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Living Out Of A Suitcase
Posts tagged Food & Drink
Christmas Dinner
Dec 26th, 2009
Instead of doing the KFC thing (a strange Japanese Christmas traditional meal), or buying a pre-cooked glazed leg from the supermarket, I went on the hunt for a whole bird yesterday. I searched a couple places and finally found some 3-4 pound birds for sale under Sendai Station.
Barock
Dec 4th, 2009
Our epic Monday adventure around Sendai finally landed us at a new bar near Sendai Station. Primarily a whiskey bar, they’ve also got a little wine and one Japanese beer, Heartland, which isn’t as bad as the regular domestic swill. As you can see the atmosphere is very dark and cozy, with classic vinyl albums spinning on the turntable. Complimentary macadamia nuts and an industrial-looking nutcracker complete the experience.
The Morning Market
Nov 19th, 2009
Took an epic, 12-hour jaunt around Sendai this past Monday. Our original plan was simply to visit Asaichi, the Morning Market, to pick up some fresh-off-the-boat seafood for dinner. It quickly mutated into an all out tour of the downtown area though. Here’s the first leg of our trip.
The Walk Home
Nov 6th, 2009
Some sights to be seen on my daily walk home from work. I don’t work or live near the main drinking district, Kokubuncho, but rest assured there are still plenty of places to get a glass of the good stuff or something to eat as I make my way to the east side of Sendai Station.
Smalltown Life
Nov 4th, 2009
Every Wednesday evening I have to work outside the city in a small town called Tagajo. Basically it’s a suburb of Sendai, but it’s also home to many factories for big companies like Mitsubishi and Sony. I walk through the main entertainment area on my way to work, so I thought I’d keep trying out the prime lens and take some low-light photos.
Like most countryside towns in Japan, there’s only one main strip where most of the bars and tiny restaurants reside. Easy to go bar hopping and grab some eats afterwards. Of course, afterwards can be 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7am…
Dinner in Furukawa
Nov 3rd, 2009
Took a Shinkansen north up to Furukawa to visit some friends and co-workers from my days there, and made a couple new friends as well. 120 minute “nomihodai” (all you can drink!) ensures getting the night off to a fun start. The food at this particular “izakaya” (Japanese restaurant) however was pretty crappy, in particular the grilled squid was dry and bland. Afterwards a few of us made our way up the street to a darts bar, but packed it in pretty early. I crashed on my friend’s couch at around 3:30. I’ve never actually closed that darts bar down actually… and probably never will!
Photo of the Indeterminate Time Period #2
Jun 16th, 2009
Near the outskirts of Sendai, where the city slowly reverts back to farmland, you’ll find lots of interesting old vending machines. Here’s one of them.
Local farmers sell eggs and vegetables out of these bad boys. Interesting side note, these eggs, along with the ones you’ll buy at a supermarket, are unrefrigerated.
Beerfest!
Jun 15th, 2009
Yesterday wrapped up a popular bi-annual event in Sendai, the Sendai Germanfest. This Oktoberfest-style event takes place in June and September for some reason. Kyoko and I checked it out on Saturday night. This outdoor event was at Nishiki-cho Park downtown and was already well underway by the time we arrived at 6pm.
The beer was pretty good, much better than the Japanese swill that’s served in restaurants and bars, and the food wasn’t overly terrible. Each beer though cost 1300 yen, or about 15 dollars! Nevertheless, I had 3 because it was just so much better than Japanese beer. One of the things I miss the most about Canada is microbrewed beer.
Got a chance to chat with the three German guys who provided the evening’s entertainment. They usually play in the German military orchestra, entertaining their countrymen wherever they are stationed around the world.
Check out the slideshow below, and the video clip of German people playing American music to Japanese people.
Can’t Stomach It
Feb 12th, 2009
Who wants to ride the sushi train? I'll take the next one...
Picked up a mild case of food poisoning this weekend. I’m almost positive it wasn’t from the Oyster Festival, as Kyoko and I shared all the food we bought. It might have been from the take-out sushi we ordered on Monday. She and I have pretty different tastes when it comes to sushi. Kyoko likes hotate (scallop), negitoro (fatty tuna belly), and uni (sea urchin), while I gravitate towards shime sabe (pickled mackeral), ebi-ten maki (shrimp tempura rolls), and salmon. I thin
k it was the mackeral that did it. Luckily there was no vomiting, but I had to take Tuesday off work (today, Wednesday, is a national holiday), and I think I’ve spent more time sitting on the toilet these past few days than I’ve spent all year. Still not eating much, but I’m drinking lots of water, Pocari Sweat, and Aquarius, and the grumblings in my tummy have subsided.
Hopefully I can keep my strength up today at work, because tomorrow I’m off to Tokyo for 4 days to party with Eric Olson, of all people!
Winter Holiday, Day 1: Utsunomiya
Jan 6th, 2009
Having a couple weeks off for Christmas/New Year’s, we decided to get the heck out of Miyagi. Our first stop found us in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture.
Our final destination for the day was actually Nikko, one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Japan, but we had to transfer trains in Utsunomiya, which is the capital city of Tochigi Pref. It’s also famous for gyoza. I could think of no better way to kick off our holiday than with a plate of gyoza and a glass of beer.
Utsunomiya is only about 100km from Tokyo, and with its half-million population is well known within Japan for not only gyoza, but its jazz scene and cocktail bars. As one travels throughout Japan however, you’ll quickly find that every single place is famous for one thing or another. We were here to eat!
Utsunomiya… is a strange place. Rather, it has strange inhabitants. Walking along the promenade in front of the station and in the department stores, we encountered numerous people who either had some sort of physical or mental ailment. With so many people walking around having conversations to themselves or their imaginary friends, we sought safety at a Gap, where we were immediately accosted by super-genki sales staff. After beating them off, we Kyoko and I decided we’d be safer out on the street with the cripples and retards.