Mine and Colton's almost daily trip to the Japanese grocery store is always an adventure. I can never plan what I'm going to make ahead of time because its impossible to guess what they'll have. They have (as you would guess) a lot of fish. We like fish and would eat fish all the time except that we don't know what kind it is. The name of the fish (and everything else) is in kanji. So I don't know if its going to be a white flaky fish or if its going to be some disgusting fishy mushy fish (and who wants to eat that). The only thing we've gotten so far from the fish department was tuna and we only go that because that was the ONE fish we recognized for sure. It was delicious, too. Jason broiled it in the oven and left it a little pink in the middle. It was also very inexpensive. About $3.50 for 1.5 lbs. So today when we headed there with no clue what we were shopping for I headed for the meat department first, then I can get what else I need after I know what protein we will be having. Today I skipped the fish department. The other day I got boneless, skinless chicken but only because I recognized it. I have been craving hamburgers so I got some hamburger meat. Jason and I like to make our hamburger patties out of ground sirloin, but try figuring out which is which in kanji. You can't. I bought the stuff that looked the reddest with the least amount of fat...
I don't know if you can see it, but I think it says 10% off! Again, I think. I just hope its ground beef and not ground pork or something.
So since we were having hamburgers I needed to get buns. As you probably guessed, Japanese people aren't into making hamburgers, so this was impossible. I went to the fresh bread bakery figuring I could find something similar to a bun there. I did! I purchased 2 "buns." I got home and wanted to make sure they were just "buns" so I cut into one. NOPE. There was a black goop inside. Hm... I tasted it. Black beans, again!!! What the heck! Who wants sweetened black beans in a freshly made roll. I want butter in my freshly baked roll!
I hadn't eaten lunch yet when I was the store so I ended up getting something at their "food court." Its much better than a food court though, because its mostly fresher. No Burger King or McDonalds. No franchises really at all (unless they are Japanese franchises and I don't know they are). I got some deep-fried deliciousness (not balls this time ;)) They had everything from shrimp to egg plant to squid. It was a delectable lunch to say the least.
Needless to say, after dinner tonight we will know if Colton and I were successful with our meat selection. Wish us luck!
Oh gosh! I love reading about your shopping experiences. I thought I had it hard in Belgium when we first arrived. But black beans in my buns, this I can't imagine. I have had the same problem finding actual ground beef in the beginning though - we made burgers a few times to realize it wasn't really beef at all! You poor thing! Sounds like everyday is an adventure for you and Colton. Can't you go to the commissary and get American food when you need/want it?
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