The last two days in Kyoto were packed with temples that we didn't get a chance to see. We went to see the Golden Pavilion, the Kyoto Museum of Peace, and the Ryoan-ji ( a beautiful zen Rock garden). As we walked between the two big temple complexes (about a 20 minute walk) in the snow, we realized we were hungry. As we were trying to conserve money and feeling adventuresome, we wanted to experience a fast food place. We both love noodles and we found this Udon shop. But first we had to figure out how to order.
This vending machine is all in Japanese. There's not many photos of the food! We were too proud to ask for help so we found a flyer, figured out what looked good, matched up the Japanese symbols and ordered. After your insert your money and select, you hand the ticket to the cashier who brings out the soup to you. We were hoping we had selected correctly.
Here's our actual noodles next to the photos of what we ordered. It was great! Warm, hearty, slippery udon noodles that was perfect for the cold blustery day outside.
I hadn't realized that Japanese were such sweet tooths - but they adore beautiful sweet sugary things. Here's a photo from a gorgeous little candy shop that we passed by the tram station outside of Ryoan-ji.
beautiful but not really to my taste.
That night, we wanted to head out again but the choices of food were overwhelming. Normally, I wouldn't take suggestions out of the lonely planet but we both saw a Gyoza place named. Alec and I are huge dumpling fans so we had to go to this place that has "gourmet gyozas". It was hard to find but worth the wait.
First course of delicious fried gyozas with pork.
fried soba "sushi" rolls. Bizarre but tasty.
Beautiful shrimp gyozas. Juicy and wonderful!
Our last day in Kyoto was a bit of a tossup. We didn't have enough time to hit the castle we wanted to see so our host at the Ryokan Sakura pointed us to a big temple fair. They only happen once a month and all the vendors from Kyoto show up. We went to beautiful Toji Temple to explore the food and crafts. Okay - just the food.
super cute old lady making the fish waffle snacks.
a famous snack of octopus. I call them octopus balls. I had them in Thailand and wasn' that into them.
You can buy your own fresh octopus.
Just weigh out how much you want!
Fish fish fish - dried, fresh, however you like it.
Snacks everywhere you turned.
We walked back to our Ryokan and stopped by a lovely looking "museum". It turned out to be a pickle store! Kyoto is famous for their pickled vegetables. I sampled everything! Well we didn't get to eat everything I wanted to try but we made a dent in it. Now off back to Tokyo!
Eating our way through Kyoto! When we arrived, because it was February - it was freezing cold and raining buckets (which sometimes turned into sleet and snow). We checked into our hotel and ran next door to a soba restaurant. I expected it to be a cheap noodle joint. WRONG! Handmade soba (a noodle made of buckwheat) was the order of the day. Since we were cold to the bone, we ordered the set lunch menu. However, we were so hungry, we forgot to take a photo of the actual beautiful soba that we ate. Oh well. I have found a photo for you.
Warming green tea to start off. I adore the pottery in Japan.
Setting up the meal. I learned that you are not supposed to move the plates around after I moved the plates around. Oh well! Presentation is always elegant.
This is similar to the cold soba that we had on a bamboo tray. My favorite!
This was similar to the hot soba dish we ate but ours was more brothy and in a type of miso with seaweed.
After the meal, they had us mix the leftover broth from the hot soba into a barley "mush" to make a type of hot thick porridge that we were assured was very healthy for us. I'm not sure either of us realy enjoyed it. We were then served some delicious cinnamon ice cream with roasted barley on top. After this, between the travel, the good food, and the cold rain - it was nap time. Nap time ended up lasting through the night.
The next day we got up bright and early to hit all the Kyoto temples and shrines. It was snowing so we needed to fortify ourselves with snacks!
Alec regards his "boot" of lemonade suspiciously.
Fried pastry grilled like a waffle but filled with a delicious custard. Beautiful and tasty!
Even the temples have restaurants, snack bars, and even holy water that is going to cure all my diseases and grant me a wish!
C'mon Holy Water - do your thing.
Alec is also getting into the spirit of it. Neither of us chose to buy a special cup and took our chances with the "ultra-violet light" purifying stand that the cups were kept in so we feel safe and sound.
We were cold in the temple, so we stopped at the snack bar. Along with the free cup of hot green tea, I also ordered something that sounded divine - it was ginger with hot sake. What it didn't mention, however was that it was a porridge like consistency.
Thick and hot and sweet and spicy and alcoholic. Somehow it didn't work for me though.
After a cold day walking around the snacks, we saw a sign for a whisky bar and thought that might warm us up.
"Highball" bar. This bar had nothing but whisky in it. It was so cold we stopped in for a dram. Unfortunately, I neglected to realize that a highball will have ice and soda water in it. So my Laphroig was diluted down and ice cold. Which was disappointing.
Then we went home for a "disco nap" in our new Ryokan - the lovely "Ryokan Sakura". We stayed in a lovely room called the "Tea Ceremony Room".
Alec doing the traditional Asian photo pose while collapsed on his futon.
Traditional decoration with a little alcove.
I think I'm mixing up my Thai with my Japanese but I loved the complimentary cotton robes!
One of the best reasons to visit Japan in the winter is to realize the crazy pleasure that is the heated toilet seat. After a long frigid day out in the wind, stepping into the commode room to a heated seat is a wonderful pleasure! We took a brief nap and then headed out to eat again.
Sake - delicious hot sake.
Skewers of fish in a miso sauce. We also had pork and chicken skewers. Delicious and beautiful!
The bar area of Kyoto where there are literally hundreds of little bars!
Luckily, we drank too much sake to remember to take photos of the riotous Karaoke night that followed. Just to give you a taste - imagine a bar with six stools. Three Japanese are enjoying a night out of solemnly singing Japanese music and in burst Alec and I. I wanted to sing. I sang such great karaoke hits as "Immigrant Song", "Get into the Groove", and "Make some noise".
Watch the videos and you'll see - I was just like this! Completely in tune. I promise you.
Yeah - I've got the Robert Plant hair and the pipes!
And I was doing the dance from Suddenly Susan....
I may even have done the "old school, throw down dance contest from the future". You are SERVED!
Then our gracious Japanese hosts invited us to join them in a great version of a classic Japanese-American friendship song found below....
In February of this year, I took a week trip to Japan with my friend Alec. He was going skiing for a week in the North but neither of us had ever been to Japan and we wanted to see what it was like. For me, of course, the food was a big draw.
We started in Tokyo where I spent three nights in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) with its heated bath. One of the highlights of the Ryokan is the Japanese breakfast in the morning.
Green Tea, pickled vegetables, miso soup, rice, and a piece of salmon and some omelet. Nori on the side to mix in with rice! Delicious way to start the day.
At the Ryokan, they also have lovely green tea in the room for you to sip while you sit on the pillows on the tatami mats. In Ryokan Sawanoya, where I stayed in Tokyo near the Ueno park, the tea was particularly good.
With a little origami crane to say hello!
When Alec arrived we explored a crazy area called Shibuya which is filled with trendy Tokyo teenagers shopping and milling about. It's home to the craziest street crossing in the world. I didn't think to go up to the 2nd floor Starbucks and take a video but here's one to give you a feel for it. We were there at night so it was bathed in neon lights too...
After feeling a bit overwhelmed, we just went into a sushi place never suspecting it was a conveyor belt sushi place! We felt so proud of ourselves for mastering the technology!
The menus are printed in front of you and you use a touchscreen television screen to select 3 dishes and your beverages.
Then they whiz along the conveyor belt quickly to your "station" at the bar.
Delicious! I made a dent. And it was cheap!
Alec demonstrating proper chopsticks technique. Note the big pile of plates from our neighbors nextdoor.
After a fast and furious day in Tokyo, we got up early the next morning to take the Shinkasen (bullet train) to Kyoto. And since it was Alec and I, we got SNACKS! We were obsessed with the Japanese snacks and a trip to 7-11 was always a treat.
Onigiris are rice balls in a cool wrapper that keeps the seaweed crisp and the rice moist!
Often filled with salmon, salmon roe, umeboshi plum (salt pickeled sour plum), tuna, and fish roe. The one I got on the train was tuna mayonnaise and then I got another one that was salmon. It was a lottery as I couldn't read the Japanese.
Japanese 7-11s actually produce decent food! No gross burritos here!
Look at that selection!
We bought rice cracker snacks (our favorite had crab on them), aloe vera flavored jelly squares, Japanese chocolate, hot green tea from a heated rack, Asahi and Sapporo beer, jasmine green tea, some gloves, moisturizer, and numerous other things.
