizza fix, I saw this All you can eat Pizza/pasta place in Yokohama the other day... They have many flavors, even sweet ones such as "chocolate banana".. can't wait to try!
Chicken-katsu set dinner at 大戸屋. Went there twice this week. Economical with good portion and I LOVE the plum sauce and sweet radish on top of the chicken. I'm usually stuffed after eating here.
When lining up to order at 大戸屋, the waiter usually ask how much rice the customer want. I didn’t know how to express different sizes in Japanese, but lucky me! The guy lining up in front of me ordered the same thing… And I copied what he said haha- “Omori 大盛り” If he was a girl, then I’d probably end up saying “Small bowl please” lol The bowl was big, but wasn’t filled… Useful meal size phrases I found on a site.
Although 並(nami), 大(dai) will works on most of the place, but others would depend on each restaurants.
- For Small – 小 (shou), ミニ (mini), 半分(hanbun), 少なめ (sukuname), S (エス) …
- For Normal – 並 (nami), 普通（ふつう）, 中(chuu), M (エム)…
- For Big – 大 (dai), 大盛り (oomori), 多め (oome), L (エル)…
- For Special Big – 1.5盛 (ittengo mori) (sukiya invented it)
- For extra Big – 特盛 (tokumori), 特大(tokudai), …
- For extreme Big – 鬼盛 (onimori), (超)巨大盛 (chou kyodai mori), バカ盛り (baka mori), 激盛り (geki mori), メガ盛り (Mega mori), ….
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Finally, I’m currently planning a Hanami(花見) weekend trip to Kyoto in early April. Night buses are cheap (7600 yen) round trip.. but all hostel rooms are full! !! I’ll try my luck again, if not I’d delay the trip for one or two weeks.. hopefully the cherry blossoms aren’t gone yet!
Been raining alot lately.. if weather is nice tmr, I’d probably go to Akiba and Ueno.. to check out ricecookers and cameras for my bro.
Has been really rainy in Yokosuka last week. One day on my way to work, my converse sneakers were completely soaked...
This was a dull weekend, as I stayed in Yokosuka without going anywhere (not even Yokohama). But I did catch up on some much needed sleep, reviewed some Jap, cleaned my room etc.
First thing I did yesterday(Sat) morning was to hurry to the nearest ATM… My paycheque+ air ticket money was finally deposited on Friday! I had seriously ZERO cash(except for some coins, not even enough for an onigiri) in my wallet, and in the past few days I had to borrow transit money from N-san just to make it to work T_T As for food, I was surviving on instant noodles, which I previously bought for emergency purposes.
When I saw my account balance, I knew it’s the end of my financial crisis. Phew, a major relief. If I don’t spent extravagantly, the amount should last for at least 3 months.
Since the ATM was located inside the post office (my bank is a post office bank), I also tried to pick up a parcel (received a slip in the morning).
Post office's gift shop.
Dragon BallZ stamps..
Cartoon stamps: Astroboy, Doraemon, Pikachu, HK...
Mickey's. There are heart shaped stamps?!?
But the post office lady told me to return at 5pm. It was 1pm then, which meant I had to chill in Yokosuka Chuo for another 4 hours…
Time to stuff myself with some real food... Conveyer Belt Sushi near the Chuo train station.
Menu and price list for different plate colors.
I made a grave mistake of not checking the price of my first plate... I was starving and the tuna looked good. After my first bite, I saw and almost choked- 550yen for two pieces of Bluefin Tuna sushi. But the tuna was really good, you can see the shining fish oil on its surface ...
Some kind of eel and fresh squid on the far end.
Didn't know what it was, but it tasted good.
I could have ordered directly, just as many customers did. But I was too shy, I was just wishing secretly and hoped the chef could catch my telepathic waves.. And he did! Or maybe he simply saw the lost look on my face. He asked what I wanted.. I told him- Uni and Unagi. OMGGG, they were the best! The Uni was soo fresh, no stinking taste. And the Unagi was hot and melted in my mouth.
Then I saw the chef grilling something with a fire gun.. Again those plates only lasted like 5 seconds on the conveyor belt, and they were gone. Lucky the chef made a second round and put in right in front of me! He could probably tell I was waiting for it. Lightly grilled salmon with mayo on top! Yum.
My last dish.. and it was the worst. I should've eaten another dish of Unagi or something to rinse away the nasty taste. But I was too stuffed. It's tuna with those green things... Texture felt like Natto as it had some stringy slimy things.
I K.O 10 plates at the end. You can tell I had the most expensive (golden plate) first and the rest were mid ranged or the cheapest (110yen). Poor tamago (egg) sushi in the photo was there when I first sat down.
After a fulfilling meal (the only meal I ate for the day… since it was costy- 2500yen!), I went for grocery shopping…
Saw these canadian canned salmon sold in a store... My mom wanted to pack a bunch in my luggages.. thank god she didn't, they are quite cheap in Japan too.
They have Snyder's Prezels here too! But expensive for such a small pack... The mustard flavor that May bought me was long gone. I missed that flavor! I later bought a huge pack of Caramel flavor at Donki in Roppongi... for 350yen! What a deal, except, Caramel sucked!!
3rd Year Anniversary at a Snack Shop that I frequent.
I couldn't help but put more and more into the basket.
Let’s fast forward to 5pm, when I was ready to pick up the parcel in the post office.. The lady apologized to me and said the postman would actually delivered the parcel again to my place between 5-7pm!! Shit, I couldn’t miss it (I knew the parcel was my debit card).. So I ran as fast as I could to get home. However with so many bags, what I actually did was fast sprints for 30 seconds, then rest for 10 secs lol
Finally I made it, and I saw the post man on his motorbike about to leave- “Sumimasen!” I yelled and showed him my pickup slip. Phew… It’s a small package, but since it had confidential info, the guy had to make sure I was the receiver by following me home and confirmed that I could open the door with my key haha.
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Look at what I bought in just one day... spent over 10000 yen. My limps were sore and I threw everything to the ground. I think I'm definitely the type - 有錢就身痕的人
My snacks... I probably don't need to stock up on junk food for another 3 months XD
Besides grocery and snacks, I also went mall shopping to kill time (since the post office lady misled me to go back at 5pm =_=)
Elmo slippers for 300 yen... and the seat cushion for 100 yen.
For my mom: the padded socks that she wanted, and a pair of strawberry "crocs"... The crocs have fabric insole.. perfect to wear for dumping out garbage/laundry in winter months.
A cardigan and a plaid shirt... 700yen each. ~8CAD
A bowtie cardi... also 700 yen. Who says fashion in Japan is expensive? You just gotta avoid areas like Tokyo =)
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After unpacking, time for cleaning….
Even I couldn't stand the mess on my desk.
After sweeping and cleaning up… The entire night was spent reading a Manga called “Parasyte”/(寄生獣).
What a "human" host looks like after a parasite invaded his brain. They are technically dead and act like zombies.
A colleague recommended it to me after finding out I visited the Parasitological Museum. It was about this young teen’s (Shinji) right arm got infected by a Parasite. He was lucky as the parasite did not take control of his brain and turned him into a human eating monster… The whole story was about how the parasite (called Migi, means “right” in Japanese and Shinji co-exist and fight other parasites to save mankind. I finished it, in one night. It was bloody but engaging! It also had a meaningful message about species on earth and the environment.
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Today is the one year anniversary of the 3.11 Earthquake in Japan. I did not go out, but I heard that trains would stop around the time when the incident happened…
Since I stayed up till 4am to read Parasyte, I woke up at 1pm today- my first time since coming to Japan .
I bought some chicken breast yesterday… so I decided to cook that for my late brunch. I didn’t want plain chicken breast and dip with soy sauce… I had eggs too, might as well make Oyako Don Udon.
Marinate a piece of chicken breast with salt and soysauce -> cut in pieces -> fry until half cooked. Add Onion and stir fry together.
Put the chicen/onion aside... Time to fry udon and lettuce together, add some Dashi (fish stock) for favouring..
When udon is cooked, add the chicken+onion back in... Beat an egg and pour it in.
Crack another egg and add on top of everything.
An easy, well balanced brunch.
Sometimes a chill weekend like this is quite enjoyable, especially going to Tokyo is quite physically+financially draining. A good way to get some work/jap review done without spending much money (though I still managed to spend quite a bit during grocery shopping oops)!
Blah. 