Day 18: Ain't No Party Like a Ramen Party!

Day 18, or more precisely, including today I have 14 more bowls of ramen. So just 2 weeks left. Can't believe I have been eating ramen now for nearly 3 weeks! And surprisingly, I am still feeling chipper, I mean I know I wasn't yesterday but that was yesterday. Today is today. (Wise, wise words there. Guess what tomorrow is? You got it, tomorrow)

So after 17 days of ramen, am I tired of it? Yes...and no. See it has been fun, and people have never before been so interested in what I'm eating (Well, except for that one guy at uni, but he was creepy). Now people keep asking how eating ramen is going, if I'm sick of it or, the most surprising of all, can they eat with me.

Apparently, eating the same thing for days upon days makes people more interested in the food than ever before. I cant say I am any different, you tell me you are eating cow poo for a month and its not that bad it may make me curious by day 20..... may. So today I had a little posse, a friend who eats with me every week, her boyfriend who is visiting Japan, a friend from the town over and a Japanese friend of mine. (Not the man soup one, but if I'm honest I have onsened with him too)

Just proving that all gaijin (Foreigners) do know each other for the ramen workers

That's right, RAMEN PARTY! wooop. It was just as thrilling as it sounds, we all went to the ramen shop together, bought ramen and then ate it! And get this, when we weren't eating we talked! I know, I know, these are the kinds of parties that I used to sit at home and wish I was going to. Living the dream! Also, I got to show off my ramen knowledge (Not as impressive as real knowledge but still, I know more about ramen than you!). I described all the dishes and sides and how you can modify them etc. Even my japanese friend was impressed, actually I think only he was impressed.

My spot the differences are getting a little harder!

Friends means that now you can look at a group before and after picture. Exciting! Today I went for the kotteri-ramen (The thick one) and gyouza. Turns out yesterday was just another blip, I think I will lay off the miso ramen until I cannot bare to eat the other ramen. I also saw that there are 2 that i haven't tried yet that I will have to show you. I really enjoyed my ramen, maybe company helped to make it less monotonous and as I said, the noodles didn't taste of anything other than the delicious soup.

Hope you didn't actually think I was going to let you get away without one of these bad boys!

Mixed the order up today on the old before and after! Did I make the ramen? Did I actually buy the ramen without eating it? Did I make the picture wrong but was too lazy to fix it? So many questions, so little time.

Oh and I almost forgot my life goal I mentioned yesterday. As you can tell, I am an avid meat fan, and so I aim to eat as many animals as I can. I only have 1 caveats: No endangered species. The first one should be obvious, I mean if only the explorers of "the new world" could have not eaten so many delicious animals we could all try dodo and giant turtle. Of course however it is limited to animals that are treated well, I mean I would be up for trying dog if it were reared and treated well, not caged or beaten like I have seen in some documentaries about dog meat in other countries (No there is no dog meat in Japan, but there is dolphin and whale. Haven't and wont though)

The dog thing reminds me of a time I was working at a farmers market and there was a lot of talk about a new stall selling dog meat. I approached the owner and asked what he had, he described the breeds and different sausages. I asked him how much. This was followed by a "What?", I responded by asking again. "Oh.....well we aren't selling any dog, we are trying to promote vegetarianism by asking people if they would eat cow why wouldn't they eat dog....." "So no dog sausages then?" "No...." We both left disappointed that day.

Day 17: Whats your deepest fantasy?

Not feeling so chipper today, think it's a mixture between exhaustion, a cold that is lingering just beneath the surface and stress. Whatever it is I was exhausted all day, I taught my lessons and then just wanted to go home. On top of this, I decided, rather than counter any of my current unhealthy living with going to the gym or karate tonight I would come home and sleep. Technically, you burn more calories sleeping than sitting, so... not the same as exercise but healthier than if I had watched a movie. I'm gunna count that as doing something to counter my unhealthy living.

This picture will make more sense when you read the next paragraph

Today I spent a rather large amount of my day fantasising about all the foods that I will be eating when I finish the ramen adventure. I think part of this is that I have started growing tired of ramen, and partly because when trying to find pictures about how I bad I am with my dishes for yesterdays post I came across some photos I had taken of some food i cooked before.

You can take the Brit out of the UK but I still love me some gravy/sauce

You see as much as I bitched about dishes it yesterday, despite the dishes I actually love cooking, and I am one of those people who usually doesn't decide what to eat till the day I'm cooking it. (This is also out of laziness I'm sure). See, it's not just the lack of variety that I mind its the lack of mystery (I suppose I could just close my eyes, point to a ramen and pick it). Everyday I know what if for lunch, and what is for dinner. There are no unknowns, nothing to surprise myself with later, no "Hmmm I'll throw this in and this and this..... Oh, this tastes terrible. I'll smother it in mayo and it will be fine"s

Rice as a side of noodles, I think thats plenty of carbs....maybe I should order bread too

So I think because of all this, today my ramen wasn't very enjoyable. What's that? 17 days in and I'm finding eating the same thing not enjoyable? Shocker! I got the miso ramen, and ちゃはん (Cha-han, or fried rice), there are 2 options; ordinary and kimchi-chahan, remember kimchi it's the fermented spicy cabbage (It really is much better than it sounds). If you know me by now you know I went for the kimchi one.

Is this the beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning??

As I say, today I didn't really enjoy it. I didn't even want to finish my noodles. I think this was because I like the miso ramen as a change but it's not really my favourite type, and also I prefer the thinner noodles in other ramen. I don't think the noodles taste great and i just want the soup flavour not noodle taste. So this is either the start of the uphill struggle for the next 14 days, or just a sign that you won't see me eating miso ramen again. Lets hope for the latter.

AH, the dishes make a sneaky appearance

Oh, and lets leave on a happier note, above is a delicious camel burger. You read that correctly, camel, the big thing that likes to spit and has humps (No, not Fergie). And it is delicious, and I have another pack of 4 of them waiting for me in my freezer. I am very much looking forward to my dinner at the weekend. When, I do eat them at the weekend I will explain one of my life goals to you. You will be happy to hear it involves meat!

Day 16: Progress

Welcome to day 16, nothing too special today, but I did leave you with that teaser of the following picture, so I shall explain:

Including the kitchen sink, hehe

The long and the short of it is that that is how it has looked for the past 16 days. It is glorious. That is because my sink and kitchen generally looks like an absolute hole! And then after a couple of days of buildup I end up with something that looks like this:

Dare you challenge me at Jenga?

It would appear that I have no before pics, even I have more shame than that. So, my kitchen is either in a permanent state of being an absolute dive, or a pile of clean dishes so precarious I genuinely worry about losing them all if an earthquake hits in the night!

You see, I live alone, and living alone is something that took a little adjusting to. I started off living with my family, then moved into university halls with 11 other people and then into a flat of 5. Suddenly having all the time and space to yourself is a little daunting. It is also massively liberating and very revealing. I mean there are some glorious parts, like how you never have to feel that you must clean up after yourself if you don't want to. The TV is all yours, and of course, especially in Japanese sweltering summers, you can walk around naked, straight out of the shower, no need to be too hot all clothed!

Picture unavailable

But there is also the downsides. Mostly that you discover that your belief that you are a neat, tidy and motivated individual is not quite true. When all chores have to be done by yours truly, the motivation is a little lacking. Not to mention that there is more work for an individual to do. If you cook a meal for one, besides the extra plates and cutlery, you use just as many as you would when cooking for a family, and there is no one who didn't cook who's turn it is to do the dishes! (Or children. Lets be honest one of the biggest perks to succeeding in not killing your kids is that, one day, they reach an age where they can do all the crappy chores you don't want to!)

Also, everyone knows the rule, the person who cooks doesn't do the dishes. But apparently I don't know that, so I make me do them even though I am the one who cooked myself a delicious meal after I had a hard day at work!

And this is where a month of eating out is a massive blessing! Other than that cake I cooked, I have not had to cook, do the dishes or clean my kitchen since I began this adventure (Unfortunately it is now much colder so the naked perk has gone). So I really appreciate my ramen for that.

Is it just me or is that ramen looking at me,  possibly saying "Please kill me"

I felt a cold coming on, been sneezing all day. By the way,  Japanese people don't say "Bless you"
(I guess they don't care if my soul buggers off) so there is, even now, a little awkward silence just for me whenever Isneeze and no one says anything.

Anyway, I decided to hit up the spicy ramen, it was as always, delicious. Some of you may remember Day 6 when I had this and drank all of the soup (To maximise my meat intake), but the mixture between the super spiciness and the volume made me less than happy. I decided today I would learn from past mistakes and not eat to excess.

That my friends, is progress!

Day 15: "My Favourite Japanese Food is Fried Chicken"

After my rather busy weekend the idea of working all week wasn't something I was..... ecstatic about. Waking up at the same time as I have to normally wake up for work was rather unpleasant. However, fortunately for me, I was able to take some compensatory time off for the speech contest, so I went to school, taught a lesson, grabbed my お弁当(Obento- Lunch box) and went home for the rest of the day. Which started like this:

I wish I could say Zombies put me off my food, but there is very little that can do that

Thats right, lunch and The Walking Dead, that's what I call a good day. I had such grand plans for my day off, as I'm sure we all do for our time away from work. Here was my to list:

• Write CV
• E-mail References
• Fill out grad school applications
• Finish a work presentation
• Clean my apartment
• Laundry

And here is what I actually achieved:

• Nap
• Laundry

And lets be honest with ourselves, with washing machines doing laundry isn't exactly a taxing chore (Although I do have to return 30 mins after it starts to put in the fabric softener, somedays I'm even too lazy for that)

So after all that hard work i deserved a reward, surprise surprise I went to ramen.

These are starting to look like the worst spot the differences I have ever seen!

I ordered the ramen with extra meat, and without thinking about the meat percentage I ordered the 

唐揚げ (Karage- Generally means fried chicken, but technically it is the method of cooking). So, as I say, I ordered 6 pieces of fried chicken as a side dish to my bowl of extra meaty ramen. I'm not complaining though, but I do think maybe my body doesn't need that much meat in a single sitting. 

Karage is interesting because I recently had a student say it was their favourite Japanese food, which was both surprising, I mean there is so much more "typically Japanese" food, but also confused me, I had always thought that it was something that they had taken from America (I don't think anyone in the west would even think of it as Japanese food). However, with a brief google I found out that actually a bit like ramen and gyouza, it actually started in China.

Good, that salad will counteract the deep fried chicken!

After further googling (All wikipedia. Lets be honest if it's not on there its not worth your fact-checking time), I found out that I am rather ignorant when it comes to fried chicken (I know, I know it's embarrassing). Turns out its pretty global, with history all over Europe, Africa and Asia. So next time someone asks your favourite Japanese/Asian food say fried chicken just to mess with the person, or to stop the awful prevalence of friend chicken ignorance!

Ramen was fine, I'm seriously not finding it that hard, it has just become part of my daily routine. 

Tune in tomorrow to find out what this picture has to do with ramen:

So now my blog really does include everything! (I am so happy with this caption)

Day 14: Fixing Japanese English One Sign at a Time

Another busy day, up at 7:30, on a shinkansen (Bullet train) by 9:00, at a speech contest by 11:00, speech contest till 15:00 and then not back to my town till 18:00, ramen then back home at 19:30. Then of course a nap.

My night was spent in an Irish pub that may have never seen an actual Irishman. It was wall to wall Japanese people with a sprinkling of gaijin (外人, Literally outside-people). Oh and the delights of certain gaijin. I spoke to a Czech man who advised me to get an Asian wife (His was sat next to him the whole time and never spoke once), he said they are better than western women because "They don't have confidence and free will to argue and moan and disagree, they just do what they are told. Western women with their ideas, and opinions and egos..... no get yourself a real wife"

It's sad to see men who are so eager to admit that they don't want to date a human being. But unfortunately this was not the first time in Asia that I have experienced men with this very reason for being there. I escaped his company when a Japanese girl came up to me and said "Help me" as a Japanese guy was groping her. Of course I did, and I spoke to her and her friend for a while, turns out they loved the UK and had been a few times. But this was proof, men are dogs everywhere!

Anyway, after the bar I got myself a special dinner to counter the fatty and unhealthy noodle soup I have been eating for weeks.

That is an Avocado Whopper! Avocados are healthy right?

 Always healthy! By the end of this month I'm gunna be so svelte and buff!

In the morning, I was up quickly as I had to get a train, however as an English teacher I did have to stop by the reception that had the below sign and make a correction. I also left a note explaining the correction.

I couldn't find an appropriate pen, so it looks ridiculous

Dick move? Perhaps. Better English? Indeed. This is A very common error in Japan, i would say 90% of stores say "Close" instead of "Closed"

A few hours later I was at my student speech contest. Imagine about 20 Japanese students making speeches in English with drama student hand movements and usually some strange intonation. Don't get me wrong, they do wonderfully, I mean you try coming from a language that doesn't use gestures or change tone at all and have to learn all that we find so natural and then on top of that speaking in another language! Damn, these kids are all under 18! Really makes you question your own achievements. 

Then lunch, this was lunch:

The chopsticks were so cute and tiny. Or my hands have grown.

Yup,  thats a vending machine that gives you frozen food then microwaves it right there for you. It wasn't amazing but it was edible and a first for me. 

Then, speech contest, student came 3rd (Very well done!), grabbed a coffee with my students and teacher, got a shinkansen back to my old ramen haunt. 

Haven't seen this in a while

Then my phone died, so no after picture. Oh and my teacher, said this to me today "Are you really eating ramen every day" *Looks at me* "Because you don't look like you have, I mean you..." I finished the sentence for her "fat?". And in all honesty she is right, I really haven't gained anywhere near as much weight as I expected. But we shall have to wait until the final weigh in, it's like the biggest loser in reverse.

Day 13: It Branches out!

Just got laughed at by the owner of the hostel for this quick transition between blog posts:

For those not in the know, these are different japanese beers, not very different mind you!

So this morning up at 7:30, which for those who know me, isn't a time I'm very au fait with at weekends. Went to my test sufficiently nervous and then took it. It was the GRE. For those who don't know the GRE is a test required by American grad schools to apply. You see for some reason in America, simply having gone through 4 years of uni is not enough to show that you have literary and mathematical skills, oh no you need more numbers to show that you can do that stuff. 

Furthering this logic your test consists of 2 essays and 40 "Verbal" questions (My personal understanding of verbal is this: "Expressed in spoken rather than written words", but whatever) and 40 "Quantitative" questions. Now, the logical man/woman/(wo)man/wo(man) would grade these out of 40 but that's too simple, no each are out of 170. Pretty much to make them sound more impressive. So I got 164 for verbal and 159 for the Maths or in logical terms 34/40 an 29/40.

This pic is mostly because I felt uncomfortable with that much text, also totally their logic though

I was disappointed by the 29 until I found out that I got the same as the average for engineering students. Also, my verbal score despite being 85% is in the 94th percentile. I'll take that. Depending on your view see the above as either a humble brag, a flat out brag or thoroughly disappointing (if you can or did do better), I don't really mind. It's my blog after all, I'll tell you what it is, you choose what to think of it. 

You may ask, what has this got to do with ramen, and I would answer: "Nothing, onto the ramen"

So thanks to my friend at friends in ramen, I went to what he considers one of the best places. Turns out I had already been here when I last visited Osaka. See, I had an app that told me the best rankings of ramen in Japan and this restaurant was top in Osaka. I wasn't blogging then but here is a picture then and now: 

(Turns out I don't have the picture on my computer,

 just imagine I have hair and am eating the same 

ramen you will see down there, maybe I'll update with the pic)

This place had a queue! Now this isn't that rare in Japan, when something is popular is usually has a queue of some sort (Group mentality, they gather towards what others like). While you or I may see a queue and think ""My time is worth more than this" Japanese people think "If people are queueing then it is worth their time, so its worth mine!"

Did I not mention you are greeted by a man in a top hat? You are greeted by a man in a top hat!

As a British man I love queues, not the queues themselves but the idea of them and the fact that the decent rules of a queue are adhered to in Japan. (Genuinely: How countries operate without them????)

Once inside you use a vending machine to pay for and chose your ramen and extras, I of course go for their most popular ramen, added an egg, gyouza (Fried dumplings) and after my test; beer!

Sorry for the before pic, I couldn't wait to hit the beer! Friday night of studying and no booze!

It was excellent, very different to what I have had at my usual place and very delicious. A much thicker broth and a very meaty flavour. Loved it. The gyouza were grand and the beer was well earnt (Just found out that earnt is a British thing??? ). However after this heavy, thick and rich ramen and 3 beers I am a bit bloated so I think for now I'll head for the G&Ts. 

Beer did not last evenly with the other dishes!

Now I'm off to the HUB, a "British" pub that is in major cities in Japan. Not really British other than pints and much cheaper drinks (Only 4-6, and its 5 now!) Makes me miss my first year friends, we had grand times ordering 20+ G&Ts at this place. 

Anyway, nostalgia. Have a great saturday and I'll catch you tomorrow.

Day 12: Fear not I am alive

Contrary to popular belief I have not died of ramen overdose (ROD) (Actually, on second thoughts lets not call it that. Actually, I also don't believe there was any popular belief that I had died either). I simply had a very important exam to take if I wished to apply to American grad schools. I am afraid that means that I chose studying over blogging (I know, blogging sin No.1!).

But this does mean that you then get 2 for 1, a double post today because while I had a slight break in blogging I had no such break in my ramen eating! (Technically, all my blogging is free to you so you right now you get 14 for 1, but shhhhhhh)

Post exam I am rather happy, not to mention the beer I had at lunch, and this is what happening right now: (For me not you, I don't what you knowing what I'm up to right now!)

No, it wasn't exactly "now" you pedantic little......

 Enough of this, lets get on to what you are here for.

So as I said before, I went to osaka on Friday for this exam. I decided to take the shinkansen (Bullet train). Im a giant fan of the shinkansen, its smooth, easy, clean and relatively comfortable (It's still a train of course, one step above flying comfort-wise) but I am not a fan of the price! It's not cheap!

Now that is a Barbra Streisand nose!

There is also a typhoon coming so the weather was rather... unpleasant! Speaking of unpleasant, I got a sandwich for the trip, and I have to say I always felt that shop bought sandwiches were a joke in the UK but this really was taking the piss. I can tell you this isn't a one off, this happens every time I buy sandwiches in Japan!

Tuna with your bread sir?

Anyway, nothing exciting about the trip, I studied the whole way. I think I was muttering to myself, so YAY just making Gaijin (Foreigners) seem weirder, cause we have such a good reputation already! After the train I decided to find my little ramen shop and get my free/discounted ramen. Did I go to the same place for continuity, to compare the difference or cause I'm cheap? I guess we will never know. (But I can say I walked there in about 20 mins in pouring rain!)

Anyway, I got there and this was awaiting me:

Spot the difference. Clue: Its a colour!

So I got there wet and sweaty (Rain in japan just makes it all more humid). Ordered the thick ramen and the buta-kimchi (You should know it by now the pork and fermented spicy cabbage) There was more soup than the other shop but it was all equally delicious. I think i really appreciated the change of scenery as I was barely even registering that this was bowl 12 in as many days.

Wolfed it down, found my hostel and then studied till bed. Had to be up at 7:30 to get to my test. Oh and I found this little oddity on my way to the hostel!

Ever thought "I wish i could do with some batteries but there isn't a vending machine neat"?

Day 11: Plate of meat anyone?

Short and sweet today I'm afraid, partly because today wasn't a vey exciting day, but mostly because I have some studying to do before a test I have on Saturday. Which, luckily for me, means a cheeky little trip to Osaka! Which I have decided means I will try to branch out and have some special Osaka ramen. More on that on Saturday though. I have to check out my fellow ramen bloggers (Thats right, ramen is a big thing, I'm not the only crazy one) and make a decision.

Feel free to check them out: Friends in Ramen and Ramen Adventures.

Osaka is also one of my favourite cities in Japan, its got all the buzz of Tokyo but its not got the typical capital city glare. (Yup buzz and glare, two descriptive but totally non-descriptive words)

As I have little to talk about lets get down to the ramen! Or more specifically this beauty:

A plate of meat, exactly what I needed to keep me going through a dull thursday

That is one of the 3, yes 3, plates of meat you can order here. I showed you before my personal favourite the pork and fermented spicy cabbage (again, its so much better than it sounds). This one is 豚しゃぶ (Buta-shabu), it is thinly sliced pork that is boiled. It was so good! The dressing was a sweet chilli sauce. My only complaint was that the meat was cold but that aside it was super tender and delicious.

After I ordered it the chef came and asked if i wanted big or small. If you know anything about me, I of course went for the big, the chef gave a knowing and nod. So lets put this bad boy into some perspective eh?

I don't care who you ask, thats a big plate of meat!

To go with it I got the egg ramen, a great choice, less meat (but I wasn't exactly lacking today) but an egg, a wonderful softboiled egg tat i think has been boiled in soysauce or soysauce water! Those observant among you may notice the soup is a little murkier than before. Well I forgot to ask for less fat (My one and only way of trying to not get too fat this month), and to be honest it didn't really make the flavour any better so i will stick to my "low" fat ramen from now on.

But the higher fat content didn't exactly slow me down:

No way you are bored of pictures of slightly varied ramen is there???

Still really enjoying the ramen, maybe its not going to be that bad, maybe after 31 days I will be like, "hmm, new blog: 62 days of ramen". Who knows we will have to wait and see. Come back tomorrow for my trip to Osaka and i'll try to find the same shop there to tell you if its any different.

Day 10: SLURP!

You get to the ramen shop the first time, you sit down, stare blankly at the menu (thankfully Japanese restaurants have no problem with having picture menus), you bumble through pointing at something,(Don't go for the red ramen! You're gunna have a bad time!) and then you hear SLURP!!!

The man next to you is just going to town on his ramen! Unfortunately he may look like this:

Yes it's the same pic as before, so there is still only proof I ate 1 bowl of ramen

Firstly, I feel I should defend my parents, I wasn't raised like an animal (Except for the time I told everyone I was a tiger, 15 was a tough age for me). In Japan slurping isn't just perfectly acceptable, its polite. It also serves a function. Ramen is meant to be served piping hot, but you may notice that scalding hot water and your mouth were not a match made in heaven. Slurping cools it so you can shovel that noodley goodness into your food hole even faster!

That may sound gross (and lord knows I worded it to), but actually as the noodles rest in the soup they continue to cook and if you eat ramen slowly the noodles lose their firmness. Oh, and theres more! In Japanese culture slurping when you eat noodles is a sign you enjoy them. It is the japanese version of NOM NOM NOM. Now lets try an experiment. Look at this picture again, imagine me eating silently, then imagine me going all "SLURPY SLURP SLURP". Which do I seem to enjoy more?

Yes it's exactly the same pic, I'll get a new one for next time

Now just imagine you cooked or bought the ramen for me, wouldn't you want to know I was enjoying it? (I suppose it depends on why you made them for me, if it was the day after I finish my month of ramen I am guessing you would want to punish me). That is generally how the Japanese see it. It takes some getting used to, and you still feel rude for a long time after adopting it. (You also feel like you are trying too hard) But in reality it is only social conditioning that stops you, slurping really is easier, and damn am I lazy, so i love it!

Next time you eat noodles, have a little look around to check your alone and give the slurp a shot. See how the other half live. You may like it! (But don't worry I wont tell anyone, it can be our little secret)

I hit the ramen shop early tonight, 5pm. I was over that side of town buying a Shinkansen (Bullet Train) ticket and I thought why not. 

And if you are wondering I did slurp it all down!

As I said before, Japan loved fried breaded things. They are the home of the tempura after all. So I ordered the カキフライ(ka-ki-fu-ra-i, or Fried oysters). Thats right, got myself a little aphrodisiac before a night in alone studying. I live the party boy lifestyle, its true. I also got the miso ramen, which was delicious and has a very different taste to the meat based ramen (Don't worry though, there was meat in it). I had a dip in ramen enjoyment over the weekend but I'm back now, as long as i keep mixing it up. 

My sporadic stomach ache still comes and goes, but i also have a cold so I'm not sure what to blame. And i haven't weighed myself yet, I'm saving that little surprise till the end of the month but I feel heavier and more lethargic. Yay! Experimenting with my body! 

Oh well, we shall see how is goes from here. 

Day 9: Let them eat cake!

Today was one of my the teachers I work with's birthday. She is actually my favourite teacher, and I call her my Japanese mother (It's ok, she met my real mother. They of course they had a fist fight, but it all worked out in the end). She really is though; she looks after me, takes me to the doctor, tells me what is going on, buys me souvenirs from her trips and teaches me about Japanese language and culture (Coming to a country like Japan where you don't know anything: language, culture or social norms really is exactly like being a baby again). So a Japanese mother is exactly what she is.

So how do you show your appreciation for your mother on her birthday? Thats right, with a cake. So i decided to make her a traditional british cake, with a twist.

Make Japanese mothers cake, Japanese mothers love cake!

Whats the twist? Well it looks like your standard Victoria jam sandwich cake doesn't it. Well, I decided as I am in Japan I would give it a Japanese twist. Instead of jam, I put anko (あんこ). Anko is a very Japanese food, it is red soy bean paste (Told you they love soy) it is sweet, but not as sweet as western pudding foods. It is in all sorts of foods in Japan including bread, donuts, sweets and many more I can't think of right now. So I thought why not? It went down a storm, Japanese people love anko.

I think this is how it grows, already in the tin

I had my evening class this evening so I went to ramen before that. Because Kelsey also teachers a class at the same place and time we go together so she joins me for my pre-teaching ramen. It really gives me the energy to sit and talk about English for an hour (It's a tough job, you need lots or carbs for sitting!). So we ate together. I decided to go for the kotteri-ramen, thats the thick soup one. I also thought I would branch out into more side dishes to give you a better understanding of the menu (I know you were upset at not knowing all about it).

See the gyouza sauce but not gyouza? Told you, Blasphemy!

So I had the breaded white fish. This is basically breaded cod, quite the taste from home. It's no chippy battered fish, but it will have to do for now. I used the gyouza sauce and it was delicious. I wolfed it down and then finished my bowl of ramen rather eagerly.

See, only 3 lines to finish it all!

So considering I found it a wee bit of a struggle to eat the ramen on Sunday and yesterday today was a breeze. I was gleefully eating it today, I was so hungry and it hit the spot perfectly. In fact I finished off Kelsey's for her too (She left some meat, and I think we have established how I feel about meat). So, maybe I'm getting my second wind, lets just hope I get a third one around the 20 day mark and I'll be bounding to the finish line.

Actually on second thoughts, there is no way I'll be bounding anywhere after that much fatty soup!

Tune in tomorrow to hear about the interesting noises of a ramen restaurant!

Day 8: From noodle soup to man soup

I had a very Japanese evening today. I met up with one of my evening class students, Utsumi, it was nothing weird, he is a grown man with a family. The weird part will be coming up later (Every Tuesday I teach english to a class of about 10 Japanese adults). He wanted to join me on my ramen adventure. Yeah, thats right, you read that, a friend yesterday and a friend today! Check me out, it's raining ramen buddies. Look out popular kids, nothing can stop me now!

Totally is my friend! There is no way I could have taken a picture of a random Japanese man next to me

I enjoyed my ramen and chat. I had my standard chashu-men (Extra meat!) and gyouza. I know, I'm going crazy with my choices. Tomorrow I'll mix it up, maybe throw in some miso ramen, no promises though! It went down ok today, not too much of a struggle. However, I have had a stomach ache for the past 2 days. I'm not saying its the ramen though, it could also be.... "Weekend festivities". yes, lets call them that. It's a much more civilised description. But I am sure the constant imbibing of salty, oily soup is doing nothing other than exacerbate the situation!

Where is the sauce you love so much I hear you ask? This is my Where's Wally?
(Waldo for my North American Friends)

Following on from this, my friend (He really is my friend, it was just meant to be a funny caption) took me to an onsen (温泉), directly translating as "Warm-Spring". Onsens are Japanese public baths, they often use water that is from volcanic springs deep underground. They can be as varied as peoples private bathrooms. Big, small, clean, dirty, cheap, expensive. (Luckily not ever that awful green bathroom stuff that was popular in the 70's)

There are a few differences to baths at home though, but the major one is that at home you don't sit in a tub with 10, over 40-something, Japanese men. (And if you do, I'm not judging!) If it sounds weird, it isn't. Well no, thats not true. Your first few times it is very weird; Where do you look? Whats the tiny towel for? How far should I sit from others, I mean I don't want to be rude but then I don't want to be too friendly. These are all questions that will go through your mind. But this is my 3rd year in Japan so I'm used to getting naked with old Japanese men.

It was exactly like this, except imagine it at night, oh and don't forget the naked Japanese men
(http://www.yawaraginoyu.co.jp/)

So I spent about 2 hours, stewing in the sulphur bath, sweating in the sauna and I don't even know what in the carbonated bath. Yes, thats right, fizzy water. If we are going to get into it, I would say more like beer is fizzy than coke. Oh and lets just take a little segue and answer this question for me. What was it that your parents told you to do with water and electricity? I think you know where this is now going.

And they didn't even come out being able to read mens minds!

Yep, thats right an electric bath that shocks you. Those smiles are not real, they are a result of the women's facial muscles being electrocuted. And with that, I will leave you to stew on that one just like the noodles in my soup did today. (Take that anyway you want)

DAY 7: Secret sauce

I am sure you have been on the edge of your seat for the past 2 days, waiting to find out about the red sauce. Well, your hard wait is finally over. I'll get it out of the way now so I don't forget again!

The name of the sauce is very creative it's 餃子のたれ. 餃子 means gyouza, the little dumplings I like. の is the possessive and たれ means sauce. So basically it just means gyouza sauce. As I said, very creative.

It's soy sauce, vinegar and chilli oil. That's it. Sounds simple, but the simple things in life often turn out to be the best. Some ramen shops, have this already made for you, however a lot of people like to make their own. I like a 50/50 split of soy sauce and vinegar.and just a little chilli oil, but then I am a big fan of drowning my fish and chips in vinegar so you may have different tastes.

This is my version of the little IKEA how to pictures

I am actually such a big fan of this sauce that I make it for things that aren't even gyouza! I know, what blasphemy! But it is delicious.

Today marks a whole week since my ramen adventure began. So far so good. However, it is starting to get a wee bit repetitive. I still have 24 days to go so I will have to keep my head up. (Oh the struggles of having more than adequate amounts of food in my life and forcing myself to eat only one type for a month.)

I was joined today by one of my fellow English teachers who lives in the same apartment block, Kelsey. She is new this year and, of course, I rather quickly introduced her to ramen. She is now a big fan. I can't foresee her eating the full 80 and then doing the ramen adventure in her 1 year here, but she will be supporting me on my own one.

There is now very little way for you to not believe that I am eating ramen!

This also means that I have someone who can take a picture of me actually eating ramen. I have already showed all the nay-sayers before and after pictures of my ramen, but there was no proof that
I was the one eating the ramen. No more!

Today I went for my standard chashuu-men, the one with the extra meat. I decided to also get the cheese gyouza. Thats right, the delicious meat filled dumplings, that are already incredibly delicious, can be purchased with cheese on top.

Doesn't that just look so appealing/ like someone threw-up on it

Nothing bad about that eh? And I am not complaining, but Japanese cheese is a little lacking in the taste department, so it generally just adds to the texture rather than giving it the usual flavour boost that cheese does. However, I stand by my belief that you can improve any food* by adding cheese to it.

One week down, 3 (and a bit) to go, but unfortunately I can already see me getting very sick of it.

*The type of cheese varies, and this doesn't apply to Japanese cheese.

Day 6: I cooked Meth

With a title like that I must have grabbed your attention! Today is an event called costume Karaoke, that means about 80 people get together in a room, sing karaoke and have nomihoudai (飲放題- nomi means drink and houdai means all you can. therefore all you can drink! Dangerous!) for 3 hours. Excellent! However it does mean you have to come up with a costume.

I decided to go as one of the characters from Breaking Bad, specifically this guy:

(Frank Ockenfels/AMC)

Easy! Already have the hair down and the clothes are fairly normal. However he does sell meth, blue meth to be specific. People who know me will know that I cannot easily get my hands on any kind of meth, especially not blue. How could I solved this problem??? Got it, I could cook my own meth and thats what I did!

Thats right, respect the chemistry

Not exactly the usual way of making meth but I'm no drug lord. So I blended some boiled sweets into a powder, added that blue sugar syrup and then shoved it in the oven for a long time and then let it set and smashed the hell out of it. Pretty sure thats exactly how they make meth in the TV show. This was the result 

Next step is to become the one who knocks

After all this I went for lunch.  I think by now you know where I went. Thats right, ramen. Today I am feeling a little under the weather, maybe I'm coming down with a cold or maybe its more serious, who knows, but the sniffles didn't sound manly enough for me to say. (But I think its probably just the sniffles)

Whats the best way to deal with this? Spiciness! Therefore, today I decided to get the delicious bright red spicy ramen.

Just looking at it makes my tongue tingle a bit!

This is just as spicy, if not more, as it looks! It is incredibly delicious but the amount of water I had to go through was more than it takes to clean all the ramen bowls they use in a day. What makes matters worse is that it has tiny bits of meat all through the soup. Whats that? How is meat ever the bad part? Well, my curious friend, in normal ramen I can get my meat fill without needing to drink all of the soup. In this ramen the soup is the spicy part! When I normally would just stop after the noodles and meat are gone I can't because I am not about to let any meat go to waste!

Actually this is the first ramen I ever bought at this shop in one of my first weeks in Japan. I chose it because I have a theory, red food is more delicious. Tomatoes are the planets greatest and tastiest vegetable, red sweets are always delicious and anytime I visit a restaurant I order something red if I can. This lead me to order this ramen, and as I had no Japanese knowledge I couldn't read the kanji that said it was spicy.

Thankfully numbers are the same, so at least i could understand that

Above you see the spicy levels that you can opt for, this is not obvious to someone who reads no Japanese nor do they ask you how spicy you want it when you order. 

Heres a question, when you order a spicy dish do you think the standard level to start at would be the lowest spice level or the highest? For some reason in this restaurant its the highest level of spice. Thats right, so I couldn't even finish the meal, I had all sorts of liquids coming out of my face. and then i was massively hungry very shortly after. All in all not a great meal situation.

Today was a much, much better, I got the lowest level and while it still hurt a bit I could finish it.

Im afraid I must now go and share my meth with all tho other costumed karaoke-ers so no explanation of the tasty sauce today. But I will explain all tomorrow. Have a great saturday!