December 2011
33 posts
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less than 24 hours in Osaka
I arrived in Osaka with a terrible case of waitress body, an affliction I didn’t know it was possible to have unless you were standing next to a table in a knee length black apron saying something like “No sir, I swear, this really only comes with six scallops, please stop yelling.” Waitress body is when your body stops giving you signals and instead gives you increasing rage.
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November 2011
42 posts
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no reservations moment
Bar Albatross, a tiny bar in Golden Gai that Tony Bourdain went to on “No Reservations.” Old 60s soul music, a giant chandelier with a matching cloud of cigarette smoke, and a cocktail made of amaretto and ginger ale (like a boozey ginger snap).
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giant ferris wheel in odaiba
This giant ferris wheel (in 1999, it was the biggest ferris wheel in the world) was the beginning of my fourth grade ideal date. Ferris wheel, dinner and lights show at a zany fake-Italian mall (during the day, they have actors who play Italian mayors give speeches from the balconies and ring bells), and then about five hours of game and virtual reality rides at Joypolis, Sega’s five story...
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definition: rando bits.
(Bento box from the train)
A food phenomenon often found in bento boxes where several small compartments are filled with unidentifiable, maybe tofu, often pickled, brilliant technicolor foodstuffs, representing a myriad of textures ranging from gloopy to rubbery, offering a sensory experience that could best be summed up as “Wait, you’re pickled too?” or “Surprise!...
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one night at bang a gong
Down an alley in Ginza, into an abandoned apartment building, with horror-movie-off-white-walls and ominous murmuring between empty flights of stairs. Opening doors here and there finding hidden, single counter bars filled with business men and smoke. Down the stairs, down more stairs, into the basement, and there it was: Bang a Gong.
The walls were plastered with record covers: David Bowie,...
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Snotty Soup/ Breakfast Adventures
I love breakfast. When someone tells me that she doesn’t eat breakfast, I find it really confusing. What do you do in the morning? (Oh, you’re busy doing stuff to make yourself look like a person and not like a zombie from the planet no-caffeine? Fool!) What do you look forward to? WHAT IS YOUR DEAL? I digress. My insatiable breakfast lust has been pretty helpful on this trip because...
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First Night at the Ryoken in Hakone
The women are older and all in kimonos. Their English is limited to “Rice?,” always a question, asked mid-meal. The Ryoken, a traditional Japanese hotel, is on a river and outside the spindly branches of Japanese oak trees, dense with flat red and green leaves, brush against the window. At night, pale bellied bugs and wide-winged moths rest against the glass, and scurry in if, like two...
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Things We Ate While Walking: Hakone
After Tokyo, we headed out to Hakone, a beautiful small town known for its hot springs. Here’s what we ate while walking:
Steamed gingerbread buns, bite-sized and filled with red bean paste, eaten piping hot and immediately, with no time for a picture.
A crisp round cake that tasted like pancakes, spongey and barely cooked at the middle
A spongey fried fish cake, skewered and shaped like a...
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merry christmas, tokyo
Parade of biker Santas, and the occasional reindeer and elf, in Harajuku
Musings: Tokyo style →
new blog from Dan!
thedroidstolookfor:
We’re on the train to Osaka now, finishing up a wonderful time in Hakone. We spent two nights lounging in a Ryoken that felt like it hadn’t changed for 100’s of years. The pace was luxurious and caught the two of us off guard - nothing but soaking in the natural spring water, sitting in our room…
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Rockabilly battles, Harajuku hugs, and a...
Rockabilly music blared at the front entrance to Yoyogi park, where two 1950s gangs set up boomboxes, alternately strutting and dancing to the music. Lets call them the Greasers and the Squares. The Greasers sported pompadours and leather jackets. Every few minutes two of the guys would take a knee, moving their hands through their sideburns, snapping, relighting the cigarettes they kept barely...
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Waxing Poetic about Cold Spaghetti
There was a line at the bento stand, and the old woman behind the counter passed out bags full of pre-ordered bento boxes while behind her, a young man in starched chefs whites cooked tangles of beef and carved thick squares of rice. We pointed to the two photos and hoped for the best. Dan got a deep fried fish cake, crispy fried panko crumbs scattering with each bite over a bed of rice flecked...
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Things We Ate While Walking: Tokyo
A crisp caramel apple crepe, filled with apple slices, soaked in a sugary not-quite-caramel syrup, lost in a mountain of whipped cream
A slice of yellow cake from a train station bakery, dense and eggy, like cheesecake’s airy cousin.
Sticky rice triangles wrapped in seaweed or sweet tofu skins, stuffed with fish or flecked with sesame seeds and wasabi.
Mochi from an old woman’s stand,...
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talking to japanese cats
In Mitaka, we came across a house that seemed to be run by cats. Orange cats guarded the back door, scowled when I tried to take to their picture, and at the front door there was a giant cat gate. So later when I met a Japanese cat, I asked her about it. She had this to say:
“WHAT!”
“I want to go to there.”
Then she yelled at a fox dog and accepted copious tummy...
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yakitori and bonding over motown at golden gai
There’s a web of alleys in Shinjuku called Golden Gai. Curtains flutter at the doorframes, and inside there’s music playing, usually something classic and American, and someone beside a grill, pulling sticks full of chicken, leeks, beef hearts, gizzards, and mushrooms from a slim glass display. Above, a starter: Glass noodles, string beans, and sliced carrots in a thin tomato vinegar...
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lost in translation moment
Earl grey gin and pink peppercorn syrup cocktail, and the best views of the city, at the top of the Park Hyatt, where Lost in Translation was filmed. No Bill Murray in sight, but lots of Japanese business men drinking a mix of what looked like hot tea and sake.
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katsu, ramen, and udon with godzilla
Spicy Ramen for breakfast, cloudy with red chili oil and sesame seeds
Dipping ramen for Dan (basically deconstructed Ramen), featuring a big, golden-yolked duck egg and a bowl of almond milk jelly (not pictured), slippery and light, with a single strawberry suspended in the middle.
Katsu, a crispy deep fried pork cutlet, with shredded cabbage and yellow wasabi paste.
Mitaka is a...
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meet the boss
We’ve been drinking canned Boss coffee drinks every morning since we’ve been here, and they’re incredible. But I was wondering: who is this mysterious boss, with his delicious, piping hot cans of strong coffee?
Meet the Boss! Or as you might know him, Tommy Lee Jones.
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it's official: every day IS pancake day
Breakfast yesterday at Every Day is Pancake Day! This is Dan’s smiling fruit and whipped cream pancake sandwich.
And my shrimp, avocado, wasabi pancake sandwich sprinkled with whole pink peppercorns, with happy french fries on the side.
This place was adorable: Happy pastel murals of pancakes and flowers, inflatable flower lamps hanging from the ceiling, and a six foot tall poster of...
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people watching
The preferred makeup here is a pale, meticulously matte finish, sometimes paired with the bright pink circles of blush favored by childhood porcelain dolls. Glossy, ink-colored hair is cut razor sharp or curled softly, sometimes dyed sun-dappled shades of red and blonde, sometimes bleached a ghostly, impossible blonde.
And then there’s the fashion: Wool coats with wide collars, fur stoles,...
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what we saw: tokyo, day 1
Women in kimonos, window shopping outside the Comme des Garcons store
In a day of great mannequins, disoriented-fashion-unicorn-styled-by-a-crafty-kindergartener was my favorite.
Yakitori display at the market
Oddly omnipresent creamy corn pastries
Giant, just-hatched chocolate bird cake
Scenes from the Shibuya Art Festival
My new favorite band
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things we ate: tokyo, day one
Things We Ate:
We ate breakfast and watched hordes of clear plastic umbrellas rush through the rain. A croissant with ham fringed with fat, tart yogurt dotted with blueberry jam, and a (not pictured, and quickly devoured by me) pitch black donut hole filled with curried jelly.
At a counter in Shibuya, we ate chicken skins, deep fried and sprinkled with scallions and vinegar, served with...
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this one time at the japanese tiki bar
The tiki bar looked candle lit, and inside they played folk music, the walls covered with ads for Zima, where a pink bottle rested among stacks of pink cupcakes, pink candies, swirling pink clouds. It looked like a the inspiration board for a four year old girl’s Zima-themed princess party.
I ordered a gin buck, assuming it would be the similarly sugary citrusy sibling of the gin...
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I'm in Japan!
I’m in Japan! Ahh! After a 13.5 hours of flying, an hour long bus ride, and a complicated jaunt through the Tokyo rails system, we’re here, we’re magically barely jet lagged (but still a bit incoherent, so forgive the impending rambling) after some super good sleep timing last night (dear Sammie Moshenberg: all of your jet lag advice was wise), and we’re about to go run...
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Tips Tuesday: Nontoxic Thanksgiving Makeovers
Happy (almost) Thanksgiving! While we may be entering the most wonderful time of the year, holiday feasts can also make this the most toxic time of the year too. Steaming dishes full of green bean casserole, wriggling slabs of cranberry sauce, endless pies: these delicious Thanksgiving staples are often home to toxic ingredients. Luckily, a few easy swaps can make your holiday dishes safer and...
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Thank You, Johnson and Johnson!
Johnson and Johnson shampoo is iconic. The slender golden bottle with it’s jaunty, nursery room font. The softly lit commercials of happily bathing babies and smiling moms. The formaldehyde-releasing preservative quaternium-15. [1]
Hold on. What?!
We were shocked when we read a new report by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics that showed that formaldehyde-releasing chemicals is still in Johnson and...
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Tips Tuesday: Green Holiday Travel
Surprise: It’s November! Do you have your holiday travel plans together yet (spoiler alert: I don’t either). As you figure those out, here are a few quick and easy tips to make your travel experiences a little greener this holiday season.
Pack lightly: Packing less is easy when you plan ahead, and it’s more fuel efficient: The less you pack, the less weight you put on your vehicle, and the less...
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Banana Suit Gumption, or Why I Love Parenthood's...
I fell in love with Amber Holt on Parenthood during last season’s Halloween episode, when she skipped the traditional “animal ears and lingerie” costume route and showed up to a frat party dressed as a giant banana. Her friend, sporting the classic scantily clad barmaid look, balked. The older SAT tutor her friend was lusting after raised his eyebrows. But Amber didn’t care, and her sincere...
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love the jayhawks.
I listened to this album every time I drove back and forth from my first college, before I started going there and found out it was a terrible place, best left swiftly and without a moony, harmonica laced soundtrack.
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Cults--Go Outside
