Who are you? and Where are you from?

I remembered when I had German food first time in my life, I was eight, at famous German restaurant in Kamakura, Kanagawa. We'd never been to Germany, but my mom dug into German culture then (I still don't know why). So she took us there so frequently to have Eisbein, she bought Sauerkraut at gourmet grocer (I had it as regular side-dish with white rice), she read us "Der Räuber Hotzenplotz" so often.

That's how I experienced Germany. Of course, I learned a lot about this country later, but food was a kind of good introduction to explore other culture. Why? Because I still remember that so brightly.

In the summertime, we had so many kids from everywhere in the world. Some kids knows about Japanese food much better than their parent, and they often speak much better English than their parent. If I could have chance, I really wanted to have a class like "Learn about Japan with what we eat". I'm not foodie, but I know how I should describe its origin and reason why we eat those. And tell you that Japanese food is not only Chicken Teriyaki and California Roll.


Tokyo is getting to be a cultural melting pot in these decades, but not yet like here. We can have almost everything in Tokyo but still "Japanized" -- Baklava is not sweet enough, Sinigang is not sour enough...but we can have more authentic thing in New York! It's a time to explore the other side of the world without passport.


Better way to enjoy stay-cation. You can take 7 train to India, or B train to Russia. No fuel-surcharge is required.

Summer is (unofficially) over

Since I grew up nearby famous beach in Japan, I've never ever worried about getting tan. I was kidding around in the sand almost every day in summertime, got tan like well-toasted bread. I couldn't wait to see my friend on September 1st - the first day of second trimester in Japan - with so many unforgettable memories and bunch of homework that we owe (yes, August 31st is the last day to have done all that stuff with headache). Summer vacation for school age is only 42 days, not like one in here, but we still had countless of fun stuff during that period.

When I was 19, I found some dark spot on my cheek after coming back from beach with obvious tan line. I asked mom, "what a heck this is??". She replied calmly "that's the proof of that 'you are not that young to get outside without sunblock'. So you can't go anywhere without sunblock anymore."


So you think this is NOT a food-related post again, but absolutely yes.


My mom said "eat carrot like bunny, beta carotene helps to heal your skin damage". I followed that. I stuck to carrot diet for a while. And she added "lycopine in tomato also helps you" so I add tomato juice on the faith of mom's secret.
I still stick to vitamin-rich diet since then. To keep their skin fair-and-clear is kinda social status in Japan. Most of Japanese actress has flawless fair skin (even it's a bit yellowish) so general consumer like me always tries to keep it like that.

But why should we stay all day under the shade even it's beach? Why should we so protective like painting whole body with messy SPF50 lotion? It's summer(and almost over). We have a right to enjoy it. Don't cry over spots. If you made it, you fix it.

Years later, I haven't masked my face with high-SPF lotion any more. Just dust a bit of zinc-oxide powder for natural looking sun protection, and eat a lot of veggies to prevent/heal sun damage. I believe that's enough to maintain my skin.

Now I'm secretly developing new items. Something that you guys eat more veggies handy and yummy. See? You are not alone.



Well, again, I consume veggies like dinosaur. Do I look young? or very age appropriate?

Hoisety, not talkig about Hospitality

This is absolutely NOT a food-related article, but I want to introduce some ridiculousness of Japanese Culture...

Women were chatting in a Locker room at gym,

"I had an interview last Friday. I couldn't believe that she was wearing long-sleeved jacket, and pantyhose! It was 100F on Friday, but she wore pantyhose!!"

"Really? Your work has very strict dress code?"

"Yeah, but no one in our office wear pantyhose. "


I was just hearing the chat curiously, but I couldn't stop to cut in.

"Well, pantyhose is required in general office work in Japan, even there's much muggier than here."

Women were like jaw-dropping and all said "Really?!?"

"Yeah, it's really."


I had no doubt to wear pantyhose for any "official" and formal occasion. No office worker goes to work without pantyhose unless her office allows casual wear to work. Even humidity is over 70% during the summer in Tokyo, women never hesitate to put their pantyhose on before they leave home.
Everything is completely different.
I was so surprised when I saw a woman who wore black mini dress with spaghetti strap and stiletto (yep, of course, with bare foot) for funeral. That's absolutely no-no in Japan but still okay in here...That was the moment I realize my common sense doesn't work in United States.


One of our best customer, who's working for company called Gunze, one of the most biggest intimate distributor in Japan, was sighing deeply over the sales of pantyhose in NY is not like in Japan.
I understand why. They (maybe) tend to hate to wear those, especially in this season.
I've never seen the one that is designed for this climate here. It always looks so shiny, tight, unnatural...uh, that's probably the pantyhose should be, but I never get tired to raise my voice...ahem... "if you want flattering look but can't deal with this uncomfortableness, buy Japanese. You may experience a totally new world of pantyhose - dry, breathable, natural but stunning look."


If I had millions of dollar, I'll definitely open Pantyhose Shoppe on Madison Avenue. No kidding.

eat Eel on the day of Ox

I have to tell you something first,

Now your supper is also our business, okay? (that means, of course, I'll be here 'til eight, not really late.)


As the title of this post says, we Japanese eats "eel" on the day of "ox". You may have no idea what I meant.

In the summertime, we traditionally eat grilled eel (yes, it's grilled with "eel sauce"!) because it is believed to beat ”summer fatigue". Is it myth or truth? I believe it has appropriate reason.

Eel is known as good source of vitamin A and E. In the summertime, that's really hard to escape from UV exposure and get tan or burnt. But did you know? Vitamin E works to prevent skin damage from the sun. And vitamin A works to heal skin problem if it's too late. See? It's not just our grandma's secret.

And we eat eel on specifically on the day of "ox", is called " Do-Yoh no Ushi". The day in between Summer Solstice and Autumn Solstice is called "Risshu", "Do-Yoh" is 18-19 days of period before "Risshu". The day of ox (according to Chinese zodiac) during "Do-Yoh" is called "Do-Yoh no Ushi ("Ushi" is ox in Japanese)". We eat this nutritious fish to survive in the muggiest season the year in Japan from ancient.

Someone said, "Unagi(eel)" and "Ushi" both started with the letter U, that's the reason why we eat eel on the day of ox. If it's true, it's no necessary to eat eel - we have bunch of stuff starting with U. But out great-great-great-granpas thought that fatty food makes people more energetic. Maybe that's the reason why, at least I believe so.


And the day of ox in 2009 is July 19th.
But if you want to blow summer fatigue, it's always here at Washoku Cafe!

Tanabata Night

If you had been here yesterday -July, 7th- , you did notice something was strange. I wore Yukata (summer Kimono) instead of my regular work clothes(all black, head-to-toe) even it was not "extended customer appreciation day" or anything...do you know what day yesterday was?

We, especially people who is from Tokyo region, celebrate that day so called Tanabata (in north-east region, it is in August)-the star festival in Japan.
Since it's not a national holiday, we rarely have special party on that day. But I just want to introduce how wonderful the day is.

_______

Orihime("Weaving Princess" - Vega) and Hikoboshi(A.K.A. Kengyu, "Cow Herder" - Altair), each lived in opposite side of Ama-no-Gawa("River in the Sky" - Milky Way), were arranged to meet by Ten-Tei(Orihime's dad, "Sky-King"). And crushed on each other instantly. They got married, but they stop working thereafter because the marriage is too happy to keep them working even they worked very hard before that. It hit Ten-Tei's nerve and they were separated by force. And they are forbidden to see each other...
Tanabata is the only day of the year that they are allowed to meet, if Orihime could finish weaving her textile. They can cross Ama-no-Gawa with some help of a magpie only one day a year even they are loving each other so much. If it rains on the day, they can't make it because Ama-no-Gawa will flood...

Unfortunately, there is high-ratio of rain/cloud on that day. It is believed to be the tears of two...

_______

I know the real life is not so sweet like this(who wants to throw his/her job away because there marriage is so very happy and stay together all-day-long?). But it's romantic, isn't it?


And...where is my Hikoboshi? :-(

Another Two Months Later...

Don't ask me "how was your weekend?" kinda thing any more. We open six days a week, morning to evening (thank god, it's not 'til late night). Fortunately, our place is getting busier and busier even it's only 5 months old. We welcome newbies, and appreciate patronage of regulars.

Being busy is a good excuse of my laziness. I haven't forgot about posting to the blog. But fortunately (or unfortunately) I have bunches of stuff to do besides blogging. I've never imagined that how much responsibility I have to owe when I walked in this door for interview. But that's okay, everyday is filled with a lot of fun and new experiences. I thank you guys so very much. Isn't it a time to pay back?

Yes, it is.
Time to pay back!

Now, we have Customer Appreciation Day!!
This is 3-day event from today, June 30th to July 2nd. We'll give away one Omikuji (Japanese lottery ticket. originally means sacred, but we also use this word for general lottery) for the customer who purchases $5.00 or more. You could win free lunch, drink and more!
There's no blank ticket. So why don't you get one of those?

When I tell this plan to one of our customer, he asked me "Would grand prize be a round-trip ticket to Tokyo?"....ugh, you want make me broke?


And...I know that's very personal. It's my birthday tomorrow. I thank my boss who gladly nods his head in my plan for this birthday bash.

Two month later

I just can't believe that this blog hasn't been updated for over two month! What a shame! You don't want to hear my "let-me-excuse-something-blah-blah-blah" but you may also know why I haven't updated it for looooooooong time.

Come to our place, find out why.

We now offer $4.99 Lunch Box Deal. Who can miss this steal meal?

Due to heavy volume of customer, I'm kinda overwhelmed everyday. I realized that I'm Japanese because I've never complained about that my duties' getting growing day by day but salary. That's gene, that's nature, that's what I can't resist. You want to hire Japanese? Why not. You want to marry Japanese girl? Go for it. There's no reason to resist.
I think I'm too casual today because it's off-duty hours. Few hours later, I'll be our place and smiling as everyday I do. You know what? That's Japanese hospitality.

See? I do my best(that means I post this article at 1 a.m.) to make you surprised, happy and smile. I bet you I'm the one-of-the-infamous-Japanese-workaholic. You want to marry me? Take me to Vegas right now!