Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Epic tonkatsu at a spot called Tonki near Meguro station. You walk in and the space is decorated with raw wood everywhere. There’s a wide open kitchen where you see about 6 people working on service, cooking, cutting, and it’s amazing. The katsu is cooked per order so once you sit, you’ll be waiting, but the wait is worth it. It’s perfect all around. You put just a tiny bit of sauce at a time instead of just pouring it all over. I guess it’s no secret, I’m in Tokyo at the moment. It looks like this and below is how the outside looks. It’s amazing.
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So it started raining a little here in Southern California, and it got a little bit colder. This is nabe (Na - be) weather. I got the little table top stove. You start off with water, but you throw in a big piece of seaweed, which seasons the water. I bought crappy parts of fish (see the bones?), Asian cabbage, mushrooms (different kinds are always nice), shungiku (it's like a green weed), and...
So it started raining a little here in Southern California, and it got a little bit colder. This is nabe (Na – be) weather. I got the little table top stove. You start off with water, but you throw in a big piece of seaweed, which seasons the water. I bought crappy parts of fish (see the bones?), Asian cabbage, mushrooms (different kinds are always nice), shungiku (it’s like a green weed), and chicken meatballs. I’m new to this when I’m in charge running the stove, but I have no idea what I’m doing. After everything’s cooked, you dip it into a bowl of ponzu. Simple as that. $10 worth of groceries can feed a lot. Then imagine with the leftover soup, you throw either rice or udon into it and you have yet another meal. The best part of the meal is that you eat at your own pace, and a meal can comfortably last for an hour or even two if you’re hanging out.
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New Years time in Japanese culture means a lot of things. 1) if it's the end of the year, it's a bon nen kai. It sort of means you get together and forget about the issues from last year. I saw that in some areas of the world, people schedule fist fights to settle scores. People watch. End of fight, it's a done deal. You shake hands and more on to the new year. 2) if it's after the new year, it's...
New Years time in Japanese culture means a lot of things. 1) if it’s the end of the year, it’s a bon nen kai. It sort of means you get together and forget about the issues from last year. I saw that in some areas of the world, people schedule fist fights to settle scores. People watch. End of fight, it’s a done deal. You shake hands and more on to the new year. 2) if it’s after the new year, it’s a shin nen kai which is a get together to start off the new year hopefully well. So meals keep flowing, even after a week or so. The good thing is, once in a while I get invited to things like this. In this case, it’s for my friend Mitch’s moms birthday. 82! Pictured is perfectly executed tempura above by Eriko M. who made this spread. I’m not sure if Shin nen kai’s actually solve anything, except people getting together to celebrate being together, but birthdays are always cool. Renkon (lotus root). Simple and elegant. Mamma at 82. She still shovels snow in her backyard. 82! The cake was good. You can’t have cake until you eat all the food. I did. No, that’s not brownies and mochi! That’s konnyaku and imo. Look that up. Hijiki and friends. I’d have to say, this photo looks good. It works well with rice. Cucumber rolls. Refreshing. Not pictured are a few other dishes. Sekihan which is rice that’s brown red containing beans and it even had chestnut. Gobo included yuzu koshio (yuzu pepper).
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