welcome to the rc16 annex. imagine area 51, but 100 times less cool. i guess this is gonna be home for the remainder of the product's life. bigger cubes, more privacy to facebook, better food...i'm pretty happy :]. just gotta remember not to get stuck here for the rest of my life, gotta go for the dream.
happy birthday noona! the french laundry cookbook. sorry it's just a book, but when i heard that eric was getting you that marc jacobs bag, i sorta gave up on the bourgie gift and had to go with heartfelt. :[ next year!
@ lucille's. bbq feast and red velvet cake. so sweet, felt i had to punish myself while my teeth disintegrated with every bite.
so here's the story if you haven't heard already. i'm not a violent person at all so please don't fear me. alex and me decide to go to baden baden and quenton comes with while everyone just "sits" around watching tv. three bottles of soju and some food between the three of us and some good conversation. the night was good, but alex (partially buzzed) decides to provoke my ego and calls me old and that i can't hang. he proposes a drinking challenge. our poison is chosen my a neutral party: jameson irish whiskey. i know i have this one in the bag, whiskey is like juice to me. concerned, i ask alex what time he has to wake up the next day and he reassures me that he is responsible. drinking commences and a fifth of alcohol (between two people) later i emerge victorious! he passes out, then i pass out after my victory parade. i wake up around 3 to go take a pee. the lights are off and i listen intently to make sure that i'm not missing. i'm good. then, for some odd reason i lose my bearings and can't find the door. later i find that i was trying to "slide" the door because i was stuck in japan mode, but turns out i was messing with a wall. i scream for help not being able to get out. five minutes later, in the dark, i feel claustrophobic and decide that the only way out is to break down the door. elbow! punch! punch! wait a minute. holy %$&@! what did i do? door handle turn, lights on. oh crap! i wake up later to find that alex doesn't wake up in time for his quiz and almost misses work too later that day. sorry that i ruined your life, haha. :[
grilled japanese eggplant with a miso glaze
tempura don-buri. place was famous for this stuff and hear that there's usually a line out the door during lunch hours.
okonomiyaki :]
the view from the restaurant. i wanted to make out with myself.
sapporo beer museum/heaven
hakata ramen at ippudo roppongi. has to be the best ramen in the world. perfect in every way. our last full meal in tokyo and what a way to end the beginning of many more journeys to come. life is good.
took forever to find and just enough luck. situated in an alley, nothing impressive at first. in no particular order. we ordered the omakase, of course.
awabi (abalone)
crazy. daikon sandwich with a shiso leaf and ume (plum) sauce. very refreshing. good palate cleanser.
fresh ebi (shrimp). it's pretty nuts since the things are still alive and jumping on a bed of ice as the kill the sucker right before you eat it.
uni (sea urchin). gunkan style. kyubey invented this style of wrapping the seaweed around the goods. it was glorious.
saba (chub mackeral)
some sort of clam. the guy takes the clam meat and slams it onto the cutting board and it magically comes back to life, squirming and all. mmmm.
ika (squid). so soft. hardly chewy as we are all used to.
hirame (sole)
o-toro (fattiest tuna). this is the creme de la creme of sushi. the fattiest part of the tuna and also the most valuable. notice that the better the quality of tuna the more it starts to look like beef. this was the first piece of nigiri that we were served. by the end of the meal, i was down to order just a plate of this. melts in your hands AND in your mouth AND then your brain. so frickin good.
grilled anago (salt water eel), one with salt and the other with a sauce. unlike any anago i have ever tried. the meat is light and fluffy, they season it perfectly. foodgasm at this point.
omotesando hills. south coast plaza's "good" section times twenty and then on crack. man's worst nightmare. not only is it six stories tall, but much much dinero can be lost here.
came here when we met up with steph's brother. an unassuming mostly outdoor restaurant on a street corner where you sit on plastic crates turned over, i definitely enjoyed the food + beer here. things devoured: sashimi, grilled abalone and mushrooms, grilled fish, kaisen natto (fermented soybean, salmon roe, tuna and squid) and beer. yeah, i know natto has a bad rep since it smells like poo + death and even moreso mixed with fish egg and some more raw fish, but trust, one of the best things that i've tried. we need places like this in america. good food, beer, being outside, mmmm.
summer veggies
seared scallops on nori (dried seaweed)
seared uni (sea urchin) on crispy rice on nori (dried seaweed)
seared foie gras on grilled daikon (radish) with summer vegetables
wagyu kobe beef, blended daikon (radish) and grilled bean sprouts
akasaka yoko hotel
bus to ghibli museum
hayao miyazaki is an animation genius, kinda reminds me of a young me, except more genius.
of course.
beef tataki salad.
japanese eggplants with a miso glaze. frickin good, coming from someone who prefers only eating things that have a pulse.
udon. bomb.
cold soba. you grind your own roasted sesame seeds, restaurant must've been lazy. kristen, i jacked some of your pictures! first dinner in tokyo. risky. setting the bar too high? hell no!
tsukiji fish market at 4 a.m. with 30 minutes of sleep. tuna auctions. the rest of the market was HUGE.
this definitely made it worth it. sushi at 6 in the morning with an ice cold brew to get me through the day!!! probably made with the fish that we saw in the market.
roppongi hills. where i wanna live. the rich area of tokyo + nightlife + amazing food = happy tim.
kaminarimon, a big ass lantern, in front of a flea market, in front of a temple. nice.
legit. sanctity from the heat. a/c is seriously crucial here in the summer.
akihabara. a town for nerds, perverts (there's a bunch of cartoon porn shops) and people looking to buy cheap electronics. i swear if they start playing nba 2k9, i'm gonna burn this place down.
mitama festival. oc fair on crack. imagine a shitload of people, food stands lining both sides (and not that deep fried crap that they have at the fair), half naked drummers dropping a beat, in front a shrine. supposedly where they housed the remains of japanese war criminals. ooohh controversial, but i don't care right now, me rikey food. 
