Old Places in Tokyo - Part 2

One of our main outdoor dining spots - Il Casita.

We don't forget to visit the top sites in Tokyo while Mom and Dad are here.  Everyone enjoys having their photo taken with the sake barrels at the Meiji Shrine...

It's just like stacking empty beer cans when in college.

Another busy day at Sensoji!

...and seeing the other big religious attraction, Sensoji Shrine. 

Lungs, shoulder, back...maybe it would be faster to list the healthy parts instead!

While there we burn some incense and waft the smoke towards us - we hope it heals all our illnesses and aches!

Just makes it!

Dad takes advantage of the healing properties of the giant straw sandal - touching it is supposed to sooth weary feet.











We don't forget to make a stop to see the Shibuya Scramble.

It's like a bunch of ants running around out there.

And we wouldn't miss a Swallows baseball game!  We all have lots of fun, and Steve and Dad became very involved in the cheering.  Unfortunately, they didn't help the Swallows score that inning.

Mt. Fuji or bust!

My parents take a day trip to Mt. Fuji and Lake Ashi, similar to our previous guests.  They have a great time on this tour, too.  Their guide is very active with the group - they even learn how to make origami shapes while on the long bus trip.

Maybe one day we'll actually see Mt. Fuji like this!

The weather isn't ideal for picturesque photos, but Dad manages to get a good shot of Mt. Fuji, regardless!  Okay, maybe this is actually a picture of a picture...


Part of the experience is a fast trip back to Tokyo on the shinkansen (bullet train).

Cool nose!

We try out another Escape Room mystery.  We have a better idea of what to expect and the knowledge assists us in solving the mysteries faster.  We're able to finish the final puzzle just as the buzzer goes off.  Success!

Sherlock Holmes, watch out!

Shop 'til you drop - that almost literally happened to Mom when she was sick.

Our guests find souvenir shopping to be an important part of their visit.  Everyone has gone home with stuffed suitcases.  Surprisingly, the 100 Yen Shops  (Dollar Stores) are wonderful places to pick up keepsakes....and I always end up finding stuff I never knew I needed. (Like individually wrapped q-tips - perfect for throwing in my gym bag.  Who knew something like that existed?)

They do a good job with the lights in the Japanese garden.

We make sure to stop at some of our specially selected restaurants for visiting guests.  Everyone should have a kaiseki dinner while in Japan, and we eat at Tokyo Shiba Tofuya Ukai.  We always go early so we can take pictures in their garden.







We go to our favorite yakitori (though my parents still prefer the vendor from Sunamachi) and conveyor belt sushi restaurants. 

Working hard over the grill!

Trying lots of new foods!

The UNU Farmers Market is always a great place to eat lunch!

Yummy!

 
While my parents are here, we do some "normal" activities, too.  We get caught up on birthday gifts...

Which one to open first?

Shaving cream for women!  Yes!

...I give Steve and Dad a couple of projects to work on around the apartment...

Will my magnetic bars EVER stay attached to the wall?

Tie-Dye is hiding in the bedroom again!

...we watch Tennessee football...  

We love back massages!

  ...and you can't forget to pet the dogs!

We go see the movie Sully.  I love the movie theaters here.  Starting a couple of days before the specific showing you can buy your tickets online and reserve your seat.  Several of the theaters have "special" seating sections.  The reclining lounge chairs are not only very comfortable, but perfectly placed so the movie screen exactly fills your view.  Someone did some good engineering there!  But the seats with the extra space in between each one are actually the ones I prefer.

Mom & Dad enjoying my favorite theater seats!

Wait - where are our drinks?!?  And why are we all wearing blue?

No visit would be complete without a stop in our neighborhood bar, Bubbles.












We have a wonderful time sharing our "hometown" city with my parents.  Once again, the apartment feels a little empty after they're gone (just a little empty - the apartment isn't that big!) and Steve keeps wanting to play the elevator game.  We hope they enjoyed their "once in a lifetime" experience, because we loved having them here!

Cooking Classes

Our tempura feast!

Being in a major city, it's fairly easy to find cooking classes taught in English, particularly for Japanese and other Asian cuisine.  I find the selection particularly interesting because we don't have a lot of different Asian restaurants where we live in the US - a couple of Thai and lots of American-style Chinese and sushi but that's about it.  Mom and I decide to try out a few cooking schools while she's here. 

Mom carefully pouring the plum wine -
maybe she added an extra splash or two!

We start at the ABC Cooking School in Tokyo Midtown with some Japanese food - tempura!  But in addition to that we create a typical Japanese salad, soup and a dessert.  The dessert is a plum wine jelly, which turns out to be a nice finish - something light after the fried items.

The soup is okay (I discover I'm not really a fan of fish bouillon) but it's the salad that gives Mom the most trouble.  It's thinly sliced celery and cucumber, and it's fascinating to see how slicing them using a potato peeler changes the taste.  It wasn't the potato peeler that was the problem, but the dressing of sesame oil...which Mom turns out to be very allergic to.  When she first started coughing we thought it was just a byproduct of her being sick, but while eating she starts again as she has the salad.  Then when cleaning up she went to wash the salad bowls - and that's when we identify the culprit.  We watch out for it the rest of her visit here, but she doesn't have any more problems.

Mom trying not to cough as she distributes the salad.

Carefully coating the shrimp...

I don't have a deep fat fryer here, so I thought I'd have to wait to cook tempura until I returned to the US, but our instructor just prepares it in a pot on the stove.  I can do that!  We're able to try out a few different vegetables and shrimp.  We learned the trick to keep the shrimp straight when it cooks, versus curling up - you have to slice it in a few different spots.

Pretty!

As part of the course we learn a little about presentation, too.  We create a little star in the mushroom and learn how to follow the 12 steps to create a fish paste butterfly.  Hmmm....that's something I don't think I'll be trying again.

The instructions...

The butterfly that looks nice is made by the instructor.

We're also informed there is a particular method of serving the tempura - from the plate it's on, to folding of the paper below it, to how the salt is piled up, to the way it's arranged on the tray, etc, etc.  That's a lot of rules!  Hmm...I don't think I'll be doing all that, either.

My tempura - arranged in the proper way!

Now I know what to do with the dollar
store fans - they're rice coolers!

Staying with the Japanese theme, we take a sushi making class.  This is lots of fun, and something I might do in the US.  It's so easy to buy delicious sushi here (and actually, very few Japanese people prepare it at home themselves) it's much easier to let a professional do it.  We do pick up some tips, like the rice should be cool before you start working with it.

I don't take a lot of pictures in this class - your hands are generally covered with rice and vinegar.  But here's my finished tray - it turns out pretty tasty!

I need to buy one of these wooden trays!

At the beginning of the class - no splashes or stains!

For our third class we go to the Michiko Selection Cooking Studio to learn a little about Thai cooking.  We have several recipes to prepare here, too.  The standout is the phad thai, made completely from scratch (sauces, everything).  It's excellent, but a lot of work and time.  This one I might just go out and order instead of cooking again.

Grill pan - when you can't have a real grill!

We also cook satay, and I finally learn how to eat it with the cucumber relish that is served with the satay in restaurants.  I also ask the correct way to eat Thai food - and it turns out, they eat using the spoon and use the fork the way we use a knife (to slide the food onto the utensil).  However, if I'm given a choice between eating with a fork or a spoon, I'd prefer the fork (it feels strange eating rice with a spoon)!

I'm working, too!

Not really a breakfast food, but...bananas, cream...
it seems like it should qualify!

The dessert is bananas in coconut milk, and it's delicious.  In fact, we've already made it again!  We served it as a breakfast item though - not quite the correct time of day to eat it.  It's good by itself, but I bet it would also taste well over pie or cake.

After the class we get to sit and enjoy our meal with the other participants.

After cooking all morning it feels good to sit down!

New Places in Tokyo - Part 5

Family, lunch, drink, boat, sights...good afternoon!

With new guests, we continue to check out new places!  Mom and Dad aren't too tired of boats yet, so we take a Symphony lunch cruise on Tokyo Bay.  Unfortunately, our bad luck with the rain continues, so even though we go during the day so we can see the city, it's too foggy for great views.  

There's a city in here somewhere!

At least we're all dry!

The ship company is obviously prepared for this situation - we're handed large umbrellas to make our way to/from the boat and the pier.  Very nice!  The meal turns out to be great, too.  We opt for the buffet, and there's plenty of well cooked food.  In fact, I think it's the best meal I've had while on a sightseeing cruise.  Another plus for Japan!

No BUIs (boating under the influence) here!

At one point, we have a mini escort along with us.  This is the first time I've gotten to see the Japan Coast Guard.  Why is it's name in English letters, I wonder??  Yes, I know the location of the life jackets, so I'm all set.  Even with the bad weather, we don't need any rescue services - it's pretty calm in the Bay.

The best yakitori, according to my parents

The food of Japan is a very important part of any visit!  We send my parents on our favorite walking food tour, through the Tokyo Foodrink - Sunamachi Street tour.  It's a fantastic example of what shopping streets used to look like in Tokyo, before all the big grocery stores came in.  A lot of the vendors have been cooking and preparing food here for generations, with lots of secret family recipes.  It's also on the far outskirts of Tokyo, and prices are about half of what we spend in central Tokyo on food and at the market.  The tours are wonderful, with English speaking local guides.  Steve and I originally took the tour when we visited in 2015.  Anyway, my parents enjoy it so much they want us to go back so they can eat there again.  They can't stop talking about the tempura and yakitori!

Of course, Steve finds a Japanese mascot - I think it's for the new pachinko parlor.

While on the tour, Mom gets to try making green tea (not the ceremony, though).

We have no idea what this statue represents.

We also take a stroll through Ameya Yokocho.  This street originally started as a black market area after WWII, but now it's more like walking through an established flea market.  Purses and bags seem to be the thing to buy - both of our mothers purchased them here!  Mom also gets some quahogs (clams) and makes stuffed quahogs when we return home.  Yummy!

My favorite

Another day we go to visit the Omiya Bonsai, a bonsai museum about an hour train ride away. It's delightful, but small (I think we end up spending 30 minutes there).  I do learn some interesting facts - there are five different styles of bonsai.  They can be made with just about any type of tree, though the maples are my favorite.  And if you have them in your house, certain styles of bonsai should be in certain styles of room.  No mixing! 

The bonsai is older than all of us!

A bird's eye view of the bonsai garden.

This entire neighborhood is known as a bonsai village, so you can make stops at various places, but we decide the museum and one shop is enough for us.  We'd love to buy one, but we can't justify the money since we can't bring it back to the US....but it would look so cute on our balcony!

Bonsai can even have fruit!  Good use of perspective here - if Mom really were
about to pick it, I think she'd be tackled.

The official certificate statue

We have another special meal, at Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511.  Kobe beef is extremely specialized - it can only come from one small region of Japan.  There must be good fences, because if the cows take one step outside the area they can no longer be classified as Kobe.  If you think you've had Kobe beef in the US, you're probably mistaken - only about 10 restaurants serve the real thing (I think they're all located in New York and Las Vegas).  Each restaurant authorized to serve Kobe receives a statue.  And yes, they all have barcodes and pictures, which the restaurant is happy to show you.  And no, the cows are not given beer and massaged all day long (or at all). 

The sushi...Steve's mother is now worried we'll be sick from the raw beef!

 
We have Kobe beef prepared several different ways during the meal.  One course involves kobe sushi!  Yes, raw beef.  It's very good.

Kobe beef rolled by lettuce - much prettier than it's name!

We learn part of the reason why Kobe beef tastes so good is the fat melting temperature is below 98 degrees, so it literally will melt in your mouth (or in your hand, as demonstrated by a helpful assistant).  It's also supposed to have some of the same chemical makeup as chocolate.  Hmmm....chocolate and beef....

None of us volunteered to be the one to hold the (melting) fat!

Here's the steak!  Our chef brings it out for us to admire before it's cooked. 

The proud chef!

And the main course! 

It is very, very, very good!

It's a wonderful meal!

Happy bellies!