Tiffy in Nagoya: Unagi Hasshou うなぎ八勝

Tiffy in Nagoya: Unagi Hasshou うなぎ八勝

There's so much I haven't written yet (Nigeria, more of Korea, yadiyadiya) but I just want to share my favorite local food in Nagoya: hitsumabushi ひつまぶし

今までまだブログしていないことが沢山あるけど（ナイジェリア、韓国の旅行など）、一番好きな名古屋名物のひつまぶしを紹介したいと思います。

tororo hitsumabushi ・とろろひつまぶし・ PHP 1414・ JPY 3200 

It's basically fried eel. Fried so that it's just the right amount of crunchy. I wasn't able to take a picture of the whole tray because it was HUGE but it comes with broth and some seasonings (wasabi, seaweed, spring onions). I ordered the one that comes with tororo (for an extra 400 yen) because I love the taste and texture of sticky gooey yam.

I didn't know how to eat it at first so I just watched my boyfriend eating it first. It's really up to you how you want to eat it but if you want to maximize the whole experience, here's my guide to eating hitsumabushi:

1. Use the smaller bowl (not shown in the photo) and put a portion of unagi and rice from the bigger bowl. Eat it as it is to have a taste of the original flavor
2. Get another portion and put in whatever seasonings you want in. On my next serving, I put in some seaweed, lots of wasabi and poured in some of the broth
3. My third portion had me mixing the tororo in (sooooo good and sooooo healthy!)
4. Go crazy

Whenever I'm in Nagoya I go to Unagi Hasshou because it just serves great quality eel that I don't mind how expensive it is.

Photo from a random guy from the interwebz: anton

うなぎ 八勝（はっしょう）
名古屋市守山区上志段味東谷２１０９－１４６
０５２－７３６－４８７５

Tiffany in Korea: Gobong Samgyetang 고봉삼계탕

Tiffany in Korea: Gobong Samgyetang

Amidst finals month, field work in Nigeria, job-hunting, and various reports for different stuff, I found the time (indulged) to come to Korea to attend my friend's wedding. I also started writing a more personal (random) blog with friends I met in Japan. 

It's only our second day here and already I feel right at home. After arriving at the airport, we headed for information to ask about where to get wifi. It's around 400 PHP a day to rent one and we felt that it would be very convenient (and affordable) to be connected (GOOGLE MAPS YES). 

We headed to Hotel President where I'm sharing a room with my Chinese friend, Xiao Xiao. It was perfect having her with us because apparently, so many Chinese work in Korea and everywhere we've been, she's our point person speaking to the different people (wifi person etc) in Chinese. She was also the only one who looked up good places to go to so when she suggested Gobong Samgyetang for dinner, we all just said LET'S GO! 

The restaurant is near exit 5 of Euljiro Station. Just go to the direction of Starbucks, turn left, see Fridays and it's by your right side.

Samgyetang (Php 590)

They are known for their samgyetang, a soup dish with a whole chicken stuffed with rice. It has different healthy herbs like ginseng. When we told Yuri, our Korean friend, the next day about having samgyetang, she also informed us that it's very nutritious and high in calories (good calories, yay?).

Just ordering samgyetang should be enough for you. We also ordered chijimi, which I thought wasn't good at all and sort of regretted ordering.

Gobong Samgyetang 고봉삼계탕

199-13 Euljiro 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

COCINA by UP JMA Great food with great company

SAVE THE DATE 

25 January 2013  at Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman from 11am- 10pm

Contact Sarah Ampil for more details 09178464517

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I miss going to these food events. Granted that a good number of booths have not-so-good food, it's always interesting to see what they have to offer! People who are already around the Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City area might be interested in dropping by.

Tiffy

Glossybox Japan: November 2012

Glossybox Japan: November 2012

By: Tiffy

I like skin care products and I like trying out new products. So when I figured out that Glossybox is available in Japan, I wanted to sign up for it. Unfortunately, it was all sold out and the first subscription I can get was the July 2012 Glossybox. 

Fast-forward to November. I got my fourth Glossybox this morning and I am very happy with what I got.

The mandatory group shot

Lush Japan Enchanted Eye Cream

Full size 

45g for ￥3860

Daily Delight lip balm

Full size

One for ~￥609

Beashow by Noz ビショウ・バイ・ノズ

Sample set (2)

Head spa shampoo 10ml (full size 300ml ￥1029)

Smooth care shampoo 10ml (full size 300ml ￥1029)

Damage care treatement 10g (full size 240g ￥1260) 

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Cream 20g 

(123g for ￥1575)

Embryolisse moisture cream 5ml

75ml for ￥2940

30ml for ￥1575

Lifestyle: Jim Whitaker's Rebirth

Lifestyle: Jim Whitaker's Rebirth

By: Tiffy

A bit of good news everyone: I passed my entrance examination of the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science. Starting next year April, I will now officially be a graduate school student. In the meantime, I'm doing the literature review of my research. My professor has thankfully been really supportive and has been giving me good advice. 

Student life shouldn't all be about reading and studying, however, lest I lose my mind. So recently I applied and was selected to be one of the CoFesta Student Ambassadors. CoFesta is a Japanese contents industry festival where events are connected with the different industries like games, animation, manga, characters, broadcast, music, and film. 

Aside from the Grand Ceremony, I also get invited to events related to the industry. 

Last night, I attended the US-Japan Film Academy Talk and Screening Event held in Roppongi Academyhills which was really cool because we got to attend it for free and registered at the press table.

It was a screening of Rebirth, directed by Jim Whitaker. Rebirth is a documentary about the people affected by the 911 tragedy.

Rebirth

Jim Whitaker talking about how he got into the film industry 

Also there was Rachel Gandin Mark, a former student of USC School of Cinematic Arts, who talked some more about the film industry and the pathways you can take if you want to be a certain type of film major.

The audience were also able to ask Jim Whitaker questions about his career and his film.

Six months before 911, Jim Whitaker's mother passed away. And this grief was part of the impetus of doing this documentary. 

When he was considering the people to include in the film, he looked into the firefighters, people who lost someone, people who were directly affected, and so on. When he approached them, he initially told them that he intends to interview them once a year for 10 years. After the 4th and 5th year, however, he realized that there was significant changes in his subjects' lives: one of the subjects who lost her fiance got married, the boy who lost his mother graduated, and so on. So that was when he knew that he was nearing the end. 

According to Whitaker, it wasn't easy deciding the final subjects: a subject pulled out during the initial interviews, some people that he contacted stopped responding to his calls, he had to cut out some people from the final film...

While filming, the final subjects weren't allowed to see the footage of their interviews until the final product so as not to affect how they act during interviews. 

It is a very emotional film and a lot of us in the audience were sniffling as we listened to what the people in the documentary had to say. 

 CoFesta Student Ambassadors with Jim Whitaker

Tiffy in Japan: Burdock-flavored Rice

Tiffy in Japan: Burdock-flavored Rice

ミツカン 釜めしの素 香りごぼう (208g)

The truth is, I'm not really very experimental when it comes to buying stuff from the supermarket. It's mostly because my boyfriend helps me do the grocery and his mom sends me a lot of foodstuff. This was one of them. 

2-3 cups of rice and add the stuff in. I usually make 3 so that I can put everything else in the fridge and eat it for the next 2-3 days. 

After 15-30 minutes (depending on the setting I choose)

Mix it all up and you're done.

It has a chicken-something taste to it and it smells REALLY good. Sometimes, I make onigiri for breakfast using this rice. 

Tiffy in Japan: Kabuki and Shrimp

What I love about my school is that they sponsor trips and give us tickets to shows too.

(Sign says: The University of Tokyo Kashiwa Campus)

Last month, they provided 70 international students with tickets to the Kabuki, a classical Japanese drama

The pace of the drama is really slow. So much so that it's not surprising to see several heads nodding and people falling asleep. But one of my labmates really love Kabuki and has watched it numerous times.

On the way back to Kashiwa from Tokyo, we passed by Kitasenju. We wanted to have an early dinner so we were walking around the station to look for a place to eat. 

After walking for quite some time, we went back to this small restaurant that served shrimps and crabs. 

Almost all the food in the restaurant has shrimp in it

Their special offer for the day: ￥90 for one

甘えびの唐揚げ | えびとアボカドのわさびマヨあえ

Fried shrimp | Shrimp avocado salad

Most of their dishes are around ￥300~￥400

赤えび刺身 | Red Shrimp Sashimi | ￥300 per piece

This was by far my favorite. It was so soft and fresh and just yummy.

えびかに家

東京都足立区千住2丁目65 小泉ビル

How to get there:

(122m from Kitasenju Station)

3 min walk from Kitasenju Station West exit

1 min walk from Kitasenju Station Nakamachi exit

Google map

Tiffy in Japan: Field trip to Nikko Tosho-gu and Nikko-bori Crafting

Field trip to Nikko Tosho-gu
By: Tiffy

As far as I've been told, the Student Affairs Section of the University of Tokyo holds field trips once a semester. Last month, I was fortunate enough to have been selected (they raffle off spots) to go to the field trip to Nikko Tosho-gu, one of the more famous shrines in Japan.

Despite the fact that it was pouring, there were still so many people there. 

Look at those puddles!

In some places, we had to remove our shoes before we can enter. 

(I can confidently say that at the end of the day, not one of our socks were dry)

Look at how amazing it looks--if I can live in a shrine, I'd make this my master's bedroom. 

   

Look ma: I learned how to carve on wood!

(Let's keep it a secret that the sensei did the hard parts for me: eyes, some curves, and 「日光」)

But I totally carved this myself!

Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Tiffy: Picnic at Odaiba

Remember back in August 2009 when Gundam was in Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay? 

Back then, my friends and I were pretty lucky to be able to see it before they took it down. But guess what? They put it back up again, this time in DiverCity Tokyo, a new shopping mall. 

The rainbow bridge looks amazing.

I went back to Odaiba this time with my new friends--schoolmates from the University of Tokyo. This time, however, we didn't get to see the Gundam. 

Spot the lady in the wedding kimono under the replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Coca Cola Store at Aqua City Odaiba

I was supposed to buy something for Bong but didn't know which one and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to give it to him anyway this year! Sorry buddy. 

 

We also saw this street performer who would change his position if you changed the position of the doll in front of him. My friend was mischievous and he made both of the doll's legs extend out in front of it. No worries--I put it back in a comfy position before we left. And one of my friends left some change for him. He gave us a thumbs up when we left. 

The beach in Odaiba

We then bought some food from the convenience store--cheapskates that we are

And had a picnic in a hill with an awesome view of the beach

Tiffy: Ristras Mexican Grill

Ristras Mexican Grill 
By Tiffy

I'm going to come clean: I'm not really very adventurous with the restaurants I visit. Most of the places I visit are recommendations of friends and the like. Whenever my mom (or anyone) would ask me where I want to eat, I'd say "kahit saan (anywhere)".

So when we were deciding on a place to eat, Tim was the one who suggested that we eat at Ristras. They have good burritos, he said.

It's actually a small place and very comfortable. You know that it's really a place where people EAT.

If you finish their Godzilla Burrito (2.5 kg | Php 1200 | US$ 28.08) in 90 minutes or less, your name will land on their Wall of Fame. Winners will get a Bragging rights T-shirt and your Godzilla Burrito for free. Losers need to pay Php 1000 (ouch).  

Trust me, it's a big burrito.

"Wet My Burrito" for an additional Php 90 | USD 2.11 

They put in some kind of sauce before lighting it up.

You choose what type of food you want. Their menu goes ORDER (list of possible orders) WITH (list of possible content) EXTRAS (extra stuff).

I got a burrito with steak and carnitas (you can choose two! And you also get to choose if they'll mix it up or put half in one side and the other half in the other side). Orders cost around Php 290-340 | USD 6.79-7.95. It's big enough to share between two people. I couldn't finish mine (trust me, I eat a lot).

My friend Alexis asked them to "wet" his burrito! 

Fish Taco Especiale (Php 350 | USD 8.19) 

UP Diliman Psychology Graduates ♥

J. Abad Santos cor. Lopez Jaena

San Juan City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Tel. No. +63(2)5708159

According to Our Awesome Planet, from Wilson St. turn right on Alex III