Getting Fat in Japan

One of my favorite things and one of the most intriguing aspects about Japan is the food. Here is a photo of some tonkatsu (pork cutlet) ramen ordered at a roadside restaurant when returning from my husband's basketball tournament. The restaurant was vacant, except for the owners, an elderly couple, watching a bloody kung-fu movie on TV. Delicious:

However, portion sizes being more reasonable in Japan is a rumor, because noodle soups come in one size: gigantic. Finishing every last bit of food on your plate is quite expected, as when you have a bowl of rice, you are being wasteful and unappreciative if you leave even a single grain. But how does anyone finish all of that salty broth? Usually your ramen broth choices are shouyu (soy sauce), shio (salt), or miso (also salty), and there is usually about a cup of some or another kind of oil.

Here are two dinners that my husband and I made together. The first is our first attempt at sushi in Japan. Looks delicious, right? Unfortunately, someone (not pointing fingers) put in the wrong ratio of rice to water and the rice turned out a bit hard. 

Here is another meal, with salmon sashimi, homemade umeboshi (pickled plum) onegiri and tofu wakame miso soup. The affordability and freshness of fish in Japan is unbeatable.

Next, I have just discovered the way to bake in Japan! I realized that our toaster oven can be set up to 250 degrees, which is not Fahrenheit, because in Japan the default is metric! I had been cooking everything on full heat, in other words: 482 degrees F! Using the handy unit converter app that I have for my iPhone, I am able to convert Fahrenheit recipes to Celsius and voila: kabocha pumpkin bread! Recipe here.

Here is my advice for cooking the excess kabocha pumpkin received by neighbors:

1. Make kabocha bread

2. Make pumpkin soup

3. Make ginger kabocha mashed potatoes (I use the Ishikawa cookbookrecipe): 

Lastly, here is a photograph of a popover and raspberry chai ordered from the one and only (actually it's a chain) Freshness Burger in Hakodate. Can't beat fancy warm coffee type drinks when winter hits. 

I want to relish the opportunity to eat authentic Japanese food and comfort foods from home, but  I'm clearly getting fatter. There is a foot of snow on the ground and the town gym is always packed with school-age children playing sports in the main gym, high schoolers lounging around the weight room, and jogging ladies on the indoor track, in other words, I have a lot of excuses as to why I don't want to go to the gym, not to mention the inevitability of seeing one of my students there. Sometimes we do some P90X plyometrics or yoga, or my personal favorite, Jillian Michaels workouts, inside the apartment.  But if any jumping is involved, the fat gaijin shake the entire building (no, people, it's not an earthquake, we're just trying to work off that entire cheesecake we just ate between the both of us).

I'm 25. By the time I'm 30, I will have a front butt.  So let it be written, so let it be done. On that note...sayonara.