the petite pig

to tokyo, part ichi

dragging your ass to work on mondays. i know it's never easy. bidding farewell to the retreat of the weekend only to brave the heap of emails that awaits in your inbox. i understand and don't blame you for indulging in one more snooze cycle.

but no monday is harder than the monday after thanksgiving. it's not so much the dread of your inbox or even the return to the daily grind; it's more the, "how the hell am i supposed to haul the new ass cheek i've sprouted over the four day weekend to work?" issue. pants just feel a bit tighter. ok, a lot tighter. your body hasn't managed to resuscitate itself from the food coma you entered days ago. ahh . . . if this describes your monday, then you served your duty as an american on thanksgiving. but that still doesn't mean that this new ass cheek isn't going to be a problem. my advice is to break out the fat pants for now and deal with the "new ass cheek removal" as a new years resolution.

so knowing that most of you are either not ready to think about that thanksgiving spread you devoured on thursday (and then on friday and saturday in my case) or sick of reliving it, i'll offer you a respite and share my thanksgiving feast in a later entry. for now, i'll just share my latest travels and eats from my trip to tokyo.

i boarded my asia-bound flight from san francisco the week before thanksgiving for a five day business trip. sleep and tourism were unfortunately not on the work agenda, but i couldn't leave tokyo without sampling a few of its savories.

a woman serving japanese green tea in yoyogi park

i had been told by several friends that i would love eating in tokyo and not just the native offerings but everything that came out of a japanese kitchen, whether it was japanese or not. and they were right. while i've traveled to many cities in the world and love being in cities, tokyo radiated a unique energy i had never felt in any other city. though just as dense as any other large metropolis, the people of tokyo were incredibly polite, putting new yorkers to absolute shame (though new york city still keeps its number one spot on my favorite cities in the world list). the impeccable customer service reflected the high degree of quality taken in everything. commuting by foot in the mornings, i observed the order of a tokyo morning - men dressed in clean-cut dark suits and women donned in the moddest looks adorned by their perfectly painted faces walking in lockstep to their respective destinations.

old sake barrels in yoyogi park

these were people that cared about eating and cared about the quality of the food they ate. japanese culture emanated in every dish i was served. there, food was served with respect and care. i had heard that in japan, you don't need to go to a high-end restaurant to find high-quality food. after four short days of eating in tokyo, i echo this sentiment. with each dish that is placed in front of you, the attention to detail stands out. with each bite, the attention to quality becomes more and more apparent. although i was in japan, i found myself having three chinese meals. after all, i am not one to resist a steaming bowl of noodles and the soft bite of fresh dumplings. the chinese meals i ate reminded me of those that i had savored in shanghai and hong kong. i discovered the "xiao long bao," a delicate dumpling wrapper housing a delicate meat filling and a surprising spoonful of soup, in the small alleyways of shanghai. the xiao long bao found on the menu at "jin din rou" a cozy chinese dumpling house near tokyo's ebisu subway station delivered the same feeling of the soup dumplings i had discovered in shanghai.

how could you resist this dumpling?

my other meals in japan led me to shabu-shabu, chutoro that truly melts in your mouth, a traditional japanese lunchbox and even subway (which serves fries!). i will return to tokyo next week with a much longer list of culinary to-do's: a piping bowl of ramen (real ramen, not the ten cent bag of instant noodles variety), a bite of tender kobe beef, a trip to the tsukiji fish market, a search for a certified fugusushi chef, and feasts of many more things that i've never eat before.

i experienced japanese sushi way up in the sky on the 38th floor of the ebisu garden tower. the view is free and is a great way to see the texture of the city created by all the buildings. plus, there are many great restaurants on the 38th and 39th floors. i ordered up some chutoro, medium fatty meat found on the belly of the tuna.

real or not? ordering is made easy in most japanese restaurants with wax representations of many menu items

a small stand at the shibuya subway station featuring a spread of onigiri, hand sized rice balls with various fillings wrapped in seaweed

a young girl dressed in traditional japanese attire

a japanese wedding procession i witnessed while wandering to the meiji shrine

a dumpling chef hard at work

i took this guy down in an eating contest

happy turkey day!

i wish all of you out there a turkey day brimming with all of your holiday favorites. whether you're a stuffing or turkey or pumpkin pie person, or everything on-the-thanksgiving-table person, eat yourself into a food coma. you deserve it. it is a holiday that celebrates america by doing what americans do best: eating and watching football, so eat up.

i am flying down to southern california thanksgiving morning to cook a feast for fourteen in under four hours. we're doing away with the turkey this year which is a bit unholy i know, but i will be replacing it with something that might be just as good.

happy thanksgiving all. a day all foodies look forward to.

this week, meal by meal

i hate weeks where i don't have the time to sit and write. this has been one of those weeks. fortunately, i did find time to do some cooking so i'll just have to have the photos do the talking for now. jamie oliver's happy days with the naked chef has become one of my main go-to's for the weeknight meal. his pot-roasted chicken with sweet and sour sauce is perhaps the easiest one pot meal i've ever made. a great take on roast chicken where the end result is not just roast chicken, but a vibrant medley of vegetables, colors and flavor covered in a surprising sauce.

on saturday, trapped inside by clouds and rain, i relied on comfort. inspired by last week's episode of top chef (yes, i am still addicted), i followed in betty's footsteps, making my grilled cheese, all grown-up and a creamy roasted red pepper concoction. the grown-up part of the grilled cheese comes in the form of a roasted garlic puree that gives the sandwich a sweet but spicy bite. for the cheese part, i used gruyere and smoke gouda for an unexpected combination of flavors.

i almost considered not hosting sunday dinner this week, but it has turned into a bit of tradition for me. i look forward to ending the weekend with one last all-out cooking spree in the kitchen before heading back to the daily grind that mondays bring. tonight it was an ode to italy featuring my spaghetti and meatballs, an eggplant caponata and an olive tapenade dip. no recipes, just me playing in the kitchen.

tomorrow, i am back to the daily grind but it'll be a little bit different as i'll be in tokyo. i have never been and am excited to see this metropolis in action. for awhile now, it has been my dream to swallow the poison of a blowfish and live to write about it. it is rare to come upon a food that can really make you live dangerously, but blowfish provides just that "do you dare?" experience. i'll let you know if i get the balls to give it a try. sayonara for now.