But this past Tuesday, I decided to walk around a little bit to see what's going in Handa and guess what.... it's a really cool place. It's town is a really strange mix between new and old. For example, the Meitetsu station above is new, nice clean. A few blocks away, there is a Japan Rail station which is the original station from 1886. Looking at the neighborhood below, you can see the difference summarized in a single photo.
This is a few blocks away from the train station, small narrow streets, probably laid out 100 year ago with a new condo high rise in the background. In the first three floors of that condo, there is a really high class mall where you can get $1000 spa / face / something treatments. While across the street they have $10 saloons.
When you are on the train passing hoods like this at 80km/hr, you assume it must be cheap and dirty. That the cost of living are more normal then big city Nagoya and again - proof that its not good to make assumptions. All over Handa was these up scale clothing shops. I entered one store and told the guy working the till my pants size (san-juu-san to san-juu-ni) and after a few seconds of looking around he actually found a pair that fit me. And I was going to try it on, but then looked at the price, they were listed at Y32000, or about $320. I almost had a heart attack and promptly and quietly gave him back the pants. Quietly because I'm still not sure how to ask someone who can't speak English if they are crazy.After walking for a hour, I meet a friend for dinner at this Japanese style restaurant. Unable to read the menu, I told her "look it, I can eat anything, just order some good food." At these kind of places, you only order a few things at a time. After about 10 minutes, round one emerged from the kitchen, delivered was Cesar salad and french fries. In this case, I was able to ask; "whats going on here, come on, speak some Japanese." Round two, three and four ended up being a really good Japanese meal.
After a couple hours of eating, I was on my way back to the train station to head back to Nagoya, so lets check out this train station more close. For the first week or so, I would get a donut or something at this bakery on the upper floor of the station.
These two women are always there baking, the smell is wonderful. One day after work, I walked in here and they had sitting on shelf churros. Now, I don't know if they know they made churros, but I do know that when I saw them, in excitement, I swore out loud and purchased two. And they were good, I think for 20 minutes on the train ride home I babbled out the miracle of 2008 in Chita Handa. Now, everyday on my way home, I peek in here, looking for the churros with no luck. :(
Yep, Aoi Bakery, off to the left, good stuff.
3 comments:
Heh, figures, you travel to the other side of the world and find two things:
1. The Hood
2. Churros
Good to see that you're still representing Detroit/Chicago.
~Atticus
P.S. I agree on not buying the $320 pants, heck I could buy pants for 1/8 that and ship them to you if you're really in need of some new pants.
I found a Churro recipe online :)
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 egg yolks
oil for deep frying
2 limes, cut in wedges
powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. Bring the measured water to a boil in a saucepan, add the salt and brown sugar, stirring constantly, until both have dissolved. Remove from heat, add all the flour and baking powder and beat the mixture continuously until smooth.
Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Set the batter aside to cool. Have ready a churro maker or a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle, which will give the churros their traditional shape.
Pour oil into a deep-fryer or-suitable saucepan to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat to 375"F, or until a cube of dried bread, added to the oil, floats and turns golden after 1 minute.
Spoon the batter into a churros maker or a piping bag. Pipe five or six 4-inch lengths of the mixture into the hot oil, using a knife to slice off each length as it emerges from the nozzle.
Fry for 3-4 minutes or until they are golden brown. Drain the churros on paper towels while cooking successive batches, then arrange on a plate with the lime wedges, dust them with sugar and serve warm.
The next thing you have to find in Japan is a place with good Mexican food (i.e good rice)
I will have to convert that recipe into metric, print and take it to the bakery, see if they can do that again. Maybe even offer to help, be like starbucks, and shut them down for three hours for training.
Clothes are really expensive here, When I need clothes, I think I will have to fly home for the weekend.
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