stumbling upon the good life – savoring food, discovering wine, and exploring places
Posts tagged as:
Our favorite hotels when we are traveling in Tokyo
Tokyo can be expensive. And so it depends on how you want to do it…5 star hotel experiences are definitely available. We like the Grand Hyatt Roppongi for a truly luxe hotel experience. But we also discovered you don’t have to spend a fortune on hotels (save it for 5 star dining!). And in less expensive category, we like the Granbell Shibuya. Here’s why: [keep reading…]
{ 2 comments }
Glorious cheese is the star in this Tokyo restaurant
As much as I absolutely adore Japanese food, we took a break from our much loved Yakitori and Katsudon to try an interesting concept in casual dining. A restaurant entirely based around creamy, fresh mozzarella flown in daily from the Paestum and the Agro Pontino areas of Italy (how extravagant!). [keep reading…]
{ 0 comments }
Dun
Dan
Dun!
This post should really start with the iconic “Kill Bill Theme” theme song from the movie and play throughout. If you’d like to load it up to play in the background get it here : )
We had just finished watching the Tokyo Giants win the game with a homer in the 9th. The hot dog and yakitori we ate in the 2nd inning weren’t holding us over. As we debated food options (surprisingly not a lot around the dome) our friend, who is no stranger to Tokyo, suggested we hit up Gonpachi. The name didn’t register with me at first. Then she said all that needs to be said about the place, “the kill bill restaurant”. Dun Dan Dun. The music immediately started up in my head as a grin spread across my lips. Sure I said coolly, masking the kid-like joy bubbling up inside me. [keep reading…]
{ 1 comment }
I went to a Thai language school in Bangkok that didn’t use any English, forcing students to comprehend the language in situations rather than memorizing from rote. Our class consisted of Koreans, Japanese, Germans, and many other nationalities… most of whom had little or no English language abilities. For the first couple of weeks none of the students could communicate with each other during class. Then one day, out of nowhere, we were able to communicate to each other. I made the first joke in the classroom when the teacher asked us how we arrived at school that day. With a grin on my face I told the class that I had traveled via elephant to the school. A simple joke, but after weeks of being unable to communicate all the students shared a cathartic chuckle.
The next joke came surprisingly from the Japanese students during a lesson on words for food. They began teasing the Korean students about eating dog. We all laughed. The Korean student quipped back with, “Well, Japanese people eat raw horse.” The class was quiet. Did we hear that right? The word for horse is a tonal word that also shares identical pronunciation with “mother” and “dog” with the different meanings coming on tone. We played a bit of charades and realized, some with horror, that the Japanese did in fact eat raw horse. At first the idea bothered me, but then I thought more about it and reflected on my general trust in Japanese cuisine… a nation that was so particular about the nuances of food (and everything else for that matter) wouldn’t serve up something unworthy of digestion. I decided on that day that I would one day try horse sashimi.
{ 1 comment }
