Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pray For Japan


After the delicious Tempura-Don, our kind friends took us to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo; basically the emperor's crib. Although we were not lucky enough to go in,but the view from outside was pretty good. The Palace , surrounded by a beautiful garden of trees and a pond.





After walking around the park, we headed to Tokyo tower. The sun soon fell, and the stomach started to rumble. Our friends gave us a few options for dinner, we narrowed it down to two. a) Iron Chef Kenichi's Restaurant or b) this oldish ramen shop called Taishoken which was famous for tsukemen. Ahh... which one to choose? I was and still am a massive Iron Chef fan, and Tsukemen was the dish that made me fall in love with Japanese cooking.

After contemplating, I said , Taishoken! It is!. Tsukemen translated to English means dipping noodles; basically cold noodles served separate from the soup with lots of dipping and slurping action. This place is said to be the place which invented or the origin of Tsukemen. So I had to try it. When I was younger, I didn't have much exposures to Japanese food. Then I met Yoshi, she introduced me to the wonders of Nihon Yori( Japanese cooking). One of the first dish she got me to try was Tsukemen. Coming from Malaysia, we hardly had cold food... most Malaysian food are served hot; It took a little convincing to get me to try it at first, but now; I have no regrets.


Its been a while since I had Taishoken's Tsukemen. Every other ramen I have had since has not been good enough. It seems rather selfish, talking about indulging in food, when many in Japan do not have much. But this post is a tribute to the people of Japan and a testament to their will power , resilience and dedication to everything that they do including their food

The terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan of recent is the worst I've seen in my lifetime. I pray to never see anything like this again. Japan has been strong , and I hope they will recover.

If you have a spare dollar : RED CROSS
If you don't : Pray For Japan

14 comments:

Kitchen Belleicious said...

I am definitely and have been praying for Japan! Great blog and so glad you visited me yesterday so I could find your site. Love all your travel stories and the pics of the food! have a great weekend!

Jessica

SKIP TO MALOU said...

Thanks for dropping by and Im glad to visit yours... the devastation in Japan has been haunting my mind... I pray for them... and I am more appreciative of the littlest things in life now as an aftermath...

Kaitlyn said...

hi there --- thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Your food looks so yum! In response to the foil on the pan handle, yes it does make it safe to put rubber/plastic handles in the oven :) Neat to know for frittatas and the like!

Carla said...

Hi Ron great to have found your blog... I am praying for japan.. Great pics.. Carla

Maris (In Good Taste) said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing me to find yours. I am certainly praying for Japan and the wonderful people.

From the Kitchen said...

Ron: Thanks so much for stopping by and introducing me to your blog. Already prayers and a small donation to the good people of Japan from us have gone out. And, I enjoyed your N.C. post as those are the mountains I grew up surrounded by--just a bit further north in Virginia.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your food, photography and travels.

Best,
Bonnie

chow and chatter said...

oh that noodle dish sounds fun and kind post

Fresh Local and Best said...

Japan needs support now more than ever, so visiting and enjoying what they have to offer is helpful to the country. That Tsukemen looks delicious!

That's Ron said...

thanks for dropping by~ Japan sure does need the support!

Joanne said...

Mmm that ramen looks so good! WHat a great way to spread such a great message!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What happened to Japan is terrible! It is such a beautiful country. They are in my thoughts...

Cheers,

Rosa

Viv said...

Interesting travel diary...i thought you visited japan recently after the earthquake! yeah, still keeping japan int he prayers...news were saying theres gonna be more quakes in the year to come ><

CHECKS AND SPOTS said...

I know what you mean - even though the media has moved on and is no longer focusing on Japan, we still need to do all that we can to help support the Japanese...they need us more than ever...

Stephanie said...

Such gorgeous pictures! Thanks for the tour!