Omelette Rice

Dinner last night was Omelette Rice (オムライス)
Very easy to make, though I did cook the egg a little too much. Still enjoyable!

katsu curry

home made is best

Dessert

I had an iron-chef style cook off with another ALT last weekend. I made things like curried lamb in a meat pie, potatoes au gratin, and so on.

Unfortunately we were so excited to devour everything that we only remembered to take pictures of dessert. Strawberries and cheese were among the theme ingredients.

I made strawberry-meringue cheesecake served in a sweet walnut-cheese pudding. He made a tart with strawberry jam.

Today's brunch

Banana pancakes again, freshly laid eggs with red peppers, and breakfast links courtesy of themeatguy.com

Barbecue shredded chicken

The rice cooker does a great job of creating crockpot-like dishes that are perfect for shredding.

I simply chucked a chicken breast in there with some chopped red peppers and onions, a little salt and pepper and a couple cups of water. 2 hours later, shred it with a fork and toss it with some barbecue sauce for an amazing night.

Having lunch at home

spinach bacon and penne, tossed with garlic and onions in a creamy white wine sauce.

Dinner at my place

grilled wagyu steak (which was way too rich)
garlicy spinach
potatoes au gratin

American brunch

banana pancakes, bacon, a fried egg and grilled tomatoes

Steak pie

My first attempt. Homemade dough. Fresh from the oven.

Fried pig foot

This was a first. It came out at the nijikai (2nd party) after graduation. This tasted like pure "fried." Not fried anything in particular, just the word itself. Fried.

okonomiyaki

on the tabletop griddle at home

Pizza

Toaster oven pizza. Not ideal, but it did well in a pinch. Now I have a new oven and a pizza stone, so next time will be even better

espresso machiatto

Having this at home is the best $250 bucks i've ever spent.

Natto

I actually like it.
protip: try the one that comes with shiso sauce

Tacos

Ground beef + Lawry's taco spice = a good night. I made guacamole. everything else can be store bought in Japan.

Bento

I let a colleague crash at my place after the graduation enkai and as a token of his appreciation, I got this sweet bento he received from the PTA. Among other things, it contained 3 kinds of shrimp and a whole octopus!!

Bangers'n'mash

with stewed veggies, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, and a lamb-mint sausage

Typical teishoku

An example of lunch at my school caf: batter-fried salmon, veggies, rice and miso soup. Healthy and delicious!

02/03/10 - Pasta

A simple pasta dish for dinner tonight, I decided to use chicken and bacon with peppers and a red onion (leftovers from last nights pizza) made a quick tomato base with tomato paste, some water, sugar and diced tomatoes. Sprinkled with Mozzarella cheese.

And today's Kyushoku Korner (School Lunch) 

(From left to right) age-pan (Bread covered in kinako), orange jelly, chicken salad, soup with minced chicken balls, green tea, milk

今日の給食コーナーは、あげパン、チキンサラダ、肉団子のスープ、オレンジゼリー、お茶、牛乳です。

Todays lunch was pretty good, I like age-pan and the salad was good too (it doesn't look like a lot in this photo but the bread takes up a lot of space!) the soup was sorta watery but overal not bad.

You can never go wrong with me and jelly. 

No seafood today! YAY!

8/10

Graduation Day

Ah, senior high school graduation day. Guaranteed music box covers of cheesy J-pop ballads, a room temperature bento for lunch, and a dinner smorgasbord that is constantly being interrupted by speeches --> the food gets cold.

Lunch bento: kashiwameshi rice (fried rice with pork, egg and seaweed); cooked daikon, lotus root, konnyaku, seaweed, tofu; fried chicken, fish, shrimp, and sausage; fried/sweetened egg, purple mochi, candied cooked peas, and mysterious cellophane noodle thing.

6.5/10. Definitely edible and occasionally delicious, but I'm not a fan of the "room temperature" thing and I always prefer the regular school lunch.

Dinner options: Chinese style fried chicken with sesame sauce and cooked peppers and onions; baked fish in a butter corn sauce with broccoli and onions; assorted sushi and sashimi; sliced beef filets with ginger gravy, tomatoes and lettuce; cooked shrimp and oysters; udon with leeks and cooked tripe; individual Baskin Robbins ice cream cups; fresh fruit; all you can drink tea or Asahi Super Dry bottled beer.

8.5/10. The food was excellent but the ice cream was covered in freezer burn.

Pizza

01/03/10 Dinner: Pizza.
Japan isn't known for its excellent pizza, especially outside of large cities, but I make do by throwing some veggies on top. Todays pizza is bacon with red onion, green and red peppers and tomatoes.

I Hate Sushi.

"You live in Japan and don't like seafood?! How do you survive?!"

Quite well actually. Observe: