crazy white girl with a kitchen

One of my Christmas feast wishes was to eat sashimi for one of our meals. Candy cane striped salmon and Christmas red toro – what could be better? I picked some up from one of the most local places I know.

I bought my fish from the fish market inside the Kochinda Agrihouse farmer’s market. It was early in the morning on Christmas Eve and it was pretty quiet, still. The selection of fish was not so broad – some salmon, toro tuna, squid, octopus and tai.

The salmon and toro were both 500 yen for fairly large portions. I bought the saba, or mackerel, at the local supermarket for about 300 yen.

I also got a root of real wasabi. The taste is a lot more subtle than horseradish faux wasabi. It’s still peppery and zingy, but less sinus clearing and overwhelming. These roots normally cost 900 yen or so, but I got one for 350 yen. A Christmas miracle!

(I recently saw a picture of single roots for sale in Tokyo for $200 and up!)

It was a delicious snack! The next day we seared the toro tuna and made it into tacos.

メリークリスマス!

Taco rice! Sounds like a weird combination, right? Well it is a super Okinawan dish, influenced by the unique relationship the American military has had with Okinawa. It is a perennial favorite here on Okinawa with locals, expats and tourists alike. Although it is a kind of fast food here, it is still kind of healthy. The keys to delicious taco rice are the meat sauce and the dense, moist Japanese rice.

I spent over a year in Okinawa before I tried taco rice. BLASPHEMY!

After eating it, I immediately became obsessed and ate it a few times this summer. However, I grew tired of buying it at the supermarket premade and wondered if I could make it better at home myself…without the prepackaged spice kits they sell. So, I tried.

This is the best recipe I found, based on one from America’s Test Kitchen. Good taco rice meat has to be saucy enough to soak into the rice, and meaty enough to be satisfying. I think this recipe fits the bill.

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Okinawan Taco Rice Meat

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (I used a mix of ancho and cayenne pepper)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup smooth canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce or sake (Okinawan taco rice meat typically uses soy or sake here, but cider vinegar works just fine.)
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar

Directions:
Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt and cook until fragrant about thirty seconds. Stir in the beef and pork and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until no longer pink, about five minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, broth, soy/sake/vinegar, and sugar until thickened, about 10 minutes. Be sure to leave the meat a little moist, not crumbly and dry. Season with salt to taste.

The filling can be fully prepared, cooled, covered tightly, and refrigerated for up to three days. Reheat over medium-low heat, adding additional water to adjust the consistency.

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Make your rice (dense, Japanese rice hopefully), and cover with the taco meat. Then the toppings! The classics are fresh crisp shredded lettuce, plump juicy fresh tomatoes and yellow cheddar cheese, with some salsa or hot sauce for good measure.

Personally, I scatter shredded lettuce, diced fresh tomatoes, avocado, pickled jalapenos and spoon salsa fresh or jarred over top, along with a thick yogurt or sour cream. Sprinkle with grated cheese…and you are done. It is seriously one of the most satisfying dishes you might have.

Some variations on the theme might include rolling the meat up in maki sushi rolls or using it as a nacho topping. God, is it good.

{originally published on my other blog, Eating Okinawa}

I know I have been neglecting this blog a little bit this month, but that is because I am working so hard on Eating Okinawa. But finally, a post I feel fits over here on Crazy White Girl with a Kitchen! This entry is all about a strange little fruit with a lot of bite: shikwasa. It was probably my favorite blog entry to conceive, photograph and research from this year.

Recently at the supermarket I have noticed shikwasas available in large amounts, for a very low price (compared to lemons and limes). However, I was confounded; how are they used in such large amounts? They are so small and hard to handle I could not imagine juicing any more than five at a time. Additionally they can be so sour, would I even want juice anyhow?

First however – what ARE they? シークヮーサー are very small citrus fruits, about the size of a key lime, 4-5 centimeters in diameter. Their thin rind is green, they are packed with seeds and very very tart, but with an orangey flavour instead of lemon or lime. They originally came to Okinawa from the nearby country of Taiwan. They are said to be high in vitamin C and in nobiletin, which is thought to help control blood glucose levels and thereby keep blood pressure low.

When I cut into them and smell the citrus scent I am almost immediately transported to the streets of Bangkok. You know – where they juice those green oranges at little carts for the sweet nam som or orange juice sold in bottles for a pittance. Smelling shikwasa early in the day makes my mornings a little easier to swallow when I get to think about Bangkok.

I went about making an effort in thinking up seven different ways to use shikwasa. Some ranged from exceedingly simple to somewhat complicated. Most are just reimaginations of other recipes, so nothing too out there. Just enough to get you thinking about using this special Okinawan ingredient in different ways.

I made five out of these seven recipes, and hope to try the remaining two soon.

1: Shikwasa mint syrup for fruit salad

When a food blogging friend of mine from back home Tweeted one morning he was making fruit salad, it got me thinking about a lime based dressing I used to make for my fruit salad. However, limes and lemons can be really expensive here, so I looked to the shikwasas as an alternative, and made my favorite citrus based syrup for the fruit salad.

• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of shikwasa juice
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh mint

Combine sugar and water in a small pot, bringing it to a boil on the stove. Turn off once sugar has dissolved. In a small bowl combine shikwasa and mint, pouring sugar mixture over mint and citrus juice mix. Makes approximately 10 tablespoons of “dressing.” Pour by the tablespoon over freshly cut fruit to taste.

This makes enough syrup to keep in the fridge for a few batches of fruit salad.

2: Shikwasa water

I really do not like drinking water. But living in Okinawa, you have to due to the heat. I have some packets of Crystal Light to help me get the water down in the amounts I need, but the artificial sweetener can give me a headache. So in the morning I squeezed one of the leftover shikwasas from making the fruit salad dressing into my water and it made it refreshing and crisp and easier to get down. Shikwasa juice is said to help control blood sugar and is credited with keeping aged Okinawans healthy.

3: Grilled salmon with maple-shikwasa glaze

• 2 tablespoons fresh shikwasa juice
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• salmon fillets
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Brush over salmon and grill.

Since we got our little patio grill, The Stache has been a gem and grills at least once a week. I cannot wait to try this glaze out on some of the delicious salmon available at the local farmer’s market.

4: Shikwasa ceviche

Citrus and fish just go together, and shikwasa works wonders in a ceviche.

• 1 lb of whitefish – we used a mix of tai (red snapper) and hamachi or yellowtail. It was already sliced thinly as it was sashimi.
• Juice of 6 shikwasas
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 hot pepper, chopped finely (I used the Korean kochu pepper since that is all my supermarket routinely carries)
• half of an onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro/coriander
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Place fish in a non metal platter with a slight lip. Place onions on the fish. Add remaining ingredients, and cover with the juices. Allow to sit in refrigerator atleast 30 minutes, up to 4 if you can.

I served it with a black bean salad for additional South American flavor. (recipe here, via Fine Cooking)

5: Shikwasa Watermelon mint daquiri

This recipe was born after my fridge froze a very expensive slice of watermelon.

• 4 cups peeled, seeded and cubed watermelon (about 1/6 of a watermelon)
• 1/2 cup rum (I used dark, most people use light)
• 1/4 cup shikwasa juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar syrup (You can also use 1/4 cup triple sec)
• two ice cubes
• 2 tablespoons mint

Blend ingredients together. Serve immediately. Makes 5 cups.

6: Shikwasa blueberry muffins

I have yet to make this but I think it would be good. I baked a lot back home but in Japan I find my tiny oven a real inconvenience and prefer not to waste time and money experimenting with temperatures and baking times.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons shikwasa juice (about 2 shikwasas)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, tossed in 2 tablespoons flour

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl beat the egg, milk and oil. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in the blueberries and shikwasa juice. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full and bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. This makes one dozen muffins. You could also turn it in mini loaves.

7: Shikwasa pie parfait / Shikwasa curd

This is the most time intensive recipe for using shikwasas, but I thought it was the best use.

• 1/2 – 3/4 cups orange juice from approximately 20 shikwasas
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 2 large yolks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
• pinch of salt

Pour the shikwasa juice into a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring the juice to a rapid simmer and let it reduce down to approximately 1/4 cup. This should take 2-4 minutes.

Transfer the juice to a measuring cup to cool. Stir in the lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, yolks, and sugar. When the juice has cooled to room temperature, whisk it into the egg mixture in a steady stream.

Pour the egg and juice mixture back into your small sauce pan and set it over medium heat. Stir slowly but constantly until the mixture has thickened to a pudding-like consistency – about 6-8 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter and the pinch of salt while the curd is still warm. Store the curd in a clean jar with a lid. It will keep refrigerated for about a week.

I served this curd over pancakes, and layered with freshly whipped cream and graham cracker crumbs as a sort of “pie.” It would be great on toast, in tart cups…all sorts of situations.

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In closing, shikwasas are wonderful. They have a load of seeds so straining is almost necessary, but the juice to size pay off is pretty good. Try using a shikwasa instead of a lime or lemon in your favorite recipe – you might be pleasantly surprised.

While I love my space here at crazy white girl, I kind of felt like I was missing my audience on Okinawa centric blog posts. They get lost in the volume of posts from Edmonton, and I am certain that most of my readers from Canada do not give a damn about restaurants thousands of miles away.

So, since September last year (!) I have been trying to start a dedicated blog about food and restaurants in Okinawa as well as any other areas I may visit while I am here. It is hard going for English information on restaurants here – many of the blog posts by English speakers tend to be about restaurants close to the bases, and frankly, do not look that appetizing.

I enjoyed rebuilding a blog, especially one with a specific purpose. It took a long time, though, with many breaks as I contemplated my fate in this country.

Each post offers English information about the restaurant, as well as a map. I am hoping it will soon become a resource people can rely on. There are easy to browse sections by location, cuisine type and information about Japanese ingredients as well as shopping for food products and cooking in Okinawa. When comparing it to crazy white girl, there are bigger pictures, better tagging and more features about food in general here in Japan.

There are still a few glitches and changes I am making, so excuse any bits and bobs left lying around there as I move into my final preparations to really promote the hell out of this thing.

I will still be posting here about home cooking experiments, more general Japanese food tidbits and my travels, but most of my blog posts about Okinawan restaurants will now be posted on Eating Okinawa. If you are a regular reader, you will notice a lot of duplicate content up there so far, but from this point on it will be all new. So please be sure to visit EatingOkinawa.com for all your Okinawan food needs.

Think of it as a first year in Japan anniversary present to … ME!

Alright. We have been stuck in the house for almost two days now because of typhoon Muifa, and I grow concerned that we will have to start in on the more boring food like packaged noodles and what not. But up until now we have been eating like kings!

I visited the grocery store on Wednesday night for last minute bits and went to a near by chicken rotisserie called Riiko Chicken.

It is kind of a bareboned place – they only sell two things, a whole chicken and a half chicken. That is their menu there. I think maybe at Christmas time (a very popular meal to have at Christmas here is roast chicken) they might do something special, but I am not sure. They were sold out four days before Christmas last year, so we missed the time to order one.

The lady pulls the chicken from the roaster, scrapes up extra garlic and will cut your chicken if you like.

Then it comes wrapped in this wonderful bag. We had roast chicken and crusty bread for dinner that night…

And the next day, Thursday, we had sesame soy dressed hand pulled chicken salad as the storm was rolling in.

I made some bolognese sauce later that day, and it was some of the best I have made. We also had some nachos and a few other special treats to get through Friday as we watched movies and surfed the Internet.

Now it is Saturday and I am ready for this storm to be over, if only to restock on groceries. I made these mango whipped cream pancakes as an indulgence this morning. And also to save the last few pieces of bread for grilled cheese sandwiches later.  A few brave/silly friends have ventured out to convenience stores close to their home, and reported that most of the food is gone, and some of the booze. No one really expected this storm to stick around so long, so it is a reminder for how bad things could be, I guess.

Anyhow, although I am a little bored at times and maybe am not sleeping as well as I could be due to the sound of driving wind and rain, life is not so bad. I worry for all the fields around Okinawa though. It is really agricultural, and I am certain many crops from okra to sugarcane to mangos will be decimated.

The words “wagyu” and “Kobe” incite many reactions in people. For some, it is the epitome of fine food. Expensive protein that is hand massaged, fed beer and lives a life of luxury so that it has the highest fat marble content around, all to make it better to melt in your mouth. For yet others, it is a waste of time and money – moment on the lips, forever on the credit card slips?

Diners are cautious because the high prices of this cattle have spawned many imitators and expensive but not legit knock-offs. Luckily, this does not happen as much in Japan. The Japanese dining crowd is extremely discerning and demanding, and there are a series of pieces of evidence that can be used to show a piece of wagyu’s legitimacy, including chips and barcodes.

Wagyu is a name applied to a wide range of about 130+ breeds of cattle, most of them named after the area they come from, such as Kobe wagyu. Wagyu just translates to “beef from Japan” but it is a title that is only bestowed upon cows that are 100% born from wagyu cattle and raised in Japan. That is why some beef in the States is “wagyu style” or “Kobe style” – it may be from a Japanese breed and raised in the same style, but it was raised outside of Japan. Very little of this beef is actual proper wagyu shipped from Japan. There are a number of other breeds that are not as well marketed in the west that some people say are better than Kobe. One of them comes from a little island not far from where we live, very close to Taiwan. It is called Ishigaki, and it looks idyllic.

{source}

Here, the cattle eat very mineral rich grass (Ishigaki is very famous for salt, as well) and live lives of beachy luxury until their number comes up and they are served to mainland Japanese tourists eager to try some fine beef. I cannot state enough how huge food tourism is in Japan. Every area has a famous sweet, famous noodle style, even a very specific food item. So it is big business…a cash cow, if you will.

Mike had been craving a big old steak for a week or two now. We recently bought a grill to do chicken sticks and veggies on but he was eager to give beef a try. Normally I would think it ridiculous to home grill a piece of meat of wagyu caliber at home, but here it is actually feasible because the prices are okay instead of insane. However, the biggest problem was finding it. Most super markets sell very fine beef in very thin slices suitable for beef bowls, sukiyaki or at home yakiniku grilling, but very little is available in big American sized chunks. And if you do find it, it is most likely going to be Australian.

So I took to Google to find a butcher willing to help us out, and found a video posted on YouTube of a local butcher in a very touristy market in downtown Naha, Okinawa.

This gave me pause, since we had eaten at this market and it was, unfortunately, a real tourist trap. But, the meat looked like what we wanted and I had no other leads, so we gave it a try.

Maruichi turned out to be intimidating. They had huge chunks of meat that looked like they might be able to be cut to order, but we still lack the language skills to ask for that. Dejected, we wandered to the nearby Makishi Market to see what they had. Makishi is kind of a place people go to take photos at. They eat upstairs at the terrible restaurants, take a photo with a pickled pigs head and go back to their hotel.

Things seemed over priced and it just was not the same as other Asian markets I have been to. When we arrived most of the fish stalls were cleaning up for the day, but in the corner we found a meat stall. There, pre wrapped hunks of well marbled meat labeled with prices and Ishigaki tags. Cha-CHING!

I am not sure if the meat was frozen or not, and we did not ask on this trip. Chances of it being frozen are about 50/50…Japanese transport companies are amazing, and able to ship both frozen and chilled items to arrive the same day, so it could also have just been chilled since Ishigaki is a short plane ride away from mainland Okinawa. It came from a supplier called Yaeyama / 八重山 and they seem to be a big supplier of beef from Ishigaki.

We picked out some steaks and the guy shot the shit with us the best we could in our Japanese. He said he was surprised we were taking the steak home – most people eat it upstairs (at the restaurants who cook items from the market) he said.

We paid about $30 for 200g, and took our carefully cold packed meat home with us after stopping at a grocery store for some vegetables. On the label you can see the code used to identify the company and perhaps even the very cow the cut came from. They take this stuff seriously.

Mike did all the prep and grilling, which I appreciate. Perhaps he will chime in on his technique in the comments.

He coated the steak in salt using a new method he read about online. Luckily the butcher had given us some omiyage, or a gift, of Ishigaki salt. It was very fine and powdery.

Ishigaki salt

After the grilling came the hard part – the resting. Finally, I sliced into the steak with a butter knife and sat and savoured in silence. I could barely speak. It was tender, buttery, meaty… wonderful. I found the fat rind around the edge a bit overwhelming, but I did eat most of it in a gluttonous way.

The veins of fat throughout the meat had dissolved into the protein, and it was light and buttery, not heavy and greasy. I have found Kobe to be overwhelmingly fatty sometimes, but not so with Ishigaki. Maybe it is Okinawa pride speaking, but I do think it is the superior meat. I have had it at restaurants and at home now, and it is wonderful.

Looks kind of grainy and maybe even tough in this shot, huh? It wasn’t. The fat rind is closest to the camera in this photo.

Sauteed some mushrooms and grilled some zucchini, okra and eggplant on the grill after.

Here is a video cut I made of us slicing through the meat. Meat porn!

We grilled some of the remaining fat up on the grill afterwards to char it a bit more. Fat popsicle, anyone?

We tend to eat sushi out once a week at our favourite easy kaiten (belt) sushi chain restaurant, and it is excellent for the old favourites and some maki choices, but sometimes you like to eat your own creations full of your favourite ingredients. Also, maki sushi is quite different from the nigiri sushi that is often at these restaurants, as it combines many ingredients.

One of the best things about the local supermarket is the fish section. It is stocked with various cuts and preparations of the many kinds of fish, from classic favourites to seasonal varieties. There are packages of pre cut slices for sashimi or nigiri sushi, long pieces for grilling… you can really go to town.

On this occasion, I bought a few things:

• two kinds of nori seaweed, one for hand rolls and one for the longer maki rolls
• premade rice (almost as fresh as homemade, but more convenient)
• salmon, crab and maguro
• burdock root, and some vegetables

Crab sticks. Not imitation, although that is also available.

Burdock root, or gobo

This mixed pack of sushi grade maguro tuna and salmon was about $5.50

At home I already had what I needed to flavour the rice, as well as cream cheese and various kinds of pickles and other fillings to put in the rolls.

As I have mentioned before, I think the rice is one of the best things about living in Japan. My favourite is sushi rice with a lightly flavoured taste of vinegar, sake and sugar. It is tangy and delicious.

I made my own sushi vinegar to add to the rice by combining these items:

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (you can use rice vinegar too)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 table spoon of mirin or sake/nihon shu
• 1/2 tablespoon of salt

Combine these in a small pot on the stove until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Will flavour about 4 cups of rice.

Combine into warm rice by folding it in, being careful to not crush the rice.

Buying rice is a bit of a cheat since the flavour is better when the rice is turned into sushi rice when it is warm and fresh.
You cannot substitute any other kind of rice, or turn arborio or Thai sticky rice into sushi rice by making it gooey and mushy, so please do not do this.

Assembly is easy. I did not want the rolls to be too filling because we wanted to try many different combinations, so I did not push the rice to the edge of the nori. Normally you would, otherwise you get…

…sad looking rolls like this. These deflated looking things were really good though.

You can mix and match each rolls. Here, toro chopped and mixed with soy, negi or green onions, crunchy Niigata Prefecture miso daikon pickles that were a present from our Japanese tutor, burdock root dipped in the same sushi vinegar mix I made for the rice and a cucumber. You want to combine the things you like, thinking about taste, smell, texture (crunch!) and color.

There are sushi mats you can use to roll up rolls, like inside out California rolls, but I just hand rolled these nori wrapped rolls. The sushi mats help the rice from sticking and keep a uniform size and look, if presentation is important. But we are rustic here at the ZeeCall household, and we are not so picky.

I also made some salmon, negi, cream cheese, sesame seed and cucumber rolls.

Finally, even more customizable, the hand rolls. You just stuff and fill the little squares of nori with rice, then the fillings you want, roll up and eat.

Crab, cucumber, negi and cream cheese.

Fun and easy!

I have decided to start a new series of posts on simple pleasures I find here in Japan. Most are food related, but not all. There are just so many interesting somewhat single use experiences that are relaxing, enjoyable and often delicious in their own right, so I thought I might expose a few of them to you.

First up is a food item often found at yakitori restaurants. Yakitori is almost always completely protein based – there are very few vegetable or rice dishes, so they are more of a drinking place with meat on sticks as opposed to a dinner location. Although we have definitely turned our stops at these places into meals, for sure.

To balance this out, there is usual a token item on the menu – yakisoba for instance, or fried rice. But my favourite is the simple grilled onigiri, or yaki onigiri. Onigiri are pressed cooked rice balls – round, triangular, square – they come in all shapes and sizes. They sometimes have fillings, or a nori seaweed wrap. They are a quick and easy snack if you need something while on the go.

Yaki onigiri are a plain pressed clump of rice, grilled over dry heat til it gets a crispy shell, then it is brushed with tare (sauce, usually thick and kind of sweet) or butter and salt. We recently got a grill for at home (more on that later) and we can now make these babies on our own.

I often thing about the food thing I will miss most when I leave Japan, and I think the answer is easy – the rice. Even prepared in such a simple manner, it really stands out. Especially in yaki onigiri.

Click for more from the Simple Japanese Pleasures series

Generally, because it is so accessible, we often just eat Japanese food while we are out. However, because I have such seriously easy to access to some Japanese ingredients I may never see again in my life, I have decided to try cooking more Japanese food at home.

I already have a good yakiudon recipe and Mike knows how to make gyoza, or potsticker dumplings, but beyond that the choice is overwhelming. So I started with an ingredient that I want to use more, but am not sure how to.

Shirataki noodles are made of konjac, a very starchy plant. They are really low calorie and high fibre, so they are a popular diet food here. I remember a source referring them to “stomach brooms” for their ability to, ahem, “clean.”

Konjac does not taste like much however, so you have to use seasoning to help it out.

The noodles come in a big bag, and are available in many different diameters. They kind of smell funny when you open them, and they should be blanched to take away the bitter taste that may exist. They are super slippery and kind of get tangled, but do not really break down when you boil them.

They just look like any other kind of noodle, right?

I wanted to make a variation of a healthy Japanese dish called chirashisushi, or “scattered sushi bowl.” It is basically raw ingredients on top of rice. Pretty easy. I picked up this really nice looking salmon specifically made for chirashisushi at the supermarket for a few bucks. It is a little thinner cut than most sashimi you can get.

I also made a citrus soy ginger dressing with some new soy sauce. I let the noodles soak in this before we ate, to give them some flavour.

I added some shiso sprouts for peppery flavour, various vegetables (cucumber, avocado, cabbage and grated daikon) and we ate. A super fresh light summer meal, and healthier than the same dish made with just rice.

Alright, another weekend ruined by another typhoon. This one was not quite as bad as the last one that rolled through, but I welcome the chance to work on cooking, which is something I seem to find myself doing when we are housebound during these storms.

This time, pancakes. Or as they call them in Japan, hotto-keki (ホットケーキ). The recipe is a McCall family secret so I am not able to share it with you, but trust me – these pancakes were delicious. I experienced some humidity related problems, but all turned out well. Double baking powder and sifting the flour were key. I have only sifted flour once for a recipe and that was macarons, which demand it, so it felt weird doing it for such a basic recipe.

A little whipped cream spun up, some sweetened blackcurrants and bam – I predict a heavy downpour of delicious pancakes.

I knew one of the best things about moving to Japan would be the food. And my weight gain in the past year has shown that to be true.

I also knew that one of the hardest things about moving to Japan would be the food. I knew I would miss so many things – experimenting with baking, farmer’s market foods and the treats from back home that I liked to indulge in. (Elm Cafe lattes or nachos from Hudson’s, anyone?)

Luckily there are ways to adapt here. There are many import food services which we have used a few times. It is otherworldly to order cheese and other cold products and have them arrive at your door fresh and cold via a delivery man in a refrigerated truck. The prices are high, but you will pay. Yes, you will.

Okinawa is a bit of an odd beast since the American influence has brought a few products to grocery stores that might be hard to find in other parts of Japan. While we do not have access to on-base (military) food, it is also there. It is a bit complicated and I seriously could not be bothered to ask someone to go through that for me, although parents of one of my students have offered. You need US cash, you need someone to shop with you, escort you in…it is like bringing someone into Costco, only harder.

So, I rely on the local grocers, and big suitcase allowances when I come home from vacation in other cities. Luckily there is a selection of stores that offer up some amazing finds. I am trying to cook with more Japanese ingredients at home, but sometimes you just want chili or a plate of nachos, dammit.

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First up is Jimmy’s. There are a few different locations of this Okinawan chain around the island. The first few I went to were just tiny bakeries, with stale “American Taste” cookies and tasteless pies. However my birthday cake was from Jimmy’s, so it is not all bad. I just thought every location was as sad as the one nearest my home.

But when we got a car and my mom came to visit, we stopped in at a larger location – one with a grocery and cafe on top  of the bakery. I was blown away.

This is the Jimmy’s just north of Naha on the 58. Very easy to find, even by bus. Just take any bus going from the Naha bus terminal to Chatan, and look for Jimmy’s on the right about 20 minutes out of Naha.

While I tend to order tortilla chips from aforementioned foreign food supplier, it is nice to have expensive emergency chips if I need some guacamole dippers. Most of these bags run $3-7.

I shudder to think of eating such MSG salt laden fat popsicles, but I cannot deny that being overseas does weird things to people, and there may come a day when I crave these Johnsonville “sausages.” These are about $8.50

Lots of baking ingredients. When I made nanaimo bars at Christmas it took me a few weeks to source and buy the products. If we had a car at that time, I could have been done in about 15 minutes.

Everyone will tell you how hard it is to find pit stick in Japan. EVERYONE. However, I have been seeing it everywhere recently, although not all places have as good a selection as Jimmy’s.

Huge bags of baking soda for cleaning and deodorizing.

TimTams. Oh god, TimTams.

It is weird to say this, but maybe I can because I once worked in a grocery store – but the store is merchandised in a more western way which is oddly comforting. It is a little cramped and busy on the eyes. Maybe because they have so many products.

Some okay pies from the bakery. They are good, but missing the zazz my mom’s pies have, in the form of cinnamon and other spices. It is weird to eat an exclusively all fruit apple pie.

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There is also Mitsukoshi My Kitchen. Mitsukoshi is a well known and respected department store in Japan. It got started in 1673 selling kimonos. They know their shit. In Okinawa they have a formerly glitzy department store with a smallish depachika (basement food hall) in downtown Naha and this really nice grocery store called My Kitchen, on a manmade island.

Hahahaha! I wonder how many Canadian JETs wasted their baggage allowance on bottles of maple syrup as gifts. (Not me, I just brought maple candy. Score!)

Bakeries are abundant in Japan, and Mitsukoshi has some fine vendors. This is a  bamboo charcoal bread loaf.

Some nice looking fresh soba noodles.

They also host cooking lessons, but my Japanese is no where good enough to go yet and not be a burden.

Obviously a great fish selection.

Again, lots of well marked baking products. It was a challenge before I could read to find out what these things were, so I appreciated any bit of English to help decipher the numerous white powders and flours.

How dare you, no I did not. I did kind of love that it was with the legit Italian pastas, though.

Lots of imports – from southeast Asian, Italy, Germany and England. And also some Japanese onigiri kits.

This is the peanut butter we bought before I started ordering in Costco sized jars from the foreign food club.

Mitsukoshi is also a great place to buy cheese and deli meats. One of my favourite memories this winter was coming home from school lunch to have a charcuterie plate instead.

Candy cigarettes!

As if anyone eats potato chips with tongs.

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There are also  a few other more common grocers who carry a few different items. You just need to remember where you saw what when the time comes.

You can also check out my post on A-Price, another store that carries western imports, in western sizes.

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Mitsukoshi MyKitchen
Tomiton, Okinawa
沖縄県豊見城市字豊崎1-411
豊崎ライフスタイルセンターTOMITON 1F
Map and more

Jimmy’s
locations all over Okinawa

There is a lot of weird candy here in Japan. I have a number of care packages waiting to go out from here full of the weird stuff. I am just waiting on that Canada Post strike to end. I hope it is okay sitting here in the heat and humidity…

However, one of the newest fads in kids candy – one of the weirdest sectors of the Japanese candy market – is “at home cooking.” It is effectively molecular gastronomy for children.

The series of Popin’ Cookin’ candy has a bunch of different items you make at home using water, gelatin and sometimes your microwave. These include ramen, gyoza and even sushi. I found this video recently which gives an absolutely amazing look at the packages.

I did not care to drop $3 on sugar and water that I might not be able to prepare properly because of my illiteracy, but after watching the video I might give it a go. How the ikura or salmon roe is prepared is gobsmacking.

postscript: I just have to revel in my slowly decreasing level of illiteracy actually. I just read the title of the sushi box and it translates to “enjoy mr. sushi” or “tanoshi sushi-ya san”