I'm not starving

Just to let you know I`m not starving, here`s a few shots of the home cooked food I`ve either had by my own hand or my host mothers. The restaurant food I really haven`t taken many shots of thus far.

The night after I arrived my host parents from three years ago insisted on having a celebratory meal at their house. We decided on Teppanyaki, which basically means grill it by yourself.

Break out the grill, spend $60 on some delicious looking meat, and this is what you get.
 
Indeed, we did grill all sorts of other things too at the table that night, but the beef was just too beautifully marbled not to shoot. Why can`t we buy stuff like that at home?
 
I'm still drooling at the sight of the photos...

One night I did a Chinese style stir fry: meat, bok choy, onion, bean sprouts, etc... I wished I had a black bean sauce at the time, but I had to settle for soy sauce, salt, pepper, rice vinegar etc...
 

There`s also a kind of Japanese/Korean mix dinner I did too. Tofu with soy sauce and avocado salad (soy sauce dressing) are the Japanese tastes. The beef, garlic, onion, saute is more Korean than chinese tasting.
 

I also did a nice chicken rubbed with fresh minced ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, etc... It came out well, but I was much more excited about the legitimate baugette I found at a store down the street! One of my two big complaints about the food here is the oversweetened, overfloured bread, so I am overjoyed at this discovery.
 

Still, lacking an oven or toaster oven I had to get creative and basically throw some butter on the ends and quickly grill? it in a pan to get it toasted. It worked out well, but when I told my host mom about this two days later she said `is your microwave not a toaster oven? Most are...` I checked and she was correct. Oh well, it helps if you carefully read what every appliance in your kitchen does.

Of course I`ve had plenty of nights eating out, being treated (my host family, friends from three years ago, etc...), and even a rare few evenings where I settled for making some simple udon with onions and such. The point being I`m not starving. In fact, I figuring out how great a food city Kyoto is. There`s a great coffee shop about a 10 minute walk away that doubles as a pasta place. They do a surprisingly great job.

I also ate my first Middle Eastern (Israeli in fact) food in Japan ever today! They had a legitimate flaffel sandwich in this little shop I encountered biking around North of Kyoto University. In true Israeli fashion and another first for me in Japan they overcharged me for my meal (all I can think of is Rami`s), but I still enjoyed the food.

The Japanese cuisine in my neighborhood is too numerous to go into, but as far as foreign cuisines within walking distance I have Italian, French, Spanish Tapas, and I think Chinese. All are about a ten minute walk away. Location, location, location.