Sunday, May 27, 2012

More food hunting.


Once again, our story begins on a gorgeous day in southern Chiba.  Overdue for some good old catching up, a few friends and I decided to get together for lunch. I had gone to this amazing restaurant in Minamiboso's Shirahama area over Golden Week, but the weather had been incredibly depressing, so I needed to go back on a sunny day. This lunch was the perfect opportunity for my rematch!

I kinda wanna ride this van...
You'll find the parking lot right off the main road, the giant bright yellow sign and van are hard to miss. I've only been for lunch so far, but apparently the restaurant offers (free?...I think.) transportation for people living/staying in the area in the evenings...great if you are looking for a drink along with their dinner menu, which sounded amazing! But I digress...

From the parking lot, take a stroll up the hill...at the top, you'll find this tiny little structure.
Odori Kitchen! and the lovely Liz.
Follow the path, and you'll come upon this lovely garden! The tiny white house to the left was our destination - and perhaps my new second favorite restaurant - Odori Kitchen! I think the big white building in the back is Shirahama Residence (according to the sign), but apparently it's not open yet. I assume it's an inn or something, but I haven't been able to find any actual info on the interwebs. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it though!

A perfect day with the perfect company~!
We scored the terrace seats! Inside is really nice and cozy too, but it seemed like a waste of the weather...not to mention the amazing garden and ocean view:



After confusing our very nice, friendly waiter, we put in our orders! For lunch, you can choose from the A or B sets. They are exactly the same in that they come with appetizers, main dish, and drink...but then, B set comes with dessert.

And so I present...food pic spam!!
(I don't actually know my food names so I copied them from Liz's post...all I know is that everything was amazingly delicious!)

Appetizers!
The appetizers included salad, Italian-style omelette, some sort of chicken?, and namero. Plus bread straight from the restaurant's own oven. Everything was so perfect, but the namero particularly blew my mind. Namero is a traditional dish around the coastal areas of Chiba - raw fish minced together with miso, negi, and maybe some other things...but the one served here is Italian-style, seasoned with herbs. You just have to try it for yourself!

Anyway, on to the main dishes...

I chose the bamboo shoot & prosciutto risotta. Simple but the textures of each ingredient matched perfectly!
Bacon and green beans (string beans, sugar snap peas, and soramame) spaghetti.
It may sound easy enough, but it was sheer genius.
Gorgonzola fusilli. Feeling hungry? You can order a larger portion for any of the pastas, which is what my friend did! :)
Shrimp and asparagus tomato cream spaghetti. This is next on my must-eat list.

After demolishing our main dishes, next was dessert!

Spinach chiffon cake! It was very light and fluffy...and the color is perfect for the spring/summer season!
Panna cotta. I feel like I could eat this everyday and not get sick of it. It had a milky, vanilla taste well balanced out by the tartness of the berry sauce!
Stealing one last photo in the garden!
Feeling very satisfied and incredibly full, it was time to go home...but I will definitely be back! If you are ever in Minamiboso, this place is definitely a must. (With good reason), it's a huge hit with visitors and locals, so I recommend you check the website (has a google calendar noting which days are totally reserved, etc.) and call before going...you will not regret it!

Check out the website for more gorgeous photos, the menu, and all that good stuff:
http://odori-kitchen.com/

Monday, May 21, 2012

This is where I work.

After a few days of constant rain, a day of fresh, clear weather compelled me to climb to the top of the building I work in. There's an observation deck on the 19th floor (the highest floor is the 20th floor). Only one other building nearby is taller than where my office is - and nothing else comes very close either, so generally you can enjoy some really awesome views on a clear day!

Anyway, I'll let the photos do the talking:

Straight out east (opposite direction of Tokyo). Chiba is relatively flat...
Slightly southeast of the previous photo. You can see the Tokyo Bay and the Keiyo Industrial Belt factories in the distance!
They also have boards of photos and stuff all around the floor explaining the history of Chiba Prefecture.
Messing around with camera settings and put it on sunset photos.
I think the tiny (tall) buildings in the faaaaar far distance are Makuhari?
There are also these photos around most of the windows showing what is what. Spot the Chiba Urban Monorail!
The building to the left is the only building taller than my work. Around the center of the photo, you can see a white thing snaking into the distance...that's the Monorail, that I take to and from work everyday!
Zoom-in! Chiba's Monorail is the longest suspended monorail in the world.
Last but not least, a photo in the direction of the Tokyo area! Can you find the Tokyo Sky Tree? :D
This area is open to the public - at least during normal working hours, from 9:00am - 5:00pm on Mondays to Fridays! It's totally an office district, so there isn't much around, but if you are in the area on a nice day, you can stop by for some fantastic views!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Looking fierce at Otaki Castle.

The gorgeous green of the beginnings of the summer & Otaki Castle.
Last week, I took my first trip to Otaki Castle! I'd been to Otaki a few times before, but never had the opportunity to go to the castle itself before.

Although the castle was built in the 1500s, it was burned down in 1842 and wasn't rebuilt until 1972 to house the current Otaki Castle Museum. The castle itself was modeled off of its appearance from early 17th to mid-19th century. No records of how the original castle looked remain.

The Otaki Castle Museum, which is part of the Chiba Prefectural Museum System, houses artifacts  centered on the theme of "Boso (Chiba) Castles and Castle Towns."

(Just realized that spray was there...glad they have it on hand though!)
Of course, this trip was for work, so first we set out to complete our mission - to check out these babies! The two kimono I assume are kimono worn by noble women (we didn't bother with those though, hehe). Lined up along the right of the photo are samurai armor! There are a few more sets hiding behind the kimono as well. I didn't get any photos, but there were a couple of helmets decorated with giant antlers literally as big as my arm! They were made from wood, but I wonder how much they weigh...I can't imagine them balancing well on your head...

Anyway, Otaki Castle Museum possesses this lovely collection of olden time wear, and I believe they offer workshops once a month where you can come and try them on!

Otaki Castle Museum website: (Japanese) http://www2.chiba-muse.or.jp/?page_id=59
                                                  (English) http://www2.chiba-muse.or.jp/?page_id=362
BLING BLING.
Pictured here is the set we got to play with - it's supposed to be the Tokugawa Ieyasu model!

From left to right: suneate (shin guards), haidate (thigh guards, tied around your waist kinda like an apron), kote (arm guards, except they extend all the way to your shoulder), sword, obi waist band, do (chest armor...also has the giant sode, or shoulder guards), and kabuto helmet hanging off of the right shoulder of the chest armor.

Museum staff demonstrates putting the armor on.
We were borrowing the armor to use at an event, so our main goal was to learn how to put the armor on, take it off, and wrap it up safely. They may be replicas, but considering how detailed they are, I can't imagine them being all that cheap to replace!

Our fearless leader shows us how a real man rocks the armor. Looking good!
Meanwhile, this is my disappointing attempt at making a Kill Bill worthy look.
Eventually I gave up on trying to look fierce...then my companions immediately told me warriors back in the day didn't do the peace sign. You win some, you lose some?
On the other hand, notice I haven't taken a single step from the previous photo? That's because this whole suit of armor weights about 10kg (= about 22 lbs.) It would probably be an amazing workout if you walked around all day in this though!

After the impromptu fashion show, we carefully packed up each part of the armor, one by one.
 And now that our mission was complete, it was time to take a quick look around town before heading home to Chiba City! So I leave you with some photos:

In front of Otaki Station, which is actually officially now "Dental Support Otaki Station,"
named after the company that bought its naming rights.
Bottom arrow points to Otaki Castle.
I have this weird obsession with these kinds of signs. Whenever I see a sign like this, I have this kind of uncontrollable urge to take photos of them!

Cozy looking restaurant right near Otaki Station. I am curious about their main dish, the 猪十六丼 (Wild boar "16" bowl?) Does anyone know what the significance of the 16 is...and is it really wild boar?
These Isumi Railway vending machines were super adorable!!
Tsuchiya, a Japanese sweets shop that is possibly Otaki's hottest spots!
One thing I did know about Otaki - their monaka are insanely in demand. But if you go to Otaki - make sure you get it from here, 津知家 (Tsuchiya)! It's so popular that it's a normal stop for tourist buses, but well loved by the locals as well (which is why I'd had their monaka at least 5 times before coming here). I dare say that the monaka are a bigger sales point than the town's other tourist resources.

It's a bit pricey, but they are also gigantic compared to your normal monaka. If you are a fan of red bean sweets, this is a definite must!