Japan Trip - Robin, Chino, and Nagano

After visiting Nara, Bobby and I headed to Chino, Japan, to visit one of our best friends. Robin has been living in Japan on and off for the last 13 years and works as an English teacher. Robin has visited us in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara many times, so it was finally time to pay him a visit in Japan! Chino is in the Nagano Prefecture (the same Nagano that hosted the winter Olympics in 1998). We spent the whole weekend with Robin, touring the local area, eating a lot of great food (including a fantastic dinner cooked by Robin), and shooting the breeze while playing cards. Though Robin may live far away, we actually have almost daily contact with him via chatting and often play online board games with him on the weekends.

We arrived at Robin's home quite late on Friday night, so we went to bed right away. After shivering through our sleep (it was a lot colder in Chino than Nara, since it's in the mountains), we started Saturday with a driving tour of the local area. It was a clear enough day that we could see Mt. Fuji from a field near Robin's home. Unfortunately, our cameras weren't able to capture the mountain, so you'll just have to see the mountains behind Bobby and me instead.

We also visited Lake Suwa and took a nice walk. Rather, it was a nice walk until we came upon this foot message/torture walk. The stones are arranged in various patters and you walk over them without your shoes. Robin is just playing cool; trust the look on Bobby's face.

All of that painful walking builds up an appetite, so we headed to a sushi train place for lunch. We ate some surprisingly good sushi at this place (sushi trains are on the low end of sushi restaurants, and the quality is usually not the best).

This was a new dish to me: sushi with bacon! We didn't get it, but one dish that we did get was a natto (fermented soybeans) roll. Let me start by saying that Robin, Bobby, and I have all eaten natto in the past, and we all agree that it is the most disgusting thing on earth. Seriously, it's awful. Bobby describes the taste as dirty gym sock. But, for some reason (we could blame the altitude, but both Bobby and Robin are from Colorado, so they have no excuse), we all dared each other to eat a roll of natto sushi. Robin was somehow able to swallow his roll, but neither Bobby nor I could match Robin's iron stomach/lack of taste buds. It was awful. It's going to take at least another 10 years before we're willing to dare each other to eat natto again.

Now I must mention that Robin knows Bobby and me well: he had the whole weekend planned around meals. It's nice to have friends that understand you so well! After our sushi lunch, we did some more driving around the area and did some grocery shopping, where Bobby and I bought 2 big pastic bags full of Japanese candy and green tea. Then it was finally dinner time. Robin made a reservation at a fantastic Japanese grill restaurant. This restaurant specializes in local game, so we were in for a real treat.

We started the meal with something simple: cow tongue.

We then moved onto deer. Good thing these animals are no longer considered messengers of the gods.

Next was my absolute favorite, horse meat. This actually might have been the tastiest thing I ate during our entire trip. If you get a change to eat horse, please do so. It's delicious.

We also had some bear meat. Can you see the beautiful fat surrounding the muscle? It melted just like duck fat.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as delicious as duck. Bear is quite gamey and is not something I'd order too often. We also had ram, beef, and pork. This meal was such a delight! Great choice, Robin!

After consuming all of those wild animals, we retreated backt to Robin's cold home. Luckily, Robin has this nifty heated table, called a kotatsu. There is a heater under the table, so when you put your legs under the low table, it's quite warm. Robin has even had guests sleep under the kotatsu (though every single one of them has gotten sick after doing so...). This was the perfect place for us to play cards, eat candy (I did mention that we like to eat, right?), and drink sake and whiskey.

On Sunday, Robin drove us to the city of Nagano, where we visited Zenko-ji, a temple founded in the 7th century.

The temple is supposedly the home of the first Buddhist image to arrive in Japan in 552 ACE. However, it's not possible to see the actual image (and it may not even be in the temple).

Image or no image, this was a beautiful temple and the surrounding grounds and shrines were lovely.

Bobby and I are on the stairs leading to the main hall.

And here were are in front of the main hall.

The fall colors were just beautiful, and there were many Japanese tourist in town to see these very colors.

I think these are prayer attached to woven sandals left for Buddha.

Like I mentioned in the Nara post, we were in Japan during Shichigosan, when Buddhist parents take their children of a certain age to the shrine in order to receive blessings. Here you can see brother and sister dressed in traditional Japanese outfits.

Many of the mothers were also dressed in kimonos.

This pretty little girl stands in front of Bobby and Robin.

Kimonos only offer a small amount of space for the legs, so you must take small steps in them. It was a bit difficult for this mother to keep up with her son.

After all of that temple and shrine viewing, we were ready for some lunch. We found a nice soba restaurant, where we dug into the buckwheat noodle. Though they can be found throughout Japan, the most famous soba noodles come from Nagano.

We also ordered some fried tofu. This dish was so good! I wish I could make fried tofu like this.

After our lunch, Robin drove us back to Chino, where he taught us about some traditional Japanese dishes that he cooks.

After a great weekend with Robin, Bobby and I headed out of the mountains and into Kyoto. We took the bullet train, the Shinkansen, between Nagoya and Kyoto. With a maximum speek of 300 km/h / 186 m/h, the 130 km/80 mile trip took only 35 minutes!

Japan Trip - Nara

Bobby and I had an incredible time during our trip to Japan. Bobby presented two papers at a workshop in Nara, so we turned the one day workshop into an 11 day trip! After taking a red-eye from Copenhagen on a Wednesday night, we arrived in Osaka Thursday evening. We took a train to Nara, checked into our ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), and went to sleep. The next day, Friday, Bobby attended the conference while I explored the beautiful town of Nara. Later in the trip, we returned to Nara for another day so that Bobby and I could see the sights together.

Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan, though it remained the capital for only 75 years (710-785 ACE). The area of Nara-koen, or Nara Park, houses many of Nara's main sights, including the pictured Nandaimon, the massive southern gate. This gate was rebuilt in 1199.

The park is also home to about 1200 deer, which in pre-Buddhist times were considered messengers of the gods. The deer roam freely all over the park, and you can buy biscuits specifically made for feeding the deer.

Don't be tricked by their cuteness: these deer can be agressive when it comes to getting those biscuits! This little girl is being followed by several deer, and we saw many young kids running away, screaming, from the deer. We even saw a few grown women being nipped by hungry deer! Needless to say, Bobby and I did not buy any deer biscuits.

Though the deer are no longer considered messengers to the gods, they are National Treasures and and protected by the Japanese government. If a deer is in the middle of a road, the cars patiently wait for it to move (without honking their horns). If the deer want to chew on your bike handle, you patiently wait for it to get its fill.

Most of the deer have their antlers removed in early November, but this guy seemed to escape the de-antlering.

This is the Todai-ji, or Eastern Great Temple. This huge structure is the largest wooden structure in the world, and yet it's merely 2/3 the size of the original building (the building you see now was rebuilt in 1709).

Inside the temple is the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. The statue is 15 m/49 ft tall and consists of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130 kg/286 lb of gold.

Even monks take holidays.

Inside of the temple, behind the Giant Buddha, is a large wooden column with a hole through its base. Legend has it that those who can squeeze through the hole, which is the same size as one of the Great Buddha's nostrils, will become enlightened. It's usually something only kids do.

And, as we all know, Bobby is just a big kid, so he had to give the nostril hole a try. Unbelievably, Bobby was able to squeeze through! (Just 10 years ago, Bobby tried to do the same thing: http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~b.sturm/images/japan/twain24.jpg but was unable to do it! But today, he did it, ten years later.) How does it feel to be enlightened, Bobby?

I guess enlightenment is hard work and must be rewarded with green tea ice cream.

After enlightenment and ice cream, we headed to Nigatsu-do. It was a bit of a climb up to the temple, but well worth it.

Founded in 792, the original temple was destroyed in a fire in 1667. The current building was rebuilt in 1669.

All of the temples in Nara are still active Buddhist temples, so you can sometimes find monks performing prayers.

We next headed to Kasuga Taisha. Founded in the 8th century, this Shinto shrine was completely rebuilt every 20 years from the 8th century until the 19th century in accordance to Shito tradition. There are hundreds of lanterns around the beautiful red shrine.

We were lucky enough to be in Japan during Shichigosan. Every November parents take their 3 and 5 year-old boys and 3 and 7 year-old girls, dressed up in their best traditional Japanese kimono and fashionable costumes, to local shrines to receive divine blessings. When we write about our time in Nagano, you'll see more photos of children dressed in traditional clothing.

On the edge of the park is Kofuku-ji. Transferred from Kyoto to Nara in 710, when Nara became the capital of Japan, this specific pagoda dates from 1426 and is the second tallest in the country.

Also on the outskirts of the park is Isui-en, the most beautiful place in the world (in my humble opinion). Japanese gardens are a study in perfection and calm. They aim to create miniature idealized landscapes in an abstract and stylized fashion.

This park was one of the first places I visited at the start of our trip, and I instantly knew I was going to love Japan. The trees were just starting to turn bright red, especially the Japanese maple trees. It's impossible to put into words how absolutely beautiful and peaceful this park is. You'll just have to see it yourself!

Next to Isui-en is Yoshiki-en, another garden. This garden has a large tea house, which provides a nice example of Japanese homes. You can see the tatami floor. Tatami mats are traditionally made of rice straw. You can also see the fusuma walls. These walls are actually sliding doors made from wood and paper, and are portable and easily removed. In traditional Japanese homes, rooms do not have a designated purpose; any room can serve as a bedroom, dining room, or living room. All of the necessary furniture is portable.

After a full day of sightseeing, Bobby and I were ready for a sake tasting! Made from fermented rice, sake can be served warm or cold, and comes in many varieties.

We tried 7 different kinds and bought a bottle of our favorite. The Japanese tourists in the shop were pretty impressed with the quantity of sake we consumed. What can we say, we learned to drink in Europe!

After all of that walking and sake, we were ready for dinner. We ate at a restaurant that had a BBQ at each table. We ordered an assortment of dishes, including these mushrooms and delicious dumplings.

We also ate some tasty squid.

After our very full day of touring, sake drinking, and grilled-food eating, we were ready to hit the... futon! Our ryokan had traditional Japanese tatami mats, so we had to leave our shoes at the entrance of ryokan and use the provided slippers. We changed into our yukata (a lightweight Japanese robe), took a very relaxing bath in the common bath (it was more like a jacuzzi, minus the jets), and slept in a futon (not the Western version, which is a couch that converts into a bed; the Japanese futon is a thin mattress which rests on the floor at night and is folded and put away during the day). What a great start to our Japan trip!

Autumn Cooking and Voting

Cold weather has come to stay in Copenhagen. Our morning bike rides include bike seats with ice and wearing long johns and gloves. The inside of our apartment is currently 13C/55F (but I refuse to turn the heat on until December!). This cold weather, both inside and outside, means hearty, warm meals for dinner, like this crostata with roasted beets, caramelized garlic, goat cheese, and pecans.

Bobby and I fell in love with roasted beets while living in France. Our favorite salad, which we ate almost every day and wrote about here, was arugula, roasted beats, soft goat cheese, and walnuts. This rustic tart is obviously inspired by our beloved salad. And, as much as I love to complain about how expensive it is to live in Denmark, beets are actually quite cheep. I picked up 1.5 kg/3.3 lb at the market for only 5 kr./86 cents!

All sorts of squashes and gords have hit the market. I bought a butternut squash one day without any real plan of what to make with it. I stumbled across this recipe for creamy butternut squash soup and had some fun with it. Instead of the sherry called for in the recipe, I used cognac. I also swapped the leeks with an onion and a few shallots. I didn't add the cream at the end, but instead sautéed some smoked duck breast slices and added the rendered fat to the soup. Garnished with the sautéed duck and accompanied by some bread with herbed goat cheese, we had a tasty Autumn-inspired meal.

This is the first American presidential election held since we moved abroad. At first I didn't think I should vote: I don't plan on moving back to the States, so why should I have a say in the politics? However, a French friend of mine convinced me to vote by stating that American politics affects the entire world (and especially Europe), so I should cast a vote for Europe. So Bobby and I voted! It was a tough choice between Roseanne Barr, Barak Obama, and Mitt Romney, but I think we made the right choice.

Bobby's birthday lunch/Meal of a lifetime!

Bobby had a birthday on Monday! On the day of, we had a nice meal at home, shared with friends Leah, Flemming, and their awesome son James. Leah and Flemming, who you may remember from when we visited them last March, were in Copenhagen for an appointment at the American embassy. It was so nice to meet James and to have friends help celebrate Bobby's special day. The day after Bobby's birthday was also a really special day: we had lunch at Noma, the world's #1 restaurant! I made the reservation in June, and am still amazed that I was even able to get a reservation!

Our lunch, which took 4 1/2 hours, consisted of 20 different course (not including the 3 little desserts we had with coffee) and 7 different wines (of which we had multiple glasses). Our first course was this edible centerpiece!

Another course included the mind-blowingly-delicious pig skin with a black currant topping, reindeer moss, and a mussel with an edible shell.

All of the courses were not only delicious, but beautifully plated. This little plate of salads, edibles flowers, herbs, and compound butter was added to a hot pan with an eggs (the dish called 'The Hen and the Egg').

I was constantly smelling everything and asking questions about the various ingredients. The waiters were unbelievably knowledgeable about everything on the menu, from the way a dish was prepared to what the oil was infused with to the very time and place where the fresh herbs were picked!

Here is the menu of our meal. This was a truly amazing and special experience. One might call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I don't want to say that because I hope to go back to Noma one day!


Happy birthday, my darling Bobby! May we share many more once-in-a-lifetime experiences together, and may we share them more than just once.

Some new apartment stuff

In the month of September, we added a few things to the apartment. One of our friends moved into a smaller place, so he sold us this sofa bed and a coffee table for the nook. I was really happy to get rid of the old couch (it was so ugly that I can't find a single photo of it... I have been avoiding photos of it, I guess), which had come with the apartment and was such an eyesore. This 'new to us' couch is perfect for the music room! I think the color looks nice against the grey walls, and it's nice to have yet another sleeping option for guests.

Here is the coffee table, which fits perfectly in the nook.

We also got a new TV table for the dining room. Again, it looks so much better than the old stand (pictured here) we were using. It's also nice to have a way to hide all of the cords.

When Dad and Gloria visited, they bought us some really nice house warming gifts! Gloria bought us 8 wine glasses, which was great because we were down to only 3 of the cheap Ikea ones. Our new glasses, which you can see here, are designed and made by a Danish company. Dad bought us the lovely kitchen island pictured here. It is so nice to have the extra counter space, and I love that the island is mobile. In this picture, two of Bobby's birthday cakes sit on top of the island.

Bobby and I also bought a new washing machine, which isn't pictured because it's hard to take a nice photo of a washing machine in a bathroom. Our old one, which came with the apartment, died quite violently and unexpectedly. Though the unexpected cost of a new machine wasn't fun, it is really nice to have a good, modern, reliable machine.

Visit from Dad and Gloria

After a few months of no blogging, we're back! Sorry about the absence. The academic year started on 3 September and both Bobby and I have been busy with work. We were able to take a bit of a break a few weeks ago, though, when Dad and Gloria came for a visit! Visiting in late September after their two week driving holiday in Ireland, we got to show Dad and Gloria our new apartment. It meant a lot to Bobby and me that they were so happy with our home. Aside of apartment stuff and some touring in Copenhagen, we also took a day trip to Sweden. After a 45 minute train ride from Copenhagen, we arrived in Lund. Lund was founded around 990, at a time when the southern part of modern Sweden was a part of Denmark. It wasn't until 1658 that the land was handed over to the Swedish crown. The Lund Cathedral, pictured here, was built in the 1080s, it was technically a Danish cathedral.

In the huge crypt underneath the catheral, there is a giant carved into one of the pillars. Legend has it that when the cathedral was being built, local troll Finn the Giant offered to help with the construction. When the cathedral was finished, the troll became angry (something to do with a lady troll and being tricked by the bishop), so the troll went to pull down a pillar in order to destroy the cathedral. Somehow, the troll was instead turned into stone just as he was about the pull the pillar.

In addition to some colorful folklore, the cathedral also hosts an amazing astronomical clock. Constructed in 1424, this still-working clock kept time for Lund for over three hundred years. We were lucky enough to be in the cathedral when the clock struck noon. Two knights joust on top of the clock, then the Middle Age Christmas carol In dulci jubilo plays on an organ while 6 wooden figures pass by Jesus and Mary. It was quite a special sight!

Aside from the cathedral, Lund is also home to Lund University, the largest university in Scandinavia. The university traces its roots back to 1425, but the current university was founded in 1666 (when Lund was part of Sweden, not Denmark).

This building, which is the main building of the university, was built in 1874.

The inside of the main building was amazing! This is one of many rooms that we peeked into.

 

After visiting the university, we walked around the town, where we saw quite a few lovely buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Dad and I agree that a lot of the buildings looked Flemish and very similar to the buildings we saw in Northern France.

After a fun morning, we ate lunch at the Lund Grand Hotel. The meal was fantastic! I had Swedish meatballs, which came with home-made pickles and rich mashed potatoes. It was a great way to recharge before heading to the next part of our Sweden day trip, Malmö, where we had a lot of fun wondering around.