For all of you folks who have lived in or visited Moka at some point, here's one to take you back. Relax, imagine that you're in at little corner in the southeast of Tochigi Prefecture, it's a cloudy day, and the clock's about to strike noon. Now click the link below.
12:00 in Moka - meghanjanssen
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20100211
20100202
But What Do Gaijin Eat?
Today I’ll let you in on a little secret I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about for the last year and a half or so. I didn’t just choose to name this blog “Gaijin Cuisine” because it rhymes (well, uh, kind of). Back in August 2008, when I was setting up a space where I could electronically catalog my experiences in Japan for all to read and follow religiously, I had in my heart the vision that it would be written from the angle of a food blog.
Well, if you follow this blog very closely (as I know you do), you’re aware that it hasn’t exactly lived up to my initial ambitions. I don’t usually write about food here. Or, when I do, it’s seldom a central theme to my writing. But now I feel I have an avenue by which all that is about to change.
I’ve been a fair-weather vegetarian for quite some time now. Ever since my sophomore year in college, when I decided I would be participating in a short-term mission trip to Kenya the following summer, my motto has been: “If you might possibly make someone uncomfortable or offend them by not eating it, then just eat it.” I carried that principle on with me through the rest of college and beyond, always feeling that it was better to keep my mouth shut when a friend suggested going to a burger place for dinner, rather than butting in, “Well, uh, I’d rather not. Because, uh, they don’t have any vegetarian options there and conventional beef-production practices are detrimental to the environment, to the cows themselves, and to the future generations of this planet.” No, that usually doesn’t fly in most circles. So I just went with the flow.
Since moving to Japan, I’ve eaten things that I didn’t even know existed before I came here. Some of them have been outstandingly delicious; and some, like raw shrimp, I now avoid at all costs. I’ve learned to appreciate certain kinds of fish as they come into season, and to savor the first persimmons of fall with an enthusiasm that I never would have foreseen. This is a country with rich culinary traditions; every meal has the potential to be a deeply memorable (whether in a good way or a bad way) experience. And I’ve been pretty eager to not miss out on any such experiences. So far.
I could easily go into lengthy detail as to my reasons for deciding to go vegetarian in Japan. But, for now, suffice it to say that my personal moral convictions regarding the decision to eat meat have finally outweighed my hesitancy to offend others by not eating the same things they do. It wasn’t an easy decision. Most of the vegetarians that do exist in this country are foreigners. If a Japanese person ever really prods me (which I doubt would ever happen, but for the sake of speculation...) as to why I don’t eat meat, I’m still not sure how I will manage to provide a satisfactory answer. The easiest thing would be to half-lie and blame it on my upbringing: “My family never ate a lot of meat while I was growing up, so I never developed a strong liking for it.” That’s only half true. What it really boils down to, for me, is: “All things considered, it’s just not worth it.”
What this means for my blog, at least for the time being, is that I have a fresh opportunity to share with the world my experiences abroad on a meal-by-meal basis. Being vegetarian means that I can’t eat the school lunches, so that’s five more meals per week that I have to work out on my own. I started the week out strong with vegetable enchiladas and a spinach salad on Monday, and sweet potato stew with rice on Tuesday (today). And tomorrow…more enchiladas?
Tonight’s offering: a picture of a cupcake. A vegan cupcake. The recipe comes from the cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The authors, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, promise in the introduction, “A surefire way to get people to look at your blog is by posting pictures of cupcakes,” so I’m going to give it a go. These come from the recipe for “Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake” with “Peanut Buttercream Frosting” and “Rich Chocolate Ganache Topping.” I had a lot of fun with these. And, boy oh boy, were they rich.
Well, if you follow this blog very closely (as I know you do), you’re aware that it hasn’t exactly lived up to my initial ambitions. I don’t usually write about food here. Or, when I do, it’s seldom a central theme to my writing. But now I feel I have an avenue by which all that is about to change.
I’ve been a fair-weather vegetarian for quite some time now. Ever since my sophomore year in college, when I decided I would be participating in a short-term mission trip to Kenya the following summer, my motto has been: “If you might possibly make someone uncomfortable or offend them by not eating it, then just eat it.” I carried that principle on with me through the rest of college and beyond, always feeling that it was better to keep my mouth shut when a friend suggested going to a burger place for dinner, rather than butting in, “Well, uh, I’d rather not. Because, uh, they don’t have any vegetarian options there and conventional beef-production practices are detrimental to the environment, to the cows themselves, and to the future generations of this planet.” No, that usually doesn’t fly in most circles. So I just went with the flow.
Since moving to Japan, I’ve eaten things that I didn’t even know existed before I came here. Some of them have been outstandingly delicious; and some, like raw shrimp, I now avoid at all costs. I’ve learned to appreciate certain kinds of fish as they come into season, and to savor the first persimmons of fall with an enthusiasm that I never would have foreseen. This is a country with rich culinary traditions; every meal has the potential to be a deeply memorable (whether in a good way or a bad way) experience. And I’ve been pretty eager to not miss out on any such experiences. So far.
I could easily go into lengthy detail as to my reasons for deciding to go vegetarian in Japan. But, for now, suffice it to say that my personal moral convictions regarding the decision to eat meat have finally outweighed my hesitancy to offend others by not eating the same things they do. It wasn’t an easy decision. Most of the vegetarians that do exist in this country are foreigners. If a Japanese person ever really prods me (which I doubt would ever happen, but for the sake of speculation...) as to why I don’t eat meat, I’m still not sure how I will manage to provide a satisfactory answer. The easiest thing would be to half-lie and blame it on my upbringing: “My family never ate a lot of meat while I was growing up, so I never developed a strong liking for it.” That’s only half true. What it really boils down to, for me, is: “All things considered, it’s just not worth it.”
What this means for my blog, at least for the time being, is that I have a fresh opportunity to share with the world my experiences abroad on a meal-by-meal basis. Being vegetarian means that I can’t eat the school lunches, so that’s five more meals per week that I have to work out on my own. I started the week out strong with vegetable enchiladas and a spinach salad on Monday, and sweet potato stew with rice on Tuesday (today). And tomorrow…more enchiladas?
Tonight’s offering: a picture of a cupcake. A vegan cupcake. The recipe comes from the cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The authors, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, promise in the introduction, “A surefire way to get people to look at your blog is by posting pictures of cupcakes,” so I’m going to give it a go. These come from the recipe for “Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake” with “Peanut Buttercream Frosting” and “Rich Chocolate Ganache Topping.” I had a lot of fun with these. And, boy oh boy, were they rich.
20100201
Keeping Warm
I just went outside to check and, yes, it's still snowing. The whole concept of it snowing at the place where I live is a relatively new one for me. As someone whose sensory memories of snow have been largely fabricated from descriptions pulled out of children's books and memorable lines of poetry, I'm quickly held in thrall by even a few hours of coat-drenching sleet. Tonight I stood out in the darkness (which, with the street lights reflecting off the white on the ground, was really not that dark at all), and was held in awe by the astonishing stillness. How surprising, that a little change in the weather can make you feel like you're suddenly standing in some parallel universe and everything familiar is a billion light years away.
But I don't stay outside for long. Last winter's boots--which are soon headed for retirement--just aren't up to the challenge of the weather. Eventually I have to shun the cold and climb back under my kotatsu, a steaming mug of soy hot cocoa in my hands.
One handy remedy I've recently discovered for getting through these winter days is miso soup. It's especially good for those sluggish mornings where my blood can't seem to pump fast enough to get me out the door and to work on time. It's also surprisingly easy to make. After a little experimentation, I've settled on a vegetarian miso soup recipe that I can be satisfied with.
Vegetarian Miso Soup*
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
-one small piece of kombu
-four cups cold water
-eight or so little shriveled pieces of dried wakame
-tofu -- like, 100g or so -- cut into small cubes
-three green onions, chopped
-three tbsp red miso (or white is okay, too, just don't get the kind that already has dashi added to it [see note below])
-a dash of soy sauce (optional)
-a dash of sesame oil (optional)
Directions:
Place cold water in a pot. Clean the kombu with a damp clean cloth. Add it to the pot, and let soak for 30 minutes. Bring water to a boil, and remove the kombu. Set asside (you can use it again tomorrow morning!). Add the wakame. The wakame will rehydrate within a minute or two, but let it simmer for at least five minutes. Add the tofu and stir for a minute. Add the green onions. Remove from heat.
Here, I like to place a strainer over the pot and add the miso by pressing it through the strainer, as this makes it easier to mix it into the broth. Stir until dissolved. Add optional ingredients. Serve.
*But, wait: isn't all miso soup vegetarian? Well, no, it's not. A basic ingredient in miso soup is dashi, which is traditionally made with fish flakes. The Japanese put dashi into just about everything, so that it ends up in places you would never expect, like otherwise seemingly vegetarian soups and noodle broths. In this recipe, the boiled kombu serves as the dashi. There are other possible alternatives, such as dried shitake mushrooms, that I have yet to experiment with, and there is a trove of recipe resources on the Internet that I've yet to explore; I'm simply sharing the fruits of my own adventures in my own little kitchen.
I'm glad to know that it's easy to produce an animal free (and delicious) alternative to traditional miso soup preparation methods in my own home, especially since--as of today--I've embarked on a fresh mission to be a vegetarian. This means that I've had to cancel my school lunch plan and commit to preparing three meals a day in order to feed myself. I will keep you updated on the progress of this mission as it unravels.
But I don't stay outside for long. Last winter's boots--which are soon headed for retirement--just aren't up to the challenge of the weather. Eventually I have to shun the cold and climb back under my kotatsu, a steaming mug of soy hot cocoa in my hands.
One handy remedy I've recently discovered for getting through these winter days is miso soup. It's especially good for those sluggish mornings where my blood can't seem to pump fast enough to get me out the door and to work on time. It's also surprisingly easy to make. After a little experimentation, I've settled on a vegetarian miso soup recipe that I can be satisfied with.
Vegetarian Miso Soup*
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
-one small piece of kombu
-four cups cold water
-eight or so little shriveled pieces of dried wakame
-tofu -- like, 100g or so -- cut into small cubes
-three green onions, chopped
-three tbsp red miso (or white is okay, too, just don't get the kind that already has dashi added to it [see note below])
-a dash of soy sauce (optional)
-a dash of sesame oil (optional)
Directions:
Place cold water in a pot. Clean the kombu with a damp clean cloth. Add it to the pot, and let soak for 30 minutes. Bring water to a boil, and remove the kombu. Set asside (you can use it again tomorrow morning!). Add the wakame. The wakame will rehydrate within a minute or two, but let it simmer for at least five minutes. Add the tofu and stir for a minute. Add the green onions. Remove from heat.
Here, I like to place a strainer over the pot and add the miso by pressing it through the strainer, as this makes it easier to mix it into the broth. Stir until dissolved. Add optional ingredients. Serve.
*But, wait: isn't all miso soup vegetarian? Well, no, it's not. A basic ingredient in miso soup is dashi, which is traditionally made with fish flakes. The Japanese put dashi into just about everything, so that it ends up in places you would never expect, like otherwise seemingly vegetarian soups and noodle broths. In this recipe, the boiled kombu serves as the dashi. There are other possible alternatives, such as dried shitake mushrooms, that I have yet to experiment with, and there is a trove of recipe resources on the Internet that I've yet to explore; I'm simply sharing the fruits of my own adventures in my own little kitchen.
I'm glad to know that it's easy to produce an animal free (and delicious) alternative to traditional miso soup preparation methods in my own home, especially since--as of today--I've embarked on a fresh mission to be a vegetarian. This means that I've had to cancel my school lunch plan and commit to preparing three meals a day in order to feed myself. I will keep you updated on the progress of this mission as it unravels.
20091219
Waikiki
After leaving Japan at 9 PM Friday evening and, five hours later, arriving in Honolulu at 8 AM Friday morning, I did exactly what I promised: I checked into my hostel, dropped my bag in the room, changed into my swimsuit, and headed straight for the beach. And--as one might imagine would be inevitable after a long day of work, a long trip to the airport, and an overnight flight--promptly fell asleep in the sun. I have nothing but words of praise for the folks at Banana Boat for creating a sunscreen that somehow miraculously kept me from burning to a crisp while I lay snoozing and fully exposed to the elements (It was a gloriously sunny and clear day here in Waikiki, with a high of 80 degrees, the perfection of it all augmented by a persistent, pleasant breeze.) for a full hour and a half.
Still, after my trip to the beach I was ready for a big bottle of water and a propper nap, so I headed back to the hostel and helped myself to a generous helping of both. A cool draft passing through the windows of the dorm room provided natural air conditioning while I lay back and relaxed on the bed. Despite my heavily jet-lagged condition (or maybe partly because of it), I was euphoric.
And tonight, as I often do when I'm travling by myself and I don't have to feel guilty for even suggesting the idea to fellow travelers, I splurged on a fancy shmancy dinner. Very close to my hostel, they have one of those super cool rotating restaurants on the top floor of a tall building; so, as you enjoy your dinner, you get a full panoramic view of the city. I took the elevator to the eighteenth floor, marched up to the front desk, gave my name, and was promptly seated. In that moment, I felt fully vindicated for the time in Kuala Lumpur when Jennifer, Josiah, and I attempted to have desert in one of these types of places and were laughed out of the joint for not having made a reservation at least two days in advance.
My meal: Tea Smoked Ginger Duck l'Orange. Ever since I first tried it a few years ago in Oxford, I've had this crazy little thing for duck. Which is weird because, in the past three years, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually eaten this animal...yeah, I can...five times, including tonight. It gets even weirder because, as many of you well know, I'm not totally crazy about eating meat. Josiah put it quite eloquently and indeed accurately a few days ago when he called me a "closet vegan." But the duck I had tonight was absolutely sublime: tender, sweet, wonderful. And to top it off, I indulged in an overpriced Mai Tai, a drink that I've always associated with face-lifted old ladies in animal-print bathing suits, lounging on pool chairs. So yummy.
And so my winter vacation kicks off to a perfect start. It took all day, but I think that the sunshine has successfully melted away all the stress of the past few weeks. Insert emoticon here...
:)
Still, after my trip to the beach I was ready for a big bottle of water and a propper nap, so I headed back to the hostel and helped myself to a generous helping of both. A cool draft passing through the windows of the dorm room provided natural air conditioning while I lay back and relaxed on the bed. Despite my heavily jet-lagged condition (or maybe partly because of it), I was euphoric.
And tonight, as I often do when I'm travling by myself and I don't have to feel guilty for even suggesting the idea to fellow travelers, I splurged on a fancy shmancy dinner. Very close to my hostel, they have one of those super cool rotating restaurants on the top floor of a tall building; so, as you enjoy your dinner, you get a full panoramic view of the city. I took the elevator to the eighteenth floor, marched up to the front desk, gave my name, and was promptly seated. In that moment, I felt fully vindicated for the time in Kuala Lumpur when Jennifer, Josiah, and I attempted to have desert in one of these types of places and were laughed out of the joint for not having made a reservation at least two days in advance.
My meal: Tea Smoked Ginger Duck l'Orange. Ever since I first tried it a few years ago in Oxford, I've had this crazy little thing for duck. Which is weird because, in the past three years, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually eaten this animal...yeah, I can...five times, including tonight. It gets even weirder because, as many of you well know, I'm not totally crazy about eating meat. Josiah put it quite eloquently and indeed accurately a few days ago when he called me a "closet vegan." But the duck I had tonight was absolutely sublime: tender, sweet, wonderful. And to top it off, I indulged in an overpriced Mai Tai, a drink that I've always associated with face-lifted old ladies in animal-print bathing suits, lounging on pool chairs. So yummy.
And so my winter vacation kicks off to a perfect start. It took all day, but I think that the sunshine has successfully melted away all the stress of the past few weeks. Insert emoticon here...
:)
20091218
I'm All Shook Up
This morning, at about 5:40, my own little prefecture of Tochigi was graced with a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that quite literally shook me right out of bed. As the preliminary tremors nudged me awake, my first thoughts went to the heater on the wall above me. If it fell it would crush my skull. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but as my bed began to shake back and forth, I felt less like a baby being rocked to sleep and more like...a baby being shaken. At this point I was wide awake, so I figured it would be okay to get up forty minutes earlier than usual.
Yesterday morning, I checked the weather forecast before I even started getting ready, hoping for rain so that my exhausted body would have an excuse to ride to school in a taxi. No precipitation predicted. I got ready and dressed for a chilly bike ride as usual. When I left for school, there were dark blue clouds in the morning sky. I thought, "Ooo! How pretty!" Ten minutes later, it started to snow. When I'm ten minutes into my morning commute, it's not worth it to turn around and call a taxi to take me to school. At this point, all I can really do is press forward. So that's what I did, laughing at the absurdity of the situation: a freak December snowfall decides to descend right in the middle of my morning trek to work, ending just a minute before I pull through the school gate.
It's as though the forces of Nature are playing a last-minute "Best of Moka" marathon in my honor. This evening, I will be boarding a plane to Honolulu, and it will be sayonara freezing misery and a warm, welcoming aloha! to sunny happywonderfulness.
I'm sure that after three weeks of traveling in first Hawaii, then Singapore and Indonesia, I'll start to miss little Moka and I'll be ready to come home. But, at the moment, it's hard to imagine. And, as I sit in my own living room with the electric heater blasting, huddled under a blanket and wearing several layers of clothing, including snow pants and a down jacket, I'm not apologizing. I'm ready for this vacation to begin.
Yesterday morning, I checked the weather forecast before I even started getting ready, hoping for rain so that my exhausted body would have an excuse to ride to school in a taxi. No precipitation predicted. I got ready and dressed for a chilly bike ride as usual. When I left for school, there were dark blue clouds in the morning sky. I thought, "Ooo! How pretty!" Ten minutes later, it started to snow. When I'm ten minutes into my morning commute, it's not worth it to turn around and call a taxi to take me to school. At this point, all I can really do is press forward. So that's what I did, laughing at the absurdity of the situation: a freak December snowfall decides to descend right in the middle of my morning trek to work, ending just a minute before I pull through the school gate.
It's as though the forces of Nature are playing a last-minute "Best of Moka" marathon in my honor. This evening, I will be boarding a plane to Honolulu, and it will be sayonara freezing misery and a warm, welcoming aloha! to sunny happywonderfulness.
I'm sure that after three weeks of traveling in first Hawaii, then Singapore and Indonesia, I'll start to miss little Moka and I'll be ready to come home. But, at the moment, it's hard to imagine. And, as I sit in my own living room with the electric heater blasting, huddled under a blanket and wearing several layers of clothing, including snow pants and a down jacket, I'm not apologizing. I'm ready for this vacation to begin.
20091203
20091111
To mask, or not to mask?
Another kid at my school was out with the flu today. In the morning report, I heard them remarking to one another that it was because he was so bad at remembering to wear a mask. Everyone agrees on this: a gauze mask is the most effective way to guard oneself against the flu virus. As I listen in on this conversation, my expression is neutral, but my heart scoffs with all the scoffiness I can muster. I like to consider myself above all this foolery with masks.
Then I hear my name. I hate it when they do this: talk about me while I'm sitting right there, and then nobody bothers to explain to me why I'm being talked about. But, this time, I've got enough context to decipher the gist of what they're saying.
Basically, I'm the only person at my school who isn't wearing a mask at all times. I tried it for a while, just to keep others happy, but the truth about masks is: they're nasty. They're itchy and they make breathing difficult, so, at least in my case, that means that I'm constantly adjusting them. With my hands. So the germs on my hands are easily passing to my face--to my mouth and nose and eyes and all those places that I'm usually very careful to not touch while I'm trying to avoid getting sick.
But if everyone in Japan is obsessed with wearing surgical masks to stay healthy during cold and flu season, then there must be some evidence demonstrating their effectiveness, right? In all my perusing of the internets, I was unable to find a single article or study affirming that these types of masks do much of anything to keep a healthy person from getting sick. An article in the New York Times cites research presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco. Researchers concluded:
Surgical masks are designed to trap respiratory secretions (including bacteria and viruses) expelled by the wearer and prevent disease transmission to others. Surgical masks are not designed to prevent inhalation of airborne particles.I wish there were a means for me to present this argument to the teachers who eye me and my uncovered face suspiciously as I pass them in the halls every day.
I'm left with a bit of a moral dilemma. Is it better to stand my ground as a person who doesn't come from a culture where it's normal to wear a gauze mask in public when you're trying to keep from getting sick? I mean, not only are they incredibly uncomfortable, but there's no scientific evidence that they're actually helpful! However, I am living in their country, and if wearing a mask makes them feel better about me, should I just bury my pride and go along with it?
When it doesn't go against my moral principles, I always do my best to be culturally sensitive and to not offend the people around me with my flamboyant gaijin ways. Eventually, I suppose I'll just have to cave and go along with it.
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