Okonomiyaki

This afternoon we helped Dad get some things cleaned out of his shed.  It is SO hard to throw things away here in Japan.  You can't just throw stuff out in the garbage, or take a load to the dump.  You have to totally sort things.  There are specific instructions on how to get rid of everything from an old chair, to an old fish tank, to an old ironing board.  It's crazy.  I get the whole recycling thing, but what do people do when they are getting rid of a whole bunch of stuff at once?  Anyway, we sorted, bagged, and labeled.  Hopefully we'll get things right and set the right things out on the curb on the right days along with the labeled and numbered bags. 

For dinner we had one of my favorite Japanese dishes.  It's nothing fancy, and in fact is frequently sold by street vendors as a "fast food".  It's hard to describe, and sounds kind of unappetizing when you do, but it's more or less a cabbage pancake.  Okonomiyaki is chopped cabbage mixed into an egg and flour batter.  But it's the sauce and seasoning that make it so yummy.  If you go to an okonomiyaki restaurant, you typically sit at a table with a griddle in the center where you cook your own.  (Unfortunately we had an incident when Michaela was five where she burned her hand on one....a story for another day.)  Each region in Japan is known for a particular food, and Osaka is known for Okonomiyaki.  This is a dish that I make at home because I can actually get the ingredients for it at my local Oriental market.  But, it's all the better when you eat it in Osaka!

Had to get this shot....it was a "snuggy pal" kind of day.  :)

In light of recent events, I don't know that this is the best bag to be carrying around on the streets.

This is the window of a toy store.  Hmm, that just doesn't seem fitting!

Now this is a store front that I know!