Izakaya

An izakaya is normally described as a Japanese pub: a place where you go to drink, but which also serves decent food. The comparison is apt, but I think an izakaya is more like a Japanese tapas restaurant: a place where you can order a bunch of small, nice dishes for sharing, and also drink yourself silly if you so choose.

Last night, Nana and I had our first izakaya experience since coming to Fukuoka when we sat down for dinner at Enya, a dim, cozy place on the market street between Fujisaki and Nishijin. We didn't drink, but boy did we eat! And not a bite crossed our plates that wasn't delicious.

Round one was kushiyaki, or grilled stuff on skewers. (Like yakitori, but yakitori technically means chicken.)

We ordered a set of pork skewers, plus a skewer of green chillies and leeks. From left to right, we have (I think): tripe, tongue, some kind of white meat, and pork belly (think bacon, but not cured). All delicious, but that pork belly was out of this world. Took us back to our samgyeopsal days in Korea!

Round two was fried mushrooms, which we were specifically instructed to dip in a tray of salt.

Nana says this was probably her second-favorite, after the pork belly.

Third round was a plate of potatoes with parsley in butter.

Tasty, but a bit on the bland side, I think.

And finally, we have some squid dumplings.

My second-favorite, but I don't think Nana cared for them as much.

Singapore Sights

I'd hate for you to think that all we did in Singapore was eat, although that comprised a disturbingly large portion of our non-work trip. (And JJJ, I actually wrote this post in the airport without internet and saved it for a later upload). So here are some sights of Singapore.

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple front roof, Little India:

Side gate ornaments.

I love this cow's attitude. He's all like, "What? I'm a cow. On a wall. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

16th Ngee Ann City National Lion Dance Championships 2010:

This was happening in a big plaza in front of a mall complex on Orchard Road, the main shopping street and the street nearest our hotel. This is the same trip in which we got lost trying to find an underpass and ended up in the mooncake mall. I gotta say, I know how to get lost.

The lion dance involves two guys wearing shiny fringy pants making up a lion body a la the more famous dragon dance. The lions are adorable:

And did I mention that the dance is done on posts? Like, six-feet-off-the-ground posts? And they leap around while carrying a giant lion head? See footage here. No wonder this dance has a championship.

Singapore suffering!

The Singapore airport has security checkpoints at each individual gate. On this side of the gate, there is a drinking fountain, but not a toilet. This is a serious engineering flaw. I can even SEE the toilet through the glass walls, yet it is forever out of my reach.

Curse you, distant toilet! So near, yet so far!

Nana Drinks Weird Stuff For Your Entertainment: F&N Seasons Soya Bean Drink

I am so glad I chose this, because the guy at the register was speaking Chinese to the lady beside me, and so I busted out some rusty Mandarin to ask how much things cost, thereby leading to the lady telling me I had a Beijing accent. I had to ask why, because what I mostly associate with the Beijing accent is the tendency to put a really nasally "r" sound on the end of words ending in vowels, wherein, for instance, "chu-kou," or exit, becomes "chu-KAAAARRRRR." Justin finds this accent hilarious and has actually trained his ear to identify Beijingers in airport lounges without understanding a single word of their conversation.

To the best of my knowledge, I have never produced such a sound, except in deliberate imitation. So I had to know why she thought I sounded Beijing-y. She said it was my pitch more than anything else. Apparently Singaporean Chinese speakers speak very low in their vocal register, whereas mainland Chinese use a higher-pitched voice.

But back to the drink. Soya Bean Drink. What does it taste like?

It tastes like you took mochi (the Japanese rice cake), threw it in a blender, and cut it with some soy milk. Creamy and smooth, sweet but not sugary. A very thick and hearty beverage, almost more snack than drink. Not at all offensive, but not at all something I felt the need to add to my evening's tally after wreaking caloric havoc across Little India. Didn't finish, but might buy if I lived here and was hungry between meals.

Singapore. Delicious, delicious Singapore.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Wendy and my culinary adventures in Singapore started before we even entered the country, thanks to the gourmet stylings of Thai Airways. Our first meal (I had lemon chicken, Wendy had Japanese-style salmon) was delicious. Our second meals were no less so. Wendy went with salmon again, this time a salmon curry:

and I had a lamb steak.

You heard me right. Lamb. Steak. And not just some weaselly little portion, or cafeteria-grade chunks of gristle in sauce. We're talking at least six ounces of nice-cut tender meat. Look at the cross-section!

Seriously, the food was so good that if Thai Airways were a restaurant, Wendy and I would have gone back. I am just praying the return meal lives up to it.

And then it was off to the conference for our first day (more on the conference later. Maybe. I have my priorities, and they are food.) until we were liberated for an evening seeing the sights and tasting the tastes of Little India.


My feet, God bless them, magically led me right back to the amazing dessert bakery Justin and I visited on our previous trip. We waited inside for a while and then confessed to the man behind the counter that we had no idea what anything was, whereupon he broke off and gave us tasters of something like eight different foods. It was amazing.

Here is Wendy, smiling the chagrined but unrepentant smile of the just-ate-too-many-Indian-desserts:

On to another restaurant. Here, I demonstrate the influence that Scotland had on me: I love a lassi!Thank you. I'll be here for the next two years.

I had poori with a chana masala and some sort of potato thing, which I didn't much care for, but just as well, because otherwise I would have eaten myself sick. As it was, I just got a bit full for comfort.

Our stomachs thought they were safe when we got back to Orchard Road, the stop nearest our hotel. Poor, naive stomachs. This is Singapore! There is no such things as "safe from food.". We got lost, because Orchard Road doesn't have surface pedestrian crossings, and in going underground trying to find an underpass, we stumbled upon Mooncake Madness:

The Chinese mid-autumn festival is going on now, and it is traditional to give moon cakes (little sweet doughy balls with various fillings) to friends and relatives to celebrate the story of the moon goddess. At least that's what the salesguy told me. And all the booths had samples set out! What was a girl to do, but get eatin'?

Cranberry:


Delicious. Sweet, smooth, and creamy. Maybe a bit like a light strawberry mousse flavor. My favorite.

White Lotus:

Traditional. Somewhat milder. Tasted oddly like banana.

Durian:

Durian, my old foe. You may recall our encounter with durian the last time we came here, when we drank the durian smoothie that reminded us rather of the aftertaste of vomit. But I shall not let durian defeat me! It is there to try, and you were all counting on me to try it! (You didn't know it, maybe, but you were. I could hear you. Maybe I should get that checked.) See me saddle up and take my durian like a man!

Victory! It tasted basically like the dough in chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream. Nothing to be afraid of. The score is now durian 1, me 1. In the words of Earthworm Jim, cartoon character of my childhood: "You are a worthy foe indeed. We'll call it a draw."

Morning Beach Ride (Photo Post)

Had a delightfully cool, clear morning today. (Well, cool for this town, at least.) So I took a long bike ride along the river near our house, and along the two nearby beaches. Here are a few photos from the ride.

View from the small beach just east of Momochi, looking west towards Fukuoka Tower.

("Our" beach, Momochi Beach, is right in front of the tower.)

From the jetty at Meinohama (the next beach to the west), looking towards Momochi.

There were a ton of people out fishing this morning. Our landlord says Hakata Bay is famous for sea bass, but I only saw people reeling in these dinky little things, which you could see swimming by in big schools.

Here are some more folks fishing, with the outlet malls in the background.

That big ferris wheel doesn't run anymore, but the small one behind it does.

In the shot below you can see the wedding chapel near the outlet mall.

These wedding chapels are big business in Japan, and you can find them almost anywhere with a nice view.

Here's one more look back towards Momochi. We get some great clouds rolling down off the mountains, especially in the afternoon right before it rains.

Finally, what seems to be some kind of octopus warning on the jetty at Meinohama.

Don't know if these little guys are supposed to be endangered or poisonous. I'm betting endangered--if they were poisonous, it'd make a lot more sense to warn the swimmers!

Thai-riffic!

Reporting in from the airport in Bangkok, Thailand, which I am now adding to my list of countries where I've never been out of the airport (other lucky winners are Belgium, the Netherlands, and France). And I have to say - if you ever have the chance to fly Thai Airways, do! The in-flight meal was restaurant quality lemon chicken with fried rice. When the steward went by with a tray of drinks, I asked if it was juice, and he said it was tea. I said oh, okay. And then he came back five minutes later with juice, just for me! And what did the give us when we got off the plane?

That's right. ORCHID CORSAGES. How fabulous am I?

Taking off for Singapore shortly... but I kind of want to stay here!