Friday, March 16, 2012

Screaming Sushi

Friday was a day of bliss.  Naoko and Ai took Ros, Marisa and myself for all you can eat sushi at Screaming Sushi near the Fussa Station.  These fine ladies and I have an unofficial foodie group we created out of our love for FOOD.  We share recipes, teach each other how to cook certain cultural foods (i.e. gyoza and lumpia), and eat at different restaurants around the Fussa area.  There are some other moms that also belong, but today it was only the 5 of us (and Ros' son).  Why?  Well, Sushi that's why.  You either love it or hate it.  And we LOVE it!

Screaming Sushi is a restaurant that has conveyor belts that deliver sushi to tables.  As the sushi chefs create their dishes they put it on the belt and the patrons sitting at table can grab what they like when it passes.  For those in Hawaii, it's like Genki Sushi.



The sushi was so OISHII!  The fish roe, the toro, the unagi, the maguro, the tako, the ika...  Everything was fresh and delicious.  And we did some serious damage as you can tell by the stacks of plates.  No, we aren't OCD about our sushi plates.  If you stack them by color they will give you a discount on your bill.  Also, the colors determine the cost of the plate.  They run from about ¥150 - ¥550.  I believe the gold and silver plates are the most expensive.  Expensive but so worth it.


Finally, one question asked is about the freshness of the sashimi used.  Many people don't like fish because of the "fishy" smell.  What they don't realize is that truly fresh fish does not smell fishy at all or taste slimy.  This hamachi (yum, hamachi!!!)  was caught that day and brought to the restaurant where the chef displayed it to us before masterfully cutting it to serve in sashimi or sushi rolls.  That is fresh, that is quality, that is delicious!


Oh, what heavenly sushi bliss I experienced that day.  I cannot wait to return and experience it all over again.  Until our next foodie adventure!


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Attack of the Monster Gyoza

This weekend, my friend Naoko and her family took us on a little field trip to Tachikawa.  Tachikawa is the town a few train stops away from where we live in Fussa.  Naoko helped us buy our new Suica cards to use on the rail systems.

Tachikawa is only about a 16 minute train ride from Yokota AB and the Fussa Train Station.  However, the Tachikawa train station is pretty awesome.  Like many Japanese train stations, they have built a little shopping mall in the station.  One store had 8 floors of shopping bliss.  Wow!  

We window shopped for a few hours and then went off to our main destination... dinner.  And not any dinner, but giant gyoza dinner.  The restaurant the serves these giant gyozas goes by several different names.  Many people call it "Communist Gyoza" because of the very specific rules of the chef (i.e. you are only allowed to order gyoza once, if you want to order more, you are denied.)  Other names are "Gyoza Heaven" or "New Gyoza 1059" (this one is actually on the door).



For continuity's sake, I will call the restaurant by its more popular name, Communist Gyoza or CG.  See CG is a pretty small restaurant, some counter seatings, 4 or 5 tables, and a back room that can sit larger parties of about 10.



The menu is also very small and simple.  Basically, you can order gyoza or gyoza.




Our group consisted of 4 adults and 3 kids.  We didn't know exactly how big the gyozas would be, so we started by ordering 8 plates of different gyozas.  That is until the waitress came back and recommended we not order so much.  So we switched it to 6 plates.

Now before I continue, maybe some of you are wondering what gyoza is?  Gyoza is basically a Japanese dumpling or pot-sticker.  It is usually filled with ground pork and cabbage and seasonings.   They are about the size of a little smokey (approximately 1 inch wide, 2 inches long, with maybe 1 ounce of meat filling).  

The gyoza's here were about 3 times that size.  They were the equivalent of 2 to 3 meatballs covered in gyoza wrapper, and if there were any cabbage or vegetables in that thing, then I believe the pork swallowed it.  Here is our order of 6 plates.



Here is a close up of the goods.  Beer and Gyoza.  Dinner of Champions.


Now, the close up may not give you an accurate account of the size of these things, so let Doug and "A" give you a reference point to their massiveness.  If you've eaten regular gyoza,  you will appreciate the size of these monstrosities.  Each plate contained a few pounds of gyoza.





What types of gyoza did we order, you ask?  Well, we ordered a crab gyoza... YUMMY!



Scallop Gyoza... Pretty Good.



Shrimp Gyoza... Holy Deliciosness!



We also ordered a pork gyoza which was redundant since it was pork with more pork.  And Doug and Tim ordered a Potato Gyoza that Naoko and I thought was horrible.  It was a gyoza filled with pork and mashed potato.  No me gusta.  I forget what the sixth plate was, it may have been another pork gyoza.


So we ate and the kids ate and we ate some more.  I think they are gyoza drunk.



Well we managed to finish all six plates, to the horror of the restaurant's chefs.  So much so, that they broke their own rule and asked if we would like to order more.  Oh goodness, No Thank you!  It was delicious but no more.  Here's the aftermath of our gluttony.


We left there beyond stuffed.  I liked it, maybe not enough to rush back every few weeks, but I'd definitely go again.  Naoko thought it was too heavy on the meat.  Of course, she's a chef that makes awesome light and flavorful gyozas.  You can see how she makes gyozas in my February 2012 blog.  

Anyways, I digress, like I said I would definitely go back one day.  Hopefully, we will be able to find the restaurant.  It's not exactly easily marked as you can tell by the picture I took of it's exterior.  Yeah, that doesn't look like every other building in every other town in Japan.


Well, it's a good thing I pinned it on my phone.  Hopefully, I will be able to find it the next time I head to Tachikawa for dinner.  If not, Monster Gyoza at Communist Gyoza will be but a distant memory.  Until our next delicious adventure!!!



Saturday, March 3, 2012

Girl's Day at the Aiji no Ie orphanage

"A" and Doug celebrated Girl's Day at the Aiji no Ie (House of the Precious Children) Orphanage in Tokyo.  "A" was chosen to represent her Kindergarten class there in a day of food, fun, and friendship.



Mendel K. Elementary has a special relationship with the orphanage.  Each classroom sponsors one child from the orphanage, who then comes to the school on special days to visit and spend the day with the class.  "A"'s Aiji no Ie classmate is Karina.  Here is "A" and Karina, two of the cutest little girls in the world.



So "A", Doug, and the other students with their parents met at the school to catch a bus to central Tokyo where the orphanage is located.  Once there, the kids were excited to see their friends and celebrate Girl's Day.  Here is "A" waiting patiently in line to go in.



Once in, "A" got her name tag and her schedule of activities.  Can she look any more excited?



One of the activities was ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangement, which they got to bring home.



Another traditional Japanese activity the children got to do was shodo, Japanese calligraphy.



The girls also made some cards and origami...



Played some japanese games...



And got to dress in traditional Japanese outfits.



After all those activities, it was time to EAT!!!  The ladies were working hard to prepare all the food for the luncheon.  Mmmmm...



Here is the VERY extensive menu, written in both Japanese and English.  That is a lot of food!



It was such a delicious spread of traditional Japanese foods.  A great learning and great tasting experience for the Yokota students and parents!




Along with all that food, the kids also got to choose from boxes of Japanese goodies. Can the day get any better?



In honor of Girl's Day, the traditional ornamental dolls were also on display for the children to see.



 The visit was a wonderful way of celebrating Girl's Day and lovely experience for the kids of both Mendel Elementary and the Aiji no Ie Orphanage. It was such an honor to have "A" be a part of it and we are humbled to have been welcomed into the childrens' home.  If you would like to read more about the unique friendship between Yokota AB and the Aiji Ie Orphanage please click here.