Six: 温泉玉子

I wake very deliberately today.

In fact, I don't feel like waking up. If today never starts and ends, there won't be a tomorrow. And if there's no tomorrow, I don't have to go home.

I am also feeling a tad funny. I have been a good girl for the past few days, I haven't been drinking much, just that mug of beer or little bottle of sake here and there. I sure as hell escaped the birthday madness back in Honks (my Gorgeous happens to be my near-twin, so there was a party even in my absence). In fact, I think I've been well-hydrated with tons of water, o cha and the addictive milk tea. Half my time in Japan, I think I've been stopping by every other vending machine to pick up a bottle of milk tea; the other half, looking for a toilet.

So then, why is it that my throat is feeling lumpy and scratchy, my body is feeling sore and tired?

It's just my body's natural reaction to that allergy called "work", I tell myself.


Anyway, there is no time for me to stay in and laze, no excuse for me to fall sick. There's still food to be eaten, though honestly I am getting more and more undecided about my meals. Too much desire, too little time.

And then, today is finally the day I am allowing myself to roam freely around Harajuku and Shibuya. I've been very good, holding off the shopping. But now, come to think of it, I'm getting a little worried I might not have enough time.

Ah well. Lunch first.



I've been wanting to try this little chazuke shop right inside the Tokyu Food Show at Shibuya for the longest time, but it has always been packed. I think my timing's right today, it's just slightly before lunch hour.

Chazuke's one of my favoritest Japanese meals. And it's also one of the most non-mindblowing foods. Basically, it comprises of good ol' plain rice, with some toppings like fish or meat or veggies and seaweed, and some green tea or broth which is poured over the rice.

Yup, you got it. It's just Japanese porridge. Well, more correctly, green tea porridge.

I love chazuke so much (as I do porridge or congee of any sort), I do that often at home. Real no-brainer. Cook the rice. Pour some toppings (I cheat at this stage, I haven't tried using any fresh toppings, just some packeted dried toppings from the supremarket). Boil a pot of green tea. Voila! Dinner's a happy meal.

(Another no-brainer rice recipe at home involves plain ol' rice, a soft-boiled egg (and it has to be Japanese) with the yolk still runny, and a few drops of Japanese soy sauce. You break the yolk, mix it into the rice with the soy sauce... mmmm. I always think I'll easily survive any wartime.)

So much for my love for chazuke, I do actually try looking out for chazuke shops everytime I'm in Tokyo. Strangely, I have never seen one - other than this tiny one at the Food Show. I suppose this is really more like home-cooked fare.

Anyway, I stand outside the shop for a while, because like usual, I cannot decide which topping to go for. There's the one with tuna, and there's the one with salmon. But I decide in the end I'll go for the "special" - the one with sanma, or 秋刀魚.

Fish in Japan is seasonal, and I've heard one of the best fish in autumn is sanma. However much I'm missing salmon, I think this should be a better choice.

The chazuke is quite a cheat - instead of green tea, I am given a pot of broth instead. Bummer.

Still, it turns out really good. Let me see, "good" in what way? Sometimes you eat something that warms your heart, that makes you miss home. Yeah, this is that good.

The sanma is really fresh and yummers, I just wish the portion is huger.

I'm gonna do this with miso salmon when I go home.


I am not going to tell you what I've bought, or how much I've disgustingly spent on my shopping trip. I think my free roaming has turned into a frantic run-loose. So let me tell you what I stupidly chose for dinner instead.



Let me first also explain why I decide to choose what I've chosen.

I was about to step into Yoshinoya. Laugh all you may, but I totally dig Yoshinoya in Japan. It's the usual beef rice bowl that I go for, but the one big difference about Yoshinoya in Japan is that they offer a fresh raw egg to go with your rice bowl.

Fresh raw egg! And seriously, anywhere else in the world, I might not have dared to do this.

So after days of procrastinating, I decided I was finally going to do the Yoshinoya. Then just right next to Yoshinoya, I stopped in front of this other shop. Amongst the many other items on the menu, I spotted this beef curry rice bowl - with a raw egg.

And I started thinking, yeah there's also the Japanese curry I've not tried this trip. So, there's the beef, the curry, the egg, all in this one dish.

Bingo.

I don't know, but I think I'm a tad disappointed. The beef tastes good on its own, and with the curry. The curry tastes alright with the rice. The egg goes with the rice, and maybe the beef.

But altogether, it seems not right.

I finish the beef... but the curry's just too much for me. I conclude this might just be a lousy shop.

I'll stick to Yoshinoya in future. And I'll stick to curries of the Indian sort, and Mom's of course.


And speaking of eggs... you know how excited I get talking about eggs, don't you?



I love eggs of all sorts - fresh, cooked, salted, thousand-years-old. And I love them cooked in any way - soft-boiled, hard-boiled, raw, poached (yumms), omelette, sunny-side up, scrambled, what else?

The eggs in the bento boxes I've had this trip have gotten me very excited. They look like they're hard-boiled. But when you tuck into it, you realize the white is totally firm like a hard-boiled egg, but the yolk is totally runny like a soft-boiled egg.

OMG - how the fuck do they cook it this way?

I couldn't let it go just like that, so I tried my darnedest to describe these bento box eggs to my friend Junko. I think she must have been quite perplexed to hear her Singaporean friend talk so animatedly about an egg, but the sweet soul finally decided what egg I was talking about.

"Oh! Onsen tamago!"

Knowing that the gem is called onsen tamago (traditionally, eggs cooked in the spring waters of onsens) is only half the joy. The other half comes from the knowledge that "you can buy an onsen tamago cooker from Tokyu Hands or Loft!"

Which is what I did today. I went to Loft, scoured the floor, and actually found an onsen tamago cooker. At only a little more than a thousand yen, I proudly declare this baby the best buy of my trip.

(Of course, I saw plenty other household items and kitchen ware that I really think I can do with, but I had to convince myself there's no way I am going to be able to grill fish in my apartment.)

Let me test this baby once I get home. And we'll see how my onsen tamago turns out.


In all honesty, I am starting to feel really lonely.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I have not really spoken to anyone for the past five days. There's no one for me to talk crap to. Half the trip, I subconsciously wish I had someone next to me whenever I see something really funny and some stupid thought starts brewing in my mind. My voice breaks whenever I open my mouth to say "excuse me" or "thank you".

I really want to talk to somebody. Anybody!

Maybe I do need to go home.