Hello everyone,
sorry I've been bad about keeping in contact and keeping up the blog lately! work and studying...
anyhow, I have been eating well as usual, making up all sorts of things in the kitchen. you can probably guess what I just had for lunch: ramen. and you may be thinking, hey ramen isn't healthful. well, it can be very healthful! use fresh noodles, make the broth from scratch, add plenty of vegetables and some seitan, and bam!
bam.
let me tell you... that was a good bowl of noodles.
now hurry along to the supermarket so you can buy:
- about 2 cups konbu dashi
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp koi-kuchi soy sauce (use a respected Japanese brand)
- cabbage, sliced (1/16th of a head should be enough)
- 1/2 tomato (or one small tomato) cut into chunks
- 1 oyster mushroom (エリンギ) sliced and cut into sticks
- 1/3 package seitan (in japanese it's called かくふ and sometimes もちふ or あわふ)
toasted mochi
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 packet of fresh yakisoba noodles (the ramen I saw all had eggs in it, but yakisoba is essentially the same as ramen! without the eggs.)
bring the first three ingredients to a light boil and add all the vegetables.
simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.
add the seitan and simmer for another minute.
add the garlic and the noodles, and simmer until finished!
bonus: serve topped with a toasted mochi
if you want a vegan bowl of ramen in Japan, you pretty much have to make it from scratch, since all the packaged noodles have meat extracts in them, and restaurants make their broths with pork bones. that's just how it is!
but this recipe was so filling and full of umami that I'd recommend it to anyone :) I'll definitely try it again soon.
other tastes that go well with ramen are spicy (black pepper and ra-yu) and sour (vinegar), so I'll have to cover those in another post!
so at my school we get quite a few breaks throughout the year, for a total of about 6 weeks over the year. one of our breaks was in july from the 13th to the 21st. I decided to take a bike trip to Shizuoka prefecture and I stayed in a town called Omaezaki.
here is the map of where Omaezaki is. the route I took on the way back went through Hamamatsu, Shinjiro, Toyota, Miyoshi, and Nisshin. (going there I went through Okazaki, Toyokawa, Toyohashi, and Hamamatsu)
I spent July 16th riding, and I stayed in a hotel that night.
the next day I headed over to the youth hostel.
On the 17th I did a bit of exploring around Omaezaki, went swimming at the beach...
The beach has a giant slide near it, so I went on that. super funn!!
Omaezaki is right on the pacific ocean, with no islands obstructing the view. I've rarely seen views like this--living in places like Wakayama, Vancouver, and Nagoya the ocean always has a coast on the other side or some islands obstructing the view. That night I stayed in the hostel in Omaezaki. It was really peaceful and the owners were really kind.
So on my second day, I did something I've wanted to do for a long time. I went surfing! I just found a little shop called Morey Surf where I could rent a surfboard and wetsuit... and the owner taught me a surfing lesson too! it was really fun! I didn't get to stand up on the board but am hoping to go back soon and try it out again :) I have found a couple places along the Chita peninsula (south of nagoya)
after my surf lesson I was all salty and sandy so I really wanted to go to an Onsen. but the only onsen was about 19 km away. although that was nothing to what I had ridden two days before, so why not go to it? the Onsen was called Ko-umare and it was one of the nicest I've been to. they even have a scented oil bath which changes every month. I was really surprised to find the price was cheap--only 500 yen for 3 hours.
these pictures were taken on the way to the onsen!
the very next day, I left the hostel before 7 am and had breakfast of a rice ball, block of tofu, and oolong tea in front of a convenience store. then I headed about 40 km to Hamamatsu city. There is nothing to see there but I wanted to send my heavy backpack back home by express delivery. Which only cost about 1000 yen.
Inland sea in Hamamatsu
then I headed up into the mountains which I would cross over into Aichi prefecture and back home. the mountain going up was really high, and I finished off my bottle of tea just going up! thankfully at the top there were a couple of vending machines waiting for me. After the top I thought I would have a really long downhill ride. but it was more like a plateau, going straight across and through most of Toyota city (yes, the car company started from there). then, I had a really fantastic ride down into Toyota's city centre. after that it was a hour or two on the highway back home to Nagoya city.
This was the longest trip I've done so far; I probably rode over 350 km in 4 days.
the plateau part of Toyota
now here are all the prefectures I've been to... not counting the ones I've only passed through:
Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Tochigi, Hyogo, Osaka, Nara, Wakayama, Gifu, Nagano, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Niigata, Aichi, Mie, Fukui, Shizuoka, and Shiga
(just went to Shiga on August 13th, but that's a story for another post)
That makes 19 in total! there are 47 in all, so I only have 28 left to visit.
so yesterday I wanted to make some curry, but since it's summer, I wanted something more refreshing than a big plate of hot steaming curry and rice. so I thought i'd make a "cold curry"... if you will. it has all the basic ingredients of a japanese curry but in potato salad form!
how do you make a fantastic vegan potato salad that is also extremely healthy? one could go the easy route by adding a ton of vegan mayonnaise but an even better way is to use lemon juice. it goes extremely well with the potatoes and I have to say it gives the salad a light, tangy taste--way better for the hot summer months than heavy, oily mayo dressing. this is something non-vegans will love too, maybe more than traditional potato salad.
curry potato salad
3 potatoes, cubed
1 carrot, cut into the same size as potato
1/4 white onion... diced
(you could also add some green peas!)
boil these in water with 2 pinches of sea salt. when the potatoes are cooked through, drain the water and transfer to a bowl to cool.
add:
a splash or two of vegetable oil
about a teaspoon of curry powder
2-3 pinches of black salt
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice
mix until incorporated, but not so far as to make mashed potatoes. (we'll save curried mashed potatoes for this winter.)
cool well, and enjoy!
I had this in my bento on monday, along with a rice ball and homemade agar jelly (not pictured)!
the other compartments contain a block of deep-fried tofu, and:
mizuna no o-hitashi (blanched Japanese arugula)
boil a large pot of water, and blanch the greens (almost anything can be used, such as spinach).
try not to mix it around, but keep the stems and leaves straight.
then take it out and wring out the water.
cut into sections of 4-5 cm, arrange nicely in individual dishes (so that the stems and leaves are straight) and top with about 1~1.5 tsp of Japanese soy sauce (such as Kikkoman) and ground sesame.
one serving is about the same size as what I have shown in my bento box.
so when I moved to Nagoya, i wanted to keep it light. I only brought my two backpacks and sent 2 medium-sized boxes of stuff when I moved.
So naturally I had to leave a lot of stuff behind in Wakayama, at the Egawas. (just temporarily)
That included my beloved road bike!
But to tell the truth, I actually kind of left it there on purpose.
My plan was to cycle across Kii, Japan's largest peninsula, during Golden Week... and go home to Nagoya by the power of my own two legs.
Sounds reasonable, right? well... it meant that on my first day I had to cycle across three whole prefectures, from coast to coast. Wakayama, Nara, and Mie! I would also have to leave before 5 am (I actually left at about 4:37). Could I have done it in three days and stayed in Nara on the first night... yep. but after my 150 km ride to and from Koyasan I was looking for a bigger challenge.
From seeing Japanese towns, you may think Japan is quite flat. But actually Japan is mostly mountains, especially the inland areas. and I knew Nara is a basin, so I would have a range of mountains to go up when entering Nara and another exiting!
Day 1
in Kinokawa city, Wakayama
the road from Arida to Kainan is relatively easy, but I thought I would also have a hard time getting from Kainan to Hashimoto in Wakayama prefecture. There are a lot of mountains around there. actually, however, I found a road, Route 424 I think, following a river. It went through Kinokawa city. Quite a lovely ride through there, and I got to Hashimoto around 8 am, long before all the shops opened. Speaking of stores... thank the gods for convenience stores, with their long hours and immaculate bathrooms. I love Lawson.
My next stop from Hashimoto was Gojo, in Nara prefecture. In Gojo there's a temple called Tenporin-ji so I stopped by there and got a kewl sticker. The man selling omamori at the temple also gave me some snacks, a grab bag of offerings. so I stopped there to munch on potato chips and my home made rice balls. yum.
this is in Nabari city.
From Gojo I went to Sakurai. I got a bit confused about the route a couple of times but no major mixups. Nothing much to see around that area... there was a bit of construction here and there so it wasn't too pleasant. After Sakurai I headed to Nabari, which is the first town I would enter in Mie, passing through Uda. Between Sakurai and Nabari there are a lot of trees and mountains but the road wasn't so steep. It was just pleasant. and I was also getting excited because this was the last half of my ride!
In Iga city.
my bike is somewhere in this picture.
try to find it. (hint: it's on the bridge)
this is a river in Iga city
this is a cherry tree in Iga... and the blossoms still haven't fallen?! what is this, Hokkaido?
just before starting up the mountain road.
hey that's a sweet bike, I wonder whose it is :D
Iga was the last city before I got to Tsu, my destination. Going through Iga was my biggest challenge. Normally I think I could've ridden it without stopping, but at this point (130, 150 km?) with no 30 minute lunch break I was kind of worn thin. so I stopped for about 10 minutes to rest and then continued to the top of the mountain. at this point it was maybe 3 or 4 pm! When I got to the tunnel at the top, I was ecstatic! Needless to say I had never done something like this before. Then I saw the sign that said "Tsu" and enjoyed the beautiful views and a leisurely cruise down the mountain... (okay, I actually yelled Yatta! all the way down going top speed!)
just entered Tsu city, at the top of a mountain!
oh hi guys I'm in Mie
I got to Tsu, the town area, around 6 pm. I was actually going to stay in Hisai, which is closer to where I was coming from than central/downtown Tsu. But when I got there I decided to go a bit further and go right to the ocean, before checking in to the hotel. after all, what's a coast-to-coast ride if you don't go right to the coast?
my love.
after that I went back to the hotel and immediately took a bath in their Onsen, a hot spring public bath. that is the best feeling ever.
Everyone should have the chance to go on a super long bike ride and then relax in an onsen after. It's one of my favourite pastimes!
Here's a map of the route I took. I also took some video and photo footage with my gopro so I will be uploading that to Youtube soon.
[Edit 2012-06-22] here is the video I put off editing for so long. hope you enjoy it. the video is of wakayama to mie (day 1) only.
[End edit]
Day 2
From Tsu, Mie prefecture to Nagoya, Aichi prefecture it's only about 70 km. I planned my trip like this on purpose, so I would have an easy ride on the second day. But actually I found the first day more enjoyable because I got to go through so many mountains and see all the pretty trees. From Tsu to Nagoya I had to take the highway, and despite being a stat holiday it seemed like every trucker in the Tokai region was going the same way. So there was a lot of traffic! But what the heck could they be bringing from Tsu city, the one place in Japan with no special exports and nothing interesting to its name whatsoever?
All those trucks made me kind of nervous so I tried riding on the shoulder, or on the sidewalk (yes you can ride on the sidewalk in Japan!), but that was really bumpy and not fun at all. so near Yokka-ichi city I stopped to take a rest once and happened to see these two guys fixing their bikes in a parking lot. I went over and asked for directions and it turned out they were going the same way! so we decided to ride together. They had actually ridden from Kyoto that day! One of the guys, Eiji was riding to Tokyo over 4 days. I want to do that someday :D but maybe I'll stick to shorter rides for now!
So, I know it's kind of late to be posting this, especially since I'm no longer living in Wakayama... but whatever!
Spring is a great time in Japan. it's no longer cruelly cold, but the unrelenting sun and hot / humid temperatures of summer have not set in. also you can see many trees blooming with cherry blossoms, but there is only a full week or so of them in full bloom before they all fall to the wind.
My first blossom sighting was at Kimiidera on March 3rd
On March 4th I cycled out to Nara prefecture
which was about 100 km ride both ways,
I didn't really go there to do anything, but there was a sort of fox shrine.
cute :)
Late in February I started to get really sad
because the weather was starting to get warmer
and I didn't feel like the winter had been satisfactory
so on March 10th I up and left to Niigata for a weekend!
Niigata is a long ways north from wakayama, in the Hokuriku region.
it's also north of nagano.
I went skiing at Ishiuchi Maruyama and Gala ski resort.
it rained a bit Sunday morning, but quickly turned to snow and then snowed nonstop for 26 hours.
on monday, my second day skiing, I ducked a rope and ended up in the woods between two mountains.
I was out there for a long time, maybe 4 or 5 hours. oops. but check out this sweet picture I got.
it was really amazing to be out in the snow trekking around after such a long time away. eventually I made my way to the bottom of the mountain, and took a gondola up to midstation again!
here's me after the gondola ride!
a beautiful view. there is amazing skiing in japan other than nagano and hokkaido!
The town, Minami Uonuma, reminded me of Vernon or someplace like that.
it's kind of out of the way--but still easy to get to, as I only had to take one train from the bus depot.
I did another bike ride on March 18th... this one was about 70km, I think.
I went up to Sennan in Osaka prefecture, then got lost for a bit
and somehow managed to get back to Wakayama by a winding road.
After these pictures were taken it started raining heavily.
and then it would stop and start sometimes.
the last half hour or so of my ride I was really fighting the wind and rain.
and when I got home, I found out an inclement weather warning had been issued for that day. oops!
What tree is this?
I kind of liked this scene... the cherry tree in the middle of a dead field was striking!
on the 24th I had another crazy ride. I rode about 70 km to koyasan mountain. in total my trip was 130 km, I think. Koyasan is a historical town famous for buddhist temples, and it's one of Wakayama's popular tourist sights, and also a world heritage site so I knew I had to see it before I left Wakayama.
Being in the middle of nowhere, and so high up in the mountains it's a bit hard to get to though.
I wrote a separate entry here!
On March 25th (the day after my 130 km trip to Koyasan... what was I thinking?!) I decided to do a bit more exploring around Wakayama city. I guess there are quite a few spots that I haven't seen yet.
first I went to Wakaura and ended up in the southwestern tip of Wakayama city, which has a small mountain and is hard to get to. I found a pleasant garden called Bandoko Teien where I ate my lunch :)
Later I went to Marina city, a tourist trap on the border of Wakayama and Kainan.
A view of Wakaura.
a view of part of bandoko Teien. (the peninsula, not the islands)
