Doing What the Locals Do: Nightlife in Japan

One of the things I appreciated about the late Anthony Bourdain was his desire and ability
to immerse himself into the culture of any city or country that he visited. He talked politics with the locals, ate with the locals, and had fun with the locals. We were both inspired by this way of experiencing international travel, and we attempt to do this on our trips, at least the food and the nightlife parts! When we recently visited Japan, we researched some of the activities and places that Japanese enjoy, particularly during after work hours.

I have always like the idea of karaoke, because it seemed like it would be fun to be a pretend performer of some of my favorite songs. But doing it in front of a crowd seemed intimidating to me.

The guide for one of our Tokyo food tours suggested that the group go to a karaoke spot to be a part of this popular Japanese entertainment. Unfortunately, no one took the bait except for Rich and me. Our guide took us to a local spot, and we were surprised to find that the Japanese do not dare do karaoke in a public spot. Japanese rent a private booth, where they can perform alone, or with a few close friends. These booths are housed in a buildings all over the city, and there are multiple booths on a particular floor. One can rent a booth per hour, or longer. As in karaoke spots everywhere, there are numerous songs to choose from. One can choose anything from the Rolling Stones to Beyonce to Bruno Mars, depending on what your preferred genre might be. Fortunately, you can choose English lyrics, even in Japan!

We learned that karaoke is a stress reliever for many Japanese people. They work hard and often put in long hours at work, and many will spend their leisure time in a karaoke booth. Some even spend the night! 

I must say that I totally loved karaoke in Japan, and wanted to continue the experience during the rest of the trip.One night I was craving karaoke, and suggested that we go after dinner. Rich commented that it would be too difficult to find a place without extensive research, and he was tired. I told him that I would bet him that if we walked a block or two, we would find a karaoke spot. Sure enough, we saw one within a minute!

So Rich and I continued our karaoke performing in Kyoto and Osaka. Rich, who was hesitant about karaoke at first, ended up having a good time, and was a good sport with a karaoke-crazed wife. We attempted quite a few songs, including hits by the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Michael Jackson, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. I had read that the Japanese are really into their karaoke and had practiced several songs before the trip. I insisted that Rich video my performances. When we returned, I played my version of Michael Jackson's "Shake Your Body Down To the Ground", including dance moves. I showed the video to a friend, who laughed hysterically during the entire video. There goes my dreams of performing to a crowd in Asheville. I think the Japanese have the right idea about private karaoke booths!

Keeping our tradition of doing Latin dancing in every country that we visit, we ventured into the world of Latin dancing in Japan. Although Latin clubs were not as numerous in Tokyo as I had imagined, the ones we found were lively and crowded! And the dancers, as in other Asian countries we have been to, were very skilled Latin dancers. 

We ended up dancing in Latin clubs twice in Tokyo and twice in Kyoto. We had so much fun in all places, and would have danced in Osaka if we had had more time. It was obvious to me that dancing is another way that the Japanese have fun after a long work day. And I might add that the local dancers were very friendly and welcoming to us in each place.

As usual, I gained some understanding of a country's culture and personality by participating in the locals' hangouts and activities. In the spirit of Anthony Bourdain, we also experienced culinary delights by eating where the locals eat! That will be another blog post!!

Tokyo 2018: Unforgettable Shinjuku

Spending two weeks in Japan in April of this year was a life changing experience. When researching this trip, I kept reading that the area of Skinjuku was a fun filled area for both tourists and locals. We rented a small but cozy Airbnb here for 8 nights. (it should be said that most hotel rooms and apartments are tiny in Tokyo). But we loved being in the heart of the lively Shinjuku district!

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 After a multi-hour flight, we were ready to have a satisfying meal that would be close by. Fortunately, our neighborhood offered many choices less than a 5 minute walk away. We settled on a locals' after work hangout and noodles - the ultimate Asian comfort food!

One great way to get to know Shinjuku at night is to go on a guided walking tour through the famous pub district, including the Golden Gai area. There are many narrow alleys with small pubs lined on both sides. Food is also abundant, and we had our first taste of authentic Japanese sushi.  Along the way, we saw the modernistic buildings with lights, including one with the famous Godzilla on top. This was a real eye opener on how Shinjuku, in my mind, resembles a futuristic movie set, unlike any city I have visited. I was overwhelmed with exciting and unique sights in every direction.

The walking tour was also a good way to meet tourists from other countries around the world. In this case, we met a nice Italian couple with whom we enjoyed conversing and exploring Shinjuku.

Shinjuku is a district that includes just about anything that you might desire in a vibrant city. Whether it is crowds walking the street, video games after work, the red light district of Kabukicho, eating, dancing, karaoke, or shopping, Shinjuku has it all. But our little apartment was actually peaceful at night, with no street sounds heard by us when were were trying to sleep. I fell in love with Shinjuku, and it was my favorite part of Tokyo. At the end of the day, it was wonderful to return to our familiar setting. When we were ready to leave, I almost felt like I was a member of the community!

National Pie Day: Eat a Piece of Pie

For the past three years, I have been obsessed with making and writing about pies. It all started when a friend sent me a book for my birthday called  The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, by Emily and Melissa Elsen. I have always loved pies, and decided that it might be a fun experiment to study the delicious looking recipes in the book, and try to make as many of them as I could. It has been a sweet adventure so far, as I eat my way through the pie world.

Making a pie crust is a satisfying task to me. For years, I would simply buy a pre-made crust when I made a pie. But the Elsen sisters insist in their book that one should at least try to make a basic butter crust, because, they argued, it would make a tasty pie even better. I remembered how much I enjoyed the pies of my Grandma Dukes, who made a delectable pie crust. She didn't use a recipe, as I recall. After I started to make my own, I realized how much better the homemade version tastes, and it is worth the extra trouble. And I actually enjoy working with the dough - it is therapeutic in a strange way.

I have been making my way through the pie book, but have not yet made all of them. The problem is that I want to repeat making the pies that are my favorites, so I am not always motivated to make a new one! And after all, there are only 7 days in a week, and I simply cannot make a pie every day. (although it is sometimes tempting).

 This is probably my all time favorite pie, The Salted Caramel Apple Pie from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie book. Just a perfect pie, and almost everyone's favorite.

Lavender Honey Custard Pie

Malted Chocolate Pecan Pie

Maple Orange Walnut Pie

Key Lime Gingersnap Crust Pie

All of these pies are from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, except for the Maple Orange Walnut and the Gingersnap Key Lime, that are both from A Year in Pies, by Ashley English.

For National Pie Day, I am making the Lemon Chess Pie pictured below. Happy Pie Day! Remember to eat a piece of pie, and enjoy every bite. Don't worry about the New Year's resolution you may have made about not eating sweets. It is just one day - and there is always tomorrow to exercise it off!

Happy Pie New Year: Chocolate, Coffee, and Orange Marmalade Tart

It has been quite some time since I tried making a new pie. One of the purposes of this blog has been to experiment with different pie recipes, and I decided to start the New Year with with a resolution to make a pie that I had been wanting to make for a long time. The pie is "Chocolate, Coffee, and Orange Marmalade Tart", and is a recipe by Ashley English in her book A Year of Pies. The pics of this pie were awesome, and I knew that I wanted to taste this tart. But the thing that was making me hesitate was the complexity of the preparation, particularly of the orange marmalade filling. After looking at that pie picture this weekend, however, I knew that it was now or never!

The marmalade is actually the first step to this recipe. It calls for oranges, orange peel, vanilla bean, sugar, lemon, and water. The oranges and orange peel are cut into very small pieces. The seeds are removed, but then added to a cloth tea bag to help with thickening. (Apparently, unbeknownst to me until making this pie, citrus seeds contain pectin that is a thickening agent needed in jams and jellies). I learned this fact because I realized that the naval oranges I bought had few if any seeds. I made a trip to the store to get regular old oranges full of seeds. To my dismay, my regular store only had naval oranges. So I headed to another store, and another, all with the same conclusion: people prefer seedless oranges so much that stores cater to their customers' desires and now only sell naval oranges! Upon reading that all citrus seeds contain pectin, I then decided that I could use my lemon seeds, which I did. I cooked this orange mixture, and then had to let in sit covered in the pot overnight, per instructions.

The next step was the chocolate cookie crust, which the author described as delicious and much better than the store bought crusts. The recipe consisted of chocolate water cookies and butter, which sounded easy enough, although I had personally never heard of water cookies. I assumed it was a misprint, and that the author meant to say "wafer" cookies, so I looked for them at my usual grocer. Again I struck out with several groceries, none of which carried either wafer or water cookies. My patience was beginning to wear at this point, so I made the decision to compromise: I would make a chocolate graham cracker crust, that I had made before.

The last part of the recipe was the piece de resistance, the chocolate ganache. This part looked pretty simple, with bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee combined to make the ganache. But I first decided to taste my orange marmalade, which had been cooling for a while now. I tasted, and unfortunately could not get over the tartness. Tartness can be great combined with sweetness, but I knew that this was too tart for me. So I again headed to my usual store to purchase store bought orange marmalade, which I would compare with my homemade batch. This time, my usual store had a lovely looking organic version, which I purchased. I decided to combine a little of the store bought marmalade with my homemade. This was a sweeter, but still nicely tart mixture, so I decided to do half and half store bought/homemade marmalade for the filing.Finally, I made the ganache, which looked heavenly, and I constructed the tart: orange marmalade over chocolate crust, then ganache on top. I cooled for several hours as per the recipe.

I must say that after all of that work, I had pretty high expectations for this tart. It looked like a masterpiece when I removed the tart from the springform pan. I was excited as I tasted the first bite, which did not disappoint, I am happy to say! The ganache was rich and and luscious, and would make a great pie by itself. The marmalade was just tart enough to make a nice contrast with the ganache and chocolate crust. We each had 2 slices, so this is also a testament to its flavor.

So the question is: would I make this pie again? The answer is "yes", with a few changes. First, I would buy the store bought marmalade and probably not make the author's homemade recipe. The preparation time for the homemade was not worth it, considering there was an excellent store bought option. Secondly, I would consider making the "water" cookies, which I found online as an easy looking recipe. (basically, the recipe does not contain eggs, like most cookies). I will say that my first New Year's resolution,, making this pie, was more difficult than I had imagined. Hopefully, my other resolutions will not be so hard to keep. Happy New Year's and Happy Pie Making and Eating!

Don't Forget to Dance

One of the reasons that I created this blog was to talk about exercise as a way of life. In the past few years, I have discussed various forms of exercise that I do regularly, used to do, or have tried. If I could only do one exercise, however, it would be dancing. I was excited when I recently read an article about a study that showed dancing to be the best overall exercise that people can do as they age. Apparently, dancing is one of the best ways to improve both balance and mental status. This is a good excuse to dance even more than the 5 times a week that I already do!

I would say that perhaps my favorite kind of dancing is Latin dancing with my husband. I first fell in love with Latin dancing in the 80's when I was doing aerobic dance, and Gloria Estefan was at the height of her popularity.  Later, when I started doing zumba dancing, it was Ricky Martin that made me a salsa dancing fan for life! Salsa, cha cha cha, bachata, merengue, and rumba are all great dances.

Rich and I started doing Latin dancing almost 10 years ago, and since then, have made it our goal to find a Latin club in every city or country that we visit. In the USA, we have danced at Latin clubs in the following: Asheville, Durham, Portland, Santa Monica, New York, Atlanta, Sarasota, St. Armands, and  Puerto Rico. Internationally, our Latin dance experience has included: Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Siem Reap (Cambodia), Santiago (Chile), and Hanoi (Vietnam).

What I have learned in these past 10 years about Latin dancing is that it truly is the universal dance genre. I think it is because Latin music simply makes people happy! Folks in all parts of the world smile when they are enjoying a salsa or bachata. Also, we have found everyone to be friendly and welcoming, no matter where we are. Although many young people frequent Latin dance clubs, (young for me means anyone under 40), there are plenty of folks our age and older who are Latin dancers. At the club that we go to in St. Armands, near Sarasota, there are men and women that have been dancing at the club for the all of the years that we have danced there. There is a nice community feel with Latin dancing.

The skill and enthusiasm of the dancers is inspirational. Speaking of enthusiasm, I would have to say that the two dance clubs that we found in Hanoi had probably the most lively participants of any place we have ever been. Dancers who had been to a club several nights before in one part of town were at another club in another part of town several nights later! As far as my favorite Latin club of all time, I would have to say it would be Club 15 South in St. Armands. Unlike almost all of the other places where we have done Latin dancing, it has live music on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. And it has had some of the best Latin dancers that I have ever seen.

We will continue our Latin dance adventure when we go to Japan several months from now. Until then, I will keep prolonging my life by dancing as much as possible. It is good for my brain, body, and spirit! The Kinks said it well in their song "Don't Forget to Dance":

Don't forget to dance, no, no, no

Don't forget to smile.

Don't forget to dance, no, no, no
Forget it for a while