Restaurant Review!!

 The tacos I made....wasn't too bad, but I'm not sure if I could call it delicious. So, I've decided to visit a taco place in Harajuku. It was my first visit there, so I got slightly nervous. I still managed to enjoy the meal anyway, so let's get to my review!

 

The restaurant I visited is Guzman Y Gomez, a very fancy looking restaurant, even though it was a fast food shop. The restaurant was nice and clean, and the songs    they were playing were all good songs.

One thing I would want to point out, is that the songs they were playing were all English songs; it would've been better if they played Spanish songs, in order to create the Latin ambience. There were other menus, like burritos, but I choose the tacos anyway. I had the choice between hard shell or soft shell, so this time, I choose the hard shell tacos. There were a variety of ingredients: Grilled chicken, slow cooked beef, pan seared fish, sautéed vegetables, spicy grilled chicken, pulled pork chipotle, and grilled flank steak. I choose the rather basic ones: chicken, pulled pork chipotle, and beef. For the beef, you need to pay 50 extra yen, which was a price I could deal with. The set including three tacos, a choice between a bag of fries or corn chips, and a drink costed a grand total of 1320 yen. I think I could say the price is fairly reasonable, but it might be a bit expensive.

The tacos and the corn chips came, and it was time to dig in. I tried the corn chips first, and they were very tasty. The amount of salt used for the chips was perfect, and the flavor of corn really reminded me of the corn chips I ate in the States. It was so good that after the meal, I almost forgot how the tacos tasted. Of course, the tacos were good enough, too. The pulled pork chipotle was my favorite; the size of the cut pork was not too small, not too big, and a little bit of tanginess made the taco appetizing. The other two: chicken and beef, were both also good, but they weren't as spicy as the pork, so I have to say they are ranked lower than the pork in my opinion. The taco shells were crispy, and the amount of lettuce and cheese used were just right, but maybe they could add more cheese. The biggest problem, however, was that the tacos were so small. Though I asked the waitress the size of the tacos beforehand, it was much smaller than I expected. Even though I payed 1300 yen, and the tacos were delicious, I couldn't get  full at all.  Next time I visit the restaurant, I might order the larger sized tacos, which would cost me extra 140 yen.

Anyway, that's it for my restaurant review. Overall, the restaurant provided me a nice taco experience; the atmosphere of the restaurant was comfortable, the waitress was kind, and the tacos were good. Most importantly, the corn chips were superb. Jokes aside, the tacos were superb also, so if you have a chance, please visit this restaurant, and enjoy the cute sized, tasty tacos !

Review of a Restaurant Review!!

 In the near future, I am planning to post a review on a restaurant; a restaurant that would be suitable for this blog. Although I have only posted written content + some photos, it may be time to think about posting some videos. This time, I watched a restaurant review on a channel named “Daym Drops”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgV3Hj08Xo8&t=3s

 Apparently, the video I watched was his first ever in-restaurant review, which was taken place at “Sammy’s Café”. Ha actually ate and reviewed the menus that are served at the restaurant; a cheeseburger named “Provo”, and a dessert called “pie shake”. Both of the names were something was unfamiliar with, but it seems like Provo is a city located in Utah, and the burger was named after it. Getting back to his review, my impression on his review was that it was quite entertaining. The movement and the words he spoke while he was eating truly showed he was enjoying the food. He really didn’t talk about the precise information of the meal, like the details of the taste and the texture of it. However, the lack of information on the review made me want to visit the restaurant even more, in order to have the experience he had myself. And to tell you the truth, I was quite disappointed to learn that this restaurant in Utah was already closed up for good. Since I am not a talkative person, I might have to think twice whether to make a video review of a restaurant. Please wait and see whether if I have decided to write or take a video to review a restaurant!

 

I Made Tacos!!

Now, it is finally time to make tacos myself! I'll introduce the tacos I made recently. This would be great for lunch and supper. It would be better if you bring your friends and family and eat it together. Though I made the tortillas for fun, I highly recommend buying the taco shells. It’s extremely difficult to make a perfect dough and stretching them to make tortillas consistently. You can arrange the ingredients as you like: adding more meat and coriander to the taco meat, and adding green pepper to the salsa.

Ingredients:

・water(3/5 cups)

・Bread flour(130 grams) Japan

・Cake flour(130 grams) Japan

・Onions(2) Japan

・Tomatoes(1) Japan

・Cabbage(1/2) Japan

・Garlic(1/2) Japan

・Lime(1/2) Japan

・Chili(2) Japan

・Green chili(1/6) caution: very spicy         Japan

・Ground meat(Beef)(300 grams) United States

・Stake meat(Beef)(300 grams)         United States

・Cheese()         Japan

・Salt(1 teaspoon) Japan

・Pepper(1 teaspoon) Turkey

・Chili pepper(1 teaspoon)         Turkey

・Oregano(1 teaspoon)         China

・Cumin(1 tablespoon) Turkey

・Olive oil(3/8 cups) Spain

・Tabasco(as you like)  Japan

・Red wine(2 tablespoon)  Chili

・Lemon Juice(1 teaspoon)          Japan

Materials needed:

・several mixing bowls ・frying pans ・rolling pin 

Directions:

Tortilla:

Mix bread flour, cake flour, olive oil, salt, and water. Let it rest for 30 to 40 minutes. Take a small part from the dough, make it round, and stretch it. Fry it until the surface is slightly burnt.

Salsa:

Cut the onions, tomatoes, and the garlic into small pieces

Mix them with tabasco, green chili, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I put in 10 to 15 drops of tabasco, but it depends on you to make it spicier or not.

Taco Meat:

Put the garlic and chili on the pan and start frying. Mince the onion, and fry it until it turns brown. After cutting the steak pan eat, put it on the pan with the ground meat. Add the spices, ketchup, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and wine, and squeeze the lime.

Serving suggestions: 

It would be more entertaining and appetizing if you wrap the tortillas ant the toppings by yourself, rather than preparing the tacos beforehand. You would be able to choose the amount of salsa, cheese, and cabbage(lettuce) by yourself. 

Food Culture Analysis!

 Just like I wrote on my introduction, I’m Japanese, and currently living in Japan. Japan is known as an island country: a country surrounded by the ocean.  Given this information, which country came up to your mind as a country with a similar characteristic? My answer would be Australia, and by chance, it was the country I was assigned to analyze the food culture of. Forget my unskilled introduction, and let me introduce what I learned about the country’s food culture from the book "Hungry Planet". 

As I mentioned, Australia is geographically similar to Japan; it is enclosed by the sea. Obviously, this has a lot to do with the similarity between the cuisine of the two countries; Seafood is often consumed as a primary option in both of the countries. Though the Australians may not eat raw fishes, they still enjoy eating them. The big difference, however, is perhaps the history of the two countries. While Japan maintained its distinctiveness, Australia was ruled mainly by the British people and accepted immigrants from various countries, which caused the merge of several different food cultures. This difference caused the two countries form their own unique food cultures. Japan’s so-called washoku has many unique features compared to the European, American, and other kinds of food. The food eaten in Australia contains the characteristics of numerous ethnic cuisines. I personally prefer Australian food, because it’s relatively close to American cuisine, and I think the variety of the food there would be quite enjoyable. It’s not like I don’t like Japanese food; the simple taste of washoku is pretty nice, too. Anyway, that’s it for my analysis. Analyzing the country’s cuisine made me want to visit Australia. I hope I could go there one day.

Poem Analysis!!

After choosing a book to read, I have decided to analyze a poem. The poem I analyzed is “Coca Cola and Coco Frio”, written by Martín Espada. Martín is a so-called Nuyorican, a Puerto Rican living in New York. Not only he was a Nuyorican, but his father  and grandfather were also Nuyoricans, and they took parts in the civil rights movement for the Puerto Rican community. Martín was introduced to the movement by them, and he participated, too. Taking his background into account, I’m guessing that the fat boy in the poem is Martín himself, and that he is sharing his childhood memories of his trip to Puerto Rico. In the first stanza, the fat boy is disappointed to know that even in a country far from Brooklyn (apparently the city where the boy is living), he was served a glass of coca cola, which wasn’t so special to him. His aunt even sang the coca cola jingle, which could be regarded as the effect of WWⅡ. In the second stanza, however, the boy experiences what he was expecting; a drink of Coco Frio(coconut). It was the taste of Puerto Rico itself, and the boy was amazed. Finally, in the third and last stanza, the author is concerned that in the future, many unique cultural features of the countries would be lost and abandoned, like the unsucked coco frios of his motherland. I totally agree with the author. Even in Japan, not only coca cola, but also other western-born things that are eating up the Japanese cultural features, like McDonald’s and Starbucks. As for my opinion, since Japan especially has unique features, we should respect and appreciate the traditions.

Planet Taco!!

Now that I leaned a little about how to write a blog, I have decided to learn about tacos.  Even though I’ve been talking a lot about tacos, I barely know the details of the cuisine. After some research on the internet, I found a book that would definitely help me develop my understandings towards tacos. The title of the book is “Planet Taco: A Global History Of Mexican Food”, and is written by Jeffrey M. Pilcher. Though the author, Pilcher has studied about the global history of food recently, he was originally focusing on the food history of Latin America, and he shares his knowledge about it through this book. Looking through the contents and the explanation, it seems like this book will look through the process of how Mexican food spread across the United States, and became globally popular afterwards. One of the few things I know about Mexican cuisine in the United States is the infamous Tex-Mex food, even though I have no idea what it’s like. I’m pretty sure this book talks a little about it.  I’m looking forward to reading this book, and learn the history of my beloved tacos. I will give an update on my progress later on, so please stay tuned!

Food Blog Analysis!!

 As you could tell from my introduction, I hardly know anything about creating a blog.  So, I thought it would be a great idea to literally learn from successful blogs. The blog I analyzed is "Adventures in Cooking".

 

This blog is managed and written by Eva, and not only does she post various seasonal recipes, she also introduces her homestead activities and her photographs. Her interests originated from the days she spent in Portland, Oregon, which is basically where I spent my childhood, too. Eating home-cooked food and enjoying gardening in a place where you can enjoy all kinds of natural landscapes. I completely agree with her; the landscapes in Oregon was amazing, and it is difficult to come up with natural landscapes you can't enjoy there.

 What stood out in her blog is that the photographs were beautiful. Since she gives lessons about how to take pictures, I assume she is skillful and she knows what she's doing when it comes to photography. I'm pretty sure she thinks about the colors and lightings and the background, like the plates and tables, in order to make the foods looks more attractive and appetizing. To make my blog better, I might have to take her lessons to improve my photographing skills.

Analyzing her blog was quite inspirational, and I learned that I don't necessarily have to stick to write about food all the time, and good photos make a better-looking blog. I will definitely  take the things I learned into account, and try my best to be a better blogger!