Steak & Lollipops

Food in Japan has been extraordinary, and today was no exception. For lunch, we went to a restaurant that specializes in the local beef, called "Hida" beef, which is famous for being particularly tasty. I had my beef in sukiyaki, a stew that cooks at your table and includes various vegetables in addition to the beef. It also included a raw egg, which you break into a bowl. You then lift a bite of stew and dip it into the raw egg before eating it. I wasn't sure about this at first, but it really did accomplish the goal of softening the salty flavor of the sukiyaki broth.

Tor, the meat man in our family, had the steak, which I tasted. I have to say that it was extremely tender. Really some of the best beef I think I've ever tasted. Everyone else had a miso beef that they cooked on a large leaf over a sterno flame. They said it was delicious.

As soon as the meal was over, both of my children grabbed a lollipop. We had purchased them earlier in the day. Koji and Nobuko found this amusing. Steak and lollipops!

Tonight at dinner the joke continued as Livia ate her chicken meatballs on a skewer, and called them chicken lollipops!

Our dinner was amazing, Koji and Nobuko treated us, and we were lined up along the counter in a diner-style cafe. We were the only customers, so it felt like we had a private restaurant all to ourselves. Actually, there were seats for only four other people anyway!

The chefs were right in front of us, and Koji and Nobuko just kept ordering amazing things that would then appear in front of us. We started with a plate of squid stuffed with egg with some octopus tempura on the side. Tor refused to try the squid (but ate the octopus). Livia, whose classroom dissected squids on the day we left for Japan, decided she had to taste it so that she could tell her friends about it. After that, we had some sashimi, and Livia also tasted the raw tuna! And the dishes kept coming. A whole fish (small) that I couldn't handle (it was grilled and the meat was so dry it was almost like sawdust to me) but the other adults enjoyed. And pieces of flounder bone fried so that they were almost like potato chips. I liked these, but Tor needed a glass of water to get rid of the flavor!! Also some veggies -- grilled shiitake mushrooms, and eggplant. Very yummy! I had to say "GoCheesoSamadeshta," (that's my phonetic spelling for the phrase that means "what a great feast!")