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