Kyuushoku for 15 July

Thursday

Bread roll（小パン）

Milk（牛乳）

Spaghetti Soup（スープスパゲティ）

Corn and tuna salad（コーンツナサラダ）

Apple jam（りんごジャム）

Watermelon（スイカ）

827 Kcal

33.1 g of protein

We had the “traditional” western dish of spaghetti soup today. I told the teachers that I’ve never seen spaghetti in a soup before and they were very surprised. Another surprise of the soup was the inclusion of scallops.

Get your scallops out of my soup.

The corn and tuna salad was good, as usual. I think we had extras today as the salad resembled a small mountain.

I ended up eating a lot of watermelon on Monday night, so I think I’ve had my fill for the summer. The watermelon today wasn’t even that sweet.

The apple jam seems like it was added at the last minute. Apple jam is really just about the worst of the jams.

4 shishamo 

Kyuushoku for 14 July

Wednesday

Birthday menu

Mixed rice（十穀ごはん）

Milk（牛乳）

Salted grilled salmon（サケの塩焼き）

Dried tofu salad（ゆばサラダ）

Satsuma jelly（みかんゼリー）

Miso soup with potatoes（じゃがいものみそ汁）

830 Kcal

36.2 g of protein

I really liked today’s rice. I think there were parts of soy beans, oats, corn...something and a few other grainy bits in there. I heard some complaints from the teachers, but they’d complain about the microscopic scratch on the luxury car you gave them.

The salmon was very good today, very salty.

I was wondering what the salad was today. There was this really strange thing in with the cucumbers and cabbage. “Yuba” appears to be tofu that has been dried in really thin sheets. It had the texture of lunchmeat.

Good miso day.

5 shishamo

Kyuushoku for 13 July

Tuesday

Sesame bread roll（小ごまパン）

Milk（牛乳）

Tofu stew（とうふの煮物）

Fried squid rings（イカリングフライ）

Potherb mustard and bean sprout namul（小松菜ともやしのナムル）

822 Kcal

43.4 g of protein

Today’s bread was really good. It kind of tasted like whole grain brain, a welcome break from the land of white bread. I didn’t even hear any kids complain about it today.

I usually like the tofu stew. Some days, they try to sneak a few quail egg abominations into the stew, but today was not one of those days.

Japanese fried squid rings are similar to calamari, but they are just a little bit different. I always think that the Japanese version is more squid-y. They are usually pretty good though.

I can’t get enough of the bean sprouts. A side note about bean sprouts, they are very cheap in the grocery store (about ¥25 for a big bag), but it’s impossible to eat that whole bag by yourself before it all goes bad. I always forget this.

5 shishamo

Kyuushoku for 12 July

Monday

Chew chew day

Bean menu

Summer vegetable curry and rice（夏野菜のカレーライス）

Milk（牛乳）

Fried soybeans and tiny dried fish（大豆と煮干しの揚げ煮）

Cabbage with almond dressing（キャベツのアーモンド和え）

868 Kcal

30.9 g of protein

Summer vegetables appear to be: pumpkins, eggplant and some other kind of squash. The curry was really good today. Maybe it was the pumpkin.

I had one of those “I’ve been in Japan too long” moments when I enjoyed the dried fish bits. They didn’t cut the inside of my mouth, so I consider today a success.

5 Shishamo

Kyuushoku for 9 July

Friday

A taste of Korea

White rice（ごはん）

Milk（牛乳）

Pork and kimchi sauté（ぶたとキムチ炒め）

Mackerel with yannyomkanjeon seasoning（サバのヤンニョムカンジャンかけ）

Seaweed soup（わかめスープ）

Cherry tomatoes（ミニトマト）

745 Kcal

33.2 g of protein

I didn’t get to take a picture of the food today. I ate lunch with the principal and didn’t get a chance to get a picture. The principal in Japanese schools is more like the president than a principal, so I was also nervous.

I don’t know what they put in the kimchi, but it was pretty good. I think it was soy sauce, but who knows. I make this at home sometime when I’m feeling extra lazy.

The kyuushoku menu said that the mackerel is covered in a “medicinal” sauce. It was good, but I’m not sure about how “medicinal” it was. It was good though.

Korean seaweed soup is usually pretty good, even the really simple kind. This...was not.

4 shishamo

Kyuushoku for 30 June

Wednesday

Hashed beef and rice（ハヤシライス）

Milk（牛乳）

Spiced wiener（香味入りウィンナー）

Spinach with almond dressing（ほうれん草のアーモンド和え）

Kiwi（キウィ）

927 Kcal

30.3 g of protein

The kids were all excited in the period right before lunch because today was “hayashi rice” day. I guess “hayashi” is supposed to mean “hashed”. I’m not even sure what hashed means. All I can think of is hashbrowns. Hayashi rice seems to be a tomato-y sauce with potatoes, mushrooms, beef and some green looking vegetables on top of rice.

The spiced wiener was quite spiced. Japanese cuisine uses spices about as much as Jewish food uses pork products. So I’m always weary of spices when used by Japanese cooks. But it was good.

Today was my favourite salad, the spinach with almond dressing. Seriously, it’s amazing.

And the kiwi tops off the meal.

5 shishamo

Kyuushoku for 29 June

Tuesday

Bread roll（小パン）

Milk（牛乳）

Seasoned udon （かやくうどん）

Onion croquette（玉ねぎコロッケ）

Tuna salad（ツナサラダ）

898 Kcal

38.2 g of protein

 

Before school today, the tea lady read off the menu to me. She does this every time I come to this school. She tries to speak English when reading the menu to me, leading to some great translations. Today she explained that we were having “Japanese spaghetti” today for lunch. I had no idea what she was talking about. I thought she meant some sort of fish sauce with fish egg spaghetti creations that you see in the restaurants sometime. Turns out, she meant udon. I guess if you make spaghetti 10x thicker and cook it until it’s so doughy you can choke a cat.

The udon was actually pretty good. I usually don’t like udon since it’s so chewy, but it wasn’t too bad today. Plus the soup they put it in was good.

Whatever a “croquette” is, Japan does it pretty well. If it’s fried, Japan has perfected it. This is a good general rule to follow.

The tuna salad was good. I think American tuna salad tends to be something like mayo and relish and tuna. Japanese tuna salad is literally tuna and salad. Today the salad was cabbage and cucumbers in a mayo-esque dressing. I have to say it was good.

5 shishamo