189 And Done!

I really wanted to go out with a bang, but that was simply asking too much. Indeed, this was mostly just another give-away meal.

The giveaways included both the main dish (that slop in the bowl on the right) and the soup. As usual, HVC was happy to take the food off of my hands.

At least I had rice to eat, and at least it wasn't plain rice. This time it was "gomoku sushi" (五目寿司), which is basically sushi rice (rice with that vinegary flavor) plus a bunch of other ingredients.

The rice was fine, but all I remember tasting was the vinegar.

I guess I'd have to say the best part of this meal was, yet again, the dessert.

What surprised me the most about the dessert was that we were allowed to take a second strawberry-flavored crepe before we even sat down to eat. I probably should have passed, but when it comes to desserts, I have a hard time saying "No."

I even got a third (!) crepe, when, after I jokingly grabbed one off of a student's tray, he said I really could have it, since he didn't like the crepes, anyway.

Score!

Crazily, all three girls I was sitting with gave me their crepes, too, because they were in a hurry and didn't think they'd have time to finish their food.

If I had been like HVC, I could have had a record(?) six(!) crepes, but there's only one HVC, so instead of pigging out, I gave the extra 3 crepes away.

The next-best thing about this meal was the pineapple juice that I got.

I'm so glad that over the course of this year I went from giving away my milk every day, to getting a grape(?!)-flavored yogurt every day, to getting a variety of beverages to drink over the last few days, because variety is the spice of life.

And so ends a year of Gokase School Lunches. You know you miss it!

Total points: 5

Note: This is the 189th and final school lunch of the year. Although I will continue to take pictures of my school lunches until I leave this school, I would like to advise all of my loyal readers that I have decided to retire this blog. On April 2, the start of the next school year, I plan to start a new blog. Please stay tuned for details. Until then, I'm Yama and I'm out!

Has Beans

Considering this was the second-to-last meal of the school year, I was really hoping for more.

I'm not a big fan of beans, so the main dish was a letdown.

At least there were some nice, big chunks of potatoes in there, however, which I was glad to eat.

I also ate the one piece of carrot and the few slices of meat before passing on the rest of the dish to the HVC.

I even went to get seconds, and, in doing so, I asked for potatoes only. Luckily, the servers were nice enough to oblige me.

The salad was the usual: Just okay. I ate it all, except for the one piece of ham that I found a willing taker for.

The dessert, the fruit and yogurt salad, was pretty good. Even though the dessert would have tasted much better had the quality of the fruit been higher, I'd take it just about any day.

The other thing worth noting about this meal is that they ran out of my normal yogurt drink (the other student who gets the same drink beat me to the very last one, I believe), so I was given a different drink. I'm not sure exactly what it is or if it's healthy, but I did like it and would be happy to get it again.

Total points: 5

Good Thing They Don't Call It Glove Rice

Today is Friday, but we didn't quite get curry. Instead, we got "grove rice" (ハヤシライス).

Although grove rice is not curry in name, it tasted just like curry, which means it was pretty darn good. As a matter of fact, it was delicious.


I easily could have gotten seconds, but you know I'm trying to practice self-control when I have lunch, so I decided to pass.

I ate my salad, too, but it was a big step down from the main dish. (I guess I should say the main dish was a big step up, since I ate the salad first.)

If you ask me (or Gordon Ramsay), the grove rice was so good, we would have been better served had the salad not been served.

GR: "What on Earth were you thinking, serving that salad? Donkey!"

The best part of this meal was the dessert, however, and I'm saying that as someone who didn't even eat it. You see, so many girls asked me if they could have my dessert, I ended up giving it away to two of the cuties sitting at my table. They were a bit surprised that I was actually willing to part with the goods, but I told them it was my graduation present to them. (They graduated from junior high school earlier in the day.)

Sometimes it's better to give than to receive, right?

Total points: 7

White Rice Just Doesn't Cut It

This was your standard school lunch fare: Not too good, not too bad.

The soup had some nice chunks of chicken, and I ate most of the tofu that was in it, too, but I didn't feel like drinking the broth, because it was too starchy for my taste buds.


The salad once again left me yearning for better.

The fish tasted okay, but, like the salad, left a lot to be desired.

At least I made it to the cafeteria in time to get enough sesame dressing not only for my cabbage, but also for my rice.

Whenever I put some kind of sauce on my rice, at least one student looks at me like I'm crazy, and this time was no different. The first student who saw me covering my pristine, white rice with the brown, sesame dressing let out a pretty loud, confused "Heyyyyyyyy???"

My reply: "I gotta do something to give the rice flavor!"

Total points: 5

Stuff It

This meal turned out to be a surprise.

You see, I wasn't that thrilled about being served stuffed cabbage rolls (a.k.a. "roll" cabbage), but they actually tasted pretty darn good. They weren't good enough for me to want seconds, but they were good enough for me to eat all three.

The salad was also good. As a matter of fact, it's one of the better ones we've had lately, so I did get seconds of that.

The soup was the only part of this meal that was a real letdown.

Of course, the fact that we didn't have dessert was also a bit of a letdown, but I'm quite used to that, since we hardly ever get dessert.

Total points: 5

Sukiyucky Revisited

Are you kidding me?

We just had sukiyaki (which I called sukiyucky!) a month ago.

If I didn't like it then, do you really think I'm going to like it now?

Fat chance.


Just like last time I ate it this time, but it was no better today than it was then. About all I can say about the sukiyaki is: It's edible.

I tried to make it a bit more edible by adding rice to it, but that didn't really help.

I ate most of the "meaty" bits in my soup, but I passed on drinking the oily broth.

The salad made its way into the stomach of the guy sitting to my left.

The other disappointment, albeit a minor one, was that I was given another strawberry yogurt drink. I think I'm going to have to let the Lunch Lady know that it's gotta be blueberry!

Luckily, she's pretty nice, so I'm sure she won't mind.

Total points: 4

Note: The next post will be on Wednesday, since tomorrow is a holiday.

Spring Came A Little Early Today

As you know, I usually skip the rice. Since today's rice actually had something in it to give it some flavor (what a concept!), however, I patiently waited in line to get some.

The wait was well worth it. I wouldn't exactly call this rice delicious, but it certainly was tasty.

Unfortunately, however, I wasn't the only one who thought that the rice was good. By the time I decided to get more, there was none left. Oh, well.

As for the soup, I tried to eat it, but its rather starchy consistency just wasn't doing it for me.

Another problem with the soup was that it contained pieces of mochi, which I can't stand, since those are just big blobs of chewy rice. I actually ate one, for some strange reason, but as soon as I was done, I thought to myself, "That's the last time I'm ever going to eat mochi." As always, though, I found a taker for the remaining blobs.

I also nibbled at the main dish, but there was no way I was going to finish it. I didn't even eat all of the meat, which was wild pig, because a lot of it was extremely fatty. I quickly found a "home" for whatever I didn't want, though, so nothing went to waste.

As you can see in the picture, today we also had dessert. That black thing is called "ohagi" (おはぎ) and is a rice ball (what else?) covered with bean paste (what else?).

We usually get these things a couple times a year, right around the beginning of spring and right around the beginning of fall. The funny thing is, I'm always disappointed when I have ohagi, because, no matter how many times I have these things, I always expect the bean paste to taste like chocolate.

Wishful thinking.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Today I got yet another flavor of that yogurt drink. This time it was strawberry. The strawberry is better than the grape, but I much prefer the blueberry.

Yeah. Blueberry rocks.

Total points: 4

Nothing To Write Home About

This was one of those typical disaster meals that we have all too often.

I actually ate the salad, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

I didn't touch the soup, however, since it was miso-based, which simply doesn't appeal to me.


As for the main dish, well, I actually picked out some of the food that was in there, but I stopped when I got down to the beans and gave the rest away.

The rice simply served as added calories for my stomach, but was no more tasty than any other part of this pretty awful meal.

Ugh.

Total points: 3

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake It Isn't

If you are a good food investigator (or a regular reader of this blog), you can immediately tell by the usual clues that this was a Family Meal.

The one missing clue is the missing milk, but that's because before I took the picture I got my yogurt drink and gave away my milk.

You weren't fooled, though, were you?

I'm sure you also know that I didn't eat the bits of ham that came in my salad and that I was unhappy with the cucumber.

As always, I took my bread and dipped it, bit by bit, into the "soup," and then proceeded to eat the rest of the main dish, using the spoon.

You probably can't tell by looking at the picture, but besides the big chunks of potato there were also a few big, delicious chunks of chicken in there.

I liked the "soup" enough to get seconds, but, unfortunately, the second time around I didn't get any bread and the big chunks of chicken turned to tiny chunks.

You can't win 'em all.

This meal also came with dessert, but I wasn't super happy with it, because custard isn't one of my favorites. It tasted fine, but it wasn't as good as some of the desserts we've had in the past.

 

The funny thing about this dessert, however, is that most kids eat it straight out of the container, even though you're actually supposed to peel the cover off, flip the container upside down, let air into the container by bending a special tab, and then lift the container up to expose the custard to your waiting spoon.

I have included a video of the process (from exactly one year ago!) for your viewing pleasure!

Total points: 5

An Omelet Would Have Rocked

I guess I must have been in a good mood today at lunchtime. That doesn't mean this meal will do too well on the scoreboard, however.

One slightly unusual thing about this meal is that I grabbed some rice. I did that when I realized how little food we were getting.

The more unusual thing about this meal is that I ate the salad that included some scrambled egg as well as some spinach (or other green). I wasn't happy while eating it, but I finished it.

Maybe all the years of watching the kids eat food that they don't like and/or hearing them encourage themselves and others to do the same has gotten to me.

Or perhaps I've temporarily reverted to the days when I first arrived here (more than four years ago) and simply ate everything on my tray without really thinking about it.

Whatever the case, the next time the Lunch Lady mixes eggs and spinach, perhaps she should turn them into an omelet rather than a salad.

Anyway, I also finished my soup, or at least the "meaty" part of my soup, because the liquid was overly oily, as you can probably tell by the picture.

The fish was pretty good, and I made it and the rice a bit better by eating it over rice.

The one thing I did pass on today was the two cherry tomatoes, but Hina was glad to take those off my hands.

Total points: 5

Note: Since we have the day off tomorrow, the next post will be on Wednesday. Be there or be square!

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

I really wish we had had curry today, as we often do on Fridays.

At least I knew we weren't going to have it, however, so I wasn't disappointed when I saw this food.

I drank/ate my soup, but, as usual, it lacked seasoning.


I ate about half of the salad before I decided enough was enough. If I really had to, I could have finished it, but I just didn't see the point.

The funny thing is, when I made a "yucky" face to a sophomore while pointing at my salad, she told me she really liked it, so I gave it to her.

Another sophomore asked me if she could have my main dish, so, after digging out what I felt like eating, I gave that away, too.

I'm telling you, there's always someone who will eat your food if you don't want it.

The best part of this meal, by far, was the yogurt drink. Do you see that the top of the cap is purple, rather than green? That means this time I got blueberry, rather than grape. The difference in flavor is huge.

Props to the Lunch Lady for hooking me up!

Total points: 4

Fried Chicken Is For The Birds

This certainly wasn't one of my favorite meals.

Perhaps the best thing about it was that I managed to either finish or give away all of my food.

The soup wasn't that great, but it was a bit warm, which always helps on a cold day.


The salad wasn't that great either, but the tuna masked some of the unpleasant spinach and therefore made the salad more palatable.

The fried chicken was OK, but there was no way I was going to eat both pieces, since fried chicken is simply not a healthy option.

There wasn't any of my favorite salad dressing for the cabbage, but I did like the dressing I chose (日向夏, or Hyuganatsu) and even got seconds of the cabbage.

Had the chicken been pan-fried instead of deep-fried, I would have been much happier with this meal.

Total points: 4

A New Species Of Fish: Turtle Fish

This meal left a lot to be desired.

I dug up some of the meat that was buried in the soup, but I gave the rest of the soup away, because I'm just not a big fan of miso.

The salad was actually pretty good, however, thanks to the delicious bits of octopus.

The main dish, that piece of fish, got plus points for being shaped like a turtle(!), but minus points for being rather dry. At least I didn't have to eat the pile of daikon that it came with, though, since I quickly found a taker for that.

With no dessert to save the day, and no desire for seconds of anything, I left the cafeteria about as unsatisfied as usual.

Total points: 4

Japanese Meat And Potatoes

Just before lunch today, I asked some students what we were having.

I was happy to hear the answer: "Niku jaga."

Even though we had niku jaga just over a month ago, it's actually pretty good, so I don't mind the quick repeat.


Since I really like potatoes, I purposely grabbed a bowl that was full of them. After finishing the dish, I also went back for seconds.

Niku jaga is not the most delicious food in the world, but there's nothing scary in it.

Too bad I can't say the same about the salad. I quickly gave that away, since it came with plenty of katsuobushi, which I don't like at all.

I did down my soup, however, but that, too, had something unpleasant it it: two pieces of mochi. That's probably the last time I ever eat the stuff. It's almost like eating ultra-chewy, flavorless chewing gum. I don't see the point of that.

Luckily, I started with the mochi and ended with the potatoes, so at least the meal ended on a strong note.

Total points: 6

Yogurr(ea)t!

The first thing that I noticed about this meal was also the first thing that the students I was sitting with noticed: My bowl was practically overflowing with food.

I brought that amount back down to normal by giving away all of the mini sausages that came with it, however.

Since most of the students consider the wiener(s) a winner, I didn't even have to get out of my seat to get rid of them.

I dunked my bread in the "soup," as usual, bit by bit until the bread was gone and then finished up the rest via the spoon. I have to admit, it tasted pretty good.

The salad was good, too, and is one of the better ones we are served, mostly thanks to the almond slivers which I really like and which add a lot of flavor to the greens.

Since I love yogurt, I was happy to see that we got that for dessert. I had never had this brand before, however, so I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth, rich taste.

As a matter of fact, that was possibly the best yogurt I've ever had in Japan!

Hey, Lunch Lady: More of that, please!

Total points: 6

The Perfect Pre-Graduation Meal

The last time we had this meal was exactly three weeks ago. I know that we repeat meals every so often, but twice in three weeks?

If the repeat meal had been steak, that would have been pure genius, but what the heck are we doing having this meal again?


Well, let me tell you.

You see, the kids have been doing a lot of singing practice lately, because they are getting ready for graduation.

Thus, "Singing Nut Chicken" is the perfect meal to serve today, which is two days before graduation.

I can just hear the hawker now, yelling, "Get your singing nuts while they're hot! Step right up, folks! Don't be shy! Singing nuts! The more you eat, the better you sing!"

Naturally, I passed along my wisdom to as many students as would listen to me, and, as you can imagine, most of them got a kick out of it.

Unfortunately, despite the humor associated with it, the dish wasn't much better this time around than it was the last time around.

The soup wasn't that good, either, but I did eat/drink that, too.

I didn't want to have anything to do with the salad, however, so I gave that to HVC.

Yeah, so except for the fact that this meal had a good backstory, there's not much else to say about it.

Total points: 4

Pass The "Cluck"

"Barbarian Chicken," as this local specialty is called, is really tasty, if you're lucky enough to have it at a good restaurant, that is.

Since the school cafeteria doesn't qualify as a good restaurant, this particular Barbarian Chicken happens to be really bad. Go figure.


I did eat one piece of it, however, but I gave the second piece to one of the girls I was sitting with. I gave it to her, rather than to HVC, because she asked for it.

She probably didn't think in 100 years I'd actually give up a piece, but I did, to her express delight. Little did she know that passing the "cluck" was an easy choice, since it not only tastes bad, but also does bad things to my arteries.

Unlike the main dish, I actually downed the entire bowl of soup, but like the main dish, the soup didn't taste very good.

I found the salad entirely unappealing, so I gave that away, to HVC.

About the only other "news" to report is that I finally asked the Lunch Lady (at a student's urging) if she could get me a different flavor of that yogurt drink. Grape yogurt just doesn't do it for me. Hopefully, starting really soon, I'll get to drink strawberry or blueberry yogurt.

That would be awesome!

Total points: 4

Left-Handed Fish

Once again, I was a bit surprised by what we were served.

I knew we were going to get some kind of fish, but I expected it to be fried, rather than broiled.

In other words, I was pleasantly surprised.


This particular salmon wasn't nearly as tasty as the salmon I had this weekend at a sushi place (Trust me -- that would be nearly impossible to beat!), but, since salmon is my favorite fish, I was a happy camper.

The soup was pretty good, too. After all, it was warm, which was nice on this (fairly) cold day, and it didn't contain any "scary" bits.

The salad was just average, but I did eat it all, except for the few pieces of ham that were tossed in with it. As you can guess, I gave those to HVC.

As you can see by looking at the picture, I even had some rice. Don't ask me why, though, since I really don't have an answer for that.

The other nice thing about today's meal was that I ate every last bit of it left-handed. I still haven't mastered the art of using chopsticks left-handed, so I did have some trouble, but I didn't give up, even when I struggled with the fish, for example.

When I finally finished, I put down my chopsticks and let out a proud, "出来た." (I did it.)

Surprisingly, especially considering I was really hungry before I started to eat this meal, I didn't go back for seconds. I am pretty sure I had room for more, but I decided I had had enough.

Total points: 6

Oden? Oh, Dear!

There's almost nothing to say about this meal, besides the fact that it wasn't a meal.

When I looked at the menu and saw that we were having おでん (oden), all I could think to myself was, "Oden? Oh, dear."

I don't see the point of oden.


Oden is just a bunch of boiled food that looks unpleasant, smells unpleasant, and tastes unpleasant.

At least you don't see the oden floating in deep vats of grease as you do at many convenience stores.

Right after I took this picture, I gave all my food, except for the rice, to the HVC. I actually gave him the heads-up about that while we were waiting in line.

Yeah, so my meal consisted of a bowl of rice. Exciting, huh?

The rice is the only reason this meal wasn't a zero.

Hungry Menu, where are you?

Total points: 1

(Note: Had I actually noticed the bits of chicken that were apparently mixed in with my bowl of oden, I probably would have eaten them, which would have added one point to the total.)

I'm Going To Get Chicken (鶏肉を撮りに行く)

I knew that we were having chicken today, but what I didn't notice was that we were having chicken of the deep-fried variety.

I probably should have passed, since the cholesterol certainly won't be doing my arteries any good, but I don't like to skip lunch.


Because I have cut down a lot on this kind of food over the past year and a half or so, however, I allowed myself to, um, err, indulge.

The chicken was rather tasty, I have to admit, but I really would have preferred pan-fried chicken.

Since I went to the cafeteria early, I was able to snag some sesame dressing for my shredded cabbage, too, so I got to enjoy that part of my meal as well.

Even the salad was pretty good, despite the cucumber which we just can't escape from. I think it was the bits of squid that gave the salad some zing.

I actually finished my soup, too, but, even though it wasn't all that bad, it was probably the worst part of the meal.

Yeah, so, amazingly, I ate all of my food today. Can you believe it?

Since this blog is slowly becoming a story that is half about the food and half about HVC, I just have to include yet another picture of HVC's incredible food adventures.

This time he downed a whopping 10(!) servings of salad.

Holy cow!

Good thing I got that on film, too, or you never would have believed me.

Total points: 6

Three-Year-Old Rice

The first thing I thought when I saw the main dish today was, "How nice! Puke in a bowl."

Seriously, this is right up there with my least favorite school lunches.

The soup was nearly as off-putting, so I passed on that, too.

Once I rid myself of the unpleasantries, I was left with only a bowl of rice and a slice of orange on my tray.

The good thing is, this rice wasn't ordinary, boring, tasteless, white rice, but rather fairly tasty "山菜" rice, or "mountain vegetable" rice. (I call it "Three-Year-Old Rice," however, since "山菜" is pronounced just like "三歳," which means "three years old.")

I thought I was even going to get seconds of the rice, but, since I piled it up fairly high the first time around (but not nearly as high as many kids do!), I ended up pretty satiated.

The piece of fruit was a bit of a surprise, too, since it wasn't the orange that I thought it was, at least upon first glance. The longer I stared at my dessert while I at my rice, the more I realized it looked more like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange.

That realization hit home when I bit into it and discovered it was half-sweet and half-bitter.

I'm still not positive what it was.

One teacher suggested it was a ponkan, but I've read that those are very sweet. I'm guessing this one must have been a hyuganatsu, but I'm not really sure.

I guess for now it will remain a "mystery fruit."

Total points: 6

Hungry Meal -- Ask For More

For some reason, when I saw the two fish on my plate, the first thing I thought was, "What's up with that? We usually get three." When I asked some kids if two fish was the norm, however, they told me that indeed it was.

I guess my mind is playing games on me.


Anyway, since what I call "rice soup" is rather difficult to eat with chopsticks, I came prepared this time.

That's what that green spoon, a biodegradable one I picked up last year in Okinawa at a place called "Yogurtland," is doing on my tray. Nice advance planning, eh?

Just before digging in, I gave away the umeboshi and pickled veggies and then dumped the two fish into my "soup." As boring as the soup is, even with the added fish, it does not taste bad at all.

What's more, the strawberries were a great way to finish off the meal, and there were plenty to go around. I could have gotten seconds, but I stuck to the five on my plate.

As I've said before on this blog, I'm actually a big fan of the Hungry Meal.

I've also said before that it makes no sense that we are allowed to get seconds whenever the Hungry Meal is served (just look at that line!), which I did today, since the purpose of this meal is to make us thankful that we have any food at all on our plates.

When I told HVC how I felt about seconds being served today, he had an entirely different take on the matter. Frankly, his response was one you would expect of him:

"I show my thanks for the delicious food by asking for more."

Way to go, HVC.

Total points: 6

It's Called Soup, Not Stew, Yo!

I think the school cafeteria might be the only place where I've ever eaten pumpkin "stew."

Since I am a big fan of pumpkin, I was glad to eat this concoction, and I even got seconds. Nevertheless, I'm for a bit more substance and a bit less sauce.


I guess the real problem was not so much the sauce, however, but the fact that we were missing a nice, big chunk of bread to go with it.

The salad, with all those beans in it, was screaming at me to give it away, so I did. ("It's all yours, HVC!")

The fruit salad was a good idea, but a poorly executed one. For one, the fruit was from a can, which certainly takes the flavor down a few notches. For two, "zeri" (those white cubes) is not a fruit, which is also worth a few minus points.

Overall, this meal was definitely a disappointment. What else is new, though, right?

Total points: 4

Happy Fish Balls And Happy HVC

This meal was a disaster.

Just look at the slop of a main dish that we were served. Did the Lunch Lady really expect me to eat that? I did consume some of the bits of tofu, but that's all.

The salad wasn't much better, but the abundance of tuna fish made it palatable.

As for the soup, well, those fish balls were the only part of it that I ate, and even those were not as good as they usually are.

The story of the day, though, was HVC. He went to town today, big time. He seriously went off. I was absolutely flabbergasted by the amount of food he ate.

For once, I even doubted that he would take my food (the main dish and the salad) when I approached him, since by then there were already five(!) other bowls of slop and five(!) other salads sitting in front of him, not to mention all the soup and the rice. No need to worry though; he took my offerings without blinking an eye.

I swear, today I think he set a new record for amount of food eaten at lunch.

The unofficial totals: 6 bowls of soup, 6 salads, 5 bowls of slop (another student ate one of the servings pictured, since HVC was running out of time to finish his food), and at least 1 bowl of rice.

HVC is "El Hombre!"

Total points: 1

Sukiyucky

This was yet another bad meal.

For starters, I didn't mess with either of the sides and simply gave them to my favorite tag-team partner.

Since I provide HVC with so much food, I should probably come up with a three-letter nickname for myself.

Maybe I should go with HCB, or the "Human Conveyor Belt," or perhaps I should call myself HCP, or the "Human Care Package."

I guess I will have to work on that.

Anyway, all that was left was the main course, which was the Lunch Lady's version of sukiyaki.

Take a good look at it and you'll see right away why I call it sukiyucky.

I did eat it, but my stomach probably regrets that decision.

Total points: 3

(Dead) Fish On A Plate

All I could say after I sat down to eat this meal was, "There's a dead fish on my plate."

In other words, the Lunch Lady gets a big, fat zero for presentation points.

The fish wasn't even easy to eat, because of the bones.


Also, once I managed to take the fish apart, if you will, there wasn't much left to eat.

Before I even started on the fish, though, I gave away the ball of daikon that came with it (to a girl at my table).

Guess what I did with that salad?

That's right, I gave it to HVC.

HVC got my soup, too, but only after I picked out the few bits of meat that were in there.

This meal, as you can see, was pretty much a disaster before it even hit the table.

Total points: 2

Three Fried Fish - See How They Swim

Naturally, after all of the excitement that went along with having steak yesterday, a major letdown was in store for us today.

That letdown came primarily in the form of three fried fish.

As soon as I saw them, I knew I wasn't going to eat much of this meal.


You probably knew that, too, since you know I'm trying to stay away from fried food.

I did eat one of the fish, because I was hungry, but I gave the other two away. (I also ate the side of cabbage, even though I had to douse it with a "sauce to be named later.")

I gave away the "Popeye" salad, too, mostly because I couldn't stomach the spinach.

All that was left then was the soup, which was OK.

Unfortunately for me, my particular bowl of soup came with only three meatballs (the best part of the soup!), whereas some of my brethren had as many as seven in theirs!

Too bad for me.

Total points: 3

Pass The Potatoes!

Steak! Yum! Hooray!

Sorry if I can't exactly control my excitement, but by now you know how pathetic the food around here usually is.

Since we only get served steak about two or three times a year, I definitely savored this meal.



As you can see, I even took rice, and, unlike most of the kids, I didn't put mine on a plate, but rather, as is normal, in a bowl. (How's that for use of commas, yo!?)

Of course, this is the "before" picture, since I didn't eat the steak raw (although eating raw steak wouldn't be a far stretch in this country!). If you want to see an "after" picture, I refer you to the last time we had steak, back in June.

Too bad the side dishes weren't of the same caliber as the main course.

The daikon-cucumber-apple(?) salad tasted better than it looked and the soup (minus the bits of ham) was okay, but what we should have had instead of those two sides was something closer to mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli.

How awesome would that have been!?

Oh, and one last thing: That dessert from yesterday would have gone really well with this meal.

Total points: 7

February 13 -- The New Valentine's Day

Today we had yet another family meal. Can you tell? I bet you can!

Your (usual) clues: Milk instead of my yogurt drink; a straw for the milk; a plate for my bread; and a fork instead of just a spoon.

The reason for those "mistakes?"


Whenever we have a family meal, my "sons" get my food for me.

As for the food, well, as always I dipped my bread into the "soup" of the main dish, so that I could give it some flavor. (Once in a while, when we are served bread, it actually comes with a spread, but more often than not it doesn't.)

After I finished my bread, I scooped out the bits of meat (pork?), potatoes, and carrot from the main dish, because they seemed pretty edible, and then gave away the rest.

I did eat my salad, and, thanks to the cheese, but no thanks to the cucumber, I actually enjoyed it. Oh, and you probably already know that I gave away the two pieces of ham that were in there.

(My family's "father," Mr. S., proudly pointed out that his salad had no bits of ham in it, although that was pure coincidence, so I told him that I usually try to grab salads that are ham-free. His funny response: "You need to do a better job of that.")

Anyway, all that was left was the dessert, which was, according to the menu, "chocolate pudding."

Indeed, it was made of chocolate, but I wouldn't exactly call it pudding. It was more like, "chocolate surprise."

Since I noticed that some of the kids actually had a strawberry "pudding," and since I was in no mood to be surprised, I traded my chocolate version in for the strawberry. (Luckily, I noticed that there were some leftovers, so I was able to pull the switch.)

Good move. The dessert went from probably not being very good to being very good indeed!

Although the meal overall was pretty much a disaster, the dessert saved the day.

The only thing about that was, it came one day early.

Lunch Lady: Valentine's Day (not St. Valentine's Day, as they love to call it here in Japan) is on February 14, not February 13.

Got it?

Total points: 4

A Sweet Treat -- How Neat!

Jack Nicholson would have been proud to have had lunch with us today, because this meal was about as good it gets.

For starters, well, curry is simply the best. I didn't get seconds this time around, but I easily could have, had I not been watching how much I eat.

The salad was also quite tasty, primarily because it was packed with tuna. I would have liked a slightly bigger portion, but quality is usually more important than quantity.

Finally, we also had dessert, this time in the form of an orange.

Since the most common type of orange you get around here seems to be mandarin oranges, this big sucker (I believe it was a tangelo) was truly a treat, and boy was it sweet!

I prefer cake or ice cream to fruit, but fruit is obviously the smarter choice, so I gotta give the Lunch Lady the thumbs up this time.

Great meal.

Did I really just say that?

Total points: 9

(Note: Perhaps I should have taken one point off for the kitchen staff putting out forks for the salads, which is a complete waste, but since I didn't take one, I'm going to ignore that fact. I just wish more kids would pass on the forks (on purpose), as well.)

Singing Nut Chicken

The first thing we usually grab when we go to get our food is the salad.

When I saw that today's salad was full of cucumbers, I also noticed the Lunch Lady was just ahead of me in line, so I asked her why we have cucumbers in our salad every day.


She just smiled.

Ugh.

I sometimes ask the kids I'm sitting with at lunch why they think we have cucumbers almost every day. The most common answer I get is, "They're cheap."

One kid who agreed with me that cucumbers are overrated told me that, according to a study, cucumbers are the vegetable with the least amount of nutrients. Hmmm... I wonder.

I did eat the salad, but as you guessed, I wasn't that pleased with it.

I also ate my soup, but I made it a point to tell the kids who were sitting with me that the soup had absolutely zero flavor.

The main course (cashew nut chicken) was OK, but not as good as it would have been had it not been so greasy and had the portion not been so tiny. That's why I tried to lighten and fluff it up with the rice. Also, in contrast to what you are served in a Chinese restaurant, there were far more cashews than chicken.

At least this meal provides me with a good running joke.

You see, "cashew" in English sounds a lot like both "cashew (nut)" and "singer" in Japanese, so whenever we have this meal, I ask some of the kids, "How do you say 'singer' in Japanese?" and, as soon as they answer, I show them a cashew (nut).

That gets them every time!

Total points: 5

Super-Sized Salmon

According to the menu, we were having fried fish today.

What the menu didn't say was that the fish was salmon, my favorite, so that was a pleasant surprise.

I do wish the salmon hadn't been deep-fried, but you can't win them all.


At least the food staff tried to spice up the meal a bit by coating the batter with sesame seeds, which certainly helped.

Check out how big that piece is, too. I guess the cooks must have been in a good mood today, because they certainly weren't skimping on the food.

Or were they?

Take a look at the soup, for instance. Can you say: "Thin"?

Then again, we were served a pretty sizable portion of "macaroni salad" (which, of course, included cucumber), which makes me wonder if the watery soup was perhaps an aberration.

The other great thing about this meal is that I got to the cafeteria early enough to get some of my favorite (toasted sesame) dressing without having to ask for it!

Hooray for that!

Total points: 6

Chinese (Please) Take (It) Away

This was yet another disappointing meal.

I think the only thing that was nice about this one was that it didn't come with a cucumber salad. It's amazing that the Lunch Lady didn't toss some of the green stuff onto the plate of "college potatoes," just to piss me off.


She wouldn't really have had to do that, though, because the potatoes themselves were bad enough. I usually give them to someone right away, but this time I decided to eat one. Next time I'll pass, especially if we get these again in the winter. The piece I had was practically cold as ice, which is not a good thing when you're freezing.

The soup, however, was hot, so I actually enjoyed eating/drinking that.

There was no way I was going to touch the main course ("Chinese Surprise), however, so I gave that to you know who.

Soup plus one measly potato is not exactly my idea of lunch. Maybe this one should have been reserved for college dropouts.

Total points: 2

Salad Says: "Don't Eat Me!"

This is one of the scariest meals that we are ever served. The only two things that saved this one from being a total disaster were:

1) The cubes of salmon in the soup; and

2) The few decent-sized chunks of potato in my bowl of, err, um, slop.

Aside from those two bits of food, I passed on the soup and the main dish.

I did eat my entire serving of salad, but I was this close to giving that away, too. It's not that the salad tasted terrible, but rather that it was so darn bland. It's like the salad was screming, "Don't eat me!"

I probably should have listened.

Amazingly, however, HVC was at it again.

He'll eat anything.

I usually explain to others that he can eat so much because he has no "off" switch, but today I joked that he always on auto-pilot.

Take a look at the picture of all that food in front of him and you'll see what I mean. (Oh, and by the way, if you look really carefully, you should be able to see that there's another salad bowl underneath the black bowl. C-r-a-z-y!)

HVC really did eat all that food, too, honest.

I'll never understand how he manages to get all that food down.

Total points: 2

Strawberry Curry Substitute

This was actually one of the better meals we've had lately.

Granted, today was Friday and we didn't have curry, but this was as good a substitute as any, and, since I definitely prefer bread to rice, this meal had an immediate advantage over the standard fare.

The salad was the oddest part of this meal, because I couldn't figure out if it was a fruit salad or not. I mean, the menu clearly said we were going to have "fruit salad," but that's obviously not what we were served, unless you call including a few bits of fruit in a cucumber salad "fruit salad."

The Lunch Lady is what's fruity, not my salad.

As for the main course, which was basically vegetable cream soup, well, I could certainly have done without the cream, but the dish did go well with the bread, and the vegetables that were in it really were vegetables. Overall, I was pretty happy with that part of the meal.

The dessert (strawberry mousse) was a bit of a letdown, perhaps because it wasn't creamy enough for my taste, but I definitely liked it and I actually managed to snag seconds (the last one!).

I just wish every meal came with a dessert.

Total points: 7

Yes, Fish Have Balls

Today's meal, as per usual, was really nothing special.

Check out the salad, for instance. Notice the cucumber? Yeah, me too! Well, luckily there was some tuna in there, too, which made it much more palatable. Seriously, though, I'm really getting sick of cucumber.

Next up, we have the soup, which was miso-based (yuck!) yet again. The only part of the soup that I touched was the fish balls (I bet you didn't know that fish had balls!), which you can barely see in the picture.

Finally, we have the main course, which was "ginger pork." The pork itself was pretty good, but what's with the side of veggies? Just look at them. The cabbage was overcooked and the carrots were bland. No surprise there, eh?

In case you're wondering what the rice was doing on my tray, well, I took that to go with the pork. The rice didn't help much, however.

Go figure.

Total points: 5

Take A Chance On Me

I tend to stay away from this spicy tofu concoction, but alas, unlike the last time we had this meal, there was no sporting event planned for the afternoon that excluded me from eating it.

Nevertheless, I still consider the meal pretty darn scary, which is why I have the rice.


I figure, as long as I dampen the "hot" effect using the rice, my stomach should be good to go.

Somehow, that trick seems to have worked, too. (I'll leave it at that.)

As for the salad, well, I wasn't about to eat that, since it had both spinach and ham in it, neither of which I can say I enjoy eating.

I did eat/drink my soup, however, but it was nothing to write a blog about.

In other words, I did open my mouth and let the soup in, but I don't remember tasting anything at all.

Total points: 4

Fish, Doubled

The surprising thing about this meal is that I actually ate/drank my soup.

I guess I did that because there wasn't anything all that disgusting in it. I'm not exactly a fan of "alien" potatoes, but they aren't awful, and the rest of the soup was pretty harmless.


Also, since the weather was cold and the soup was warm, I couldn't resist.

I did pass on the salad, however. The girl I gave it to was surprised that I didn't even taste it first, but I've been around here long enough to know what I like and what I don't like.

The same girl was also the lucky recipient of the spoonful of daikon that was sitting next to my fish, which made her pretty happy.

And check this out: The fish was tasty enough that I got seconds.

It wasn't my favorite (salmon), but the spices that covered the skin helped to make the fish rather yummy, indeed.

Total points: 5

The Winner Is: The Strawberries!

Today we had the ol' family meal, which is obvious from looking at the picture, right?

I know I've mentioned this before, but what is missing from my tray is the milk that I gave away before I took the photo, as well as the yogurt drink that I normally get in place of milk. Maybe one day my "family" will get it right.


I also have to mention, as I have before, that I still don't understand why just about everyone insists on putting that bread on a plate. Ugh.

Speaking of bread, I bet you know that I dunked mine in that soup-like main course, huh? Surprisingly, it actually had quite a bit of flavor, but there was no way I was going to dig in, especially because of them beans. (Well, I did eat the one potato that was buried in there, but nothing else.) Luckily, giving the dish away, as always, was easy as 1-2-3.

The salad was also actually rather good, but I have no idea why the Lunch Lady is back to insisting on putting cucumber in every salad we get. Just check it out. It's almost like she remembered at the last second to toss a few slices of the green stuff in there. Ridiculous.

Despite the cucumber issue, I probably should have gotten seconds of the salad, considering it went from a side dish to a main course in a hurry.

All that was left to eat was the strawberries, which were great. Too bad no one offered me any of theirs, however, because I had plenty of room in my stomach to spare.

Total points: 4

A First -- Hump Day Curry!

I guess the Lunch Lady actually does use her head sometimes.

You see, curry is usually reserved for Fridays, but since we are going skiing tomorrow and Friday, today is basically this week's Friday. Better yet, the Lunch Lady noticed!


In other words, it's Hump Day Curry! Hooray!

I even managed to get to the cafeteria relatively early, which meant three things:

1) I was sure to get rice;

2) The servers gave me a rather big portion of curry; and

3) I was able to choose between vanilla and strawberry yogurt for dessert.

Life is good when you're not at the back of the line.

It's really a shame that the salad sucked, however, since that took away any chance this one had of scoring a perfect 10.

Total points: 8

(Note: Because we are going skiing for the rest of the week, the next post won't appear until Monday.)

Mr. And Mrs. Cucumber, Where Are You?

Today's meal was a tribute to 1955.

Since Mister Donut wasn't around until the following year, folks back then had to settle for deep-fried bread, instead.

I hope whoever came up with that idea didn't get a prize.

I'm not much of a fan of donuts, especially Mister Donut donuts (which I found to be absolutely terrible after finally having my first taste four years after I arrived in Japan!), but I'd much rather have donuts than fried bread.

I usually give away my entire three-piece portion, but today I decided to indulge in one of the pieces, for old times' sake.

The verdict: I had forgotten how flavorless fried bread was. At least I didn't have the feeling that the wannabe donut was going to make me sick.

Needless to say, it was easy to find takers for the other two pieces.

Obviously, the Lunch Lady equated the fried bread with rice, so besides the "side dish" we also got a main course, mistakenly (and humorously) called "porkbeans."

I'm not that interested in eating pork, and I'm certainly not interested in eating beans (Gas, anyone?), so I grabbed the bowl that had the most potatoes. At least those were good.

I could have had dessert, too, which was "milk pudding," but I passed on that as well, since I figured I would be eating mostly chemicals, rather than anything meaningful.

(Fried) bread and potatoes. Sure makes for a nice meal, eh?

Today, for once, I probably would have been happy to see my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Cucumber.

Total points: 3

Super Onigiri

Today's meal was a tribute to 1889.

Personally, though, I don't really see the difference between the food they ate way back then and the food we eat nowadays, in the dorm that is.

Can you guess what I thought of the soup?

If you said, "I bet you gave it away." you are absolutely correct!

I also gave away the umeboshi and the tsukemono, those two things next to my fish.

Yeah, so all that was left was the piece of salmon, the rice, and the seaweed paper (a.k.a. nori) to wrap the rice in. Well, I didn't actually have to wrap up my rice, but the point was to make a rice ball (a.k.a. onigiri), so I did.

I didn't get as creative as some of the students, however, who chose to add some fish and/or other ingredients to their rice to make a "super onigiri."

I probably should have done the same, but for whatever reason, the thought never crossed my mind.

Maybe next time?

Total points: 4

Mik-u Jagger

I took one look at today's soup and knew I wasn't going to eat it, but I didn't have to make an effort to give it away.

You see, as soon as the soup landed on my tray, あかり asked me if I was going to eat it. I guess she must have known the answer was going to be "No."

(As you probably can imagine, I'm not shy about sharing my thoughts about the dorm food with the kids I sit with, and some of them seem to pay attention!)

あかり's next question was if she could have the soup. I guess she must have also known the answer to that question was going to be "Yes!"

It's amazing how easy it is to please Japanese kids at lunch.

Luckily, I didn't have to give away anything else on my tray, though, or I might have gone hungry.

The salad, despite the pesky cucumber pieces ("They're baaaaaaaack!"), was fine.

The main dish, because of the many potato chunks, was better. (I purposely grabbed the bowl with the mostest!)

I even had seconds (It's called "niku-jaga," but I call it "Mik-u Jagger," ha!), although I did have to stop the food server from showing me too much lovin'. I mean, let's be serious here: It's not that good.

Unfortunately, even today's appearance by the lead singer of the Rolling Stones failed to help this meal much.

Total points: 5