Friday, January 13, 2006

Izakaya Chronicles #1- Veggies! -

Leaf vegetables are expensive now. One cabbage costs something like US$4 at supermarkets around here, and the price of lettuce is said to be doubled in many places. It’s because of the cold wave and the heavy snowfall in the northern part of Japan this winter.

At our izakaya, we see less and less green veggies used for makanai (employees’ meal) these days. With our carbohydrate-rich meal in front of us, we joke that leafy veggies are poisonous and bad for health, and that’s why we shouldn’t use them for our own meals. Some nights are just so slow that we have nothing to do but to indulge in cynical jokes.

… I hope the snow in the north stops soon.

* The rubber boots in the photo are what I wear in the izakaya kitchen.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

These boots are made for walking... nice colour! :-)

P/S: I think you do know who I am ;-)

Anonymous said...

Likewise, some vege are more expensive than usual now due to the recent floods in some states in Malaysia. Supplies are low. Chillies have doubled the price!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I meant chillies are double the price.

Anonymous said...

Vegies are expensive here too.. Obachan..! so i try to eat tofu.. or mini corn for subsitute.. :) or bean sprouts..! but even bean sprouts are ex here..!
Love the boots..!

Anonymous said...

Obachan;
I have been watching the news about the snow in northern Japan on AZN network. I am amazed at the amount of snow!!!!!! The news reports are scary!!!! PS love the boots...

Anonymous said...

Obachan,
How many people work in your pub, and how many work in teh kitchen with you? Do you cook a lot of the same things each night or do you have more seasonal items? I loved ready your posts on New Years. YUM, reading your blog is such a sweet treat in more ways then one!

obachan said...

SkyJuice7
They were the cheapest pair I could find. Yeah, I can walk in them and also run, skip, dance and even moonwalk in them …;) I saw the photos of the flood over there. It’s terrible …

Mama Bok
OH, is tofu less expensive than veggies? Thanks for commenting on my humble boots.

carlyn
Now it’s raining and we hope it doesn’t cause an avalanche there. BTW… you guys are so unpredictable! I never expected anyone to care for my cheap, dirty boots. They were the cheapest pair and made by a company called Okamoto which is known for the production of … uh… never mind. ;P

Sara
Thanks for the compliment. I guess we are about 10 altogether, and 4 of us work in the kitchen. We serve both regular menu and seasonal items, too. For example, nabe (hotpot) dishes are from Nov. to March only, and reimen (cold noodles) are for summer.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha ha, I am really sorry Obachan, I could not help laughing at your description of Okamoto. It reminds of an incident in a convenience store in Tokyo. I happened to walk past the section selling 猥褻文書 (No! I didn't go there for it. I was looking for a shaver as I was in a hurry to go home that year and had forgotten to take it along with me.) THEN, next to it was a huge display shelf of Okamoto and other dear-little-fellow of that ilk. What happened a second later was even more amusing. I overheard a conversation between a fifteen-ish highschool boy and probably his girlfriend who passed by the same section shortly after me. (Alright, I know it's bad to eavesdrop, but my ears like to pick up noise unconsciously, so I couldn't help...) Something caught the boy's attention, he paused in a frenzy, and gazed admiringly at it. Then I heard his girlfriend say '何してるの?' And he replied 'すごい!' She frowned and, quick as a bunny, dragged him away from that corner while he was still saying 'まてまて!'

obachan said...

Oh, isn’t that cute? Such cute teenagers are hard to find these days. You were lucky to witness such a rare happening. BTW, you use those Chinese characters for that kind of books? Interesting!

Anonymous said...

Hi Obachan,
I am confused. Do you mean the kanji 猥褻文書? The term for 'indecent writing' that I know is わいせつぶんしょ, and the kanji provided by my wordprocessor is that which I have just mentioned. The other one I am aware of is わいほん (猥本). I might be wrong with what I have learned, so please correct me if I am wrong. I think my Japanese is probably very outdated by nowadays standard...

obachan said...

I was just wondering if you use those kanji in Chinese language for that kind of books. Don’t worry, we use those words still today.