Cheer Up With Food

Continuing on from my last post, Japan Trip '16: Osaka , when we left Osaka, we travelled up north to Kanazawa then travelled to Tokyo where we stayed for the remainder of our trip. We made a stop at Kyoto to do some sightseeing and snacked from bento boxes before we went on our trek: The Japanese make cute stuff out of everything.  Yes, even food.  Kawaii desu ne: After a long walk seeing the Arashiyama Bamboo Groove , we saw Taiyaki for the first time!  This fluffy fish-shaped cake is made out pancake or waffle batter and is usually filled with green tea, custard, or red bean paste (from sweetened adzuki beans ) as seen here: Hacchoya was the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived in Kanazawa .  This was a very nice and chic izakaya (Japanese tavern).  When we arrived it was crowded with business people dining and had a smoky atmosphere.  I hate smoke, but it won't stop me from trying new foods!  Ot...

Travelling to Japan has been a country to visit in my bucket list since I was a child.  I was there for two weeks with my husband and friends exploring mainly Osaka and Tokyo then a bit of Kobe, Kyoto, and Kanazawa.  Other than going there for sightseeing, we came to Japan to EAT.  Since we took a lot of photos, I'll let the photos do most of the talking! 1) During our first week in Japan, we stayed in the Jūsō area of Osaka.  There was food everywhere! Literally every turn we made, there was a restaurant, food shop, or a mini market.  The first place we ate at was an  izakaya .  There were no menus (say what?), instead, we had to choose the foods we wanted that were displayed on a counter and it would be brought to us. Some of the foods we had were chicken karaage ,  nikujaga   (meat and potatoes), and a simple omelette.  The  maguro (tuna) sashimi was given to us by a local as a welcoming present to Japan (how nice of him!): ...