It’s been a HOT week in the Kantō region with most cities registering the year’s highest temperatures. University classes are done for awhile, so we attempted to escape the heat with a midweek excursion to the Pacific Ocean. The nearest beach town is Enoshima, so we caught an early train from Kawagoe and set out for the two-hour train ride east.
Enoshima is a small island that is technically part of Fujisawa city and the center of the Shōnan coastal region. The island is a living shrine to Benzaiten, the Buddhist goddess of music and entertainment. We explored the island for a few hours before heading further east to Kamakura.
Standing in the shadow of The Great Buddha of Kamakura – actually, the shadows are from the trees, but still…
Kamakura is a small city that was considered the capitol of Japan during the reign of the Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333 AD). The highlight of a trip to Kamakura is the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in.
The day’s story is better told in pictures, so enjoy!
A view of Enoshima Island from the bridge between the island and the area near Katase-Enoshima StationThe shopping street on Enoshima Island is framed by a bronze torii that has been oxidized over the yearsAs native species, owl and fish imagery are prevalent on the island. One shop also customized the traditional maneki-neko (beckoning cat).The torii to Enoshima Shrine… and the first of many, MANY stairs we’d encounter on the islandStatues leading to Hetsu-no-miya Jinja (Shrine at the Edge), the first of the smaller shrines making up Enoshima ShrineHetsu-no-miya Shrine. The large ring is made from bundled grass. Tradition suggests walking through the ring in a figure-eight (infinity – ∞) prior to prayer .View of the Enoshima beaches near Hetsu-no-miya ShrineWadatsunomiya Shrine houses the dragon that once terrorized the island. His story is included throughout the island.“Love locks” are attached to the fence around Koibito-no-oka. Legend says if a couple ties a lock and rings the bell, they will never be separated.A sign at the entrance to the island warns “Beware of Hawks.” While we were resting near the water, a hawk swooped down and took a bite of someone’s onigiri. Beware of hawks for reals!The Iwaya Caves are lined with Buddhist statues and symbolism. Candles are distributed as you enter to light the way (lower-right).It’s all uphill from the Iwaya Caves back to the Hetsu-no-miya Shrine. So. Many. Stairs.Back on the shopping street, a shop offered the Dr. Fish service. For 500 yen, you put your feet in a small pool and little fish eat the crud off of your feet. The fish are visible in the background.Outside the gate of Enoshima Station, these steel-sculpted birds sat perched on a rail. Someone knitted little hats and shawls for them.
Fish-shaped flip flops for sale at a shop in KamakuraYuigahama Beach near Kamakura. The ocean was warm and mostly calm, perfect for a refreshing dip after a humid day.
One of my favorite weekend activities back home was walking around weekend markets. There was no shortage of options in our neck of the woods and we frequented several. It’s fun to snack on unique homemade treats and see local craftspeople selling their goods. Music is everywhere, from full bands to middle school violinists. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday.
With all the gardens in our new neighborhood, the lack of farmers markets strikes me as odd. I’m guessing most of the gardeners must sell their veggies to local restaurants and stores. Some have unmanned stands set up. But no farmers markets.
Leave it to the world’s largest city to save the day. Every weekend, farmers markets spring up throughout Tokyo. A couple weeks ago, we hit a pair of them: Taiyou no Marche (Market of the Sun) in the Chūō ward and the United Nations University farmers market in the Omotesando district.
The Tofu Tofu food truck offered three varieties of tofu burgers
Taiyou no Marche was the larger market of the two and we stepped off the train around lunchtime. Food trucks lined the path from the train station offering a variety of good eats. We checked out all of our options, but decided on Tofu Burgers from the TofuTofu truck—or more accurately, Volkswagen Bus. The lady taking orders gave me a half-hug when we approached. Food made with love… literally. No joke… layered in salsa and cheddar with an awesome fresh bun, I could have eaten this thing all day long.
The Addictive Masterpiece Tofu Burger (絶品 やみつきとうふ バーガー)
Fueled up, we wandered up and down the aisles of the market. Fresh veggies and Japanese wine (with copious samples) around every corner. One booth was milling freshly-roasted sesame seeds into oil right at the market.
These beets went into an awesome borsch a couple days later
The find of the market, however, was beets! I know, right? Beets! Maybe they’ll show up in the stores later in the year, but this was the first beet sighting in Japan so far. The man at the booth spoke decent English and asked how we prepare them. My amazing wife turned into Bubba from Forrest Gump, listing multiple ways to prepare them. The man said his favorite method was to grill them, but we put them into an awesome borsch.
Most of the booths offered samples, but one was more memorable than others. The Natural Meal Lab had samples of their granola. As we were tasting, a Japanese TV crew walked up. I think I’d dropped an oishī (delicious) to compliment the granola lady and the TV guys seemed to like that. It took three takes to get a shot of them panning from the granola display to me tasting it and saying “Mmmm…. oishī!”
Me being filmed by Japanese TV. Can’t wait to see the treatment if they actually air it because Japanese TV is hilarious!
After ensuring our fame on Japanese television, we hopped back on the train and headed for Omotesando. The United Nations University hosts a farmers market every weekend. It was a little smallerthan Taiyou no Marche, but had some great food options.
Anadomikan are Japanese oranges and taste like a cross between an orange and a grapefruit
One booth sold anadomikan, Japanese oranges that are big like a grapefruit and have a slightly more bitter flavor than a regular orange, but pack the awesomeness of both fruits. The lady kindly explained this as she doled out samples.
Falafel and deep-fried soy nuggets… my, oh, my!
Like the last market, several food trucks circled the booths. We had a couple snacks, including deep-fried soy nuggets (holy smokes, these were naughty!) and a falafel sandwich with chili sauce.
This kid was taking advantage of the free samples
Japan is well-known for its kawaii culture, but there was actual cuteness all over this market. Little kids took part in the free samples and the dog-friendly market made it feel like a day in Portland. What appeared to be a dog adoption clinic was being held in the back of the market, which was a nice contrast to the puppies for sale (at $5,000 USD each) in the pet store next to the market.
Puppies everywhere!
On any given weekend, there’s at least a dozen farmers markets around Tokyo. The access to farm-fresh vegetables filled another gap in our Japan life and I’m sure these market trips will continue throughout the summer.
Before leaving the U.S., we’d started to get into hiking. With the beautiful natural areas in Oregon, it’s not hard to find a hiking trail to fit your mood. Japan offers many hiking opportunities, but our area is so citified that greenspace is mostly limited to parks with walking paths.
However, just a short train ride to the west lies the Okuchichibu Mountainous Region (奥秩父山地). The area is full of wooded hiking trails and reminiscent of the Cascade and Coast ranges back home. Hidaka City is the gateway to the Okuchichibu region, with three great peaks and just a 15 minute train ride from our station. We headed for Hidaka, choosing to brave the 90-plus degree temperatures following a few days of Typhoon Neoguri leftovers. Luckily, although just a few miles west, the temperatures were pleasant and a light breeze made for a comfortable day.
Playing Bus Stop Bingo, matching the kanji on the display board for the Kinchakuda stop
We’d been to Hidaka recently for lunch, so we knew that we needed to plan slightly better for the bus ride. In reading the few reviews I could find for the hike, I also knew we wouldn’t see much rōmaji, so I carefully wrote out the kanji for each mountain we’d be hiking and the bus stop we’d need. Since the bus only stops when people need to get on or off, we played some Bus Stop Bingo trying to match my scribbles to the reader board on the bus.
The sign from the road pointing to the Hiwadayama trail head.
After successfully departing the bus at Kinchakuda, we headed up the road to the Mt. Hiwada (日和田山) trail head. The trail had a couple options. You could walk the gentle slope of the switchbacks up to the start of the main trail or follow the makeshift stairs straight up the side of the mountain. We opted for the challenge of the stairs and worked our way up to the trail’s first torii.
Choose your own adventure: Men’s course or women’s course?
At the top of the initial climb, the trail splits into two paths to Hiwada’s summit. The politically-incorrect options: to the left, the “Men’s Course” (男坂経由) and to the right, the “Women’s Course” (女坂経由). In true Cascadian fashion, we opted for the more difficult Men’s Course, a rocky and hilly climb to the peak.
Part of the gorgeous panoramic view near the top of Mt. Hiwada
The trees opened up along the way to offer views of Tokyo to the east and the Okuchichibu region to the west. Eventually, the summit comes into view as a large torii frames Kotahira Shrine.
The view from Kotahira Shrine
From the shrine, it’s a short, rocky climb to the peak. From the trail head to the summit, it was about 1,000 ft of elevation gain over a half-mile distance. The straight-up climb plugged our ears, but the benches at the summit offered a chance to adjust to the elevation.
This statue marked the summit of Mt. Hiwada
From here, it was about a one-third mile walk to the Mt. Takasasu (高指山) summit. The short path felt like exploring the jungle in Lost. Oddly-placed, dilapidated structures rose from the trees around every corner. The summit itself was marked by a radio tower surrounded by a rusted, broken-down building. We quickly moved on before the Smoke Monster decided to make an appearance.
The summit of Mt. Takasasu, otherwise known as Dharma Initiative Station 11, The Tower.
The last peak was Mt. Monomi (物見山). Along the way, a beautiful view emerged with a house perched over a valley with views of nothing but trees and mountains. A small rest house offered respite from the sun as well as vending machines and restrooms. We stopped briefly to refill the water bottle and buy a couple sports drinks before moving on.
The rest house leading to the Mt. Monomi trail head
The Monomi trail was some of the day’s more challenging terrain. The recent rain left some muddy spots and steep, rocky trails interrupted the smoother paths up to the summit. At the top, any potential view was blocked by pesky trees, but some comfy benches allowed for another short rest and a snack.
“Say Chīzu!” A hiking group stopped to take a picture at the Mt. Monomi summit.
A large hiking group came in from another trail and stopped to take a picture. In a funny moment of cross-culturalism, the photographer urges the group to “Say Chīzu!” While the shape of the word “cheese” naturally creates a smile, the Japanese equivalent of “chīzu” creates more of a, um, dumb face! After saying “chīzu,” they adjust their mouths into smiles and the photo is snapped.
We briefly followed the group down the hill, but took the first opportunity to pass the slow-moving herd (on the muddiest part of the trail, of course) to head back down Monomi. The path down winds through some interesting terrain. At times, the path is rocky and muddy, while in other places, you find yourself walking through someone’s orange orchard. Eventually you reach a road and follow it down for about a mile where you end up at Musashi Yokote Station (武蔵横手駅).
The summit markers for Hiwada, Takasasu and Monomi
By the end of the day, we’d hiked roughly five miles and ascended/descended 1,200 feet over three-plus hours. The hike itself was very convenient with well-placed facilities that don’t interrupt the natural experience. The views were unbelievable in places and the trails were challenging, but doable with any level of fitness. I’m sure we’ll venture further into the Okuchichibu region for our next hike, but with the proximity and access of the Hiwada-Takasasu-Monomi trail, we’ll be back here sooner rather than later.
Japan has a lot to offer in terms of sightseeing. With Tokyo nearby, we’ve overlooked some of the local sights. We found ourselves with a couple free afternoons last week, so we took advantage to explore Kawagoe and the area surrounding our neighborhood a little more.
Neighboring Tsurugashima is a couple miles from our apartment. It’s a scenic walk when we cut through Oisezuka Park.
Lotus flowers grow from the pond near Oisezuka Park.
The lotus flowers are starting to bloom. They grow out of the shallow ponds around the park. There’s a walking path with benches around this pond, which makes it a great place for a relaxing walk or to sit and listen to a local plucking away on her shamisen.
This woman was playing the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument similar to a guitar.
This side of the Iruma River (入間川) is home for many local farmers. The rice paddy fields stretch the length of the river. It’s also home to a lot of wildlife, including a family of ducks who worked their way up and down the rows.
This mama had three little ducklings following her through the rice paddy field.
We originally headed for Wood Bakers Pizza in Tsurugashima, but the restaurant was closed unexpectedly. We found some really great Indian food nearby with naan larger than my head.
Head-sized naan at New Darjeeling Indian Restaurant
A few days later we headed into central Kawagoe and the Koedo (or “Little Edo”) area. Edo was the name of Tokyo until the mid-1800s. This is the historic part of Kawagoe. But, first… pizza! The pizza shop in Tsurugashima also has a location in Koedo and it was open!
Margherita pizza and a Shikkoku from Kawagoe’s own Coedo Brewery
It was a little after lunch, so we were the only customers in the place. The pizza is cooked in a pellet-fired oven using Traeger pellets from Mt. Angel, OR and Strawberry Mountain pellets from John Day, OR. They framed the bags and hung them on the wall as decor.
The Traeger grill and pellet bag at Wood Bakers Pizza in Koedo.
The staff was laughing a bit when I started snapping pictures of the pellet bags on the wall, but when I explained Watashi wa Oregon kara desu or I’m from Oregon! they got pretty excited. They pulled pellets out of the bag for me to smell and showed me their Traeger grill in the shop. We sounded out Ponderosa Pine together. Great pizza and more new friends!
Stomachs full, we headed for Kita-in, a Buddhist temple originally founded in 830. The temple burnt down in 1202 and again in 1638. Because of the site’s importance to the Tokugawa shogunate, following the 1638 fire, several structures from Edo Castle were transferred here. Since Edo Castle was destroyed by fire in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the structures at Kita-in are the only remaining structures from the original Edo Castle.
Gohyaku Rakan, or 500 disciples of Buddha.
One of the highlights of Kita-in is the Gohyaku Rakan, or the 500 disciples of Buddha. There are 540 hand-carved statues that are so unique in design that no two are alike. The local legend says that if you feel each of the statues in the dead of night, one will feel warm to you. When you return during daylight, you’ll find that the statue resembles you. Since the statues were gated off during the middle of the day, I’ll have to assume the legend is accurate.
Closeup of a few of the Rakan at Kita-in
Along the way, we passed Naritasankawagoebetsuin Hongyoin Buddhist temple. We were drawn in by the rhythmic pounding of Taiko drums and haunting Buddhist chants. In addition to the shrines, there were also great statues, including the gate protector who didn’t look like someone you’d want to run into in a dark alley.
The guardian at Naritasankawagoebetsuin Hongyoin Buddhist temple.
Kawagoe has several more sights to see, but since they’re spread across town and we were racing the rain, we decided to save them for another day.
I went to the grocery store today. This isn’t unusual. I shop for groceries every couple of days. We eat a lot of veggies and have limited storage.
The script is usually the same. The cashier greets you, asks if you have a store card and rings up the order. There’s a handy bag-tag if you have your own reusable bag, so usually that’s not even part of the conversation.
The beautiful produce section at a local Belc store and the “I don’t need a bag” tag from Inegeya.
Something funny happened today though. I walk up to the register and the clerk, probably in her mid-20s, says the Japanese equivalent of “You don’t have a card.” I laughed out loud… one look at the American and she knew my story. She kept talking to me, which was both great and frustrating.
I’m reaching the point in my Japanese language adventure of understanding in context. I’m pretty good at the grocery stores or restaurants now as long as the speaker doesn’t deviate from the standard spiel too much. But I’m also still a little behind in comprehension and response. That two-second delay is just enough for the speaker to move on or just give up altogether.
I read something recently about learning a language. I’m still in the “translate this to English in my head” phase of learning Japanese. When you actually learn the language, you understand the Japanese itself and are no longer translating to the English equivalent.
Today I understood everything the clerk said, which was exciting. I asked her to leave my rice ball out so I could eat it now and she responded oishii desu ne! or “It’s good, isn’t it?! She asked if it was hot out since I was wearing short sleeves and said it was too cold in the store.
The frustrating part is, in that two second delay, all I can muster is Hai or “Yes.” I know the response is Atsui desu ne! or “It IS hot!” but the words don’t come to mind until the conversation has moved on.
I was riding the train the other day after a four-mile run that ended up at Starbucks, ultimately resulting in a Dark Mocha Chip Frappuccino. The guys across from me on the train were snickering a bit. I heard “Starbucks” at one point and their dodging eyes told me I was probably the butt of a harmless joke, but they seemed nice about it, so I engaged them.
Oishii desu. I said, letting them know this Frappuccino was a tasty, tasty treat. He asked me if I spoke Japanese and I replied with my new standby: Nihongo ga chotto wakarimasu… demo ganbarimasu! or “I only understand a little Japanese, but I try my best.”
For some reason, this is killing people! Both men laughed big, belly laughs. I’ve asked a couple people who actually DO speak the language and they think it’s just a level of appreciation that I’m trying, but I’m seriously considering taking this act on the road!
Of all the crazy recycling days here in Japan, non-combustables day is my favorite. This is the day everyone puts their used goods—things you’d take to Goodwill in the U.S.—and puts them on the curb for the taking. Not everything is a gem, but sometimes there’s some good stuff out there.
This last week, I found a full-on countertop oven. It has multiple settings and the temperature goes up to 500 degrees. It works near-perfectly (I think the cord is a little loose) and I’ve already used it to make oven fries and falafels. My cooking world has been opened up… baking, roasting… oh the meals I’ll eat!
I’ve been on a Middle Eastern food kick lately. I found myself longing for one of our favorite restaurants back home and I must’ve had it bad, because it informed half of our meals this week. Happy. Healthy. Life. posted a recipe for Curry Chickpea Cool Cucumber Wraps last week and the tahini cucumber salad reminded me of an impulse purchase I made a few weeks back.
I’d been on a passive search for tahini, but finally decided to look up the Japanese word for it. For those not in the tahini fan club, it’s a paste made from sesame seeds. It’s kinda bitter on its own, but is the primary flavor in hummus and baba ganoush.
Behold the power of sesame paste! NERIGOMA!
Anyway, with Japan’s status as one of the world’s largest importers of sesame seeds, it seemed like tahini should be on the shelves. Turned out it is and with its very own Japanese name: nerigoma (練りごま). There were two options: the standard light-colored paste and (my impulse buy) a jar of black sesame seed paste. I justified this purchase by telling myself that, since dark-colored foods are good for you (it’s a real thing), I’d be doing a disservice NOT buying it.
But what to do with it… ? I usually make hummus with garbanzo beans, but the idea to use the prevalent-in-Japan black soybeans (kuromame) popped into my head. Mix in the black nerigoma and we’re in superfood heaven!
By the time I finally got around to making this, the local gardens were starting to sell the fruits of their labor and one had a bag of Japanese eggplants for 100 yen. Black hummus… baba ganoush… maybe make some falafels… did I put too much thought into a single meal? Perhaps…
While a delicious meal, admittedly, it’s not the most photogenic meal.
Usually bana ganoush and hummus have a lot of olive oil. I chose to omit those from my recipes since they add a LOT of extra calories. Frankly, I didn’t miss them. This was easily the simplest and best batch of baba ganoush I’ve ever made and the hummus is unique in a good way.
Japanese substitutions:
I used Japanese eggplants, which are skinnier than your standard eggplant. They’re fairly easy to find in the U.S. nowadays and I think they work better for baba than your usual eggplant.
I used nerigoma, but it’s roughly the same as tahini. The seeds used for nerigoma are toasted, which gives it a slightly different flavor, but tahini will probably be easier to find.
Baba ganoush usually uses lemon juice, but I used a mix of lime juice and rice vinegar instead. This was just because I had those things in the fridge and hadn’t bought any lemons. I really like what it did to the flavor.
The black soybeans were really dry, but I didn’t want to add copious amounts of oil and also didn’t want to neutralize the flavor with water, so I added the miso liquid to stay with the Japanese theme. You could use oil or add vegetable broth to get the consistency right.
Tip: If using a blender, I suggest adding the wet ingredients to the jar first. It seems to help the beans work their way down to the blades.
Baba Ganoush
Ingredients
3-4 Japanese eggplants
2 tbsp sesame paste (tahini or nerigoma)
3 garlic gloves
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
flat-leaf parsley for garnish
Prep
Puncture the eggplants several times with a fork.
Put the eggplants under your oven’s broiler until the skin begins to blister and turn black, then flip and repeat on the other side. This takes anywhere from 7-10 minutes. The skin should be charred and the inside of the eggplant should be soft.
Set aside to cool.
While the eggplants are cooling, peel the garlic, chop the parsley and set up your blender or food processor.
Cook
Peel the eggplants. The best way I’ve found is to slice the eggplant down the middle, then take the flat edge of a knife and scrap the flesh off the skin. Make sure the skin is completely removed as the texture can be unpleasant.
Put the eggplant flesh in the blender. Add the garlic cloves, sesame paste, lime juice, rice vinegar, cumin and salt.
Blend until smooth.
Chill for at least an hour before serving. Serve with fresh parsley garnished on top. You may also choose to drizzle olive oil on the top for added richness.
Kuromame Hummus
Ingredients
1/2 cup black soybeans
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp black sesame paste (tahini or nerigoma)
juice from 1/2 medium lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1 tsp miso paste mixed with 1/3 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
Kuromame Hummus Prep
If you’re using dried soybeans, soak them overnight. Then put in a saucepan, cover with 1-2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until they reach the soft side of tender.
Set up your blender or food processor.
Kuromame Hummus Cook
Add the garlic, sesame paste, lemon juice and a couple tablespoons of the miso liquid to the blender.
Add the soybeans, cumin and salt.
Blend until smooth. Add miso liquid 1 tablespoon at a time if the mixture is too dry until it reaches the desired consistency.
Chill for at least an hour before serving. Like the baba ganoush, you may choose to add extra virgin olive oil prior to serving.
We had a couple breakthroughs in our eating out adventures in the last couple weeks. I’ve mentioned before that it’s tough to find a vegetarian meal in Japan without going to a speciality shop, which are also few and far between. The awesome website vegi-navi.jp is starting to change that. Sites like Happy Cow are great, but they tend to focus on vegetarian/vegan-only places. Vegi-Navi adds in the local places that might have only a single veg meal on the menu, which is all you need sometimes.
The sign under this Thai boxer says they have “World-Famous Thai Food.” I’m not gonna argue…
We were in Tokyo last week and ended up getting a couple good meals out. First stop was Tinun, a Thai place in Omotesando across from the Toyko Metro station. The lunch menu was NOT vegetarian-friendly, but the waiter was very helpful. We explained our eating preference and together we came up with a couple dishes that could be modified. We ended up with Pad Thai with tofu and a Thai Fried Rice. Both were really good.
This Taiwanese place was a hole-in-the-wall down a side street. Always the best!
We were back in Ikebukuro around dinner time, so we headed toward one of the places we’d pre-mapped. We came out the wrong station exit, but fortunately I recognized the landmarks for another place we’d pre-mapped! According to vegi-navi, it’s called SENJOUTEUCHIGYOUZATEN. The poster inside the three-table restaurant said “Sen Jou Dumplings,” which is both accurate and easier to say.
The owner, I’m quite certain, sold us the veggie gyoza at the Taiwan Festival we attended in our first week in Japan. Her first question was “Are you vegetarian?” which was a good sign. She had a nice mix of veggie and meat options, but two complete vegetarian set options. We ordered one of each and got a table-load of food. Multi-colored gyoza, rice, veggies, soup and a mock-meat stir fry.
As we left, she introduced us to the cook—who also happened to be her mother. I told her we were already contemplating what we’d order next time.
Vegetable tempura set from Tempura Tendon Tenya.
The best find, purely for convenience purposes, might have been Tempura Tendon Tenya. Located in Crea Mall, the open-air shopping hub in the heart of central Kawagoe, they have a full English menu (!!) and several set options. The rice set comes with all-you-can-eat rice and noodle sets are also available with soba or udon. The only “oops” in the meal was some dried fish shavings (katsuobushi) on the spinach, but it was easily brushed aside.
Last weekend, we headed west (without our camera) on the JR Kawagoe train for the first time, pointed toward Alishan Organic Cafe in Hidaka City. Only three stops and a bus ride from our station, this will be a return destination. The cafe menu is 100% vegetarian and mixes a standard menu with seasonal specialties. We ordered a donburi bowl (rice bowl) with mock-meat and veggies and a teriyaki veggie burger. Both came with a salad and fried panko-crusted potato ball. Excellent, clean-tasting food. They also have a small store with hard-to-find organic and vegetarian products.
I really enjoy cooking at home, but it’s also nice to find some places for those days where cooking just isn’t in the cards.
We had some friends over the other day and played a “How well do you know ______?” game. We had 10 questions and each person had to answer for the other people in the room. One of the questions was “What is ______’s favorite food?” One of the people guessed “soup” for me. While the correct answer is “pizza,” I do enjoy a good soup.
When I shared the Mapo Tofu recipe a few weeks ago, I invited folks to offer up their favorite recipes and I’d take a stab at making them with vegetarian ingredients.
Cascadian Pugs sent me a recipe for Thai Coconut Soup. The original recipe came from St. Innocent Winery, a beautiful vineyard west of Salem, OR. With the exception of the chicken stock, the recipe was already vegetarian, but I tweaked it to utilize some of Japan’s local ingredients.
For example, the original recipe called for butternut squash, which I replaced with kabocha (Japanese pumpkin). Kabocha can be found in the U.S. (quite readily in Oregon) and are small-ish, green winter squash. They’re naturally sweet and make a great snack all by themselves when cooked. I also substituted the cayenne pepper for seven-spice chili powder (shichimi), which adds some unique flavors like orange peel and nori (dried seaweed) to the mix.
This turned out fantastic! I halved the original recipe, only because I didn’t know how to convert the original 2.5 lbs. of butternut squash to grams at the grocery store. 🙂 This batch yielded two thick, hearty servings. If you like your soup a bit more “soupy,” you could stretch this to four servings by streaming in additional broth during the blending process to get the desired texture. Enjoy!
Spicy Kabocha Coconut Soup
Prepared ingredients
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1.25 pounds Kabocha Pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1/2 diced large yellow sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp minced fresh peeled ginger
1/2 teaspoon shichimi (seven-spice chili powder) or cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup vegetable stock (or vegetarian chicken stock)
1/2 13.5 ounce can coconut milk Toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish – chopped
Prep
Chop and set aside. You can combine some ingredients in the same container:
Onion
Kabocha
Garlic and ginger
Measure and set aside:
Shichimi
Sea salt and curry powder
Vegetable stock
Stages in the cooking process.
Cook
In a large skillet or stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat.
Add onions and cook for about two minutes until they begin to soften.
Add the garlic and ginger. Cook and stir until the onions turn translucent.
Add shichimi and 1/4 cup of the stock. Stir and bring to a boil.
Stir in the kabocha, salt and curry powder. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes.
Add the rest of the stock and increase the heat to medium-high. Cover and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir every five minutes, mashing the mixture each time until smooth.
Add the coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add to a blender, or use a stick blender, to puree the soup until smooth.
Reheat and season with salt.
Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Naan makes a nice side to this or, to add additional protein, you can cube firm tofu and serve the soup over the tofu. This recipe is also great cold, perfect for a summer meal.
One of my earliest childhood memories is of sitting in the kitchen with my mom. I remember asking “Why doesn’t everyone speak English?” It made perfect sense in my little head. Everyone must translate it into English in their brains to understand it, so why don’t they just say it in English to begin with?
I don’t remember the exact answer, but Mom explained how people speak different languages and they might translate our English into their own languages to help them understand. It certainly framed my perspective in life.
A hot button issue in the U.S. immigration debate is whether or not foreigners should have English-language proficiency before they’re able to become permanent residents. Pew Research Center projects that 82% of population growth in the U.S. between 2005 and 2050 will be immigrants and their descendants. I can imagine at some point in the future, the debate will extend to whether all Americans should be bilingual in English and Spanish.
Over the years, I’ve always fell on the side of “live and let live” when it comes to language. But when we made the decision to move to Japan, I knew that I wanted to learn Japanese, much in the way that I suspect most immigrants to the U.S. want to learn English. However, learning a new language isn’t something that just happens. I have two years of high-school Japanese under my belt, which has helped me some, but even that isn’t enough for me to be able to communicate my needs. If Japan had proficiency laws, they wouldn’t let me within a million miles of the shoreline.
I found that we’ve approached learning Japanese in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We started with vocabulary and phrases related to food. I would like… Do you have… Does it have meat or fish… Now that we’re able to sustain ourselves, we’ve been able to start adding some additional words and phrases to enhance our experiences.
The four primary Japanese writing systems
Reading and writing is critical as well. Navigating the trains and stores require the ability to read. Japanese has four primary methods of writing.
Kanji is adapted from Chinese and each symbol typically represents a word or words. Depending on how they’re combined, they take on different meanings. Elementary school children learn approximately 1,000 kanji and some estimates have the total number of kanji somewhere around 50,000.
Hiragana is used as particles to connect kanji, but also to spell native Japanese words for which no kanji exists. Katakana is used primarily for foreign words. It has mostly the same sounds as hiragana, but is a different character set. Finally, rōmaji is used to help non-Japanese readers navigate the Japanese world. For example, most street names, government documents intended for foreigners and advertisements use rōmaji heavily.
In theory, Japanese should be easier to learn than English. The Japanese language has five vowel sounds and 17 consonant sounds vs. the 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds in English. For example, in Japanese, the “a” vowel is always an “ah” sound (ka, ga, wa, etc.). But in English, the “a” vowel can be long, as in “ape,” short as in “apple,” an “uh” sound like in “zebra,” an “ah” sound like in “art” or in the case of “orange,” the darn thing just disappears completely.
Learning Japanese hasn’t come without more than its fair share of frustrations. As one of our friends put it the other day, it has a “one step forward, two steps back” feel about it most days. I feel confident at restaurants and grocery stores, but if the neighbor drops by or a salesman comes to the door, it’s like starting from scratch.
The hardest part for me has been the frustration of not being able to communicate. I like to make small talk with the store clerk or people in line. I tried to make a comment about the weather at the grocery store the other day. I was buying a new umbrella and said Ame, desu ne! which was my best shot at It’s really raining, isn’t it? The clerk laughed and replied with a long string of words I didn’t know. Since she laughed, I laughed too, which encouraged her to continue. I faked it as best I could, but I’m sure she sensed the conversation was one-sided from that point forward.
It’s only been three months, so I know I have to cut myself some slack. I’m picking up more and more each day and am starting to figure out some tricks for retaining what I learn. I’ve been making up little songs when I learn something new, which helps the phrase stick. My reading of hiragana and katakana is probably 95 percent, which means I can usually figure out the other 5 percent. I haven’t spent much time with kanji, other than memorizing things like “meat’ (肉) and “fish” (魚), but I’m starting to recognize common ones, like “river” (川), “entrance” (入口), “exit” (出口) and “mountain” (山).
Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on grammar. I figure if I can pick out the pieces of language, that’s when you really start building a toolbox. You can start to construct new ideas and, even if not 100 percent grammatically correct, there is at least some meaning to the listener.
Even in high school, I never really tried to learn a language. My only point of comparison is learning programming languages. With those, there’s always the initial struggle followed by the belief that you’ll never learn it. Then, one day, something clicks and all of a sudden you’re proficient. After awhile, you start to have dreams in code (which can be a great way to solve a problem that you’ve been chewing on all day).
I don’t think I’ll be fluent in two years. Heck, I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to carry on a conversation. But, I think I’m off to a good start and maybe someday I’ll even have a dream in Japanese. I have a real motivation to learn, not just to survive, but to thrive.
