A weekend in Utsunomiya...

The past week was not a very eventful week. The early half of the week, I was still pretty sore from snowboarding. Yes, it’s pretty ridiculous that it took about 3 days to recover. The weekend was pretty relaxing. We are trying to go snowboarding again next weekend, so we thought we would take it easy. Can’t over exert myself! We had a lot of motivation to make some new dishes this weekend. On Friday, we wanted to do nabe because it was a bit cold and it snowed! Yes, snow, sigh. Anyways, we made the nabe soup with a Thai tom yum flavor. It was delicious! We actually drank all of the nabe soup. Saturday, Michael made a Vietnamese dish called Chao Que. Chao Que consists of a rice flour cake, then pan fried with some soy sauce, egg, green onion, and salty radish. We dipped it in a soy sauce and vinegar mix. It was yum! In the afternoon, we rode our bikes around town to run some errands. Nothing too exciting. Sunday was a little more eventful. We decided to venture to Hachimanyama Park in Utsunomiya. It was probably 1km west of the station, so 2.2km (~1 mile) from our apartment. We rode our bikes there, but I underestimated the hill to get there. My lovely Japanese bike has 1 gear, so it was a pain to ride up the hill. There was actually a point half way that I had to stop and walk the bike up because it seemed to be less work. Michael was eventually sweet enough to lower the gear on his mountain bike and let me ride it the rest of the way up. It was soOooOo much easier! To remind me of how illiterate I am in this country, I thought there was a lake in the park, but it turns out to be a race track. They should not have the race track blue on the map! Anyways, the park was very beautiful and relaxing. There were mostly families walking around with younger children. We first went up the Utsunomiya Tower, it was no Tokyo Tower, but still very nice to look over the city we live in. It was one of those, “Wow, we live in Japan” moments. We proceeded to walk around the park. It was very lovely and when the weather gets a little nicer, it would be a great place to picnic. On the way home we wanted to get a snack. We first though Min Min Gyoza, but we rode past and there was a line outside. This was not like a line a McDonald’s. I would guess probably a good 25-30 people waiting. This place is famous for their gyoza’s, but I underestimated it. We decided to pass and found a nice Indian restaurant. It was delicious. People rant and rave about Taj Mahal Restaurant here, but I personally thought this place was better. I still think the taste of Indian food is a bit tame for my palette, but this place definitely fulfilled the craving. At night, we were not too hungry, so I had some motivation to create something new. I decided to make onion pancake. Onion pancake is usually offered at dim sum or as a dessert in Chinese Restaurants. I found a recipe online and to my surprise, it turned out to be delicious! Michael and I were both very happy with the results. I am finding that I have a lot more motivation to make things from scratch here. First of all, I am trying to make things that we cannot find. Secondly, I want to learn how to make most of the Japanese dishes that I like because I am afraid that once I get back to Ohio I will not be able to have them again, hence the motivation to learn things from scratch. Two things I am proud of so far that I have made…creamy miso salad dressing and onion pancake. I’m still working on the breads! Until next time…we miss you!