Drag Yourself to Brunch

I haven't uploaded pictures to my computer in forever. I have over a hundred from events over the last month or so, but let's start with the most outrageous. A few girlfriends and I went to a lovely Sunday brunch out near the beach. We had a few mimosas, some delicious food and enjoyed the show. Clearly, the drag show.

Four dancers in lovely homemade costumes entertained us for several hours with the 80s and 90s best hits.

Cara offering up a few tips. She had one of the best seats in the house!

The MC even posed for a few pictures with us.

We laughed most of the time and felt bad for the few guys that braved the show. When we left in the bright afternoon sunlight we decided that an evening show with a few more drinks would be even better. Luckly, Croc's Bistro has a show on Saturday nights, once a month. 

We might have to make a girls' night out in the future and then hits the beach bars!

Last Suppers

I may go back to America 15 pounds heavier after my last week in Japan, but it's definitely worth it! I've go so many foods I want to eat and restaurants to go to before I leave and good friends I want to spend time with. On Monday, we headed to Gato's near Fuchinobe station. We had made plans while we were drinking on Saturday, but surprisingly, we still remembered (minus Lauren, she forgot.)

 

I've only got a few nights left in Japan, can you believe it? How has 3 years gone by so quickly?? Everyone's lives have seemed to have changed so much while we're gone so I suppose it's our turn too. Get a job, find a house...readjust to America. I suppose it's time, but I still don't feel ready!

Aya seems to have gone up in flames. :)

Lock Up!

Last week was my farewell. Well, it was scheduled as my farewell and then we got extended 2 months so it wasn't really my farewell...a pre-farewell party instead! We headed to Shibuya in Tokyo to the Lock Up restaurant.

It is a haunted prison hospital themed restaurant. Lots of fun drinks that came in laboratory ware!

 These colored "pills" were on the menu and for 100 yen each, we couldn't resist. Turns out they are grain alcohol in capsules. That's one way to get the party started. :)

 Mix and match test tube drinks. Delicious and colorful.

 This was the Blood Alcohol test drink. It was a syringe full of yummy strawberry flavored goo of some sort.

I don't want to ruin all the fun of the "show" in case you attend the restaurant as well, but it was pretty scary!

As Lauren is showing!

After Lock Up, Mike, Kristy and myself headed down the street to a yummy English pub. They had us as soon as we saw the sign that said 20 beers on tap. What a fun night! I can't wait, well really I can, for my real farewell!

Takoyaki minus the Tako

My good friend, Yuki, took me to a fun restaurant in Yamato last week where we can make our own takoyaki. Takoyaki is a gooey dough ball that usually contains octopus (tako), but at this restaurant they had many options to choose from. We had the mochi and cheese balls.

They pour the dough in to the heated pan and you have a metal stick that you use to flip, rotate and form the takoyaki.

A little sauce and you are good to go! Now, if only they had an English menu...

O.M.G.

A few Sundays ago, on a beautiful day, Glenn and I headed to O.M.G Burgers. I had read an article in the paper and have seen the owner's car/advertisement around base so we decided to check it out. It was about a 30 minute drive from base with minimal traffic. There was outdoor seating and we could even bring Stella bear. All pluses in my book. Oh and they had the best burger I've had in Japan!

The burgers come with everything on it- bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and this yummy orange mayo sauce. Glenn ordered the 16 cm, I had the 12 cm with fries and unlimited lemonade. Yay America!

I'd like to go back some time and order one of their shakes or perhaps the 30 cm, 8 1/2 lb challenge burger! We need to get Man vs. Food out here!

It's easy to find- make the drive if you live around here. It's like a taste of home!

Tokyo Food Tour 2011

Ok, so it wasn't so much a tour, but it could have been. I should copyright it now. Glenn and I headed to Tokyo on Thursday night after he got done flying. Being the sweet husband he is, he was even able to rearrange a few things so that we could leave a few hours early. Thanks, Mr. We had dinner on Thursday at a restaurant near the hotel- Cicada- Spanish tapas with sangria....thankyouverymuch.

The next morning we slept in- wow...hotel blackout curtains really work. Perhaps I should have invested in some when we moved here...then we headed to Tsukiji fish market. I had been there before, but Glenn never had. Last time I was there, we didn't eat at any of the restaurants because it was 5 am, but I knew I had to eat at the largest, freshest fish market in the world before leaving Japan.

I was doing research on Tokyo and came across this article that recommend Sushi Dai for breakfast. I really know what we were looking for, but when we saw this line, we figured it was it. No other shop at any line whatsoever and after about an hour in line, Glenn begrudgingly said, "This better be the best sushi of my life." Another 30 minutes later, we got seats in the tiny 13 seat shop. OMG.It.Was.

Since it was no longer breakfast like I had intended, but in fact, lunchtime, we ordered a beer which came as a set with octopus and baby squid with ginger.  An excellent start to our tour.

We decided to order the 10-piece chef's choice set and share it because at around $50, it was a pretty expensive. The set included one roll, soup, tea and one piece each of the best sushi I've ever tasted. The piece of tuna on the far left in the picture below was one of the greatest things I've ever put in my mouth. It melted like no piece of fish ever as. I'd wait again, just to eat that piece of sushi again. Luckily, the 10th piece of sushi was our choice so we ordered another one. I can't remember all the sushi we had, but in included: fatty tuna, no so fatty tuna, baby shrimp, sea bass, soft crab (that was still alive when they served it) and a few others. 

The chefs were very friendly, thanked us for waiting and even gave us a free egg sushi. Maybe because we were the only gaijin (foreigners).

It was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend the wait even if it seems to be taking forever. After "brunch" we headed to Yasukuni shrine near the Imperial Palace. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and took a walk through the palace gardens on our way towards our subway stop.

 

Our next stop on our TFT2011 was a Indian restaurant near Hiroo station called Priya for a late lunch. I love Indian food, but always say that I go for the naan bread. For me, curry is a condiment for my naan. That was not the case at Priya. Amazing curry! I had the chicken spinach curry and it didn't disappoint!

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest and clean up. Tonight we were celebrating our anniversary a little late at the Park Hyatt's New York Grill. This is where much of the movie, Lost in Translation was filmed.

Here are a few pictures from the Internet. I say we were celebrating our anniversary, but the real other reason was so that Glenn could order the Kobe prime cut steak. I'll let Glenn tell you all about it some day, but here are a few quotes of the evening.

"I don't want to swallow"
"I just want to crawl inside my mouth and be with it"
"This is the single greatest thing I've ever eaten"

Of course he let me try a bite, and he was right. I ordered the 5 course set and the awesome steak that came with mine didn't even compare.

 Last bite. So sad.

The Park Hyatt is an amazing experience. We were greeted at the entrance by no less than 4 staff members and were treated like royalty. An amazing way to wrap up our tour in Japan and Glenn and I's last few months in Japan. And with the prices you pay, it gave us time to save up!

The restaurant is on the 52nd floor and there are several bars as well. We headed down to the 41st floor for a night cap and to enjoy the never ending skyline of Tokyo before walking back to Shinjuku station to catch one of the last trains back to our hotel.

TFT2011 did not disappoint. We might have to have a part II before Glenn leaves. What an amazing city!

Hangin' with the Mommas

A lot of my friends in Japan have children. Our squadron is somewhat unusual because none of the JO's (Junior Officers, O3 and below) have children except for those who were prior enlisted. I like going out with the mommas though because when they go out- they go out hard! I suppose if a babysitter is involved which requires pre-planning, healthy children and extra work on their part- they are ready to have a good time.

I went out with Kristy and Nicole a couple weekend ago to one of our favorite restaurants in Ebina. (I'd tell you the name, but I don't know it. It's up the stairs from Crazy Crepes at VinaWalk though if you are interested.) We had drinks, we gossiped and ate some yummy Japanese food.

After a night of drinking and staying out late though, I'm glad I just have Stella to wake me up in the morning and not 3 kids (each!) like the two of them. :) Thanks for a fun night ladies!

Gato's

I'm a little behind on my blogging because it took me a month to get through my Bali/Singapore trip. Anyway, a few weekends ago, some friends and I tried out a new-to-me restaurant- Gato's. It is a teppanyaki type restaurant and is delicious! Mark-san speaks excellent English and actually worked at a Benihana's in Los Angeles. I'll definitely have to take Glenn back here!

The restaurant is 3 stops from Machida on the Yokohama line towards Shinjuku. We took a cab from the station for about 5 minutes. It's a little too far to walk.

Yum!

Lunch in Hakone

Last Tuesday while Glenn was on duty on the ship, I went to Hakone with my friend Akiyo. Akiyo is in the Japanese American Friendship group that I am a part of as well. We went with two of her friends Mie and Sumie who are sisters.

I met them at Ebina station and we drove to Hakone from there. Since they were a bunch of chatty adorable women, we missed our exit on the Tomei, but no worries, we took Hydrangea road instead which was a wonderful mistake! The entire road was lined with blooming hydrangeas and a view of Mt. Fuji as well!

We got to Hakone and went to Kaiseki Kadan for lunch. The restaurant was originally built as the summer residence of Prince Kan-in-no-miya who was an inner member of the Japanese Imperial family. He would have been third in line to become emperor if there had been no direct heir. It was built 80 years ago and for the last 20 has been a restaurant. There is also a beautiful hotel attached to the restaurant that is more expensive than I could ever afford.

The lunch we had was a traditional o-bento style lunch (lunch box) that had beautiful presentation. Let me see if I can remember what we ate. From the top left teal dish, moving clockwise:

• Pickles- radish, cucumber, seaweed
• Sashimi (raw fish)- tuna and squid
• Burdock root and carrot salad
• Jellyfish and cucumber salad
• Some sort of greens in a sweet goo
• Flatfish
• Sweet potato in green tea
• Fried okra and shrimp paste tempura
• Pork Belly, green peas and some white vegetable
• Rice with Mushrooms

It may not sound like it, but everything was delicious and so beautifully prepared. We also started the meal with a tiny shot of plum liquor unique to the restaurant. Kampai! I like it! After lunch we had coffee and tea in the salon of the hotel.

Oh and dessert! We had an amazing almond jello with a melon layer on top. It was so refreshing!

We drove through Hakone afterwards and saw a few things before we headed back to Ebina. I had an English class that afternoon so I couldn't spend all day with them, but I can't wait to go back to Hakone again. Maybe with Glenn next year when he's home.