Earthquake

It happened.

They told me it would happen eventually, but I didn't think much of it.

And then the building shook.

I was halfway through my last lesson of the morning.  I was teaching my student about health, and we had just started talking about things that cause stress.  "What are some things that you find stressful?" I asked my student.  He just stared wide-eyed at me.  I thought this was because he couldn't think of anything.  But, it was because he felt it first.  There it was- a weird sensation of movement.  Oh.  My.  God.  What do we do again?  Hide under a desk?  Stand in a doorway?  Stop, drop, and roll?  I had no idea.  But it was over as quickly as it started.  Lucky for me- I had no plan.

"I find earthquakes stressful!"  What?  Oh, right- very good.  Earthquakes are stressful.  Right- back to class.  And just like that, my first earthquake in Japan was done.

Talk about feeling lost!

A Tokyo Thanksgiving

I'm no stranger to small kitchens.  My condo back home and my old apartment both had notoriously tiny cooking spaces.  But they never stopped me from trying to make big or special meals.  I figured the same was true for our ridiculously minuscule kitchen here in Tokyo.  So as Thanksgiving approached, we began to plan our feast.  This proved to be harder than I thought.  Every recipe online was for 6 people or more.  And, the grocery stores weren't exactly overflowing with traditional Thanksgiving items, so I consulted my favorite cooking blog for help.

With my work schedule being a little rough on weekdays (I get home around 10pm Monday-Thursday), we decided to celebrate on Saturday evening.  As I suspected, the readers of The Kitchn pulled through.  We got a great scaled down recipe for mashed potatoes and some excellent suggestions for places to shop.  We bought what we needed, and we were ready to go.

The prep

And so it began.  As expected, things proved to be cramped.  We were determined to make it work- so what if we had to use the top of the washing machine as extra counter space?  The window sill made an excellent spice rack!  We prepared our little chicken as best we could for its unknown fate in the toaster oven.  We stuffed it with garlic, onion, lemon, rosemary, and thyme.  We rubbed it inside and out with EVOO, salt, and pepper.  It was ready.  Inside he went, and we turned the timer as high as it would go (this would be repeated a few times).

The chicken awaits.  As you can see, the toaster oven has no temperature control.

 While our chicken started roasting toasting, we worked on the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and green beans.  Most of this was fine.  Our gravy got infused with some extra things to make it yummy.  If I do say so myself, I think it looks really cute simmering away in this traditional Japanese pot.

Store bought gravy gets jazzed up

Naturally, there were a few bumps in the road.  What's that smell?  Oh great.  The top of the chicken is browning too quickly.  No problem- cover it with foil.  No foil.  Okay- cover it with another pan.  Done.  What's that other smell?  Oh no- the bottom of the stuffing is burning.  No problem.  Don't stir it too much, and we'll just eat the top part.  Okay.  Let's heat up the cream for the mashed potatoes.

Cream that is 47% something- maybe fat?

The Kitchn says you can just heat up the cream in the microwave.  That's a good thing because both burners are in use at the moment.  Pop that bad boy in.  Is it okay to have both the toaster oven and the microwave in use at the same time?  Sure, I do it all the time...

Famous last words.  Darkness ensued.  For a good 30 seconds, we just stand there in shock.  Now what?  Quick- run into and grab the flashlight.  Thank goodness those friends of ours who gave out flashlights as wedding favors were such geniuses!  Now what?  Where is the circuit breaker box?  Is it that thing above the door with the switches?  Just click one and see what happens!  I stand holding my breath, praying we don't have to spend 3500 yen on Pizza Hut. 

And then there was light.  Hallelujah!

Back to work.  The potatoes got mashed, the green beans got sauteed, and I'll be damned- that chicken was cooking!  Things were falling into place.  Let's set the table.

Our feast!

 Everything worked out.  The chicken was juicy, the mashed potatoes were fluffy, and there was enough stuffing that wasn't too burnt.  The gravy tasted wonderfully of rosemary, and the beans were crisp and just green enough so we didn't feel too guilty about everything else.  All in all, it was a beautiful meal.  It may not have been our tastiest Thanksgiving ever, but it will certainly become one of our most memorable ones.  After dinner we made bread pudding and listened to some Mariah Carey Christmas music.  What a wonderful night!  

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to all those back home!  Thanksgiving is such a special holiday.  I obviously love it because it is a day dedicated to food.  But more than that, Thanksgiving is the only holiday that all Americans celebrate.  It doesn't matter what your religion, culture, or background is- chances are if you are in the U.S., you're eating some turkey today!  Whether your turkey is served with a side of canned cranberry sauce, mango chutney, or kimchi, I'm sure it's delicious.  And that's why I love this day.  It brings us all together as Americans.  Even Americans in Tokyo.  We'll be having our own thanksgiving dinner this Saturday.  Stay tuned to see if a small chicken can actually be cooked in a Japanese toaster oven with no temperature control.

I'm not so sure about the story behind Thanksgiving.  How likely is it that the American Indians actually wanted to sit down and have a meal with the pilgrims after they took over their land?  I don't buy it.  But I do love that we take the day to reflect on what we are thankful for.  So I thought I'd share what I'm thankful for on this day:

So young!

So little!

While these pictures are not exactly recent, this is sometimes how I think of my nieces and nephew.  I know you are all older now, but it wasn't that long ago you were small!  I'm thankful for my family- in all it's parts.  I'm especially thankful for the next generation.  I can't wait to see what you become!  Enjoy your canned cranberry sauce tonight- have an extra bite for me.

What are YOU thankful for?

Harry Potter- Partu One!

Some things are the same anywhere.  I don't care where in the world I am, I am going to see the new Harry Potter movie on opening day.  In fact, for the past several years I've had the privilege of watching at midnight.  (Dork alert: I feel perfectly at home surrounded by pimply kids who draw lightning bolts on their foreheads and carry around a chopstick as a magic wand.) 

This year, I was not so fortunate.  For one, the movie theaters don't show midnight shows.  How can this be?  The grocery store is 24 hours but I can't watch a movie at midnight??  Because the blasted subway system stops running at 1:00am so all the moviegoers would be stranded until 5:00am when the trains start running again.  Fine by me- just point me in the direction of some fast food and I'm good to go!  But no- this was not an option.  So I had to settle for Friday afternoon instead.

It was worth the wait.  The movie theater was beautiful and there was a STORE selling HP merchandise!

HP merchandise for sale

 The movie was great.  I have some beef with how much was covered and some details that were left out, but this is always the case.  I will say this.  It was odd not watching it at home.  The movie was the same, but the experience wasn't.  We didn't all "ooh" and "ahh" together.  In fact most of the time we just laughed out loud by ourselves while the rest of the audience stayed silent.  Did they not get the jokes?  Is it not okay to react aloud in the theater?  I'm not sure.  The weirdest thing was at the end of the movie; everyone sat through the credits.  I thought, maybe these guys know something I don't- maybe they are going to show something extra!  Not the case.  Just a big waste of about 15 minutes that I'll never get back.  And for what?  I still have no idea.  I guess that's what you do here.

Cultural norms aside, it was a great experience.  I can't wait until Partu Two!

Street food and religion

From what I've observed so far, Japanese culture is full of conundrums.  What is considered professional work dress is so conservative that I'm limited to the same 6 outfits all the time.  To even have your top button unbuttoned is considered a no-no.  And yet, it's not considered shameful for business men to be seen coming out of a scandalous shop.  They don't even try to hide what they've just been looking at!  Love motels advertise freely.  These are ironies I may never understand.

Another example of this can be seen in the festival we stumbled across last Friday.

As we got our tickets to Harry Potter I noticed a row of tents across the street.  Did Shinjuku have some sort of farmer's market on Friday afternoons?  Maybe it was a flea market?  We decided to check it out (after ensuring we got tickets to the 3:20 show of course).  As we crossed the street I realized- they were all street vendors!  It was tent after tent of glorious street food.

Bags of cotton candy

                                       
Now we have street vendors back in DC.  In fact, food trucks are becoming more and more prevalent in and around the city.  But this was serious business.  No hot dogs or soft pretzels here.  I'm talking really good food that sometimes required some pretty specialized equipment.  With every few steps I was more and more amazed at the variety of offerings.  Unlike DC food trucks where one truck offers multiple menu items, most of these vendors tended to offer one specialty.  And they made that one thing REALLY well.  

Skewered and grilled meat

Charcoal roasted fish

Spiral cut fried potato dipped in different salts

Japanese "pancakes"

Obviously, we ate as much as we could.  We tried a little bit of everything- my favorite way to eat.  This is where simple really is better.  That little charcoal roasted fish was just amazing.  crunchy on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside.  I know some of you back home are shuddering at the sight of that whole fish, but it was delicious!

Now, why were all these amazing street vendors here?  Just to celebrate food?  That's good enough for me.  But the further we walked into the maze of tents, we realized there was something else going on.  People were carrying these bamboo flower arrangements.  They looked like the type of thing you might put on someone's grave.  We walked along and came across a surprising sight:

Now, I still don't understand exactly what was happening.  But this is definitely some sort of shrine.  And that is definitely a long line of people waiting to go inside.  I imagine they were there to pay respect to their lost loved ones.  I couldn't believe it.  Here we were gorging ourselves with fish on a stick, and we came across this seemingly very religious and spiritual event.  I felt ashamed.  I stopped in my tracks.  It didn't seem right!  But I looked around and sure enough, there was a guy selling Wii games right next to the darned temple.  So I guess it was all okay.  I guess Japanese people like to get some good street food on their way to honor the dead.  Just another irony I may never understand.

But I don't have to understand.  That's what being lost is all about.  Sometimes you just have to observe what is happening around you, and accept it.  I will say that it was quite beautiful.  Past the temple there were stalls selling the flower arrangements.  Every time someone bought one, the employees of the stand would do a sort of chant and bang on instruments.  I imagine they were thanking their customers and maybe blessing the arrangement to ward off evil spirits.  Who knows if I'm right, but I liked the way this sounded.

So after standing there with my mouth open for quite some time, I did what anyone would do.  I ate more street food!  We found a wonderful little stand in the back that had some stools.  We sat down and had some of the simplest food I've ever had.  Just one huge prawn and one huge scallop grilled before our eyes.  No fancy sauces, no microgreen garnishes.  They were amazing.  The scallop was perfectly charred on the outside but the inside was still raw.  It was the kind of food that makes you close your eyes and make a little noise.  So good.  They left on all the good bits of connective tissue too- my favorite!

Scallop in all it's natural glory.  No, that is not bacon.

So after an hour or so of amazing food, we walked away very happy.  Happy as a scallop, if you will.  As we made our way back through the entrance we passed the shrine again.  The line had grown even longer with people waiting to honor their loved ones.  And while it still didn't make complete sense to me, I felt a little better about it.  Maybe it was the giant prawn in me talking, but I understood it a little more.  Good food makes people happy.  And who am I to say you shouldn't be happy before you go into the shrine to pay respect to the dead?  One conundrum down!  Now if only I can figure out the dress thing...
 

We're not in DC anymore

Konichiwa America!

Welcome to my blog all about being lost.  Yes, lost.  So much of what Americans know about Tokyo came from the movie Lost in Translation.  A lot of what we saw in that movie is true.  The feelings of being alone, not understanding this new culture surrounding you, feeling a little crazy and lonely- all true.  But a lot of it is just good movie making.  My experience is bigger than just living in a city all the way on the other side of the world from home.  It's about new food!  It's about a new job.  It's about new adventures with my main squeeze.  We'll be here for a short period of time, and who knows what kind of trouble we'll get ourselves into.  This is a transitional period in our lives.  We are here to discover ourselves!  This blog is so that all of you back home (or wherever you are) can follow along as I get more and more lost in transition...

Thanks in advance for coming on this journey with me.  I hope to feature regular pictures of crazy things I come across so prepare yourselves.  Here is one I like so far:

    Just a man going down the escalator at the Shinkjuku Picadilly movie theater.  No big deal. 

Check back soon for a spread on a street festival we stumbled across by accident.  This is just one benefit of being lost.