with a grain of salt



Okinawa Sea Salt



   Last week I went down to Naha with my friend.  We wandered around all the tourist places on Kokusai street.  We spent hours looking at all the glasses and trinkets one could buy.  Some of the stuff is pretty ridiculous.  Japanese people seem to like things that are far from necessary.  Towards the end of our adventure we came across a store that we thought looked like a spice store.  Since we both like to cook we decided to take a look.

   As soon a we walked in you could smell the spices, but it wasn't overpowering like I had expected.  Normally a spice store or market smells so strong its almost unbearable.  But this store was very subdued.  As we started to look around we realized it was a salt store.  An entire store of salt!  I thought it was pretty weird when I realized what the store was, until I started looking around.  Some of the products had English on them or a picture so we could tell what they were.  And you could taste them too.  Seems weird to just eat salt but they were much more then just salt.

   I had never seen so much salt in my life.  They had different types of salts that had spices mixed in like garlic and onion or pepper and lemon.  But then they had some strange things like rose and orchid.  They even had a green tea and sesame one.  It wasn't too bad but I don't know what you would make with it.  They also had salts from all over  the world.  From Europe to the Himalayas.  They even had Merlot salt, which I think I may go back for!

  

Sesoko Island

   Now before I tell you about this beautiful little island, I need to explain a law.  This law is like Murphy's Law, slightly, but not exactly.  Once when I was younger I went to work with my dad, and he had a newspaper clipping on his desk  The clipping said " ORLANDO LAUGHS LAST" .  Now it took 15 years, but I finally get it.  Orlando Laughs Last is the name of this law.  And I will tell you why.  As an Orlando, there are certain elements to life you need to learn.  The most important that pertains to this post is, traveling is never easy!

   In Murphy's Law, it states anything bad that can happen will happen.  Orlando Laughs Last Law is, when you travel something ridiculous will always happen!  Now by ridiculous I mean something that is a set back at first, and usually make you very angry, but in the end makes you laugh.  Hence, ORLANDO LAUGHS LAST".  The law entails losing your bags, getting searched and or threatened to get arrested.  That really has happened.  Also wrong trains have been taken.   But the trick to this law is that once you marry an Orlando, the law affects you as well. 

   A couple of weeks ago I planned a day trip.  While my husband was away with work, I looked up places to drive on Okinawa that looked beautiful.  And I came across Sesoko Island.  Sesoko Island is a very small island, about 2 kilometers in diameter, close to Nago.  You take a bridge from Okinawa to the island.  It seemed like an easy enough drive.  So one Monday we packed up the cooler and went for a drive.  Now I had planned to go on a Monday that my husband had off.  The whole weekend was perfect so I figured it would be perfect.

   Once we walked out of the house it started to get a little cloudy.  But I figured it wouldn't be too bad.  So we set off for the road.  About 10 minutes from our house the skies opened up.  Crazy lightning and pouring rain for the hour drive up there!  The closer we got the darker the clouds looked pretty much right on top of where we wanted to go.  So I thought " at least we have sandwiches for the car picnic we are going to enjoy"!  But we lucked out.  Perfect weather by the time we got there. 

   Once you cross the bridge, you drive through a little town then take a right.  Seemed simple enough.  My husband took the directions way too literal.  The directions we found said take a right after the last house.  I think he wanted to actually find the last house on the island.  After we found ourselves at a dead end in the middle of a field, i decided I would navigate to the beach.  We turned around and found the right that we should have taken.  We then parked the car and walked down the hill.

   We were the only non Japanese here.  They were selling floats and beach toys at the top of the hill, and there were stairs down from the information desk.  I chose to go down the little path and avoid being stared at with those eyes that scream white devil.  After we walked down the path we were right on the beach. It was so beautiful.  White sand and aqua water.  Part of the beach was netted of so kids could play, but I walked down the beach a bit where it was quiet.  It was our own private beach!

   After the ORLANDO LAUGHS LAST LAW kicked in, we ended up having a perfect day.  Great sun, picnic on the beach, and a nice walk with pictures to show!  Now that Pete fully understands what its like to be an Orlando, maybe he will think about changing his last name!  Probably not, but we'll have great travel stories!

Shelton Sushi!

   One Saturday afternoon, my husband Pete and I decided to make our own sushi.  We have lived in Japan for over a year now, so we thought we could try and make brown rice sushi rolls ourselves.  It seemed like it would be a fun way to spend an afternoon.  So as I normally do, I started planning in advance.  As soon as I came up with the idea I started buying all the stuff I would need.  I even made sure I got the ingredients for spicy sauce.  I also I got the expensive nori which turned out to be a bad idea.   I got everything for this sushi day.  Salmon, tuna, octopus, and of course avocado.  I even got Japanese cucumbers instead of normal cucumbers.  It turns out they are not that good.  Next time I will use normal ones.

   I was so excited to make sushi.   A couple of years ago Pete got me a few cook books for Valentines day.  One of them was a Sushi book, and I finally got to use it!  I read the entire thing trying to get my bearings on the jap stuff, and I thought I had done a pretty good job!  I told Pete I was gonna kick his ass in Sushi making!  His answer went something like, How many girl sushi chefs are there?  
   Although I was was excited to make the sushi I was even more excited to use all my plates!  I got so may cute plates for my Engagement shower, and I finally got to use them, including my sushi plate set.  I couldn't be more excited about it!  Until I had to wash all the dishes.  Then I wished we ate on paper plates.  Now I know why my mom always made us eat on paper plates when my friends came over.  Doing dishes really sucks!  Not to mention I'm not that good at it.  I get water all over the place and the dog usually stands behind me and licks the water from the floor.
   The most time consuming part of this process was the rice.  And I truly mean process.  You need to make this sauce with sugar and rice vinegar which has to boil.  But you cant pour it on the rice hot.  The sauce not the rice.  Then you have to fan the rice while you pour the sauce over it and mix it with short, choppy strokes.  For fifteen minutes or until it is room temperature.  Stupid annoying.  But before you can do all these fun steps, you have rinse the rice several times with your hands until the water is no longer milky. The most I have ever had to do to make rice.  I could have made risotto and paella in the time it took me to make sushi rice.
   Once this was done we could get the competition under way. I was for sure going to win the Shelton Sushi roll off.  Or so I thought.  Once we started it was clear that Pete really was better then me.  SHITTY I KNOW!  And the sad thing is I had done this before!  I'm going to blame my sad performance on the fact that was  very excited to eat!  I had even bought gyoza and shumai at the Japanese store so I just wanted to eat.  And I figured the faster I rolled the sooner I could eat.  That's why there are no girl sushi chefs.  We just want to eat it all!



Finished product of the Shelton Sushi roll off!

    So our table looked pretty good and I couldn't wait to eat.  I had even made salad with goma dressing( sesame).  I was so excited!  I tried mine first, so I could taste victory!  Then I tried Pete's, actual victory.  Seriously, it killed me that he was better then me!  We are are going to have to do this again so I can win! 
   So I didn't win, and to make matters worse, I got hives.  For the first time in my life the nori gave me hives!  Stupid expensive Japanese seaweed!  Next time I'm gonna but the cheap stuff so I know its made from algae.  Normally, I'm fine from sushi rolls because I did my research and I know that most nori I made from algae.  And since I'm allergic to seaweed no algae I'm fine.  But of course I had to get the only one made from seaweed.  Thats what you get when you cant read the language!

Ramen Noodles

   Now as an American, when you hear ramen, you think of the stuff that comes in the block of dry noodles that you can buy for 25c.  But that's not what I'm talking about.   Ramen actually means noodles in Japanese, to be specific a type of noodle soup.  And its not the kind you can make in the microwave out of block of dry noodles. 
  The other day my friend took me to a place she has been telling me about for a year.  She has been talking this place up for so long, that finally getting to go was almost too much for me to handle!  Almost.  Once she told me where it was I felt like an idiot.  I drive by it everyday on my way to the gym, and I have even been to the Starbucks next to it.  Yea I said Starbucks.  I live in Japan, we don't have dunkies here. 
   So I met my friend at the restaurant for lunch the other day.  I left right from the gym, because I was in the neighborhood.  It was over 90 degrees and super sunny, but we were still going to get a huge bowl of noodle soup!  Soup is always good!  She said she always gets the signature dish.  So I figured i should go for it too.  Tan Tan Ramen.  The food came out pretty fast so I was even more excited.  In fact I was so excited I kind of forgot to take picture until I was half way through eating!  Sorry guys, I just have to destroy food when I see it sometimes!   The noodles where in a spicy broth with bamboo shoots and green onion.  There was a pile of nicely spiced ground beef.  It was slightly sweet with a bit of ginger and garlic. And of course they had extra chili and chili oil on the side so I had to add some as usual!

Half eaten Ramen

   The restaurant itself was pretty cute.  Small with an open kitchen so you can watch the cook if you sit at the bar.  There was a huge dragon painted on the wall which was actually pretty cool.  Next time I go I think I will sit at the bar so I can watch them cook.  I love to watch Asians cooks.  They are so fast and efficient.  Maybe I can get some of their secrets!        
   This place was so good I cant wait to go back!  I'm sure I will taking Pete there for some diet cheat days real soon.  Especially since its right down the street from the gym.  There was so much more on the menu to try that I'm sure I will be back.

Cheesy picture eating

Sorry its not funny.  Its friggen soup.

Markets!

flower soaps

   Shopping at markets in Thailand can be an amazing experience.  You can find just about anything from clothes to food and everything in between.  And the markets themselves seem to spring up everywhere.  Parking lots and sidewalks seem to be the most common though.   You could literally turn the corner and be in the middle of a street market.  Lost in a sea of smells and trinkets.  I like to stop and look at everything.  You never know what you might find.  Unless someone is cutting up durian.  In that case all you are going to get is a face full of gaseous fruit enzymes that smells like a septic system being pumped.  My advice is to try and walk fast but not run over the old ladies buying groceries. 

      The food markets are even more exciting.  Some of the best food I have ever eaten, I had at a food market.  They have all  the Thai favorites steaming away in caldron's that look like they should have witches brew in them.  My favorite market staple is Cha Yen.  Thai ice tea made from turmeric tea with sweetened condensed milk.  The bright orange color may scare you, but the taste and smell will excite you.  Most places I got Cha Yen from would press the tea like espresso.  It made the flavor of the tea so much stronger then I had ever had it.  But the taste and smell to me is the best!  I notice that smell from around the corner and I have to go find it!  My husband Pete's, favorite Thai street food is mango and sticky rice.  He loves it!  And they drizzle coconut milk on it looks so beautiful and taste even better!   It seems strange to eat fruit and rice together but once you have had it you will never think twice about it.
    Markets and outdoor restaurants is how the Thai people eat.  Its simple but tasty!  The food markets are something to see but not for the squeamish.  They have everything you could imagine eating and also things westerners would never thing think of, like lizard and water bugs.  But I didn't eat anything strange this time so I don't have a story to tell.  I just ate some tasty treats!

     One of the top three best things I have ever eaten in my life,  I got at a little market down the street from the Hua Hin train station.  My husband and I were walking by and I could smell the Cha Yen brewing so I had to stop!  Its the best smell in the world!  As we walked through the market the food and spices for sale were overwhelming.  The combinations of food one could have eaten was ridiculous.  There were to many options and not enough time.  Someday I will have to go back!  As we were walking we noticed a tiny Thai Muslim woman making Thai kebabs.  They looked intriguing we decided to try one.  It was glorious!  Yes I said glorious!  The chicken was Thai flavored and the wrap was a small flat bread almost like a soft cracker.  She topped it with cucumber salad.  It was magical!  As soon as we finished the first, we got a second.  She thought it was funny, but there is nothing funny about how good they were. 

Thai fruit stand

   We had a lot of sweet treats on our trip.  We had Roti, which is a southern desert made of a thin crepe like pastry quickly pan fried in butter and  filled with bananas and then topped with condensed milk. Amazing!  Thai bananas are small and sweet with a flowery taste at the end. Very yummy and the prefect size.  All the fruit in Thailand is so delicious because it is picked the morning you eat it.  Noting is picked before it is ripe.  Which makes everything taste as sweet as it should.  We also had some little fried dough like treats topped with coconut cream. 
  

   The last night we were in Thailand my husband and I were wandering down the street and saw a huge market in a parking lot. We decided to go see what kind of food they had since it was dinner time.  And boy was I happy we did!  This market was so big it was in two parts. One half was food and the other half was clothes.  We ate before we shopped at one of the first stalls.  As my husband ordered some grilled pork, I found a stall that had what looked like wantons fried.  So I got some.  We then found a table in the middles of everything so we could people watch.  The funny thing is I'm pretty sure more people were watching us because we were the only white people there.   We then ate one of the best meals we had in Thailand.  The pork came with this chili sauce that was so tasty I wanted to lick the container but didn't because I didn't want to cause a scene.  And the wantons were not wantons. They were better!   Fried quail eggs in a wanton wrappers.  Amazing!  My husband and I love fried quail eggs so this was a pleasant surprise.  I felt like an animal because it was so good I gave up on eating with the stick and just started eating with my hands.  It made it more satisfying!

   There is one very strange thing about street food that I just could not get used to.  They eat everything out of a bag with one stick.  And when I say everything I mean everything.  From curry soup, to fresh fruit, to drinks, they put it in a bag.  If its hot soup they usually are nice and give you two bags.  Generous!  Nothing says yummy more then a crotch full of soup from a broken bag!  I got springs rolls one day, and I thought the lady was just going to hand me the spring roll.  Nope she cut them up into bite size pieces and put them in a bag and gave me a stick.  So I went the Thai way and ate my snack from the bag with a stick! 

sweetened dried fruits

Night market at On Nut in Bangkok

   All of the food we saw at the markets looked good. I just wish we had more time to eat it all!  I cant wait to go back!

Thai food

   I have wanted to go to Thailand for about 15yrs.  I was so excited when I finally was able to plan a trip.  Thailand has always fascinated me ever since the first time I ate at a Thai restaurant.   The moment I walked in the restaurant I was hooked.  Paintings of Buddha and Siam dancers filled the walls and the smells were, as always, amazing.  I can even remember what I ate.  I'll never forget it!  Yellow curry with chicken and pineapple. The fact that the dish was made with spices, coconut milk, vegetables and fruit was amazing to me.  I just had to go to the country where this culinary masterpiece came from. 
   The older I got, the more interested I became in Thai food.  And how hot it can be.  In the last few years I have become so obsessed with hot foods. And Thai food is absolutely the way to go.   They have so many regional ways of cooking that each meal can be its own experience.  And I do enjoy food experiences!  But the spices they use make each dish unique.  The vast number of spices they use for any given dish is remarkable, and how they use them is key. 
   When you go to a Thai restaurant in the US,  England, or Australia, its always an experience.  The decor is always gilded in gold,  mesmerizing and there is always at least one statue of Buddha.  The food seems to have names like emerald or jade curry.  And the price is usually fairly expensive for a plate of noodles.  But I would pay anything for Thai food.  In Thailand its a bit different.  Its just about the food.  As it should be.  If the food is good, you don't need to talk about whats hanging on the wall.  Most Thai people eat at food markets or stalls that line the streets.  When they do eat in a restaurant its just for the food.  In fact, the restaurants are usually very small and the table are on the street and sidewalks.   It keeps the price down, and you know the food is authentic when you are one of the very few white people.  That's how I like it, me in a sea of Asians, eating!   You can, of course, always find the exception.  In Bangkok and most tourists areas you can eat at a fancier place and pay double for it.  But you also face the chance of eating food that isn't as authentic.  Its most likely less spicy and slightly westernized.  If I wanted westernized Thai food I would cook it myself.  I want spicy.  Actually I was on the hunt for burn your ass hot.  The kind of food that hurts twice.  I think It was hot enough, but I was actually expecting it to be hotter.  I think because I was white they made it less hot.  Even if I did say "phet", which means hot.




Green Curry with chicken



   Normally, I would order green curry, but in Thailand their red curry cant be missed.  The proper use of galang and lemongrass will astound you.  I was mesmerized and I ate it almost every day.   I just couldn't get enough.  And of course there where always chilies and spicy basil in it.  Two of my favorite things!  I would pick them out of every dish.  They probably thought I was so weird.  Chilies in Thailand are hotter because their oil would last longer on your tongue.  It allowed the spiciness to last through the entire dish.  Spicy basil I noticed was referred to as holy basil.  I thought it was just an Asian typo at first.   But then I kept seeing it in menus.  And I must say holy is a perfect way to describe this herb.  I just love the stuff!  



Pad Thai with wide rice noodles, with chilies in fish sauce

 

Stir fried chicken and red curry




Minced chicken with spicy basil and chilies

 

Som Tum- Green Papaya Salad









 

 

Tom Yum- red curry soup with chicken








DRANKIN'

  I know drinking does not pertain to food or travel.  But when you do it with the Sheltons its always an adventure!  When you live on Okinawa its difficult to go to bars that aren't full of military guys.  And by military guys I mean marine meat heads and young airmen who aren't even allowed to drink in the states.  So this last Saturday we were celebrating my husbands birthday.  After going to a brand new sushi restaurant with our friends , we decided to continue on to a few bars.  The game plan was the same as it always is so there shouldn't have been any surprises. Or so I thought.  Apparently, there were a few notices that went out about bar accessories.  There are a few new accessories that been put into play since I started going out. And Im pretty sure I will never take part. 
   Now ladies, I know we all like to dress up, and pick out some cute accessories to wear.  But apparently, the new bar time apparel lends nothing to the imagination.  Which brings me to the first two accessories of the evening. And these two will definitely not be making an appearance in my repertoire.  Beer guts and cellulite ass.  I mean really, if you your shorts and so short that you can see the cellulite in the bottom part of your cheeks, you should have thought of a different outfit. Not to mention that it was only 65 degrees out.  Thats part one. Part two is becoming an increasing problem in my eyes.  I think AFN needs to make a new public service announcement.  Do some friggen situps!   If you can hold your stomach like a pregnant lady with one hand and continue to smoke a butt with the other, I think you need a workout coach.  No one needs to see your fat gut jiggle as you pretend the seizure like movements you are making is dancing.  I also cant forget to mention the girl who was ordering her drink, and apparently she got tired. So she rested her gut on the bar while her drink was being made.  Does that not scream take me home or what.   
   That was only the beginning of the night.  It got even worse from there.  I would have thought it was kind of funny if someone had a flava flav clock on or an eye patch.  But no, people are extra creative these days.  Apparently I missed the memo about bring your pet to the bar night.  There were dogs at every bar we went to. And Im not talking little purse puppies. I talking huge dogs.  Then some idiot walked in with his snake.  Yep, some douche had his snake wrapped around him at the bar.  He obviously needed a leg up in the game department because the girls with the jacked up teeth seemed to just love him!  I mean really why would anyone bring a snake into a bar.  Did I mention the little purse that was attached to his side.  At first I thought it was food for that disgusting reptile, but no. He never fed it.  Im pretty sure it was his money purse.  It looked like an fanny pack from the 1500s.  Im not sure where the art of drinking is going, but I dont like it!