Beer and Tea

These past few weeks have involved me being sick, the internet breaking along with my new camera, cooking a big thanksgiving meal, going to meetings, and getting a bladder infection. And it’s pretty cold.

My thanksgiving dinner was Tofukey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cornbread, green beans, stuffed mushrooms and pumpkin pie with a flaky crust. Everything was homemade (except for the maple syrup I put on my cornbread=p). It was a weekend of gluttony and laziness.

This past Friday night was spent with Pat and Ed figuring out details of our Xmas/New Years trip. I think the final result is just to hang out in Hong Kong and Macau as going to Beijing would be a lot of extra money right now. So while I am intent on going to Beijing at some point while I’m over here, it won’t be now.

Saturday was an early start off to Kyoto. Ed’s adopted host-mom (Junko) was taking us out to some interesting events (along with her friend, her friend’s husband, and our friend Katie). First up was the Suntory Beer Factory tour! Suntory is a large drink distribution company (soda, coffee, etc) but is mostly known for their alcohols. We rode the bright yellow Suntory Beer Tour bus for free to the factory. Once there, we drank some tea, was shown a power-point presentation and got to eat barley and sniff bitter and “fine aroma” hops. The tour was basically all about one kind of beer, “The Premium Malts” which won best beer in all of Europe in 2005 and 2006, as well as prizes in Japan. They use all sorts of premium waters and don’t skimp out on hops and such, and other environmentally friendly things. We saw the factory and the giant vats and the canning process. At one point we walked through a section that smelled like whiskey, and my stomach didn’t enjoy that so much.
Finally, we come back to our original room and get a free glass of this god-like beer, draft-style. It was all right. They showed us how to pour the perfect beer for head. I could barely finish my first glass, I was starving and couldn’t eat the mixed nuts they gave us (cuz it had shrimp in it. Why? I don’t know). They gave me a free Suntory pint glass and a packets of ads to hand out to friends as a door gift. Their gift shop sucked.
Next we stopped for lunch and were off to a “tea ceremony” where you make your own “cake”. I say “cake” because that is misleading, as it was tea “sweets”or even “desserts” not cake. Anyhow, we made some wagashi (Japanese sweets).

The first one was cinnamon mochi (chewy sweet rice dough) rolled out, with some anko(red sweet beans) and a strawberry in the middle. We raised the sides of the mochi to the strawberry to look like a flower.
Kinda like this



The second was strawberry mochi with a strawberry sweet bean paste filling made into a triangle.

Like this, but pink.

We then MADE our own traditional green tea. 2 scoops of the greenest green powder, mix with hot water, and stir with this crazy looking whisk until frothy.



As explained in the “big tea” ceremony post, the sweetness of the sweets offsets the bitterness of the traditional green tea (macha). It was real good. I know the sweet beans sound weird, and I was skeptical at first, but they are really good. And now that it’s could you can find hot buns with the bean filling at convenience stores, it’s the perfect snack.
Then we part ways with everyone and Ed and I strolled around a busy Kyoto city night. We dropped our stuff at our hostel and went out for more adventure (which really just included arcades and drinking at a crazy Japanese rock bar). We did go to a “vegetarian” restaurant, which wasn’t all vegetarian, but had a load of options (Clevelanders- think of a posh Tommy’s). The best part was, EVERYTHING was fresh. Japan has so much processed food, this was so great to taste. They had fresh veggies lying on the tables, and great mood lighting for such a small place. I had tofu and avocado slices and a tofu & veggie burger for an appetizer. My main dish was a small Margharita pizza (tomato sauce, basil), with a crust made from brown rice smooshed together then baked, so the bottom was crispy and the top was chewy and even a bit creamy from the heat. You can tell it was hand made as there was no shape to the crust. It even had homemade tomato sauce! Yum! (can you tell I’m writing this when I’m hungry at work?).


Sunday morning I called my mom to tell her Happy Birthday (since it was still her birthday at home), and we set out for some coffee. We went to Nijo Castle, which was pretty amazing. The floorboards were specifically made to squeak so no one could sneak into the palace. They called them the Nightingale Floors because the squeaks were almost musical and sounded like nightingales. Check out this random persons pictures to get a feel.
We went and got Indian food for lunch, wandered around the shops, went to the foreign food store where I found candy canes and can now make peppermint bark! Then started the long, long train ride home to my apartment.

My apartment is cold (no central heating here) and my heaters are always on. I think this has been causing me to blow fuses, which always scare me (a loud pop and then plunged into darkness? Cmon, cheap scare).
Tonight there is an enkai for the office. Enkai being an obligatory drinking party with your coworkers. I am looking forward to eating its elaborate food.
I am pretty sure I am not going to stay another year. Japan is nice to stay in, but having to work and live con your own here isn’t exactly thrilling. “It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” So if you know of any jobs that pay you to travel, please leave some hints. Maybe I could write articles and sell them or something. Wait, I suck at writing, nevermind! =p