A vegetarian foodie in Japan...

Maybe it's just me but it seems like it's getting easier to eat here.  Granted I have been spending more time cooking and less time going out but I think even the eating out is easier.  Although it really helps if you have a Japanese friend (or someone with you who is kind enough to ask if there is meat in something.  I need to learn this phrase:

これは肉や魚を持っていますか？

Which means "Is there meat or fish in this?"  Because I think I told you before that Japanese people don't consider fish to be meat which makes for tricky dining sometimes.

Anyway, here are some of my dining adventures both at home and out!

Shared おにぎり, the 梅 was mine.  Isn't this the most beautiful おにぎり you ever seen?  I couldn't tell you the name of the place but I might be able to get back there.

Pasela Resorts is a big entertainment building.  They have darts, karaoke, food and booze.  Would you believe they also have the best vegetarian (taco) salad I've ever had in a restaurant in Japan?

Adventures in cooking!

This is the total amount of counter space in my apartment.

With that I made:

Mole!

Some beautiful Insalata Caprese:

Obviously, I know how to make this but if you don't I found this funny explanation here.  Good for a laugh even if you already know how to make it.

My recipe for guacamole:

I really can't tell you how to make this.  I think everyone needs to have their own guacamole and salsa recipes.  I unfortunately cannot make my famous salsa as there are no chipotle peppers here or if there are, I've yet to find them.  By the way when I say your own guacamole recipe I don't mean open a package mix and pour it in avocados.  If you do that, I will punch you in the jeans.

Rachael Ray's:

A funny story about this recipe.  It calls for giardiniera which is spicy.  I bought something here that I thought was spicy but it was really just pickled mixed vegetables.  Here's what I did: I dumped some Tabasco (the Japanese love this by the way, it's at every restaurant) into the jar, shook it up and gave it a couple days.  Lo and behold giardiniera!

Have you ever had grape juice?  Silly question I know but it's made from concord grapes.  I can't speak for other parts of the US, but in Arizona I've never even see concord grapes and that means I've never tried them until now.  It's a grape juice party in my mouth!  Weird.  Anyway, this recipe doesn't call for concord grapes but that was all my local grocer had at the time.  It makes the salad unique but quite tasty.

The website picture is much prettier than mine but I live in Japan so I have better mayonnaise.

Adventures in dining continue as I stumbled onto a little Italian restaurant in Kinshicho.  They had a hefty menu which can sometimes be difficult to find in Japan.  Some places have menus a page long.  I've still yet to find a menu that rivals Cheesecake Factory.

I had some delicious gorgonzola pasta.  I seriously love the portion sizes in Japan.  They don't really have doggy bags need but they are not needed anyway.  The portion sizes are easy to finish and it's kind of considered rude not to finish all your food.  So short of licking the plate (which I might have done if I was home), I finished all this delicious pasta and even had room for desert:

This was dubbed American Cherry Cake because as my friend explained these are American cherries and not Japanese cherries which are much smaller.  For the record, I haven't seen cherries this big in Arizona so maybe they exist elsewhere in the US but I find Japanese cherries to be quite delicious.

Also, food related are UFO catchers.  Google that if you need to.  Anyway, do you need a GIGANTIC can of Pringles?  Head to your local arcade!

Hilarious Japan.

That's all the food for now.  Just a note, I find the majority of my recipes by scouring Pinterest since all my recipe books remain in America.  I don't actually pin the recipes because if I do that I will never make them.  I save them to a Bookmark folder and then they are easier for me to look through.

Don't tell anyone:

And last, I have a new follower:

Nadine

Welcome and enjoy!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!