Some Places We have Eaten!

Sushi- I am not a big fan of sushi, but it is served a lot here. Also, you eat everything with chop sticks. Back in Texas, if chopsticks were an option, I always asked for a fork, but they don't do that here. So If you look in this picture you can see that the table is low, but there is a cubby that your feet hang down in. 

 This is typical Japanese style dining. You take your shoes off and leave them outside the area and then walk across the little bench and climb in. Even the servers take their shoes off. When the servers bring your food to you they use the bench and kneel down to the table.
We had dinner with Ben and Audrey Mills, a couple we met in Newport, and Stephanie and Nick Henry, another lawyer. The food was good, the company was good, it was a great way to start our entrance into the Japanese Culture.

Japanese Grill- We had been moving all day and I was starving and I saw this flashy, totally touristy place and asked Bill to stop so we could eat. Well it is kind of like a Mongolian Hot Pot/ Fondu Place- Only you grill meat. You order raw meat that has been marinated and then you place it on the grill and let it cook.

 Here is Bill turning the meat. As you can see there are some veggies as well. We had metal tongs, I am not sure they would have done that in the states, someone could have gotten burned. Just under the grate was an open fire over coals.

 Here he is eating rice with some chop sticks. We have gotten pretty good at the chopstick thing and rice, they make their rice way more sticky that we do at home, so it is easier to eat wit the sticks.

 Smile, your grilling your meat. I would love to tell you what kind of meat I was grilling, but I am not sure I can tell you. I think it was beef and chicken. I know we had chicken, it was not so good, it was dark meat and greasy, the loin, and roast, was it lamb or was it beef, not sure, but it was good!

 I ordered egg drop soup. It was so good! They put bean sprouts in it, surprisingly good addition!

 Here is a top view of the grill, Bill had a hold of the camera, he is more prolific with the pictures.

 So cutting become an issue, sometimes they place a large piece of meat on your plate and they do not give you a knife. It is ok to pick it up and bite it off, but I am not into that just yet. SO here I am trying to cut with a blunt chopstick.

Going totally Native- So we stopped at the place where there were no Y plate cars. Which means no Americans. But Bill was like it will be an adventure. We walk in and there is a little pond under one of the typical Japanese style tables. I was a little concerned that was where they had some live fish that they might serve, but not that I could tell.

 You may be able to see the pond behind us, it looks shinny. We were seated at a bar. There was a cold case infront of us. In the case was some cut fish, and a whole squid and octopus with tentacles. At that point I was ready to get up and leave. Bill said, "No, lets see the menu."

Then we were served this, it is a whole fish, about minos or sardine size stuffed with what I think is corn meal and then fried. Tail and head and everything. Bill and and did not try. We pretended it was not there. Eventually Bill tried, he then downed a glass of water.
When we ordered food it was very good, I had Yakitori, which is grilled chicken and tempura avocado and Bill had White-fin Avocado Roll and Tofu/bean sprouts/veggie stir fry.

I like Japanese food, there are somethings I do not want to try, like fermented so beans and some slimy mushrooms, but overall their food is good!