Ion Todirel said:

looks awesome jamie, all were made in Toronto?

Sven Groot said:

Here are some from the trip to Tohoku (the north part of Japan's main island) I took at new year. There was about half a meter to a meter of snow. Really quite hard to tell sometimes where you could stand, a few times I ended up standing up to my knees in the snow.



Matsukawa Onsen (hot spring). Nothing beats an out door hot spring in the snow.



Tazawa-ko lake (click for full size). Stitched with Windows Live Photo Gallery, worked pretty well considering the cheap camera and poor lighting conditions.



Torii at a temple on Mt. Haguro.



Fire for the new year's festival.

 
I love Japanese food.

Full set here.

Sven Groot said:

Here are some from the trip to Tohoku (the north part of Japan's main island) I took at new year. There was about half a meter to a meter of snow. Really quite hard to tell sometimes where you could stand, a few times I ended up standing up to my knees in the snow.



Matsukawa Onsen (hot spring). Nothing beats an out door hot spring in the snow.



Tazawa-ko lake (click for full size). Stitched with Windows Live Photo Gallery, worked pretty well considering the cheap camera and poor lighting conditions.



Torii at a temple on Mt. Haguro.



Fire for the new year's festival.

 
I love Japanese food.

Full set here.

Ion Todirel said:

Sven Groot said:

*snip*

nice, can you talk a bit about the food on the table?

Sven Groot said:

Ion Todirel said:

*snip*

Sure, although I'm bad at remembering names.

On the left with the meat, tofu and vegetables is sukiyaki. A fire is lit below that so you prepare it yourself. Below that is a raw egg; break it in the bowl, and dip the stuff from the sukiyaki in the egg.

Then we have a fish, I forgot what kind exactly. There are two ways to eat those: you can try to pick the meat from the bones (which is horribly complicated with hashi (chopsticks)), or you can eat the whole thing, including the bones, head and tail. That's how you're supposed to eat it, and that's what I did. I was the only one in our group brave enough to do that though.

Below the fish on the left is some mountain vegatable thingy (I said I was terrible with names ), quite sweet, very nice. To the right of that some pickles, a staple of every Japanese meal. To the right of the fish is caviar with some white stuff (can't remember), and below that some other vegetables which I also can't remember the name of.

On the right is tempura (various deep fried stuff, usually vegetables), and the green stuff is salt for the tempura.

There's two up-side-down bowls. One is for rice, the other for soup. The soup itself is in the pot above the sukiyaki on the left (this also has a fire under it), that wasn't mine though, my soup is out of frame on the right. There was also sashimi, also out of frame.

Of course, we drank hot sake with this; there is no better drink in cold weather.

That's about it.

Sven Groot said:

Ion Todirel said:

*snip*

Sure, although I'm bad at remembering names.

On the left with the meat, tofu and vegetables is sukiyaki. A fire is lit below that so you prepare it yourself. Below that is a raw egg; break it in the bowl, and dip the stuff from the sukiyaki in the egg.

Then we have a fish, I forgot what kind exactly. There are two ways to eat those: you can try to pick the meat from the bones (which is horribly complicated with hashi (chopsticks)), or you can eat the whole thing, including the bones, head and tail. That's how you're supposed to eat it, and that's what I did. I was the only one in our group brave enough to do that though.

Below the fish on the left is some mountain vegatable thingy (I said I was terrible with names ), quite sweet, very nice. To the right of that some pickles, a staple of every Japanese meal. To the right of the fish is caviar with some white stuff (can't remember), and below that some other vegetables which I also can't remember the name of.

On the right is tempura (various deep fried stuff, usually vegetables), and the green stuff is salt for the tempura.

There's two up-side-down bowls. One is for rice, the other for soup. The soup itself is in the pot above the sukiyaki on the left (this also has a fire under it), that wasn't mine though, my soup is out of frame on the right. There was also sashimi, also out of frame.

Of course, we drank hot sake with this; there is no better drink in cold weather.

That's about it.

Mark Brown said:

Sven Groot said:

*snip*

Damn that meal looks good. HUGE fan of Japanese food. I'm very jealous. I've had very few meals where I've seen a meal with as many goodies as that on one table.

mmmmm....

jamie said:

Mark Brown said:

*snip*

quick poll:  who here would eat any of that? really??
(i liked the PIC not the food)

ME = none of it

you?

Edit: ok ... RICE.  id eat the rice.

I ate absolutely everything that was there (what can I say; I've been tought to finish my plate ). I'm not a difficult eater. There are things I don't like, sure, but very little that I won't eat. I draw the line at things that are alive (I've eaten insects, including grasshoppers and wasps, but only when fried), and things that could kill you (like fugu). In this particular case it was easy though, everything tasted great.

I've even eaten natto, which westerners usually find horrid. If you talk to any Japanese person and mention you like Japanese food, they will almost always ask "how about natto?" because they know almost no one outside of Japan likes it. I didn't particularly like it either, it'll never be my favourite food, but if it's part of the meal, I'll eat it.

The main thing that a lot of people have trouble with in Japan is traditional Japanese breakfast, which also consists of things like rice, miso-soup, fish and pickles (and indeed natto). Although I prefer some good old brown bread with cheese for breakfast, or maybe a Greek salad, I will eat what I get and not complain.

EDIT: Jamie, it seems you approach food the same way you approach Windows; everything should be familiar and you're unwilling to give anything new a chance.

Sven Groot said:

jamie said:

*snip*

I ate absolutely everything that was there (what can I say; I've been tought to finish my plate ). I'm not a difficult eater. There are things I don't like, sure, but very little that I won't eat. I draw the line at things that are alive (I've eaten insects, including grasshoppers and wasps, but only when fried), and things that could kill you (like fugu). In this particular case it was easy though, everything tasted great.

I've even eaten natto, which westerners usually find horrid. If you talk to any Japanese person and mention you like Japanese food, they will almost always ask "how about natto?" because they know almost no one outside of Japan likes it. I didn't particularly like it either, it'll never be my favourite food, but if it's part of the meal, I'll eat it.

The main thing that a lot of people have trouble with in Japan is traditional Japanese breakfast, which also consists of things like rice, miso-soup, fish and pickles (and indeed natto). Although I prefer some good old brown bread with cheese for breakfast, or maybe a Greek salad, I will eat what I get and not complain.

EDIT: Jamie, it seems you approach food the same way you approach Windows; everything should be familiar and you're unwilling to give anything new a chance.

re: EDIT: Jamie, it seems you approach food the same way you approach Windows; everything should be familiar and you're unwilling to give anything new a chance.


um ya. bones, raw fish, tail, "thingys"....  steveb has gotta go! 

jamie said:

Sven Groot said:

*snip*

re: EDIT: Jamie, it seems you approach food the same way you approach Windows; everything should be familiar and you're unwilling to give anything new a chance.


um ya. bones, raw fish, tail, "thingys"....  steveb has gotta go! 

raw fish

Sven Groot said:

jamie said:

*snip*

Of course! Sashimi and sushi are among my favourite foods.

The only bad thing about living in Japan, from a culinary point of view, is that cheese is so expensive. €5 for a tiny piece of camembert is the norm. And I happen to really like cheese of all kinds.

jamie said:

Sven Groot said:

*snip*

you need some canadian bacon - marinated in maple syrup - slow cooked on a smoker/grill.
..of course you could always just bite a pig...  ak

you need some canadian bacon - marinated in maple syrup - slow cooked on a smoker/grill.

Sven Groot said:

jamie said:

*snip*

That sounds great too.

... this thread is making me hungry.