Author: Audrey

No, not that one.  The yaki imo one.  

You know, like the ice cream man, but instead he has … root vegetables. (Who says Japanese food isn’t healthier? <hides bag of cream puffs> )

Was sitting in the apartment, doing my internet thing, when this weird hypnotic voice intrudes onto my consciousness. I’d heard it once before…

“Yakiiiimoooooo” (say it ten times slow).

This triggered a flashback to two years prior, when I was watching a very serious archery shoot off.  The crickets weren’t even chirping.  You had five 60-70 year olds lined up, slowly and solemnly aiming at the distant target.  And then the chanting started, and everyone who understood it couldn’t help but snicker. Like someone’s Backstreet Boys ringtone going off as you make your golf swing.  Sort of, anyways.

Whereas last time I could only chuckle, this time I was inspired to grab me some roasty toasty sweet potato goodness. So out I went.  It’s getting chilly here, but a little jog to get me some carbohydrate goodness seemed in good order.  I caught up to the little truck, which had a little steamy wooden box on the back of it, and picked the smallest one (which is still a little large).  

It’s kinda nice that things like yaki imo trucks and ice cream people still exist.  I mean – what with suburban sprawl, and high rise apartments, you’d think that there either wouldn’t be enough people, or no one would be able to hear you from 30 floors up.  I’m on the eighth floor though, so maybe it’s not so bad.  I suppose it’s more for nostalgia’s sake than anything – and I don’t have anything to be nostalgic about in this case (and I was the only customer when I went by).  Maybe they won’t be around for so much longer.

Well – I’ll enjoy it while I’ve got it. Not bad for a cold autumn day.  Now for some tea…

So much eating going on!  I have to talk fast, so I can munch some more.

Went back to Tsukiji Fish Market for the third time, didn’t eat the twitching seafood below, but thought it had a certainly early morning beauty to it nonetheless. Still haven’t made it to Daiwa…need to stand through that line some day! Maybe I’ll go by myself since one person should be quicker to seat…

This here is a small subset of the ramen club at work. We went to a branch of Setagaya ramen, which won this year’s “best ramen in Tokyo” award according to some magazine. It serves shio broth at lunch (when it’s called hirugao, the late sibling of the asagao/morning glory) and shoyu broth at dinner, when it’s officially setagaya. I got the chashu, which had grilled slices o’ roasted pork along with the clean broth.

Ahem. This lovely plate comes from the Shiseido Parlour in Ginza! Before you get all excited, I was NOT, for the record, stocking up on makeup. Au contraire – I was enjoying a dessert course. Actually…not super creative, but it was fun going with people and watching all the retired old ladies getting their gossip on.

I also got to go to a 2 star Michelin restaurant, called kikunoi.
It’s a 3rd generation, father to son, semi-hidden kaiseki (small plate, seasonal course meal) restaurant in Akasaka. The service was great, and while the other customers were entirely business people, we had a good meal. No socks knocking about, but a good solid meal with some nice surprises.

Sigh. After writing this, I wonder why I should ever learn to cook.