Beefsteak

I went to a steak house to eat beefsteak with my family yesterday. Although we enjoyed Kobe trip two weeks ago, we didn’t eat famous Kobe beef because of the high price. So we went to eat it at a reasonable price at a nearby restaurant.

The menu showed the price of 200 gram Australia sirloin steak was about 2,500 yen, on the other hand, American one was 100 yen cheaper. We began to take a look at advertisements of American beef these days.

The consumption amount of beef per person in 1980 was 3.5 kg a year, the amount in 2000 surged at 7.6 kg. But after the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) was discovered among Japanese beef in 2001 and imported beef from the US in 2003, the consumption quantity dropped down at about 5.8 kg a year. And the imported American beef was halted in 2004 and 2005. The import has been restarted since 2006, and the import amount of American beef was increasing. The import volume of beef on February 2012 was 33,500 ton. Of which Australia beef was 21,000 ton and the US one was 7,900 ton.

Everyone loves to eat beefsteak. The texture makes us remind of somewhat wild life and the taste satisfies us. The nutrients contained in beef are crucial for us.

However, as getting old, I can’t eat it so much. I have heavy stomach feeling when I eat it too much.

Anyway, I enjoyed eating beef. I think it’s good that cheap beef from the US increases. Though, the total consumption amount of beef in Japan would not be able to recover the maximum because of the aging society.

Indian curry

I went to a curry restaurant with my family at a yesterday’s dinner where authentic curries are served by Asian Indian’s cooks. There were many kinds of curries like vegetable, keema, mutton etc. Since we were not familiar with the kinds, we ordered different kinds of curries.

I had a mutton curry. I felt it slightly emitted a rustic flavor. My father chose a keema. And my son ate a chicken curry with a piece of tandori chicken. Their choices reminded me of a story of my new boss.

He has just moved back from India since January. He was there for five years as a president of a joint venture companies in India. At a welcome party, we asked him what he ate there. He replied he was eating a curry Udon (Japanese wheat noodle) every day. At first he seems to have eaten an Indian curry like a keema. After he looked at a track which carried a cage packed with chickens to a slaughterhouse, he became unable to eat chicken curries. He expressed they appeared not to be a foodstuff but somewhat a rubbish. I heard a rate of vegetarian are quite high in India. So it may not be an odd sense if he could not eat chicken.

When we visited the restaurant at the previous time, we weren’t able to eat a portion of naan. We ate whole naan at this time. It was delicious. While we took meals, it was full of seats. It proved the taste good.

By the way, we threw the welcome party for my new head at a Yakitori-ya restaurant because he requested. He couldn’t eat chicken in India but can do one in Japan.

Ice cream

My wife bought five kinds of cups of Haagen- Dzts ice creams today because they were sold at 40% discount price. After a dinner, she, my son and I ate a cup of them, “cream cheese” taste. Their normal prices are more expensive than other ice cream products, so we can feel luxury. It’s sure the tastes are softer and sweeter.

I think the strategy of Haagen-Dats is successfully working. Although I hardly see its brand stores in Japan, when I visited Shanghai I was able to see its shops everywhere. I forgot exact prices of menus in the shops, I remember their prices were not different from ones in Japan. That means they were very expensive for normal Chinese citizens.

These premium brand strategy is effective for less volume products. For example, sales production figures of Mercedes Benz or BMW or Audi are very less than that of VW. The numbers of them are not able to win VW, but they can gain more profit.

However, as everyone gets to buy these products, the prices are declining. The values as the premium brand are vanishing. Maybe the brand value of Haagen-Dats is gradually losing in Japan because it has a longer history in Japan than in China and other luxury products of competitors are increasing.

As thinking of that trivial matter, I ate it delectably.

Yakitori-ya

A welcome party for a new head of my section was held at a yakitori restaurant on Friday. It served several sorts of grilled chicken. I’ve rarely visited this kind of restaurant. They were delicious. I realized what rich variations they were.

Yakitori restaurants feature skewered foods mainly of chicken. They use most part of chicken like meat, skin, and giblets. The seasonings are different from salt, sweet soy source and special sauces. Moreover, we can enjoy some textures like just grilled chicken meats are normal, livers are soft, gizzards are chewy, skin are resilient and meat balls are melting.

Japanese are enthusiastic to create different versions of foods derived from one ingredient. Ramen, Sushi etc. The basic forms are same but there are different tastes, textures and appearances. We can enjoy them. I thank professionals who have created them and have a sense how wealthy Japan is.

Supper with foods of stalls

Today is a festival of a neighboring shrine, where people in this region bring New Year’s decoration or talismans and burn them here. This shrine enshrines a guardian deity of fire. We pray for family’s secure every year.

There are many stalls selling varieties of foods like Taiyaki, Okonomiyaki and so on. I came up with an idea a few days before that we eat foods sold at these stalls for supper. So we chose favorites. My son chose Fujinomiya Yakisoba and a skewer of grilled pork. My wife was Modan-yaki. I bought Hiroshima Okonomiyaki. And she bought Takoyaki and Ikayaki, too.

As peeking at stalls, we were getting to want to eat every food. Eventually we got them too much. We ate them after returning home. My son and wife told that they ate too much and didn’t feel well. It’s obvious because these kinds of foods put a strain on stomach.

However we were able to enjoy the atmosphere of the festival.

I gained weight during this holidays.

As it’s the same as annual New Year’s holidays, I put on weight while I’ve just eaten during the holidays. We eat O-Zouni or Japanese traditional soup with rice cakes on New Year’s three days from January1st to 3rd. I remember I ate nearly ten rice-cakes in the O-Zouni at my school days. It was something of special meal we can only taste on New Year’s days at that time. I don’t think young people of today like this dish. My son has had just one rice cake. He says it’s enough.

We can eat more tasty foods. My family actually ate Sushi, Soba, hamburger, Unagi (Broiled eel rice) and so on in these days. And we have been watching TV. Eventually I had small amount of activity. Eventually I gained weight.

I’m keeping recording my weight every day. I gained about one kilogram in these holidays. It needs one or two months to lose this weight in case of a usual year. To lose weight is tough as far as we keep living as same as we used to do. I think we can’t win temptation to eat something which is put on a place where we can reach. After all we can’t lose weight unless we voluntarily practice something exercise or abstain from eating.

At any rate, this is holidays. To enjoy eating, chatting with relatives or watching TV programs may be the normal way spending holidays.

Miso Udon

I went to a Tenobe Men or hand stretching noodle restaurant with my family at lunch yesterday. I ate Miso Nikomi Udon or Udon noodle with Miso base soup.  The Hatcho Miso, which is acclaimed in Mikawa region, was used. At first I sipped the soup, I felt the taste was a little short. As I was eating it, it got to be flavorful. If it were stronger taste, I would feel too salty after finishing eating it. I learned it was necessary to be skillful in order to adjust the taste.

A Home Page of the restaurant shows us the manufacturing process to the Men (noodle). First they control the salt density and knead flour with the adjustment salt water. After the dough is matured enough in a wooden tub, they slowly step on it covered by a cloth by their foot. And they stretch the dough for thick twisting stick. Next the stick-like dough is hung at two wooden bars. Moreover it takes a few hours to mature under the hanging condition. And they stretch it more to adjust the thickness.

As reading the means to make the Men, I thought it needs to take a long time and manpower. So the texture of the Men was I felt at first a sort of solid. But it became a best condition while eating it.

The season when these hot foods are welcomed has come.

Daytime hot spring

 I made a reservation of a daytime hot spring plan of a hotel in Yaizu for enjoying with my wife’s parents. At first, I found by the Internet that the hotel offered daytime rest plan including lunch, a hot spring and a room. Though I tried to reserve this plan, I was told it wouldn’t be able to offer this plan during the summer holidays. So I secured another plan in which it offered lunch and a hot spring.

 The lunch was Japanese food and the waitperson served every dish with courteous attitude. The meal was elegant and delicious. We were contented with the food.

 After lunch, we took the hot spring. There would be a lot of bathers from evening because of hotel guests. But it was a daytime, so we took a bath with no other guests.

 Yaizu city is located about one hour distance from my city. Our parents became old, and I thought they might have trouble to move from place to place. It’s why I selected this plan. I hope they would have enjoyed this event.

Bitter gourd

 After the announcement by the government calling for conservation of the electricity responding to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, we expected the heat wave in this summer. My office has grown bitter gourds or Go-ya at the south side windows. The veins of bitter gourd are successfully covering the windows and they are producing.

 Anyone can get the harvested bitter gourds. I brought one today. The shape was quite curve like a half moon. The taste cooked as Go-ya Chanpure or a stir fry dish containing tofu, meat and bitter gourd was not so bad but a bit grassy-smelling.

 It’s a bitter taste as it’s called “bitter” gourd. So I think the number of cooking by using it is limited. If I grew the plant, I couldn’t deal with them, because it produces a lot.

Anyway I’m likely to get the bitter gourds more during the summer.

Honey nut naan

 I went to eat at a curry restaurant with my wife. The shop was run by Asian Indians. When I stopped by the shop once, I ordered a set of a dinner plate, which included a large naan, two small dishes of curry, one piece of tandori chicken and salad. Though I thought the size of curries were small, the large naan made up for it. And the tastes of curry were good. So I visited there again.

 I chose a mutton curry and a piece of honey nut naan. I imagined the naan kneaded honey would be served. But it was the naan mixed with nuts topped with honey. It was so sweet. The hot flavor of the curry was normal. The sweetness of honey surpassed the spicy degree of the curry. I felt having a cake.

 I drank a cup of lassi. This drink was sweet, too. It may be common in India to eat a spicy curry with sweet dishes like a honey naan. However, at dinner, I had a feeling to want to eat another meal having a taste of meat or so, which means that it’s not sweet one.

 It’s difficult to choose dishes which I’m not accustomed with.