A year worth of Japanese food

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYvsuuzqWY

 Check out this funny video!

Sushi for dummies.

So I was really hungry after some sushi some days ago, and went to Mitsu kafe at Møllergata to get some. Now, I know Mitsu kafe is alittle bit shabby, small and their service is bad, but their sushi is no deal real stuff. Because I'm a big sushi lover I ordered sushi meny large (see pictures). Now the menu is more than enough for two persons, so what I did was to eat it for both lunch and dinne ^_^ I have to explain alittle about this menu. What I got was a combination of two things, nigiri sushi and maki. Nigiri sushi are the ones with rice under it and the filling on top, while maki is the round ones with the fillings inside.

Soy sauce for sushi is called ''shoyu'' while the pickled ginger (the stuff on the left of the soy container) is called ''gari''. You're suppose to eat ''gari'' between each sushi piece to clean your palete and to fully enjoy the next piece. When going to a authentic Japanese sushi-ya (sushi restaurant) you'll also get a cup of green tea called ''agari'' and often also a warm towel to wash your hands. Do not use it extendedly to wash your face thought :) Also, the wrapping around the maki sushi is called nori (dried seaweed, also used in miso soup and gunkan maki, hand-wrapped sushi).

Oh, another thing, if you're luckily enough to go to Japan and eat sushi there, you'll never find one thing on the menu (and then you should know the restaurant is authentic) and that's the sushi type called  ''California roll''. This sushi was invented for the West, but it's never recognized as ''authentic'' sushi because it has crab stick and avocado as two of the main ingredients (ingredients which the Japanese have neved used in their sushi).

Now for the fillings.... When eating sushi and maki it's very important that you try different types of fish and seafood, both red and white fish even thought it looks weird to some of you. But you're most likely to encounter salmon, tuna, ama ebi (sweet shrimps), Unagi (Freshwater eel), Ikura (salmon roe), soft shell crab,  sardine, Aji (Japanese jack mackerel). There are also vegetarian sushi types such as tamago sushi (egg sushi).

Futhermore, beside sushi we also have sashimi which are thin slices of raw fish often presented in a very colourful and artistic way. This is also to be recommended.

I hope people found this interesting, so please any comments/questions are welcomed in the ''comment field'' below.

Ekiben, real train-station food

Another interesting (hopefully) topic today!!

Remember I told you guys about Japanese bento (lunch boxes)? Well, the Japanese have another type of bento which is called ''ekiben''　(駅弁当), which is ''rail station lunch boxes''....(Eki means ''station'' in Japanese). Look at it as a kind of sub-genre of the bento culture.

Well. these ''Ekiben'' are commonly sold by/at trainstations, or sometimes on the trains as well, and each station often has its own unique kind ekiben's with local specialities and often VERY colourful, creative, funny and pretty box wrappings. The containers are also very colourful ranging from wood, plastic to ceramic(god knows how the Japanese thought of disposing all these garbage). The price is not bad either (from what I have seen anything from 800-1200 yen at the most), so it's ok. I wonder if I'll be able to try this out when I go to Japan:)

Japanese sources: 
http://ekibento.jp/ ---> Japanese guy who have been collecting ekiben wrappers!!
 http://www.youtube.com/user/sparro009  ---> Youtube videos courtesy made by a native Japanese (??) showing different types of ekiben's.


English sources:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/no-train-trip-would-be-complete-without-an-ekiben-boxed-lunch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekiben
http://felixcheung.spaces.live.com/blog/ --->English blog about Japanese food (have some posts on ekiben's)

Oishinbo, gourmet manga

Hello gourmet lovers!

Thanks for reading my blog, but I would love to get some more comments :)

Today I'm gonna talk about Oshinbo, one of my favorite gourmet food manga series. The series is extremely popular in Japan making it to the top 10 food manga series for several decades and it has sold over 100 million copies. Not bad for a manga which started way back in the 1980's. The story is quite simple actually. One man. One publishing house, One Mission: To create the ultimate food experience of what is found in Japan (both exotic ''foreign'' dishes'' and traditional Japanese food). In total 7 books has been published in English, under the name ''Oishinbo a la carte'' which are books where there's one main topic, like sake, gyoza/ramen, sushi, pub food etc. You should be able to find it in your local manga store (in Oslo: Outland or on the net). I wrote a semester thesis on the relationship between Oshinbo and tradtional Japanese food culture and what I can say, the books are very entertaining and extremely detailed. Highly recommended by me.

English link with more information about the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oishinbo

Cooking with dog

 No, the lady isn't going to cook the dog...

''Cooking wth dog'' is a really funny but educating youtube channel

Go check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog?blend=1&ob=4

Creperie de Mari, a hidden gourmet paradise!!!

Today, me and my good friend C had a girl's only day in Oslo city. We went to the ''Forskningstorget'' and did lots of funny stuff like.. watched ourselves on a camera which showed us our body heat, sung ''Can you feel the love tonight'', and seen the newest in electronical vehicles...

But, what was our most surprising discovery today was this small TINY TINY creperie right in the middle of Karl Johan.. (the adress is: Torggata 7, and you can reach it by taking the tram or bus to Stortorget. It's in the small passage to Youngstorget).

The young girl (I think she's Polish) (update 26.09: She might be French!!) had this amazing and most delicious looking menu of French crepes (it's like pancakes/pannekaker). You could chose between sweet crepes (the original kind) or ''salty'' crepes (those with other ingredients like salmon and cheddar chesse). I ordered a nr 15, cheese, ham and tomatoes, while C ordered salmon. I can't say I expected much of the crepes I ate, but  it was soo good. And VERY cheap. I paid 45 NOK for mine and I got SOO full, C literally had to push me out of the door:) I know those of you who studies Japanese and reads my blog will like this. I have heard crepes are extremely popular in Japan too (yes, I'm aware that this is from the French cuisine).I will most certainly come back, and I hope that this outlet will last for many many years to come! STRONGLY RECOMMEND by me!!!

(Update 26.09: Rumours has it they might even have student's discounts, I must check this out!!)

Pictures were taken with premission from the owner!

Japanese confectionary (Norwegian version)

Som tittelen viser skal jeg si noe ord om japanske søtsaker idag. 

Så mange av dere vil nok lure, hva er japanske søtsaker, hva slags typer finnes, hva er typisk for dem og ikke minst, finnes det noe manga, tvserier,bøker som tar for seg temaet?

I Japansk kalles disse tradisjonelle søtsakene for Wagashi ( 和菓子), og ofte blir disse servet sammen med te og er laget av frukt eller riskaker. Deretter blir disse formet i ulike størrelser, fasonger og former og gitt forskjellige navn. Det som er felles med alle wagashi typene er at de blir laget etter sesongen, slik at noe typer wagashi blir bare å finne utpå høsten eller midt på vintern. Videre er også alle type wagashi håndlaget og basere seg på naturlige ingredienser. 

For type manga eller tvserier som tar for seg temaet ''Japanese confectionary'' kan jeg anbefale serien Andou Natsu (あんどーなつ) som handler om ei ung jente som blir tatt under vingen av en vel-etablert Japansk konfekt butikk kalt Mangetsudo (满月堂).

Kilder:
http://www.infomapjapan.com/hstore/200903-infospecial.phtml

 d-addicts.com

Bilde fra: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:YZbQ0cw1C7N3wM:http://www.ant-network.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/wagashi-Exhibition-of-the-History-of-Japanese-Confectionary.jpg&t=1

Bento geek

Hmm, is anyone actually reading my blog? Feels like I'm writing this for myself.

Anyway, today I want to introduce to you two of my favorite websites/blog about Japanese bento (lunch boxes).

The first one is: http://bentogeek.blogspot.com/ (English)
This guy lives in Japan and works at some kind of company (most likely a Western office-worker), and he eats the most amazing bento's (lunch boxes) all the time. For each post he has added not only the price of the bento but also what the name is, and where he have bought it (might be useful for people who want to eat the same bento as him in Japan). And, at the very end of each post he also gives a good review about it tasted etc. Unfortunately, this blog haven't been updated for some months now, but do check it out! (Warning: you might become hungry while reading his blog, because all the food looks really delicious and tasty)

The second one: http://justbento.com/ (English)
This is my favorite website for finding anything related to Bento (lunch boxes), similar to the link above. This site is run by a lovely lady, and features the most amazing recipes to make easy, delicous and pretty bento for your child/boyfriend/dog/ fish etc. You can also find links for where to buy bento boxes on the net.... Strongly recommended!

Ipad

So, I went against my own words really. I shouldn't post something non-food related on this blog, but.. please forgive me..

Got a ipad on trial today (friday-wednesday). Testing it out for the university library. Here's my impression after some hours of testing:

1. It's much heavier than I thought it would be, and not really that comfortable to read with.
2. The plate itself is big and the screen is rotate-able (but unfortunately the plate also shows fingerprints very well).
3. Downloading from itunes was easy, even though they should categorize the applications better (from lowest-highest price---> all the ''freebies'' was spread here and there
4. Music isn't really that great to listen to on the ipad.
5. Lots of the application still requires internet access, which I don't have here....
6. It's still very expensive
7. Reading books on the ipad isn't really what I thought it was. Very akward indeed

Conclusion: I would rather go out and buy a book in paperback than using iPad.. And that should tell you alot about what I think of it..

Nintendo DS

To be honest, I love gaming. I don't even try to hide it anymore (used to when I was younger). And I have been a fan of the Nintendo handhold consoles since 2002-2003. My first handheld was a Game Boy Advance SP (but I have played the older models too, like Game Boy Colour and Game Boy), and right now I got a 2. generation DS (see picture where I compared the ''3. generation DS'', the DSi XL with my 2.generation DS) with several games like Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Hotel Dusk, Animal Crossing and GTA Chinatown Wars etc. And just yesterday I started playing ''Professor Layton and the diabolical box'' again... Lots of fun!! Here's some pictures of my DS.

The flowering/birdie bag is my DS holder! And tadaa.. my ''precious''

Shinya Shokudo 深夜食堂

Hello all gourmet-lovers! Today marks the start of this blog, yay.

And first out is the heart-warming and sweet drama called ''Shinya Shokudo'' or ''深夜食堂'' , directed by Matsuoka Joji, Yamashita Nobuhiro and Oikawa Takuro. This is a drama from Japan, broadcasted in late 2009. The main character (the master) is played by actor Kobayashi Kaoru. The main plot is very simple: Our story takes place in a small restaurant in a back-alley behind a big shopping district. The restaurant is opened from 24:00-07:00, and the menu is limited. But, as the master himselves says, he'll try and make anything as long as it's something he can do. The restaurant do have some regular customers, a gay bar-owner, three sisters, a young aspiring enka-singer and boxer trying to find the true meaning of life.

I really like this drama because it's very touching, and simple. Also very nostalgic, for those of us who likes that. The drama is only 10 episodes long so it might be too short for some of you.

Here's a clip (from youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgQtA4iJHsM

East Asian gourmet

Hello all gourmet-lovers. This is priestessofwater. This is my 3rd attempt trying to revive my old blogger account, let's hope for the best. This time around I want to do something different that before, namely to concentrate on one topic. Food watched, read, or eaten in any East Asian setting or enviroment I have been ''exposed'' to.

Now, this idea came to me just some days ago, and made me very excited. I have always been interested in food, both in dramatized and ''read-able'' form, so why not make a blog about it.. Anyway, I think I qualified to say this since I have watched and read about food-related film, book, tvdrama's for over a year now and should know what is ''out there''.

Please do look forward to my posts ^_^

(I'll try and do this mostly in English and Norwegian, but some Chinese might occur)