Anyway here goes. The bigger the pan, the more you can cook at the same time. I have a great iron skillet I bought more than 30 years ago at a Sears (10 bucks!), so I usually make two at a time. I always turn the heat up to high first while I get the other things out of the fridge. By the time anything hits the pan, it is getting warmed up.

I get my flour tortillas from one of two places: A-Price near the Jietai (Self-Defense Force) base or Premier Cru. A-Price is kind of a restaurant supply shop that has some bulk items and a variety of things for the kitchen that you might not be able to find other places. Premier Cru is an imported food and spirits shop that is small, but it packs a lot of stuff in there. I peel off two of the tortillas and put the inside side down. Don’t laugh. Each side of these tortillas looks different; I save the more attractive side (it usually has some nice brown spots on it) for the outside.

As the pan heats up, I turn down the heat. This takes a bit of practice. There’s a balance between scorching your quesadillas and waiting forever for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to heat up. I don’t leave it on this one side long, just enough to get the tortilla softened and warmed a bit. Flip it/them over and cover 1/2 with your favorite grated cheese (I get the 1 kg. bags at A-Price).

Then I add some hot sauce. I’ve become a major fan of the Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot sauce. Great stuff!

My preference is to go full steam ahead with the cheese quesadilla. The other Viajeros like a slice or two of something meaty (I can be persuaded to join in when there’s some leftover taco meat… ) If you want something else in there, by all means add it in. I will say, though, that the more you add in, the more you need to flip the ‘dilla and reduce the heat. When I have a pile of leftovers from, say, chicken tacos the night before, I’ll add some chicken, homemade salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and a bit of lettuce for some crunch. I’ll use the burrito-sized tortillas from Costo (in Fukuoka) and make a real meal out of it.

I have to say that it’s best to work quickly at this quesadilla-filling stage, so the tortillas don’t burn. The trick is to get it all in there, so the heat is working on that cheese and the other ingredients. As long as the quesadilla is still open, it’s at risk. You have been warned.

Once it’s all together, I turn the heat most or all of the way down. Then it’s all a matter of flipping every 30-60 seconds. Hotter pan, more frequent flipping. Cooler pan, have a sip of coffee while you watch the moisture evaporate from your tortillas. I don’t use a spatula for any of this. It’s finger food, so I use my (clean) hands. It’s okay to peek inside if you want to check. It’s done when it’s the color and consistency you want AND the cheese is melted. If the cheese still has the same look as when it went in, it’s not ready yet. Hint: this one is NOT ready yet:

I’ll add some shots of the stuff I can get here in Kyushu to make this all work.

What do you do with all the leftover chicken from Christmas dinner? Make sandwiches, of course. You can also cut or tear up the meat and add it to quesadillas (I feel a post on making those coming up).

It was a tasty meal and served its job well: filling the Viajeros to the bursting point. Let’s walk back through the preparation. The hardest part is related to living in Japan: whole chickens are just not common here. I suppose the reason is that Japanese kitchens are small with small ovens (ours is not that big), and food is mostly prepared to be eaten with chopsticks (no need for knives and forks). However, you cannot coax the same flavor out of cut up chicken as you can from a whole bird.

Our local supermarket, Yume Mart, is a relatively new kid in town, having bought out the former Nikko Nikko Do. Nikko Nikko Do was a local outfit and very accomodating. Yume Mart is an arm of Yume Town and is a bigger company with corporate offices outside Kumamoto. They don’t play as well. I went in to get some tomato sauce, you know, to make some meat sauce for pasta. No tomato sauce at Yume Mart! The manager steered me to the ketchup! Is there anything more basic than tomato sauce? But I digress a bit…

Anyway, Yume Mart, like most Japanese supermarkets, does not sell whole chickens. When Mrs. Viajero went to order a whole chicken, she was told they do not sell whole chickens. After some grilling by the Mrs., they relented and promised to have one for us.

I had a bit of sticker shock when I went to pick it up. ¥2111 is about $23! It was a good-sized bird at 2155 grams (just over 2 kilograms; sorry, I don’t do pounds, ounces, or any other Imperial-ness anymore), but come on! Okay, bird is home. Let’s get it ready. I usually prep all the vegetables, etc. first and do the poultry last to cut down on the chances for contamination. I wash all the veggies and drain them. Any peeling and cutting is next. My mashed potatoes are a hit, so I get a bag or two of russets (they are really small here). And you got to have lots of onions.

The other important veggies are celery and carrots, and I add some broccoli just for variety.

If you’ve noticed that there are more vegetables above than there are below, score yourself 10 points! I fill up about 1/2 of a large pot with onions, celery, and carrots for the chicken stock (I wrote a bit about this before) I start boiling while dinner is going on.

I rinse the chicken well and dry it off. I cut off the bits that the supermarket leaves on, like the neck and feet parts. Those go in the stock pot. I usually leave a stick of butter out in the morning, so it will be soft enough later when I need it. I take a big chunk of that and put it in a small bowl. To that I add the herbs and salt and pepper. I kind of blend it together as best I can with my fingers and squeeze off bits. Then I peel back the areas of the chicken skin that are big enough for a hand or even a few fingers to get in. I slide those herbed butter bits into as many places as I can; those yellow spots below are butter. Trussing is courtesy of The Joy of Cooking; that book is always handy on my holiday cooking table. Oh, yeah, I layer the veggies around the chicken.

I will cook the bird for about 15-20 minutes before adding the veggies next time. I don’t like them as soft as they came out this time. As you can see from the color and the sheen, the chicken juices and butter did not go to waste…

After the chicken comes out, I let it rest a bit.

While we’re waiting for the bird to cool down a bit, the potatoes I’ve been boiling (with some garlic, onion, and some kind of herbs) are usually about ready to mash. I use a hand masher and add some heavy milk and melted butter. They were especially tasty this time.

That’s about it. Note to self: grab another Viajero to take some shots at other times during the cooking process. Then I’ll have more to write about in future viajerations…

Kumamoto is noted for its high-quality agriculture. There are a variety of fruits and vegetables that are shipped from this area and promoted (at high prices) in the big cities like Tokyo. I saw a Kumamoto tomato fair about 5 years ago in Kobe, and my eyes popped out at the prices!

We are lucky here. Some places have certain times when you can pay a fee and go in and pick and eat and take home some yummy food.

In the summer, you can head up into the mountains and pick blueberries. My timing was a bit tardy in late July, as the fruit had lost a bit of its sweetness. I’ll have to try again this year. I understand June is the better month.

If you’re in Fukuoka, you shouldn’t have to go very far to find an Ichiran. You may have to look carefully, though because they’re not very big. Once you find one, walk in and look for the ticket machine, like the one above. As you can see, there aren’t many things to choose from, and there are photos for each of the items they sell. It all revolves around the ramen, so get one of those and anything you want to go with it.

Once you have your tickets, you may need to wait for a place to sit. Look at the panel of lights near the seats and wait for the same number of blue lights as your party, but be forewarned that if it’s too crowded, you may have to sit separately. As you’ll see, not sitting with your friends may not be a big deal. Once you get the blue light, go sit at your number.

Here’s your space for eating. It’s not big, but remember, the focus is on the noodles. As you can see, I’ve got my chopsticks ready.

If this is your first time, you can run through the checklist sitting in your spot. Chopsticks? Check. Glass of water? Check. Ticket? Check. Order form? Oh, yeah, mmmm, how should I have my ramen prepared today…?

The most important part of the meal is choosing how your noodles come out. This is all done on the form that is waiting for you when you sit down. If you have eaten ramen at many places, you will realize that this form is an incredible addition to a noodle shop! Virtually all ramen shops pride themselves on the food they make, and you mostly get what they prepare.

At Ichiran, you choose, in the following order, the strength of the broth; the fat content of the broth; optional sourness; the amount of garlic; what kind, if any, of green onion or leeks; optional slices of pork; the amount, if any, of their “special” spicy sauce; and how firm you want your noodles. The shop in Canal City has an added option with half a boiled egg.

There was an English version available at the Canal City shop. Your mileage may vary.

One final note is that the Canal City shop serves its ramen in beautiful rectangular bowls (is it a bowl if it isn’t round?) Take off the lid, and…

enjoy!

I understand there’s a shop in Kumamoto. That one is high on my list of restaurants to visit next…

Having lived in Japan for most of the past 23 years, I appreciate how the founders of the Hard Rock Cafe felt. I know it’s not so healthy, but I don’t eat like this very often any more. The shot above is from the Hard Rock Cafe in Nagoya. Boy, was this burger good. Note to those who put together the menus: there is not enough salsa in the ramekin for the burger, AND the salsa is not spicy enough. Please add some heat to that salsa!

He has a list of tips on boosting your brain power on the yahoo site. Useful tips include doing some brain exercises like puzzles and memorizing items in a list; getting enough sleep (and grabbing a power nap) and exercise; eating the right foods; brewing your own herbs; and drinking green tea every day (I’ve got mine right here! )

I would add to the list the fermented foods like natto and miso. What do you do to keep your brain healthy?

World, meet Mr. Ota. His San Diego restaurant, Sushi Ota, is just about the best sushi shop I’ve been to (I’ll save my other favorite, Daiki, in Ise, for another post). Besides being a great guy, Mr. Ota runs a smooth-running ship with fantastic food. We were trying to figure out when we first started going; it must have been not too long after he opened in the late 1980′s. That was back when there were exactly two people behind the counter: Mr. Ota and a nice guy nicknamed Joe. Now there are seven or eight people perfectly choreographed. It’s a big coincidence that Mr. Ota’s hometown is a couple of hours south of Kumamoto (in Hondo). He’s in my hometown, and I’m near his. Mr. Ota knows what my family likes, and he takes great pride watching our expressions after putting his original California- and Kyushu-fused creations in front of us. He has never missed with us. This meal took place about four months ago, so I’m working from the photos and my feeble memory. If the details are lacking, just enjoy the photos, and use your imagination…

Our meal started off with the above creation, although I broke it up before I remembered to take a picture of it. It was crab meat and tomato in a savory gelatin, and it just melted in my mouth.

I need to take some notes when I go back next time because I cannot remember what was in this original masterpiece. I do remember that the avocado matched perfectly with the grated daikon, tare (sauce?), and the fish inside.

This was one of those one-bite experiences that last only as long as you can chew it. There was crab involved and squid and a white fish, and that sauce!

Yes, your honor, guilty as charged. I forgot what kind of fish this was, but it was grilled to perfection and it was tender and extremely tasty.

I understand the giant bluefin tuna is dwindling rapidly. A few orders of various parts of maguro is usual for me. This time we had one order of toro and left it at that. I hope the tuna population returns to normal soon. We should all think carefully before catching/ordering/eating any more giant bluefin tuna.

Uni (sea urchin) is a delicacy in Japan. It just so happens that the waters of the east side of the North Pacific Ocean are filled with sea urchins. Sushi Ota serves them up from both California and Japan.

My wife likes the awabi (abalone); I can do without it. It’s a bit too chewy for me. She said it was wonderful!

Memory lapse again. As you already know, the one on the right is sake (salmon), but the one on the left eludes me right now. Perhaps another trip is in store, so I can ask…

Our final order was tamago. I think it was the first time to order it at Sushi Ota. Check out the cool brand.

Thanks for (another) excellent meal, Mr. Ota. I can’t wait to go back!

This is the loaf of bread I put in the bread machine early on the morning of the day after Thanksgivng. I haven’t been brave enough to go 100% whole wheat (I’m working with an unfamiliar brand of WW flour) yet. The loaf in the photo above is 75% WW; the other 25% is plain ol’ bread flour. Anyway, this post has taken me longer to put together than I wanted it to, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Speaking of cookies..

We baked these after the bread was done. Many of them went out to neighbors and/or friends, but that’s what cookies are for: bringing joy to those who eat them.

After all the baking was taken care of, I started on the chicken (a turkey is way too much food for us). I shoved a sizable chunk of butter in strategic places on and under the skin and added salt, pepper, and rosemary.

It went in the oven for 20 minutes. Then I flipped it over and spread chunks of carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes all around the bird. I cooked it another 20 minutes and flipped it over again. After about 10 minutes, I started to keep my eye on it. It needed another 20 minutes, for a full hour of cooking.

I kept the neck and the bits I cut off from the chicken before roasting it. All of that and all of the bones and bits of meat went into a big pot. I added carrots, onions, and celery and covered it all with water. I turned up the heat until it just was getting ready to boil. Then I turned the heat all the way down. I let it simmer for two and half hours (I should have let it go another 30 minutes or so, but it was getting late) and scooped off the fat from time to time.

I let it cool off and strained it into a big bowl. This went into four plastic containers. The soup stock has been a source of some great soup and a nice risotto in the past few weeks. I can’t wait for the next excuse to roast a chicken…