Italian Pasta in Japan

Basically, the Japanese LOVE noodles. Like, more than NZers love alcohol or bacon or Iranians love kebabs or rice. Though probably even more. Cause they have noodle festivals! Entire festivals dedicated to noodles! Noodles of several kinds but mostly there are 4; ramen (the thin and yellow fast-food Chinese noodle), soba (the healthy brown one made of buckwheat flour), udon (round and thick like moi) and somen (supermodel thin like moi in the future). Which are eaten hot, cold, on their own with dipping sauce, in a soup, in a stir fry and even as a patty in a burger bun! So you’d think after a life-time of living and breathing mamas home cooked Japanese noodles, they’d venture out when it came to dining at Bona Petito… No. What do they order? What SOLE pasta CAN they order? You got it, SPAGHETTI.

It’s funny, even their supermarkets, only sell spaghetti in their Italian/pasta isle. To be fair, on the odd chance, I might see shells or bow-ties, though I’m sure it’s not the Japanese buying those. As for all of the other good pastas; fettuccine, ravioli, tortellini, gnocchi etc they are only usually found in international import stores. Oh and when it comes to lasagne sheets, only the tiny square sized ones are sold because Japanese don’t have full-sized ovens in their homes.

So you go to an Italian restaurant and the only sort of pasta you can order is spaghetti.Which is fine… only a firstworldproblem and all but like, they’ll have packets of tagliatelle displayed around the restaurant for fun or as decoration to tempt you but they don’t actually serve that, no. Or any other pasta for that matter. Just spag. Just more fu&king noodles. #myjapanlife

Sister visit, day 4.

The majority of day 4 was spent shopping. First at a variety of 100 yen stores, which are like the equivalent of 1-2 dollar shops but so much better. Like, I swear, you can find the same $50 teapot from Teasme (sorry teasme) for 100 yen or about $1 there. Next, home-centres, which, according to my woodworker friend Lifa, are a man’s heaven. This, I can now attest is a damn accurate statement as I have never seen Andy, my brother-in-law so excited. Next next, Marugame udon and after, a stay for the love-birds at Katsuragi ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. 

I think after a year of blogging it’s time for a GIVEAWAY don’t you?

Unfortunately it’s not deep fried avocado.

Nor is it anything remotely edible.

But, it’s still pretty freakin’ cool. Ask Mandy, she knows.

You may have noticed this extremely happy piece of cutlery in a few of my cooking posts. Well, today I was gifted a set of two more smiley bamboo spoons and since I already have one, and my mother, sister and Mandy have already had one sent out to them by moi, then this merry pair could be YOURS! Speaking of merry, let’s call it a Christmas giveaway; open to anyone, anywhere.

The rules are simple.

LIKE iaccidentlyatethewhole thing on Facebook then tag a friend in the Facebook post about this giveaway.

Giveaway closes Sunday 29th.

Winner will be announced Monday 30th.

Yaki Japanese food

I think yaki in Japanese means grilled but I can’t be sure. Definitely doesn’t mean yucky cos everything yaki is too good – have I given you a headache yet? The following is a vague (but simple) recipe for making yaki noodles.

The reason why it’s easy is that Japanese supermarkets stock pre-cooked noodles (soba, ramen, udon, you name it they’ve got it).  Also, pre-cut vegetables but I think everywhere has that. Anyways, I wasn’t quite THAT lazy, I bought my veggies whole.

cooking oil
pre-cooked noodles (or, if your country doesn’t offer that luxury, make plain noodles, drain, cool)
cut veggies: I used cabbage, yellow onion, carrot, green capsicum and sprouts
meat (optional): we used bacon and salmon (separately, on different occasions)
yaki soba sauce (probably available at most Asian food stores)
salt and pepper

Heat two frying pans on medium heat.

Place veggies and meat with a little cooking oil in one and the noodles in the other.

Once the veggies are half cooked, add them to the noodle pan.

Mix well.

Add salt and pepper then a big squirt of sauce.

Cook for a further minute or two.

DAS it people. So easy, so yummy (or should I say yaki?)

what teacher’s only day is really about…

Each teacher’s only day as there’s no school lunch, the teacher’s at my favourite school (I work between three) cook lunch instead. This usually takes up half the day (followed by dessert). The first teacher’s only day I was here for, we made takoyaki (octopus balls) as in balls of dough with vegetables and bits of octopus not octopus testicles…This time however; we made hormone udon which is fried noodle with cow ENTRAILS. Yes, entrails as in intestines. Luckily, I managed to convince them to make me a vegetarian version  before adding in the gross stuff.

In Japanese supermarkets you can buy a variety of already cooked noodles (soba, udon, ramen etc) so the recipe for this is really in the pictures. First you fry the meat…then the vegges  (cabbage, carrot, capsicum, sprouts) and lastly you add the cooked noodles, special sauce (a sort of bbqish sauce) and seasoning (salt and pepper). Easy as!

PS the tomatoes were our “salad” so don’t add those in.

sometimes pictures speak louder than words!

Some words:
-Every single restaurant in Japan, without exception will give you a damp white cloth to wipe your hands and face with before gobbling your meal.
-Slurping is OK so don’t be surprised when you hear it and I guarantee you will!
-99% of restaurants serve Japanese green tea (hot or cold depending on the weather/restaurant/time) with each meal which is heavenly for digestion – definitely one to learn from!