Enjoy Something New – Try Eating Japanese Natto

Natto is a Japanese food that will usually make people scrunch up their faces and say “eew”.  It’s fermented soy beans that have a very thick sticky consistency. It also doesn’t help that it’s also quite pungent.

I personally love natto and strongly urge anyone to try it at least once in their life. If you would like to know why, check out some of the health benefits.

In most countries, you can find natto in Japanese or Asian supermarkets. They will usually be found in the frozen food area.

When you open one up, you will find two little packets along with the natto. The small yellow pack is a type of mustard and the brown liquid is a sauce. The sauce will normally have a slightly sweet flavour…. which I personally don’t like, so I replace this sauce with standard Kikkoman soy sauce.

I also add chopped seaweed for extra health benefits, as mentioned in a previous post “How to Make Ramen Healthier“.

Throw in some chopped green onions for a bit of zing and mix furiously. This will make the natto very sticky and oh so delicious.

 

Eat it on its own or place it on top of steaming hot rice. It’s a filling dish that’s very healthy for you and olny costs a couple of dollars to make!

 

Potato + Cheese + Bacon + Vending Machine =

That’s right, potato and cheese potage.  Along with many other selections of soups and even sometimes *Oden , everything is available in random vending manchines in Japan.

*Oden is a popular cold weather soup that includes simmering tofu, fish cakes, daikon (radish) and many other ingredients.  Very easy to find in convenience stores all across Japan.

One Good Thing A Day – Project Day 8 – Man Flying Kite with Fishing Rod

YOKOHAMA DAY!

We decided to take a day off…well….after doing a little work in the morning….and went down to Yokohama!

I love to visit Yokohama because of the large open spaces and general relaxing atmosphere.  Before getting some lunch, we decided to walk through a park and enjoy the scenery, when we noticed something truly unusual….. a group of older men gathered around one person and looking up at the sky. Naturally, we had to investigate.  Looking up at the sky, we saw a kite, nothing unusual about that….. but when we looked at the person everyone was gathering around, we noticed they weren’t holding a normal kite handle but a fishing rod instead.  Seem that the men were bored of finishing and decided to attach a kite to one of the rods.

I wasn’t able to snap a picture, so here’s a terrible 10 second sketch instead:

While this is certainly NOT the strangest thing I’ve seen in Japan, it’s up there!