Tokyo O.G. F and B

Feast for the Rats

2011-03-05T15:38:00.002+09:00

My head and feet are cold. My eyes feel small and out of focus, it's freezing in my uninsulated Tokyo hovel. Don't even know if I should tell this story, but it's the thing most on my mind. Sent the dear wife to Mongolia to pick up some important documents to complete our US immigration application. She got there on Friday Nov. 26 and started drinking. She went psychotic when she drank vodka. And she drank vodka for 3 nights and 2 days. And her dirt bag Mongolian boyfriend liked vodka too. And she stabbed his useless ass 4 times. And he stumbled off into the frozen night and bled to death. I think that's what happened, but details are sort of foggy and hard to come by.

That's about all I know, my glass heart has been sledgehammered to sand. My fucked up crazy wife woke up in jail and she'll probably die in prison for what she did. It's three months later and I have talked to her for all of about 2 minutes on the phone. she said she was so sorry, take care of my daughter, don't ever let her come back to Mongolia, promise me that, don't send any money to my sister. That was one call, then the other one consisted of I don't know, I can't talk now.

Then there's the blood money, ah forget it. I can't even think about it. So many blanks got filled in when the penny dropped with a leaden thunk inside my thick skull. Dead Mongolian asshole maybe I owe you a nickle for wiping away any remaining illusions or delusions I had about life and love.

I can't stop thinking about the whole thing, It's like picking up the same old snot soiled Kleenex and searching it for some sort of wisdom, or reason for all this. Maybe it's all just some sick practical joke from another galaxy. We'll just leave it there for now but I got a lot more to talk about that I probably should just keep to myself.

Do You Like Gladiator Movies?

2010-02-12T16:11:00.006+09:00

Oh yeah!!, I am Spartacus." Everyone is Spartacus these days.We all know good and well Kirk Douglas is the real Spartacus, but there is a new cable TV drama Spartacus, that is homoerotic enough for Liberace, has enough hetero smut thrown in so they don't turn it off in Peoria (or wherever normal dwells these days) and sufficient blood and guts to furnish　an abattoir.

I watched one episode and I thought: F**k yeah I want to look like these guys. The only problem is I'm like 54 years old and have been sitting on the couch for 4 years, I mean I am really out of shape.　

So along comes Men's Health Magazine, with a tie-in work out http://www.menshealth.com/spartacus/workouts/

And with more determination than good sense, I began the Spartacus workout program. It is a circuit that is supposed be completed 3 times in one go and 3 times a week. So far I have not been able to get past the first circuit and it makes me feel like I'm going to puke.

Makes me wonder if a 54 year old couch cluster can really do this kind of thing or will I herniate something, or clutch my heart and fall to the frozen floor of my apartment.

But somehow there's a whatever-doesn't-kill-me-makes-me-stronger quality to the workout that keeps me going. A kind of fight club where it's "I vs me." Ten kilos to lose and then watch out Steve Reeves.

See you at the gladiator movies.
Photo of Kirk Douglas © 1960 Universal Pictures Company, Inc.

Update: OK, still feeling virtuous, this is working out well, so far no injuries, feeling more just all around genki, lost a little over a kilo so far, and tripping delirious on the endorphins. What I really like about this is you can get a serious workout in a reasonable amount of time and without a lot of equipment. And if it's snowing outside or typhooning you can still workout.

Asashoryu Forced Out--Sumo Slimes Itself

2010-02-05T09:07:00.011+09:00

Loved by sumo fans of all races, reviled by the Japanese sumo establishment, there was none better in the ring than Asashoryu. Unlike others, he stayed true to his Mongolian roots in and out of the ring. The day they forced him to retire, is the day sumo died for me, the excitement is dead. We've still got Hakuho and Harumafuji, but neither one brings the volatile mixture of speed, power, charisma, and barely controlled violence to the ring as Asashoryu did. When he turned and pounded his belt before each match you know he was good to go. I don't think too many of the wrestlers that had to face him will miss that mighty thump. The thing that really pisses me off is the fact that he was only, what, 7 or 8 wins away from being the greatest champion of all time. A flawed tragic hero now leaves the rotting corpse of sumo behind, clearly one time when a man is bigger than the sport. Long live the King!!

I know the sun gwine shine ...

2009-09-02T18:31:00.012+09:00

Saw this incredible rainbow at Gunguluut nature reserve in Mongolia while laying low and pondering my latest disaster. This scene, followed by a glass of fermented mare's milk (airag) was a sort of cosmic pat on the head and a much much needed "there, there," that made me believe everything would be alright eventually.

In spite of all the weird stuff that happens there, or maybe because of it, Mongolia and it's people hold an overwhelming attraction.

Say What?!!!!

2009-08-15T17:24:00.009+09:00

OH lawd, the wife got a bun in the oven, I gwine be the oldest dad in the world. Me? I feel like a salmon, whatever grand fuck ups I've made in life, now at least now I've spawned, and added my DNA to the great grimble for another go round, the bears can have me now.

The wife had been making a concerted effort to drain me of my vital essense and I was not an unwilling participant. Well it's only another 8 months to go until the little space wanderer shows up in Tokyo as a little 1/2 American-1/2-Mongolian baby. Anyway I'm off to Mongolia on Tuesday, hoping for a bucket of airag and a little tranquility in the endless vistas of the Steppe.

Post Script: The wife got a fever in Mongolia, lost the baby and spent most of the visit in a hospital, not quite the restorative vacation I'd hoped for ...

Love that Plussy

2009-06-05T22:36:00.013+09:00

Yeah I love the plussy, never get enough. I pound gallons of the stuff, well at least I do when I'm not quaffing Kirin Zero, the no-carb, lo-cal, fake beer preferred by lady golfers.

Praise Be Unto the 4th Earl of Sandwich

2009-06-01T14:44:00.018+09:00

First there was bread ...

Then there were meatballs ...

At long last there was the sandwich!!

I don’t care what anyone says: John Montagu, I love you!! There now; I’ve got it off my chest. I really shouldn’t have to explain any further. But I will.

John Montagu was the 4th Earl of Sandwich, thrice First Lord of the Admiralty in the 18th century. He was said to be a member of London’s notorious Hellfire Club and held many important posts in the British government.

He seems to have made many enemies and his reputation as an inveterate gambler and libertine may have been slightly exaggerated by prudish Victorian historians as well.

For me however, he will always stand tall among the cooking gods, because one day in the 1762 he asked his servant to put a couple of slices of cold beef between two slices of bread, thereby inventing the sandwich. And the way we eat was forever changed, a world of possibilities pressed between a couple of slices of bread is now ours to forever savor.

Let’s cue “To all the girls I’ve loved” and recall some of the great sandwiches that we’ve all spent time with. Surely a New York deli corned beef on rye with mustard must rate as one of the all time greats, its 300 grams or so of meat a tribute to the excess and the bounty of a great land.

What about the weird and wonderful Monte Cristo sandwich—ham, turkey and Swiss tucked into white bread, battered and deep fried? The full Monte is spectacular, but who could fail to be humbled in the august presence of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich—its hulking 1/2 kilo of grilled beef glowingly topped with a rich blast of yellow aerosol cheese?

Sadly England, the birthplace of the sandwich has dropped the ball with the creation of the chip butty,—a sandwich served in the green and pleasant land—boasting a fistful of fried potatoes on buttered white bread, surely one of the stranger sandwiches ever made.

As far as sandwich infamy goes, I don’t think the firefly squid and potato salad sando on white toast I once ate at an office in Tokyo has ever been matched as a truly bad example of the genre.

All of the aforementioned sandwiches have their own claims on greatness, but I propose that the greatest sandwich of all time may be the hot meatball submarine. I make this bold assumption based mostly on the fact that I want to eat one right now.

Imagine if you will, an Italian roll shaped like a submarine, the inside covered with garlicky tomato sauce, hot meatballs and molten mozzarella cheese providing more than a touch of “too much.” It is a sandwich of operatic excess.

So what are we waiting for? I may not have a grandfather named Guido, but if you follow my instructions you can still enjoy a great Italian-American sandwich.

Let’s put one together.

First let’s tackle the meatball mix. Place 200 grams of ground beef and 200 grams of ground pork in a mixing bowl. Add one half finely chopped brown onion (tama negi) 1 clove of minced garlic, 60 grams of grated parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, 200 ml of panko breadcrumbs and one egg. Crack your knuckles, and using you hands, mash everything in the bowl together until it is well mixed. That was therapeutic wasn’t it? Now form the meatball mixture into 12 balls and set them aside somewhere in your ridiculously small kitchen where you won’t knock them over while you make thetomato sauce.

Wash your hands.

For the tomato sauce, in a casserole sauté a tablespoon of chopped garlic in olive oil until it is just browned, add a splash of red wine if you have some, if not don’t worry. Add two cans of chopped tomatoes which you have pureed in a blender. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for about five minutes.

Gently arrange your twelve meatballs in the sauce and cook covered over low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the cooked meatballs rest in the sauce for about an hour.

I can’t find anything in Tokyo like an Italian-American submarine sandwich roll. It has a thin, but crisp crust that you can easily bite into without damaging yourself, or the meatball. I’m using some cibiatta from from Maison Kayser that I found in Dean & Deluca’s in Shinagawa Station. Cibiatta is rectangular bread named after a house slipper and it will do the job nicely.

Whatever you do, don’t use one of the heavier crusted French loaves. The jaw power needed to breech the crust will have sauce covered meatballs shooting across the room, or at the very least dropping onto your white jeans.

Slice your house slippers into a top and a bottom piece. Ladle some Ferrari-red sauce onto each half. Cover the bottom part of our sandwich with 1.5-centimeter-thick slices of warm meatballs. Cover the other side, or top, with thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. Preheat your oven and roast on a rack until the cheese is bubbling.

Be careful not to burn the bread, you are making the sandwich of the gods—this is serious business.

If you don’t have an oven, carefully toast the sandwich in your toaster oven. If you don’t have a toaster oven, well go buy one. They cost like 2,000 yen thesedays and humans cannot live without an occasional slice of buttered toast.

Remove your sandwich from the oven, place the cheese laden top half over the meaty bottom half, and if you are able, let it cool enough so that you can take a bite without burning your mouth.

Is it not beautiful, this sandwich? Grazie Signor Montagu, and until next time,

Ciao amici.

O.G.

(This piece which I wrote appeared pretty much in this form in the Asahi Shimbun IHT in early 2008)

This Just In ... (a while ago)

2009-06-01T13:50:00.009+09:00

In a slightly less picturesque version of Pagnol's La Femme du Boulanger (with a Mongolian twist,) Tsoogii came back at the end of Nov. 2008. I'll just leave it at that, but a quote from our former fearless leader does come to mind;

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Yeah that's the way it is.

Mongol Madness

2007-11-12T14:49:00.003+09:00

OK I swear no more jubilation or sniveling about my marriage on my blogette, one can turn into the other quickly enough. As it stands now things have settled down.

Trouble Don't Last Always

2007-11-07T01:17:00.001+09:00

Having a run of luck these days got some steady work at NHK TV until March. Got a sushi book to write and some other freelance stuff so the financial pressure is off for a couple months.
The marriage is working out just wonderfully, Tsoogi my wife is the most wonderful person and it is swell to show her all kinds of strange stuff. Last night I introduced her to 1970's Soul Train and she was into that.

Glad for Chono - Bodol Mongol Pops

2007-07-31T21:09:00.002+09:00

OK I'm glad to know about Chono, cool young Mongolian pop dudes they came and played in Tokyo and kicked ass for a very short set. They are younger bros of Mongolian metal band Hurd.

Ouais--J'ai Le Cafard

2007-07-30T15:55:00.001+09:00

'Have you le cafard?' I asked, referring to the desert-madness that, bred of monotony, boredom, misery, and hardship, attacks European soldiers in these outposts--especially absinthe-drinkers--and makes them do strange things, varying from mutiny, murder, and suicide to dancing about naked, or thinking they are lizards or emperors or clock-pendulums.
--Beau Geste, Percival Christopher Wren

Hmmmmmmm no naked dancing yet but I do feel a bit like a clock pendulum, or a pair of Chuck Taylors. I just need to get back in bed and take the 49 day sleep cure. But first I need to finish a story about pickled plums.

IESU Sign

2007-07-25T21:49:00.002+09:00

IESU Sign
Originally uploaded by suijingu2

YES let's play the glad game. Today I am glad that I got my pension payments suspended for one year, because I have no job and my medical insurance costs were reduced to 10,000 yen. After the death of a thousand cuts I've been through this good news really put a smile on my face.

My Big Fat Mongolian Wedding

2007-07-03T19:41:00.003+09:00

My Wedding 2
Originally uploaded by suijingu2

Well It's not all doom and gloom, it could be worse. I've got wonderful new wife and family of in laws at least. Had a good time and drank a wee bit of Chinggis Black vodka which is truly the bollocks of the dog when it comes to vodka.

2007-05-31T00:41:00.001+09:00

Tibetan Monks from a tantric college in India create a sand mandala on May Day 2007 at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo, it was cool they are a great bunch of guys, met them a couple of years ago when they did a Mandala at a gallery in the Tokyo International Forum. Tough to get the photos because unlike past years a bunch of zealot obatarians were determined that no photos were to be taken. The bad vibes they generated made the calm spirituality of the monks stand out all the more.

Tokyo Mongol fest in 4 fotos

2007-05-08T21:54:00.002+09:00

Mongolian popstar Narantuya (center) with dancers
The Man--Kyokushuzan--a great sumo guy from the steppes just before retirement, the O.G.ster hisself ... and Gana my Mongolian teacher and good pal, all this happening in the sticks of Tokyo in Hikarigaoka on April 29-30. Mark the calendars for next year.

Slightly more wholesome, a graceful Mongolian dancer. You had to be there ..

The Grand Finale

2007-04-25T21:17:00.001+09:00

Amazing liquid nitrogen frozen dessert, cinnamon apple taste and of course Yamamoto-san's chocolate bar code. You can't help but smile while you eat it!! Please excuse the poor quality of these ryugin shots but the light was not good and I was in a feeding frenzy too.

A Fitting End

2007-04-25T21:03:00.001+09:00

An elegant take on the traditional rice, pickles and soup. The rice is mixed with anago and stuffed squid, the pickles are asparagus, and the miso soup is made with smoky katsuo dashi and a slightly tart red miso from Chef Yamamoto's home island of Shikoku. Soul Food da zoooooooo!!!

Not a Towel

2007-04-25T20:58:00.001+09:00

Good for chuckle though, this "towel" is made of cotton candy!!! with a strawberry inside. Another wonderful surprise at Ryugin.

Ryugin Uni Chawan Mushi

2007-04-25T20:39:00.000+09:00

A rich egg custard with a luscious taste of sea urchin roe hidden inside, topped with yolk of onsen tamago--soft boiled egg yolk--seriously delicious

Ryugin Ebi Shinjo

2007-04-25T20:32:00.000+09:00

Is there an ebi shinjo craze going on in Tokyo? Seen a lot of it around lately. But Ryugin's version of the shrimp meatball is deep. The taste is rich and the soup is clean and pure. UMAIIIIIIII!!!

2007 James Beard Cookbook Award Nominee

2007-04-25T13:56:00.000+09:00

Kaiseki: The exquisite cuisine of ... Kikunoi, has been nominated for a 2007 James Beard foundation award for best food photography (for books published in 2006). I am so proud to be the editor of this book. It is gorgeous and informative and some of the recipes can actually be recreated in your kitchen. The photographer is the prodigiously talented Masashi Kuma. If he wins he may have trouble getting his enormous head through these tiny Japanese doorways, but it's a risk we have to take. If you are a cook or lover of beautiful photography and you open this book it is unlikely that you will be able to escape without buying a copy ... who would have thought raw fish could be so beautiful? Here is a link to a review by Mariko Kato who seems to have actually read the book and understood what I was trying to do. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20070401a1.html

Cyan UB

2007-04-24T16:00:00.000+09:00

The Zanabazar Museum in Ulaan Baatar is home to some stunning masterpieces of Buddhist sculpture, but the exterior is pretty striking as well. Hmm this is turning into a photo blog, don't worry more food is coming soon. photo taken on Fuji Superia 400 with 1936 Zeiss Ikon Contax II camera and a 1978 Jupiter 12 35mm Soviet lens.

Going Home

2007-04-19T23:16:00.000+09:00

Was headed home the other night, waiting for my train when I looked down and saw this picture happening, pulled out my neglected digi-cam and caught it. Love my film cameras but I always seem to get results with my trusty and obsolete Panasonic Lumix FZ5.

Zeiss Contameter

2007-04-18T22:48:00.000+09:00

The Contameter is a set of 3 clip on close up lenses that allow a photographer to get in closer than the normal 1 meter length for a the 5cm lens. It takes some trial and error but once I get it figured out it could be interesting. The shots were taken with the contameter on a 1936 uncoated zeiss jena 5cm f.2 lens and a Soviet Kiev 4AM camera.

Ryugin 2 Amadai

2007-04-10T23:36:00.000+09:00

Don't have much time to write about this now, but here is a perfect piece of amadai or tile fish. It has had hot oil poured over it and the scales are crisp and completely edible, it has also been grilled over charcoal for an added smoky deliciousness. The cork is a piece of gobo root that has been branded and the fish design has been silkscreened on the plate in squid ink and miso. Once again a wildly inventive presentation, but at heart a perfect piece of fish, carefully prepared makes the dish.

Quick Hors d'Oeuvres

2007-04-07T20:30:00.000+09:00

Toasted baguette with smoked Tenerife cheese, Iberico ham and quince paste

French bread cut into 6mm thick slices

Smoked Tenerife goat cheese

Iberico Spanish cured ham slices

Quince paste

Olive oil

Lightly toast as many slices of French bread as you want. Sprinkle a little olive oil on the toasted bread. Top with the ham and a few thin slices of Tenerife goat cheese and a small piece of quince paste. Melt the cheese under the broiler and serve immediately.

Tomato Water Bread (right)

2 Tomatoes

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 garlic clove finely chopped

1 tsp of sherry vinegar

1/2 tsp chopped Italian parsley

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

Slice tomatoes in half and scoop out all the seeds into a strainer set in a bowl (reserve tomatoes for another use). Push the seeds and pulp around the strainer with a spoon to extract all the juice. Add vinegar and salt to the tomato water, then whisk in the olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle in parsley and spoon over slices of a good French crusty loaf. This also makes a beautiful sauce for Sea Scallops or any kind of fish.

Seiji Yamamoto--He Da Man

2007-04-05T12:09:00.001+09:00

Twenty-Five Vegetables is a plate I can't get out of my mind, A "Rites of Spring" on porcelain. A symphonically complex dish with notes of smoked bonito and clean, clear tastes of herbs like kinome and lemongrass. Each of the 25 vegetables had a depth of flavor that is not easily forgotten. The man behind the plate is Seiji Yamamoto of Ryugin, in Roppongi, Tokyo. I could say a lot about this unassuming star chef, but for now I'll just distill it to the essential: "He Da Man." I want to add that I am not a man of means, and I ate at Ryugin on my own dime, (about 200 bucks worth of dimes) it was worth every single yen. More reports to follow as thoughts about this place percolate through my brain.

Ebisu Izakaya

2007-04-03T22:20:00.000+09:00

Been spending a lot of time in izakaya (Japanese pubs) lately. This one called Horiyoi is a good little neighborhood joint with very fresh fish. Photo taken with Contax T and Fuji Neopan 400.

Mongolia

2007-04-02T23:58:00.000+09:00

Just a taste of the high plains

Tokyo Public Nudity

2007-04-02T23:35:00.000+09:00

But nobody seems to notice. Caught with a Contax IIa and Zeiss Opton Sonnar 5mm f1.5 on TriX

Tokyo International Forum

2007-04-02T23:25:00.000+09:00

Such a lovely space captured on film with the mighty Contax T

2007-04-02T22:18:00.000+09:00

Here is a recipe that first appeared in my newspaper column in Japan

Carpaccio of tai with daidai infused olive oil (serves 4).

1 180g fillet of tai or other white fleshed fish

1 daidai, a kind of sour Japanese citrus fruit looks like an orange

2 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt as needed.

Fresh ground white pepper

With a vegetable peeler, take 4 strips of peel from the daidai, making sure you don’t get any of the white pith. Using a sharp knife, slice the peel into a very fine julienne. Put the julienned peel into a ramekin of other small container and add olive oil, let sit for at least 4 hours to infuse the oil. Sprinkle the fish with salt and let it rest for 30 mins. Slice fish into very thin slices with a sashimi knife or other very sharp knife and arrange on 4 plates. Slice the daidai in half and squeeze 1 Tbsp of juice into a small mixing bowl, add a good pinch of salt and mix in the olive oil with a whisk. Spoon over the fish slices and garnish each plate with a few strips of the daidai peel julienne. Note: if you can’t get a daidai don’t despair, you can substitute a lemon or a lime and a splash of orange juice.

Welcome

2007-04-02T22:12:00.000+09:00

Sit down and have a virtual glass of sunshine from the south of France at La Cantinetta. Ando san is the cantinero of this very cool wine bar for adults in southeast Tokyo. Shot on Fuji Neopan 1600 with a tiny Contax T rangefinder camera.