Tokyo Heart

And the food battle is on.....

Well dear reader (dare I hope, readers?), the food battle twixt your faithful scribe and the Rotund Gourmet (RG), otherwise known as Tokyo Terry, seems to be on. All in good fun and all with a good Heart, of course as I do cherish RG's friendship & generous spirit (and the wine he shares with me from time to time).

Let me be the first to say that RG definitely knows his Tokyo restaurants and he has led me to many a grand gourmet place many times (well, he's told me about them and I went; sometimes he led, sometimes I had to draw him a map).

So, after regaling RG with my tales of San Francisco and winery dining he has told me about a place he frequents in Tokyo that I don't recall having been to yet.  Read more about it at Gaishoku.

Not to be outdone, Madam Wife & I headed down the hill from our SF digs with friends from Denver in tow to one of our favorite Spanish Tapas restaurants, Alegrias. Settling in with a bottle of fine Spanish Crienza from Rioja we started with a few tapas from the generous menu. A dish of imported Spanishi anchovies in olive oil when down quite nicely as did the Manchego flambe - ya gotta give that one a try.  A few more tapas and the main dishes were before us - the grilled lamb chops were especially nice, but Madam Wife found the paella a bit watery for her taste (she is comparing it to the excellent paella she makes!). Topping off with a bit of ice cream in caramel sauce it was then time to do the huff n puff walk back up the hill to our SF abode. Oh my - those streets are STEEP - I mean, our street is so steep that there are actually steps in the sidewalk. Try THAT (the climb) on a full tummy oh, RG!

Heart by the Bay

Sometimes a heart needs a change of scenery & so Tokyo Heart's faithful scribe (me, myself) and Madam Wife headed for the City by the Bay - home of the Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco, where Tony Bennett left his heart all those years ago.

Through the bumpy skies of United we flew (somebody really needs to fix those potholes in the sky!) and landing safely in SFO we picked up the rental car & to the city we went. Ah! Home away from home! Our view from our SF "nest" is out over the bay just to the west of the GG Bridge. In fact, as I write this I'm watching a few sailboats make there way over the water in the light breeze and brilliant sunshine. What a site with the hills of Marin outlined against the clear blue skies, boats on the water, and the occasional big ship passing by.

Food is always one of our favorite things to seek out when we get here and this trip has been no exception. Wednesday night found us, along with daughter & son-in-law awaiting out turn to sink our choppers into what has got to be the best pizza I have had in years (and remember folks, I ain't no spring chicken here!).  Delfina's has opened a pizzeria at California & Fillmore - just across from the organic food market, Mollie Stone's. If you haven't had good pizza, or if you only THINK you've had good pizza, get yourself over there & try Delfina's - oh yeah! The secret, so they told us, is to import double sifted flour from Italy and have those ovens at 700+ degrees. Napoli style pizza with thin crusts, thick & delightfully chewy edges, and a big choice of toppings. 4 of us shared 3 pizzas along with a couple of appetizers, but if you are really hungry a pizza per person can be done quite easily. Don't plan to get there, eat, and run though. This place is extremely popular and even on a Wednesday night we had to wait 45 minutes or so for our table. Well worth the wait!

Thursday we did some cruising around the city and visited friends before taking a walk down to Lyon Street where the sakura trees were in full bloom (a welcome sight after the ups & downs of the SF hills!).  After a drive out California we "discovered" (first time for us at least) an excellent place to shop for seafood - Bryan's Market in the Laurel Village Shopping Plaza. Meats & fish galore & all looking (and as we found out later, tasting) very fresh. Give it a try if you are in SF & have a place to do some cooking or BBQ'ing.

Friday - off to the Presidio for a round of golf. Oh, this glorious sunshine & lovely spring days! Can't brag about the score, but the course is in great shape after the rains of the recent weeks. That evening found us heading for dinner in the Ferry Building to The Slanted Door's new location. Pretty decent SouthEast Asia food with a lively crowd and excellent service. The sommelier recommended a couple of German wines to go with the spices in the food and although the first one was a bit sweet for our tastes both wines did go down pretty well with the foods and the wine prices were pretty reasonable. Sorry, can't remember the names, but if you go there just ask for recommendations and you won't be steered wrong.

Saturday & it's time for some wine country touring. Heading across the GG Bridge we found ourselves in Healdsburg where the first stop was at the La Crema winery's shop where we were able to taste about 8 or 10 of their fine wines. We brought back a bottle of their Monterey Chardonnay (sorry, it's allll gone now!) to enjoy at dinner with friends down in Danville. This is wine that we'll buy again! From there we headed to the Seghesio Family Vineyards for a wine tasting with food pairing. Oh yeah! This is one you really should do! For $35 you get four appetizer sized dishes and five wines to taste. Our menu this day was Peter's Pasta Retolo, Uncle Ed's Grilled Beef Sirloin (we all agreed this was top, top, top class meat) [sirloin marinated in rosemary & Merlot for 24 hours, lightly salted, and grilled over hot charcoal to just sear the outer layer leaving the center so juicy and nicely pink - oh my, I'm drooling here!], Fay's pan fried wild steelhead with a slice of chef's own garden Meyer Lemon (his tree produced 6 lemons this year), and Rachel Ann's hand made fettucine with prosciutto and picked this morning, from the family garden, English peas. The wines chosen for the day paired nicely with each of the dishes and the finishing glass of Dionigia Port was a great end to the light meal. Down the steps from our private tasting room for a few more tastes of their other excellent wines and of course, more wine purchases by one and all. Salute!!

Leaving the winery and back to Healdsburg for a walk around this charming little town we first stopped at the Costeaux French Bakery for a bit more food fuel (the appetizers and wine made us hungry). In business for over 85 years this bakery serves up some pretty decent food; the quiche was warm and very tasty and just filling enough to keep us going for a few more hours.

Ah, Sunday morning is here - let's head for the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park & see if the sakura are in bloom still.  Back to you later - after more food most likely (maybe they're gonna have to roll me on to that plane later this week!).

Not so far away

As those who read this blog (maybe a total of 3 people?) know, Madam Wife & I like to get out & hit the highways & byways of Japan on a pretty regular basis.

Today, being a holiday in Japan (Vernal Equinox) was no exception - well sort of an exception - because we stayed off the highways, and stuck more to the byways for a short drive out to the west of Tokyo. Lots of people think of Tokyo as the city proper, but the reality is that Tokyo stretches way, way out and covers a territory that encompasses many small towns and even some mid-sized towns. 30 kilometers from home & we were still technically in Tokyo.

Coming back we did manage to do a little trek through Saitama Prefecture, but of course, Saitama shares a wide border with Tokyo.

Nothing really exciting about this drive, but I gotta share one funny thing with you. Coming down the road we came to a sign that indicated the proprietor is an orthopedic doctor - one who takes care of broken bones and other bone related issues. But, this doctor took it truly to heart - the sign very clearly said in English - "Born Doctor."

There you have it, we finally found someone who was not just trained to be a doctor, he (or perhaps she) was "born" to it!

Janglish - gotta love it, eh!?

By the way - I just remembered - I do have another blog out there that I haven't updated for a while so if you want to read a bit of the older stuff check this out (and I promise, I'll try my best to use only this blog from now on):

Joe's other blog

And, a few favorite websites that you may get some benefit from:

Jim Breen's site for Japanese
 
American Chamber of Commerce's Living In Japan Site

 

Narita Airport - English Site

A week & a day - to the lake, to the park, and England & Spain - and a 300 year old mini tree

Yep - as the title suggests, did all that & a bit more in the last 8 days. Last Sunday (March 8) had us heading for a pleasant drive out the Koshu Kaido (Route 20), eschewing the expressway for the more scenic route, on our way past Lake Sagami and on through the mountain mura (village) of Doshimura. Not much to see or do in Doshimura so we continued along the road in search of the soba (noodle) shop we had visited a few months ago. Aha! There it is - but wait - it's closed! Gadzooks! Guess the spring tourist season hasn't opened up yet. This area of Yamanashi Prefecture is dotted with many "auto-camps" (camp grounds) where fishermen abound in the spring when the trout are hungry & the fishing is good. But, not today, so munching on a wee bit of nodoame (throat candy) we headed on down the road. I recalled that we had driven past an interesting bit of architecture in the past that looked like a miniature English village set into the forest near Lake Yamanaka.

A short drive later & there it was.

Daieika - Big English House! It was open, and definitely not crowded (there were only two other customers this time of the year) so we decided it would be a good place to have our lunch. Food wise, nothing to write about, okay omrice (omelette rice) swimming in a house made demi-glasse sauce & a wafer thin, crispy crust pizza; enough to keep us going till evening.

Daieika is a busier place in the summer season and according to the owner's son, who was our host & chef for our stop there, his father bought an old building along the highway & started transforming it into this bit of England transplanted to Japan. There is an authentic enough looking pub area, but as it wasn't heated (gotta have a full house to be able to heat the place) we settled for a walk-through and a return to the dining area where there was heat & friendly explanations about how the place came about. Seems his father is a builder, with a few hotels and other places in his experience book, and this place continues to be a bit of a work in progress. His brother is a wood craftsman & makes these fish models, which are for sale in the little shop in the front along with some other items that may or may not be genuine antiques.

                             "Mooove, you fish!"

Someone also managed to catch this monster - hopefully, not nearby!

                        Some BIG Bug!! eh!

Unfortunately, one more item was for display only - someone got there before me!

(excuse me, that reminds me... off to get a bit of libation - be right back)

Okay - I'm back, Singleton 18 year old in hand (soon to be in stomach)    :-)

Away form Daieika & on over to Lake Yamanaka, which is the biggest of the Fuji 5 lakes. Not many people there either at this time of the year; only a few bird watchers with cameras at the ready. Even the ubiquitous swan boats were put away for the winter. There were a few hardy soule out in boats, and some in hip high waders, standing thigh deep in the cold water, fishing for whatever fish may be caught in this season. We stopped to watch the bird watchers and enjoy a cup of coffee from the thermos while the water lapped the shore. Actually, pretty relaxing - a "zen" sort of feeling.

So, where is the Spain part? you may well be wondering by now. That came on Thursday when my friend & friendly wine merchant, Eric Dahler Eric's Wine Homepage, had the wine maker from Botegas Altanza (Spain) in town for a tasting event held at Sabao Sabadete (see the review at Fodor's Review of Sabado Sabadete). Great food & very nice wines. We enjoyed Edulis Crianza 2005; Lealtanza Reserva 2001; Altanza Especial Reserva 2001; Lealtanza Salvatore Dale 2004; and Lealanza Joan Miro 2001. Needless to say, a few bottles of Spanish wines now dwell in my home wine cellar, but I expect them to "evaporate" fairly quickly - must be the dry air!

Saturday - rain, no golf! Withdrawal symptoms....... nah, it was okay and we headed to Roppongi Hills to see Okuribito, the award winning movie (English title, Departures). If you haven't seen it - go! It's a great movie. I think it is pretty true to life (or, in the case of the movie's theme, death), but having been involved in the wife's family members' funerals over the last few years, I do know that not every departed soul has the same rituals performed in the home. Similar, but shorter versions are done also. It's one of those movies that brings on both laughter and tears - more than a few sniffles were heard from our neighbors in the theater, but a lot of laughter was heard too.

A line that I remember from the movie (paraphrased): "Dieing is just a gate that we pass through and on the other side of that gate is something more wonderful." Good line, don't you think?

Sunday, March 15, today. A bright sunny day, just right for a walk through Showa Kinen Park , which was established to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Showa's reign. The park is a pleasant place to stroll and if you go be sure to visit the Japanese Garden and see the bonsai. If you're lucky, the gentlemen who take care of the bonsai will be at work and they are friendly fellows, willing to answer questions about the bonsai and the care of bonsai (in Japanese only).

This "old fellow" is 300 years old!


How big are bonsai?  Wife, Takako, puts it into perspective:

And this one is about 180 years old:

You can even have a bonsai forest!

That's it for today folks!

St. Patrick's day is coming up and I'll be out to join some friends for a mug o'green beer.  Until next time here's an old Irish blessing for you & yours:

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.