Japanese Goodness

My recent hiatus from Pacific Thyme actually has a good excuse - I just got back from 10 days in Japan!  Can I tell you how much I love Japanese food?  Everything was SO delicious!  Here is a glimpse of the goodness that I experienced:

First, I had the best and freshest sushi ever at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.  The fish was literally in the water a few hours prior to being in my tummy :)

We ate all of the sushi except for this one: it was super goopy and nasty.

Here are some pictures from the fish market -- baby octopus, yummy ;)

Eel swimming in their own blood?  Ewwww

More octopus tentacles...mmm

In the Kansai region (Nara/Kyoto), a favorite local food is Okonomiyaki.  It's an egg pancake with toppings. This is egg stuffed with noodles and beef, with ketchup and mayonnaise spread on top.  SO GOOD!

Traditional okonomiyaki: we ate beef (gyu) and octopus (tako) as toppings for the pancakes.  And of course, lots of ketchup and mayonnaise.

McDonalds in Japan has a dollar (or 100 yen) menu.  One of the delicious items is Shaka Shaka Chicken.  To put it simply, it's a breaded chicken breast in a bag, and you add a flavor packet to the bag (either cheese, black pepper, or lemon), close the bag, shaka shaka, then enjoy your flavor-coated chicken!

One day in Ueno Park, we decided to try some of the street fare: Octopus Balls...but beware...these balls of batter and tentacles were nasty.  It was probably because the batter was not cooked through, but they had such a goopy texture that they were hard to pick up and hard to eat!  The tentacles were good though, so those were picked out of the batter and eaten :)

Here is some more street fare:  fish on a stick!

If you know me, you know that I love pancakes.  So when I saw pancakes in a bag at the 7/11 in Tokyo, I had to get them!  Mmmm pancakes!

RAMEN -- super delicious!  These are all of the toppings to put into my steamy bowl of broth and noodles.

Ramen is so yummy!  I got soy sauce broth and all of the toppings :)

And last but best by far: Kobe Beef.  For all of the money spent on this piece of meat, I can't even do it justice with a description.  Words do not express how amazing this beef is.  It melts in your mouth.  It makes you never want to eat another steak again.  Nothing can compare to how awesome this steak was.  Simply put, WOW!

I also loved eating katsu, shaved ice, onigiri (well, when I got ones with fish that I like inside), ten-don, and yoshinoya!  Mmmmm such amazing food!

On another note, Eunice, who was introduced through last post, and Tony, who has made an appearance on the blog before, will both be contributors to Pacific Thyme.  I am happy to have them aboard, and look forward to tales from their kitchens!