Kanazawa Eats

I had originally planned to write about the meals we had this weekend in the last Kanazawa post, but there was so many great things to see there that I didn't have room for food talk. My apologies that this post will not contain any restaurant names since everything was in Japanese. But if you ever find yourself in Kanazawa, message me and I will try my best to give you directions!

Kanazawa is well known for their seafood donburi (which is seafood on top of a bowl of rice). Thanks to a recommendation from Satoko's friend, we headed to a donburi place for a fresh lunch. The first sign that this was going to be a delicious meal was the fact that this restaurant was located in the fish market and we watched the staff bringing in fresh fish from the stalls. The second sign was that even though it was only 11:30 am, there was already quite the wait to get in (after half an hour or so, we were still waiting outside and the lineup to get in was at least 20 people deep). This place was worth the wait. In the donburi I ordered I got tuna, fatty tuna, salmon, shrimp, sea urchin, squid, caviar, and various white fish pieces. It was also possible to order donburi with gold leafing (of course!).




For dinner we headed to a tempura place near our hotel. The first good thing about this restaurant was that it had sake samplers. I have always been a sucker for samplers (in North America this usually involved beer) and it allowed me to taste a few different types of sake, for which Kanazawa is famed.



I thought that tempura is tempura. I mean that I figured of all the Japanese food that we have in Canada, that tempura would be the one thing that would taste the same here. But this tempura was phenomenal. We sat at the counter so we could see the chef. He had a homemade batter and made everything fresh to order. He passed us our tempura straight from the fryer and it was the best tempura I have ever had. Apparently there are two ways to eat tempura: with the sweet tempura sauce and with salt. I started off with the sauce, but the salt soon became my favourite topping. They provided three different types of salt for tempura: a sea salt from Osaka, a finer grained sea salt, and salt with pickled cherries in it. Everything was served on Kanazawa laquerware and pottery.




These pics are making me hungry just looking at them...

Kanazawa

In desperate need of a weekend trip, we decided to head to the city of Kanazawa. The trip consisted of a 45 minute drive to Toyama and then a one hour train ride. Despite the relative nearness of the city, we decided to stay the night there since this area has a lot going for it.


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Fish Market

The Kanazawa fish market was a labyrinth of fresh edibles. Since Kanazawa is uniquely situated between the mountains and the sea, there was everything from mushrooms and root vegetables to squid to (of course) fish. We spent a good while just taking in the sights and stopped for a quick oyster snack when we got hungry.









Castle

I had never seen an Eastern-style castle, so I was very keen to visit this site. The grounds were beautiful and for a small fee you can go inside and get a sweeping view of the town.








Traditional Gardens

Across the street from the castle is the site of one of the best traditional gardens in Japan, Kenrouku-en. Founded in 1676 and completed in the 19th century, these gardens feel like stepping back in time (and out of the hustle of the city). Lanterns and statues dot the landscape and every once and awhile you happen upon a waterfall or koi pond. In the centre of the garden is a tea room where you can sit and have tea served to you in the traditional style. Do not try and sneak in to see the room without paying for tea (and if you do, definitely do not forget to take off your shoes at the door).







Little Kyoto

This is a district in the city which is filled with cute kimono and gift shops as well as geisha houses. We toured inside one of the geisha houses and it was spectacular. Everything was so ornate.











Gold Leafing

Never before have I seen a place so crazy for gold leafing. Kanazawa produces over 99% of Japan's gold leaf and you can find it on EVERYTHING here. When we stopped for some green tea ice cream we couldn't help but add on some of the city's signature product. Also spotted with added gold leaf was instant coffee, sushi, candy, pound cake, stones, hand cream, and the walls of a random room in the middle of the city.









Pottery and Laquerware

Kanazawa is a very artistic city and it is especially known for its pottery and laquerware. It has a two distinct types of pottery: one which is plainer and primitively shaped and the other which has characteristically bright colours.







Its nice to know that such an interesting place is only a short distance away. I really hope to come back here after the first snowfall since I have heard that the gardens are quite beautiful in the winter.

Sumo Time

Going to watch a sumo wrestling match is not something I had honestly thought I would ever do. However after Loney Planet recommended a visit to the Ryogoku, and a bit of research showed that our visit to Tokyo coincided with one of six tournaments held during the year, it seemed like an experience that would be uniquely Japanese and shouldn't be missed.

Sumo matches start at 8:30 am and last until dinner time. We decided to arrive around 2:30, when the wrestlers who were considered to be professional sumos started their matches. I thought I may get tired of watching hours of sumo, but I found myself getting quite involved. Watching these two huge guys try to trip each other was very intense and when one went down it was like the high I get from watching figure skaters fall, but maybe even better.

The point of sumo is to either force your opponent to step out of the ring or to cause any part of your opponent's body to touch the ground (besides his feet). There is no weight classes in sumo, so it really is a case of bigger is better. Each match has a lot of lead up, with opponents staring each other down, throwing salt to purify the ring, and doing the ever-popular feet stomp to attract the attention of the gods.



The matches were punctuated by speeches and traditional ceremonies. The head of the sumo association spoke, flanked by the highest ranked fighters. There was also a ceremony where the fighters wore traditional aprons.





Overall, I would say it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone travelling through Japan at the right time. The yakatori (chicken on a stick) was delicious and I came away with some great souvenirs (including a magnet with a picture of my favourite sumo). Who knows, maybe I'll even become a sumo buff and start following the matches back home.

Japanese Train Food

So far, everything I've eaten in Japan tastes like the best meal I've ever had. Luckily, our food on the train today was no exception.

Normally if I bought a meal from a cart I would expect, at most, a sandwich. But for lunch today I bought a coke in an aluminum bottle (genius!!! I like canned coke best because its colder, but I always wished I could seal it up and take it with me) and a boxed rice meal. This is how the meal looked in the box: two plastic dishes of rice and the standard chop sticks and moist cloth.



Mmmm...this is what it looked like when I opened it. Looking out the window of our train there was the mountains to one side and the ocean to the other, so it seemed appropriate that one bowl was food from the sea and the other was food from the mountains. I didn't even think I liked mushrooms...



This was my friend Satoko's meal. My first North American reaction to this was "Fish on a train! Gross!". But I tried a piece and it was really fresh and delicious. This is what the meal looked like in the package.



This dish was basically a sushi pizza with the salmon in thin layers on the top and rice on the bottom. This is what it looked like unwrapped.



For dessert, we had a treat that Satoko's father brought for us. It was sweet and gelatinous inside and had savoury soy bean powder outside. It came with syrup to pour over the top and a little wooden knife to eat it with.

Sunny San Diego

Two and a half years ago I bought a Frommer's guide to California. I felt like I had won the friend jackpot when Evan moved to Pasadena and was all too happy to travel there for reading week. Little did I know that I would be lucky enough to plan our two year anniversary trip from the same book.

When we decided to go on an anniversary trip, San Diego seemed like a natural choice since it was only a couple of hours from LA and we could get there easily without a car. Trains run a few times a day from LA to San Diego, but we settled on taking the bus since it was half the price and the difference would cover the cost of a nice dinner.

When we got to the San Diego bus station, we stashed our weekend bags in the terminal lockers and went to explore the downtown region. The first stop was the embarcadero where all of the cruises depart from and where all the freight ships unload their cargo. After admiring the high density of power walkers and tropical shirt wearers, we spent a long time watching a Dole freight ship unload bananas. We moved on to the Gaslamp Quarter which was a funky district full of restaurants.



Fortunately it was lunch time. With all of the choices we had in the area, it was unfortunate that we chose the Gaslamp Tavern. We were initially drawn in by the vast amount of beer taps and the good people-watching location but the food was pretty disappointing. I ordered a Cobb salad, Evan ordered the hamburger, and I'm pretty sure both plates went back to the kitchen almost full.

After lunch we headed to the Horton Plaza. I didn't particularly want to shop, but I love the idea of open air malls and seeing the architecture of the plaza was worth the detour. It looked like it could be out of a Dr. Seuss book. Maybe the inspiration for Horton Hears a Who (or, the other way around)?





Our final stop of the afternoon was Seaport Village. This district was a bit touristy, but was great for people watching. Seaport Village is full of little specialty shops from wind chime boutiques to a beer enthusiast shop to a store that sells only candles. We spent less time shopping and more time watching the street performers, including a guy who balanced large rocks on top of each other. I didn't take a picture because then I would have to pay him, but I did snap this pic of lots of kites.



After a full afternoon we headed to Little Italy for a fantastic meal of pasta and good wine. The bus was definitely worth it.

The next day was the highlight of the trip: the ZOO!!! I woke up with the O'Sullivan zoo song stuck in my head. I always thought that my Dad had made it up until Evan found it on youtube while I was getting ready. I dare you to not sing it every time you go to the zoo from now on. This place was as amazing as I had hoped. There are only about 40 pandas outside of China and this zoo has three of them. I won't bore you with any more text, but here are a few blurry animal photos.

Flamingos!

A Tapir!

A Panda!

A Meerkat!

The pictures probably don't do it justice, but it suffices to say that this zoo is definitely not overrated and is worth the visit.

Overall, I loved the vibe of the city. The sun never stopped shining and there was so much to do and see. That, combined with being there for a romantic getaway with a very romantic guy, made it a weekend to remember.