J (slightly miffed): Why are you taking a picture of this?
Me: It’s a 10th anniversary display.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy birthday Mistuh President….
So, we were walking along Omotesando when I stopped and snapped this window display for a lingerie shop.
J (slightly miffed): Why are you taking a picture of this?
Me: It’s a 10th anniversary display.
J (slightly miffed): Why are you taking a picture of this?
Me: It’s a 10th anniversary display.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Grill heaven
Japan post #1. Today is our second day in Tokyo and if we had checked its website, we would have known that Fukuzushi is closed on Sundays. So there we were in Roppongi wondering what to do for dinner, when we decided to take a chance on a restaurant that we had passed just a minute ago and had looked intriguing.
First off, we almost missed this restaurant, for there wasn’t any big neon sign (a rarity in Japan, for sure!) or even what appears to be a door. The whole façade looked like a side of a big barn, with very discreet slits cut into one side enabling you to peek into a counter full of boisterous folks enjoying themselves. The sliding door is cut into the wooden front, and you’d have missed it since the door handle is a shy little small black thingy.
Anyway, we thanked the heavens we saw it because we had our best meal in our short stay so far. Joumon (or Jyoumon as it is spelt on the menu) is a kushiyaki (grilled goodies on small skewers) restaurant, and we managed to find a seat on the counter right in front of the chef and his grill.
The Kurobuta pork was sinfully delicious, oodles of flavour cascading out of the small pieces of alternating fat and lean part. J was in a schizo mood – switching between moaning about how superb it was, to admonishing me about how bad it was for my health! We also ordered Joumon’s other signature pork skewer – this time Iberian, which had an equally rich yet different flavour signature from the Kurobuta. The Iberian was much leaner, yet juicy and deep, proving that good flavours exist not only in the fatty bits of meat.
Other sticks that passed our way had chicken thigh (ooh, yummy), chicken gizzard (my favourite) and duck with onions (this was the only one to come in below excellent). Of the non-meat stuff, we had gingko nuts and asparagus wrapped in a thin slice of pork (did I say non-meat?), but the standouts were the eringi mushroom and the zucchini, both of which were testament to the axiom that the very best fresh ingredients need only to be treated simply and with respect, in this case, lightly grilled.
The highligh of the night for J was the off-menu special, the grilled smelt (shishamo)…
… which had imbibed the roasty, charcoaly aroma and was juicy, tender and crispy at the same time. J wolfed down the tail half while I took care of the head bits, leaving no evidence of our gluttony behind. We loved it so much that we had seconds, and after that, stared accusatorily at a gaijin also sitting at the counter who had ordered the same fish but had nibbled a little at the middle parts and left the rest of it untouched. Sigh!
Overall, it was a happy experience, for we even managed to strike up a conversation with the young Japanese woman sitting next to us – no mean feat since her basic English was tonnes more than our non-existent Japanese! We've had some good yakitori in Singapore, and we used to be a regular at Norikonoko in Berkeley (an understated place with a mean robata menu), but Joumon is quite exceptional.
Joumon (or Jyoumon)
5-9-17 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-3405-2585
Opening hours: well, we know they’re open on Sunday nights!
Most skewers are between 100 and 400 yen each.
First off, we almost missed this restaurant, for there wasn’t any big neon sign (a rarity in Japan, for sure!) or even what appears to be a door. The whole façade looked like a side of a big barn, with very discreet slits cut into one side enabling you to peek into a counter full of boisterous folks enjoying themselves. The sliding door is cut into the wooden front, and you’d have missed it since the door handle is a shy little small black thingy.
Anyway, we thanked the heavens we saw it because we had our best meal in our short stay so far. Joumon (or Jyoumon as it is spelt on the menu) is a kushiyaki (grilled goodies on small skewers) restaurant, and we managed to find a seat on the counter right in front of the chef and his grill.
The Kurobuta pork was sinfully delicious, oodles of flavour cascading out of the small pieces of alternating fat and lean part. J was in a schizo mood – switching between moaning about how superb it was, to admonishing me about how bad it was for my health! We also ordered Joumon’s other signature pork skewer – this time Iberian, which had an equally rich yet different flavour signature from the Kurobuta. The Iberian was much leaner, yet juicy and deep, proving that good flavours exist not only in the fatty bits of meat.Other sticks that passed our way had chicken thigh (ooh, yummy), chicken gizzard (my favourite) and duck with onions (this was the only one to come in below excellent). Of the non-meat stuff, we had gingko nuts and asparagus wrapped in a thin slice of pork (did I say non-meat?), but the standouts were the eringi mushroom and the zucchini, both of which were testament to the axiom that the very best fresh ingredients need only to be treated simply and with respect, in this case, lightly grilled.
The highligh of the night for J was the off-menu special, the grilled smelt (shishamo)…
… which had imbibed the roasty, charcoaly aroma and was juicy, tender and crispy at the same time. J wolfed down the tail half while I took care of the head bits, leaving no evidence of our gluttony behind. We loved it so much that we had seconds, and after that, stared accusatorily at a gaijin also sitting at the counter who had ordered the same fish but had nibbled a little at the middle parts and left the rest of it untouched. Sigh!
Overall, it was a happy experience, for we even managed to strike up a conversation with the young Japanese woman sitting next to us – no mean feat since her basic English was tonnes more than our non-existent Japanese! We've had some good yakitori in Singapore, and we used to be a regular at Norikonoko in Berkeley (an understated place with a mean robata menu), but Joumon is quite exceptional.
Joumon (or Jyoumon)
5-9-17 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-3405-2585
Opening hours: well, we know they’re open on Sunday nights!
Most skewers are between 100 and 400 yen each.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Huff, huff, puff puff
This past week, apart from being caught up with the excitement over the elections, I had hit the gym with a renewed vengeance. Part of the reason was the realization my cholesterol level was climbing, as I had begun to enjoy the wonderful street food a little too much. The other reason was my friend T’s running blog.
Specifically, this heart-thumping account of a 50 km race up the beautiful hills of Woodside, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As I read it, I felt swept along with T as he glided his way through a course that ran from narrow single-track trails to “a mixed forest up to a fire road cut through redwood trees and douglas fir. The trees loom tall, their tops lost in the canopy. The road does its best to reach the tops of the trees as it climbs steeply in this section.” When I read this, I closed my eyes and dreamt of spring in the Bay Area, of kayaking in Point Reyes, of being wowed by the giants of Muir Woods, of strolling along Half Moon Bay and buying freshly caught Dungeness crabs and of magical kites floating over the Berkeley marina.
Now, I’m not a runner by any means – my regular 5 km on the treadmill might get me to the first drinks station on a 50K race (or maybe not!). And the parts of Woodside I know revolve around and inside Buck’s, a wonderfully individualistic diner/restaurant in which Silicon Valley moneybags meet to seal mega-techie deals over flapjacks. Not surprisingly, it was T who brought us there.
Picture from restaurant website.
So, how am I ever to lose weight if even ironman runners keep feeding me all the good stuff?
Specifically, this heart-thumping account of a 50 km race up the beautiful hills of Woodside, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As I read it, I felt swept along with T as he glided his way through a course that ran from narrow single-track trails to “a mixed forest up to a fire road cut through redwood trees and douglas fir. The trees loom tall, their tops lost in the canopy. The road does its best to reach the tops of the trees as it climbs steeply in this section.” When I read this, I closed my eyes and dreamt of spring in the Bay Area, of kayaking in Point Reyes, of being wowed by the giants of Muir Woods, of strolling along Half Moon Bay and buying freshly caught Dungeness crabs and of magical kites floating over the Berkeley marina.
Now, I’m not a runner by any means – my regular 5 km on the treadmill might get me to the first drinks station on a 50K race (or maybe not!). And the parts of Woodside I know revolve around and inside Buck’s, a wonderfully individualistic diner/restaurant in which Silicon Valley moneybags meet to seal mega-techie deals over flapjacks. Not surprisingly, it was T who brought us there.
Picture from restaurant website.So, how am I ever to lose weight if even ironman runners keep feeding me all the good stuff?
Tokyo (and Kyoto), here I come!!!
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... For eight whole days, I won't have to think about musty ol' papers and the aftermath of the general elections. Hope to eat well (popping into places when the whim takes us), see some sights, take a few pictures, and maybe write a bit. But hey, I haven't even finished writing about Penang.
Cheers!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
You be the judge
We’re beginning to witness the first fruits of the political tsunami that hit Malaysia on the March 8 – the ruling Barisan Nasional, reeling from a major setback dealt by voters during the general elections, no longer has the monopoly on truth, particularly the non-blog variant.
Yeah, sure, the ruling party still controls the mainstream media, the English and Malay-language press being more subservient than others. But it will be hard to ignore the opposition now that they control five out of the eleven states in the peninsula. And not just any five either – the biggest and most important of the lot. I mean, you just cannot black out completely what five Chief Ministers are saying, can you? We are already seeing evidence of a less restrictive flow of information.
Take for example today’s headline news, in which Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned the freshly minted Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, not to make statements that could stoke racial tensions. So I thought to myself, what incendiary and irresponsible rhetoric has this Guan Eng chap been up to, that has so moved our Prime Minister to give him a firm ticking off? Has Guan Eng been waving a dagger in the air and declaring his fervent intent to protect his ‘people’? Well, judge for yourself. Here are a selection of quotes made by the secretary-general of the DAP since March 8.
What Pak Lah was really taking aim at was Guan Eng’s declaration that the state government was going to do away with the New Economic Policy, an ethnic-based affirmative action programme. If before, we would only hear one side of the story, now you can compare the quotes side-by-side and decide for yourself.
By the way, I hope the trend in a few opposition-controlled states to have two Deputy Chief Ministers representing the other ethnic groups catches on at the Federal level. Who’s for a Chinese Malaysian and Indian Malaysian Deputy Prime Ministers?
Yeah, sure, the ruling party still controls the mainstream media, the English and Malay-language press being more subservient than others. But it will be hard to ignore the opposition now that they control five out of the eleven states in the peninsula. And not just any five either – the biggest and most important of the lot. I mean, you just cannot black out completely what five Chief Ministers are saying, can you? We are already seeing evidence of a less restrictive flow of information.
Take for example today’s headline news, in which Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned the freshly minted Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, not to make statements that could stoke racial tensions. So I thought to myself, what incendiary and irresponsible rhetoric has this Guan Eng chap been up to, that has so moved our Prime Minister to give him a firm ticking off? Has Guan Eng been waving a dagger in the air and declaring his fervent intent to protect his ‘people’? Well, judge for yourself. Here are a selection of quotes made by the secretary-general of the DAP since March 8.
[March 9] Guan Eng to be Penang CMRabble-rousing stuff, isn’t it? And all these from reports carried by the government-controlled press. Reading this, do you feel an uncontrollable urge to rush out and incite some racial hatred? I think not.
“We are humbled by our win and pledge not to disappoint the people of Penang.
“We also want to stress that the new government will be for Malaysians of all races. We will be fair, just and not discriminate against anyone – offering assistance to all in need. Talented Penangites can expect equal opportunity from a coalition that is united by a common love for democracy that respects basic human rights, political equality and socio-economic justice.”
[March 10] Thanking out-going Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon for showing him around the office (what a stand-up guy, this Dr, Koh), Lim thanked his predecessor for “welcoming” the party into his office. “I appreciate and thank him for his willingness to accept the people’s decision and we welcome his views. The new administration is one for all Penangites, not just one particular party.”
[March 11] Guan Eng pledges to pursue investor-friendly policies
“The people demand transparency and accountability in the issuance of government contracts, and this new state government shall insist on an open public tender system.”
[March 12] Guan Eng sworn in as CM
After the swearing in, Guan Eng was driven to his new office, and when he sat on the chief minister’s chair for the first time, he quipped: “I already feel the heavy responsibility.”
What Pak Lah was really taking aim at was Guan Eng’s declaration that the state government was going to do away with the New Economic Policy, an ethnic-based affirmative action programme. If before, we would only hear one side of the story, now you can compare the quotes side-by-side and decide for yourself.
Pak LahSee? It’s all hanging out there. We, everyone, especially the bulk of Malaysians who have no access to the Internet, can judge for ourselves. It is no longer possible to silence the other view. By swinging massively to the opposition, the voters not only ushered in a slew of fresh faces and new state governments, they may have ignited a new information era.
The PM said that the NEP had in fact benefited everyone. “I would like to ask the DAP which community has been made poorer because of the NEP.”
Guan Eng
"The NEP is good but its benefits are only enjoyed by some as many Malays in the country, including those in Penang, are still poor. The implementation of NEP has only made the rich richer and the poor poorer due to malpractices.”
Pak Lah
“Do not marginalise the Malays. I want to ask Lim Guan Eng what his plans are for the Malays in Penang What are his plans for the Indians in Penang? What are his plans for other minority groups in Penang?”
Guan Eng
“When I said that I would run the government administration free of the New Economic Policy (NEP), I emphasised on asking the tender process to be made publicly. I do not think Malay contractors object to the open tender system as it is more transparent compared to the present process which is subject to corruption, cronyism and nepotism.”
By the way, I hope the trend in a few opposition-controlled states to have two Deputy Chief Ministers representing the other ethnic groups catches on at the Federal level. Who’s for a Chinese Malaysian and Indian Malaysian Deputy Prime Ministers?
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