Can't Complain 'Cause It's Curry

The turnaround from yesterday's meal to today's was so remarkable, it reminds me of when an MLB team goes from a 100-loss year to a 100-win season the next.

One word: curry.

I've actually been waiting for this meal ever since I noticed it on the meal plan.

The salad was just okay, but was helped by the fact that I was able to pick (maybe) the (only) bowl that didn't have any bits of ham in it. Hooray for me!

The soup, as you can tell, wasn't that great either, but I did eat it all, which means I moved on to the main dish having eaten every bit of my food up to that point.

That doesn't happen very often, as you well know.

The curry, which we've had before (most recently on May 25) was very, very good. I even wanted seconds, but since I had had plenty to eat by then, I passed, somewhat unwillingly.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I'll take curry any day.

Total points: 7

Exercise, Anyone?

So much for thanking the Lunch Lady.

This goes down as one of the worst meals I've ever had here in the school cafeteria.

There's really not much I can say about it.

The only part of the main dish I liked was the two small pieces of potato.

After I ate those, I nibbled at the rest of what was in my bowl, but I couldn't stand doing that for very long, so I then brought it over to my buddy, Mr. Vacuum Cleaner.

As I expected, he gladly took the food off of my hands.

I asked him if he wanted my salad, too, since I knew I wouldn't be eating that, either, and he was also more than happy to take that. (I didn't bring the salad with me, so I had to go get it for him, but trust me, I didn't mind at all!)

I then decided to push my luck and see if Mr. VC also wanted my soup. He declined, but that really wasn't a big deal. Since I couldn't find a taker for that, I dumped it.

So, yeah, I guess you could say the one good thing about this meal was that I got a little bit of exercise walking my food over to Mr. VC.

That's not saying much, is it?

Total points: 1 (thanks to the potatoes)

Thank You, Lunch Lady

Sometimes I swear the Lunch Lady is listening.

This is one of those times.

Remember how I complained about the fried fish Friday? Well, today we got broiled fish.

Thank you, Lunch Lady.


What's more, the fish was salmon, which is my favorite.

Thank you times two!

The salad had a double whammy of ham and katsuobushi, so I gave that away without touching it.

The soup wasn't so great, either, but I did finish that.

Since I was still hungry after finishing my fish, I got a second portion. After all, the portion size is rather small in the first place.

I would have preferred a different sauce than the one we got, which I think was a mayonnaise/onion mix, but it wasn't all that bad.

Hear ye, hear ye! I'll take broiled over fried any day! Thanks!

Total points: 5

Meat-Only "Meal"

When I walked into the cafeteria today, I looked at what we were having and thought, "Well, at least it's meat."

Too bad I couldn't say anything positive about the rest of the meal.

Let's start with the salad.


I took one bite and gave it away faster than Superman can fly.

Next up we have the soup.

There were supposed to be several bits of pork in mine, but all I found was one tiny one. Ugh. There were also two types of tofu in there. Double ugh.

Finally, we have our main dish.

I tasted the odd vegetable mishmash that came with the pork and quickly realized I'd be giving it away. Thanks to Honda, that was easy as pie.

At least the meat itself tasted half-decent enough that it was worthy of seconds. I didn't want any part of that side dish, though, so when I went up to the counter to get more, I (really!) said, in Japanese, "Meat only, please."

The server let out a little chuckle but was happy to oblige me. Thank you!

I even got thirds, since one of the girls I was sitting with couldn't finish hers.

Yeah, so I guess you could call this a meat only "meal."

Total points: 5

F-F-F-Fried F-F-F-Fish F-F-F-Friday

I usually don't get too excited when I see "fried fish" on the menu, because, as much as I like fish, I prefer not to eat the fried variety.

(I think one reason why my cholesterol is much higher now than it was when I first came to Japan is the ridiculous amounts of fried food we are served here.)

Rather than give away my main dish, however, I ate it. I can also tell you that it tasted pretty good, primarily thanks to the lemon seasoning.

After I took this picture, I even added some sesame dressing to my sliced cabbage to give it some flavor. I didn't put the dressing on sooner, because today the dressing came in little packets, rather than in big bottles, and since the sesame dressing looked like mustard, I passed on it until I was told otherwise.

(There was one other type of dressing to choose from. Since it was labelled "coleslaw" dressing, some of the kids I was sitting with thought that "coleslaw" was the flavor. They were pretty surprised when I told them that their sliced cabbage was the coleslaw.

Too bad the salad wasn't very appetizing. I took one bite and knew it wasn't for me. I gave that sucker away as fast as I could.

The same goes for the soup. There were some bits of pork in there, but, overall, it just wasn't very good.

Total points: 5

Pass The Potatoes

Today, when it was time to take a bowl of the main dish, I quickly took in my options and then grabbed what I perceived to be the bowl with the most potatoes, since there wasn't much else in there that I liked.

I also try to grab the biggest piece when there's fish or meat on a plate.

I often fail, but this time I think I did OK.

I gave away a few bits of this and that, including the konnyaku, finished my serving, and even went to get seconds. I planned to ask for potatoes only, but there wasn't much food left in the first place, so I lost out on that endeavor. Oh, well. At least I didn't get served natto!

The salad was okay, for the usual reason (it included bits of tuna rather than ham).

The soup was about as bland as it gets, except for the one, nice, big piece of potato.

In short, this was just one of those meals.

Total points: 5

Funky Chunky Chicken

This was actually a halfway decent meal.

About the only bad part was the ham that came in the salad, but, as usual, I was able to find someone who was willing to take it off my hands.

The main dish, no thanks to the hidden mushrooms, but thanks to the hidden chunks of yummy chicken, was a real winner, for this kitchen, anyway. I finished my bowl and promptly got seconds.

I also had seconds of the bread, especially since it tastes great dipped in the main dish's soupy sauce. Heck, I'll take bread over rice any day!

Oh, and look what else we have: dessert!

Granted, the dessert was fruit (in this case two apricot slices) and not chocolate cake or tiramisu, but still, it added to the meal, which is always a good thing.

Yeah, so this meal was definitely one of the better ones.

Total points: 7

This Ain't No School Lunch!

Today I went on a "business trip" to Miyazaki City, because two of my students were participating in a speech contest there.

Since the four of us (me, my supervisor, and the two girls) weren't at school for lunch, we had lunch at a restaurant in Miyazaki City.


I ordered "ten don," which is tempura ("ten") over rice ("don").

The main dish might look a bit undone to you, but that's only because I took this picture before pouring the sauce (that stuff in the top right) over it.

The tempura, which consisted of two prawns, a piece of bell pepper, a piece of eggplant, and a piece of pumpkin, was quite delicious.

The soup wasn't great, but it tasted fresh.

The only thing I didn't eat was the tsukemono, those two yellow "pickles."

Too bad we don't get served food like this every day at school.

Either that, or too bad I don't go on more business trips!

Total points: 8

Food Fit For A Barbarian

Today's lunch was a Miyazaki specialty called "Chicken Nanban," or "Barbarian Chicken." I have no idea why it's called what it's called, but it's pretty darn good. Unfortunately, despite how delicious it can be, Chicken Nanban is essentially a Japanese version of fried chicken.


In other words, Chicken Nanban is not very healthy.

That's why I normally give some or all of it away. Besides, the quality of the meat we get is usually pretty sub-standard. This time, though, it looked OK, so I ate it. I just wish there had been more sesame dressing for my shredded cabbage.

The soup wasn't very good.

The salad was bad, so I gave it away. Luckily for me, I had no trouble finding a taker.

I'm not a barbarian, so I guess this meal was not for me.

Total points: 5

A Spoon Would Help

How fitting.

Continuing the trend of pathetic lunches, today we get the ol' "Hungry Meal" (last seen on May 23).

I did eat the fish, if you can call them that, but they didn't add anything to the meal. I gave away the "pickles" and the umeboshi.

I did eat the main dish and even had seconds of it (which essentially defeated the purpose of the Hungry Meal), but I don't think it did much for me besides fill my stomach, at least temporarily.

Next time we get served "wet" rice, I hope I remember to bring a spoon.

Total points: 4

An Accessory After The Fact

Umm... yeah.

I gave that main dish away without even tasting any part of it. Been there, done that, don't like it.

As usual, a lot of the kids told me how good it was, and I just stared at them in disbelief.

When they asked me what I didn't like about it, I said, "Everything. I mean, just look at it. It looks like puke."

Hearing that, of course, grossed them out a bit, but not any more than looking at the food grossed me out.

The soup wasn't very good, either, but I did consume it. Let's leave it at that.

The salad was good, primarily because it contained tuna, not ham, and, because of the slim pickings, I got seconds of it.

The only thing left to eat was the "green rice," which wasn't bad.

Unfortunately, this meal did anything but make up for yesterday's crime of a meal.

Total points: 3

Punishment 101: A Crime Of A Meal

Remember what I said about the kids who didn't get steak looking on jealously at those of us who did?

Well, now you know why.

This was not a "Hungry Meal," but it may as well have been one.

Take the ham out of that salad and you have so little left that I didn't even bother and just gave the whole thing away.

The soup wasn't much better. There were actually some bits of pumpkin hidden in there, along with diced bits of onion, but nothing to write home about.

I can't really say much about the main dish, either.

As you can see, by the time those fish made it out of the fryer and onto my plate, they were "dead." I mean, I can't imagine they had any nutritional value whatsoever.

As for the potato wedges, well, I am a huge fan of them, but they taste much better with ketchup and aren't really that good for you, anyway.

I swear, this meal seemed like punishment.

Seriously!

Lunch Lady, are you out of your mind? You're supposed to serve us meals, not snacks.

Total points: 2

Geography 101: Steak Your Claim

Today was one of the rare lucky days when we get served steak. We even get to grill our own meat, so we can prepare it just how we like it. (In my case, that means medium-well.)

With about 120 steaks getting grilled at the same time, the cafeteria gets pretty smoky, but that's part of the fun.

Also, since only half of the students, the high- schoolers, got steak today (the junior-high kids get theirs tomorrow, for whatever reason), the other half of the kids had to sit there, jealously looking over at us lucky ones while eating their less-than-comparable meals. (You'll see what I mean tomorrow.) Sure, some students don't like meat, but they are in the great minority, along with the Japanese who don't like rice.

Anyway, as I've grown to expect from the cafeteria food, just because the main dish is great doesn't mean the rest of the food will be worth a lick. Just check out that meager-looking salad, for instance. Oh, and what's up with that ridiculous excuse for a soup? Give me break.

Yeah, so even though I'm lovin' the steak, the lunch lady blew it with the sides, so even this meal won't score too high. Ugh!

Anyway, since there was some extra steak, I was able to get seconds, which was awesome, even if my share was just a half!

Check it out, too: My first steak looks like Afghanistan (or a backward Iran) and my second steak looks just like the United States!

Holy cow!

(Should I have sold them on eBay?)

Total points: 7 (strictly based on the steak)

When A Loss Is Not A Loss

If you've been reading my blog regularly (or if you're a former GSS student), you can tell by the picture of today's lunch that this was a so-called "Family Meal."

As you can also see by the picture, family meals tend to be not very good.

Why would I want to eat a bowl (half-)full of beans? OK, yeah, sure, there's also some meat and veggies in there somewhere, but you practically need a microscope to find them.

About the only thing that bowl of "curry beans" was good for was to dip my bread in. That's why I gave it away as soon as I finished the bread.

The salad was actually really good (yes, I am complimenting the food!), since the kitchen staff wised up and replaced the usual ham with tuna. I'll take tuna over ham any day!

Since there wasn't much food today and I was hungry, I decided to get seconds of the salad. What's more, since there wasn't much food today and I was hungry, I decided to get thirds(!) of the salad! Yessiree Bob, thirds!

That might be the first time I have ever gotten thirds of anything here in the school cafeteria, but I can't swear to that. In any case, that's a really good sign, right?

As for the fruit, well, those two little things are loquats. (I had to look that up.) I have no idea if I had ever had a loquat before this meal. I ate one of the two and gave the other one away, since the one I did eat had almost no flavor. That was disappointing, since I expected the fruit to be sweet.

By the way, everyone (or almost everyone) pealed the skin off of their loquats before eating them (just as they do with grapes!). I didn't see the point of that, so I just bit right in. As I told one teacher who looked at me a bit funny upon seeing that: "It's not going to kill me." (A little roughage never hurt!)

This being a family meal, there was the usual game of "rock, paper, scissors" going on at many tables to determine who the lucky person (or persons) would be who got to take all of the trays with the plates, utensils, and garbage piled high, over to the return area.

(Too bad they have to deal with the extra plates for the bread and fruit, both of which we could have done without, as well as both spoons and chopsticks, when either would have sufficed!)

My family almost never plays, but since I had moved to another family's table after I was done with my meal, I ended up playing with them, just for the heck of it. Lucky for me, I eliminated myself from contention early on by going with "paper."

Losing isn't much fun, since you have a lot of work to do. Nevertheless, absolutely no one makes fun of you. In America or Europe, if you were the poor soul who was the obvious loser, I'm sure that could be pretty embarrassing, but not here.

That little fact is one of the nice things about this country!

Total points: 4 (thanks to the salad!)

Everything But

Today's meal was definitely "NG," or "no good."

At least I have a funny story about the salad, which was not very tasty.

You see, one of the girls I was sitting with wanted it, but I made her earn it. By the time she was able to correctly ask for it in English (I am an English teacher, after all!), I had practically eaten it all. Lucky for her, I did slow down toward the end, though, so that I could reward her efforts.

The main dish, which I will call "Chinese Chow," was for the birds. I nibbled on a few pieces of meat, picked out a few bits of bamboo, and gave the rest away.

Amazingly, before I even tried to give it away, though, the girl to my right asked if she could have the baby corn. "My pleasure, darlin'! It's all yours!" (No, I didn't actually say that.) A couple of the other girls took the rest and that was that.

The only part of the meal that I liked at all was the soup. Well, the soup itself wasn't so great, but the fish balls, which were actually meat balls (as opposed to "meatballs"!), were yummy.

What I didn't get about those meat balls, though, was why I only had two in my bowl, but the girl in front of me had seven, yes 7(!), in hers. She was kind enough to give me two of hers, though, since I had given her some of my food.

(Side note: I've noticed that, for the most part, very little food trading takes place. What I mean is, the kids are happy to take food off of your hands, but they generally don't automatically ask if you want something in exchange. What I have seen take place, however, is a kid being "forced" to take more than he wanted when he asked if he could have another kid's food. I guess the bottom line is, it's all a matter of supply and demand.)

Anyway, because I enjoyed those meat-not-fish-balls, I went to get seconds of the soup. Before I headed up to the counter, though, I bet a couple of the girls at my table how many balls I'd get. I bet two, one girl bet three, and the other bet four.

We were all wrong.

I got a big fat goose egg: Zero!

Say what?

Yesterday, a guy went to get seconds of the stuffed cabbage and came back with a bowl full of everything but, and today I went to get seconds of the soup (including the balls!) and came back with a bowl (ridiculously!) full of everything but.

NG!

At least another girl was kind enough to donate one of her balls to me so that the noodles in my bowl had someone to talk to and so that I wouldn't go hungry.

Thanks, Akari!

Total points: 3

For The Love Of Mayo!

Who's idea was it to put mayonnaise on bread and package that for sale?

Why on Earth would you want to ruin a perfectly good piece of bread by spreading mayonnaise on it?

Have you not heard of the expression "sold separately?"

We don't all like mayonnaise. Let us choose whether we want it on our bread or not.

Thank you very much!

At least the mayonnaise was confined to the middle of the roll, so tore that section off and gave it to my neighbor, who was more than happy to receive it!

Oh, and look what's in my salad... Could that be ham? Why, yes, it is! Go figure...

Oh, and look what's in my bowl of stuffed cabbage leaves... Could that be ham, too? Why, yes, it is! Go figure. (OK, OK, it's actually bacon, but in my book ham = bacon and bacon = ham. Ugh.)

When I held up with my chopsticks one of the cabbage leaves that had lost its stuffing, it looked like something really disgusting that had just come out of my nose... That thought kept me from eating it for a brief while.

Take a good look at that bowl of food, anyway, and you'll see that there's practically nothing in it! Getting seconds wouldn't have done me much good, either.

You see, when my bread-receiving neighbor came back from getting another helping, he sat down and we had a little conversation, in English(!), that went like this:

"What's today's main dish called?"

"Stuffed cabbage."

"So why is there no stuffed cabbage in my bowl!?"

They had run out of stuffed cabbage and instead gave him "stuffed bowl." Nice job!

Anyway, at least there was a little dessert today, that small piece of pineapple. You can't really go wrong with fruit!

Oh, and the kids at my school love to take empty plastic wrappers and tie them up into bows. I have no idea who started that, but tons of the kids do it. I haven't really adopted the habit yet, but maybe I should, to be a little more Japanese (as if that would be possible!).

Thanks for demonstrating, Yuka!

Total points: 4

Ham Strikes Again, And I'm Not Talking About Mia!

,

I swear, ham is about as popular in this country as rice, at least at my school, anyway.

Can we please do without the ham in the salad? Thank you!

Can we please do without the ham (bacon) in the corn chowder, even if the recipe calls for it? I don't want it!

Oh, and please make the soup thicker next time.

Thank you for broiling the pork cutlet instead of deep-frying it. Broiling it is much healthier. The broccoli on top was a bit overdone, but it added a little flavor, which was nice.

On a side note: Today I noticed that one particular student had gotten a huge second helping (which I later found out was actually his third helping!) of rice.

I couldn't help remarking that the giant pile of grains in his bowl looked just like a serving of kakigori, which is a popular summer dessert here that consists of shaved ice covered in flavored syrup.

Anyway, this student is one of the famous "vacuum cleaners," so I probably shouldn't be that surprised that he eats so much!

Total points: 5

Pass The Soup

This was one of those really bad meals, yet again.

I knew what to expect before I even went to the cafeteria, however, since I saw the dreaded "筑前煮" on the monthly meal plan.

Oh, how I hate seeing those words...

Somehow, today's main dish wasn't as horrible as it usually is, but I guess that's only because the server didn't fill up my bowl to the rim with the disgusting stuff as per usual.

When I aired my displeasure with the dish, a girl at my table said that she'd gladly take whatever I didn't want off my hands. Deal!

I dug out the few bits of potato that I could find and handed the rest over to her. Thank you very much!

Somehow I ended up eating the whole (albeit small) salad, but I wasn't very happy about that. I think the only reason I finished it was that the ham wasn't ham, but rather some pastrami-like meat.

The soup was pretty bad, too. I just picked out the chunks of tofu and eggplant and left the rest (the liquid).

Since all the kids are essentially trained (told?) to finish everything on their trays, another girl I was sitting with jokingly told me that I had to drink what was left in my soup bowl. I used that opportunity to start a little game of "Pass The Soup" (a.k.a. "Pass The Salad," "Pass The 筑前煮," or "Pass The [Whatever Food You Don't Want]") with her and the one other girl who was left at my table.

The game is simple: You just take your soup bowl and put it on someone else's tray, and then you grab their soup bowl and put it on your tray. You keep passing the soup until someone finally gives in and keeps your soup (good!), or, as in yesterday's case, you end up with your own soup back (bad!).

The version of "Pass The Soup" that I played today was the one with all players present, but my favorite version of the game is the one that is played when one or more players are momentarily gone, usually because they went to get a drink or seconds. The great thing about the latter version of the game is that you simply can't lose!

One time last year, I played the game so well that the guy I switched bowls with didn't really notice and ended up eating my food as well as his own! I took note of that and suckered him again a few days later! You'd actually be surprised how easy it is to switch with others.

If you need any tips, just ask. I'm good at it!

Total points: 2

Flavor Is As Flavor Does

Today's meal was actually fairly satisfying. In other words: I ate all of my food. Hooray for the lunch lady!

OK, well, let's not get too carried away here.

The food wasn't that good.

The salad had sort of an odd taste, which I think was mayonnaise (I'm not a fan of mayonnaise!), but I told myself to ignore the strangeness and finish the salad, which I did. The meal was off to a good start.

The soup was supposed to be onion and bacon soup, but, miraculously, there was little or no bacon in my bowl (I'm not a big fan of ham/bacon.), so I was able to finish the soup as well.

As for the main dish, well, as is often the case, it was deep-fried. Nevertheless, since I was pretty hungry and the fish was topped by that chili sauce, I decided to eat it rather than give it away. The sauce was rather overpowering, which meant I barely tasted the fish, but I'm not complaining, since flavor is flavor!

Oh, and let's not forget that steady side dish, shredded cabbage, which I managed to drown in my favorite sesame dressing. The dressing alone is worth a solid point!

Like I said, today's was a fairly satisfying meal.

That doesn't bode well for tomorrow!

Total points: 6

納豆美味しい? Exactly: Not(!) 美味しい!

As soon as I realized that today's meal included liver, I knew that going to the cafeteria today was going to be a mistake. Nevertheless, for the sake of this blog, I went and had lunch.

The salad was practically a repeat of yesterday's salad both ingredients-wise and taste-wise. Hint: Not great.

The soup was pretty bad. I just don't understand the point of miso. I picked out some of the tofu and some of the eggplant, but gave the rest of the soup away (not to one of my usual "vacuum cleaners," however).

As for the main dish, well, luckily there was some chicken and potato wedges in there or I really would have gone hungry. The carrots and those green things were just okay.

Because the guy sitting in front of me liked liver, I gave him everything that I didn't eat and went back for seconds, hoping beyond hope that the lady serving me would scoop up only chicken and potato wedges. Since this isn't Hollywood, however, my dream did not come true. As a matter of fact, I got mostly everything that I was trying to avoid.

Go figure.

Once again, I picked out the good stuff and gave the rest to the guy in front of me. At least he was a happy camper.

The other story of the day was the mounds of natto (納豆) that were consumed at my table. I sat with six students and five of them had that awful fermented bean concoction. What's worse: I think all of them had seconds, and one guy even had a whopping five(!) portions of the stuff (including three at once, as seen in the picture). I'll never understand what anyone finds appealing about fermented soybeans.

Oh, and I also got a mini lesson on the difference between two types of natto.

Isn't that great?

Today's meal might have sucked, but at least it was educational!

Total points: 4 (3 for the food, plus 1 for the entertainment!)

Not Enough Of The Good Stuff

The funny thing about today's meal is that the main dish was listed as "uma" (うま煮), which theoretically means horse, but I knew that's not what we were going to have. When I asked some students what was up with that, they told me that "uma" actually stood for "umai," which means "great."


Well, isn't that just great!? (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice!?)

The soup was just OK, not great.

The salad, which included some bits of squid (Hooray, that's not ham!), was good, not great.

The main dish was also good, not great. I was certainly happy about the two big chunks of potato, but not so wild about the slices of bamboo, and definitely not thrilled about the beans (which I passed on).

Overall, this was just your average meal.

Total points: 4

(Here are the answers to yesterday's trivia questions: 1) The plate for my bread; 2) chopsticks; 3) the paper spoon for the dessert. What do they all have in common? They were all useless! You can do your part, too, to conserving resources.)

Meat 'n Potatoes? You Betcha!

Today's meal was one of the rare good ones.

I don't know why the salad was so small, and, as usual, I don't know why it included ham (the new national food of Japan?), but it was okay (minus the ham, of course!).

The bread tasted fine and was even better when dipped in the main dish's sauce.

The main dish was pretty appetizing. I especially enjoyed (yes, enjoyed!) the potatoes and the "young" chicken. Unfortunately, the broccoli and carrots were way overcooked, but you can't have everything.

I even at that dessert, which was very similar to strawberry jello, even though I knew it wasn't exactly healthy.

There are three things missing from my tray that just about everyone else who had this meal put on their tray. If you've been following my blog, you should be able to name them pretty quickly.

Can you? (See tomorrow's entry for the answers.)

Total points: 6