California, I love you

Sure, sure, this blog is supposed to be about Tokyo, Japan and food food food! And I promise, I'll get back to that sometime.

When you live abroad, you get asked "Where are you from?" a lot. Most people answer with their home country because it's easier to say that than explain where exactly it is you're from. I always answer proudly, and obnoxiously, "California".

Here's why:

Not So Subtle Hint

This comes out 4 days after my birthday. Thank you in advance. 

Downtown LA Wonder Wedding

How do you know you're in your late 20's? It's getting harder to stay in shape, you have to start using eye cream and you're going to a lot of weddings. And if you're lucky enough, you get to have a front row seat at said weddings as a bridesmaid. Did you know that it's bad luck to be a bridesmaid more than 3 times? Curse or no curse, there was no way I was sitting out of one of my closest friend's wedding. 

There she is! Drinking a cup of tomato soup and holding a grilled cheese sandwich, looking like the beautiful baby bride that she is. 

As this is technically a food blog, I will briefly touch upon the refreshments in this section of the post. The food was catered by an LA food truck serving pulled pork sandwiches, sweet potato fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. And the bar hosting the reception served two signature drinks chosen by the bride and groom. 

I have to admit that I was very biased going into this trip because my previous experiences with Los Angeles have never been positive. Impossible traffic, impossibly perfect looking people (everyone has such nice hair!) and as a native NorCal girl, it's just in me to dislike LA. 

But this trip reminded me that all that is silly and LA is pretty neat. We stayed downtown at the historic Los Angeles Athletic Club that reminded Blammo and I of LA Noire. Comfy rooms, good food, guaranteed parking and 10 floors of exercise options. (Not that I took advantage, wah wah) 

Green rice, mole chicken taco and spicy pork taco. Hubbah hubbah!

We were blessed to be in the company of lots of LA natives with very strong opinions about the best tacos, burgers, Bloody Marys and French Dips in town. Did you know that French Dips are a thing in LA? Blammo tried Cole's and said it was great. 

Before heading out on our 2 day Pacific Coast Highway trip north, we were told to go to Loteria in the Farmers Market. Uh. May. Zing. That shredded beef nachos plate ~ I will have dreams about it until our next trip to LA. I will however, have nightmares about this lady we saw walking off our meal. Oh LA!

It's like a frickin' Sheryl Crow song or something!

Lonely goldfish by the sea. 

And of course, we had to stop off at the beach before heading out of town. This is actually the very beginning of our road trip - Santa Monica. The weather was too perfect not to stop and dip our feet in the water. 

LA, you treated us real good and for that, I will not say anything bad about you for at least a few months. 

End of Summer

Today was the first time I've woken up needing a blanket. I am loving the cool breeze, though it makes me feel guilty knowing that it's because a typhoon is rolling through Japan, threatening to displace millions of people in Nagoya. Sigh. Mother nature, why won't you just leave Japan alone!

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from the end of summer.

Chillin' by the pool. 

Mori Art Museum Sky Aquarium. I have no idea what this thing is but they were for sale in the gift shop. And alive. 

Vietnamese dancers performing at the Harajuku Yosakoi Festival. 

My favorite: kakigori

A little traditional...a little country. 

Yakisoba heaven. 

Tsukune (chicken meatballs) at Urawa's famous izakaya Riki. 

Deep fried fish cakes and cheese. I know that sounds awful but they are awesome. 

Birthday Food

Happy Birthday 6 Foot Eater! 

Major League Curry plate from Go Go Curry. We always joked that he would order this before the dirty 30 and well...time was a ticking. Going counter clockwise from the top: chicken katsu, shredded cabbage, fried shrimp, pork katsu, boiled egg, wieners and more boiled eggs. All on top of rice covered in that thick, sweet Go Go Curry roux.

OOOF. 

Earlier in the week, I tried to cook as many of Squidward's favorite meals. Spaghetti and Meatballs, Kimchi Yakiudon and Japanese ginger pork and veggies shown here. I have to say, cooking all this food was really exhausting! I can't believe there are women that do this every single day without batting an eyelash. 

Special birthday dinner at Kyushokutoban. This is a small Japanese school lunch themed izakaya in Taito-ku that Squidward and I heard about long long ago. He was always really jealous of my 1,600 calorie school lunches back when I was teaching. Above, you'll see a package of soft noodles, curry and a tomato meat sauce. According to my friend, the tin trays used at this izakaya are very nostalgic for those growing up in the 80's. 

This little beauty is age pan - fried bread. It's really just soft bread covered in sugar and tastes like a donut, but it's delicious!

I swear, I did made a birthday cake...but I also had a lot of leftover cake scraps and frosting so we made cake soup. Watch out! It's gonna be a thing...just you wait. 

Broccoli Rob

Croissants in the Summertime

August was flaky pastry month at ABC. The actual process of making croissants is hard enough to begin with, but the added pressure of the warm summer heat threatening to melt your butter is not ideal. Croissant 101: Butter is gradually added and rolled throughout the dough to make lots of delicate dough-butter-dough-butter layers. When you bake the dough, the the water from the butter turns into steam and puffs the dough up, creating all those flaky layers you know and love.

I made these croissants on a warm August evening and though it was a lot of work (mix, chill, roll, pound, flip, chill, roll, pound, fold, chill x 4) it was totally worth the sweat and stress. Warm croissants, (even on a warm night) there's just nothing like it.