food or goo

Lotus root, edamame and sweet potato.  Konyaku with mixed nato and vegies.

(Somen ramen with yama no yasai (vegetables from the mountain)/ tofu/ okra/kombu (pickled seaweed with sesame seeds)  dipping sauce and yes, nato)

For the past three weeks, (due in large part to laziness, no need to feel sorry for me Maman), I have been consuming bucket loads of anything cheap, fast and relatively fresh. Having dissolved my love for COMBINI'S or rather convenient stores (rather eloquently translated into Engrish by the Japanese) in the first week of having arrived, I have resorted to extremely well-priced food at the budget supermarcher next to my homage.)

Nato, for those of you who have not had the pleasure to indulge, is a mixture of fermented soy beans that is nice and gooey, sticky, gel-like and slimy (all descriptions that hope to entice to palette). It is generally mixed fervently with mustard and a bit of a special soy. Not only is it ridiculously cheap (90 yen for three so under a dollar), it is stupendously nourishing and high in protein. For most, its smell (and let alone taste, if you ever got to putting it in your mouth), is horrendous and mortifyingly gross. When I was home staying with a family in Australia, my host actually freaked out when she returned from grocery shopping as she exclaimed: 'Oh no! The cat has pissed everywhere again!' in reference to the no-doubt nauseating smell that I must have fumigated the house with after my afternoon lunch with rice.

Black beans and grains mix (supposed to mix if with rice. but I forgot the rice.)

So, after having successfully persuaded you of this culinary delight, I felt it would be fun to document all this strange food I have been consuming so that I shall look back in nostalgic envy for my ridiculously healthy diet that shall be sorely missed.