Natalie Goes to Japan

40 year old very married blonde woman having a midlife crisis who heads to Japan alone to follow her dreams. Be careful what you wish for ... you just may get it.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Food that ain't like home

Okay, I realize this is Japan, and they don't eat alot of American food. I get that. And I will survive. What I am having trouble with is the American food is even different. I bought a bag of Frito Lay Cheetos. They taste nothing like Cheetos. And the mayonaise is funky. The cheese single slices are not American Cheese, that's for sure. Saltines, thank goodness, are the same, they just come in little prewrapped packages of 6, 9 packages to a carton. Microwave popcorn can only be found in the specialty stores. Today I bought a package of chocolate covered raisins, only to have my happiness killed by trying them and finding out they were chocolate covered puff rice. Didn't really taste like anything, not even chocolate. I keep trying new things, but mainly they don't work out to well. But I do have 8 dinners I can make now - Spaghetti, Pizza, Burritos, Grilled Cheese, Avocado sandwiches, Tofu & Rice, Soup, and Eggs. I bought a couple of new things today at the grocery store in hopes they would be vegetarian. I had my private student read the ingredients...yeah, no dead animals! So if they work out I will be able to add a couple more things to my list. One of the nice things about Japan is that you can buy pre-cooked tofu. Oh my, I think I'll have to eat a little late night snack, this post is making me hungry.

5 Comments:

At 7:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aren't you concerned that the picture name is too close to your regular blog name?

I really like your blog by the way. Very interesting.

 
At 8:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think she's right. Your personal blog might come up instead of the phptos. Mum

 
At 8:09 AM, Blogger Natalie said...

I thought about that. Chances are though I could have used the regular blog for the pictures, because my vocabulary is so "out there" that the Japanese Moms probably wouldn't be able to understand it anyway. But just to be safe I decided on a new blog. I tried putting it on Blogger, but I couldn't figure out how to keep them from connecting. As for the same name, I'm just too forgetful. I use the same prefix for everything, my phone email, my regular email, both blogs, etc. Thanks for the nice comments, I hope you keep enjoying my little adventure.

 
At 4:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Natalie!
I am really enjoying reading about your adventures too: especially the weekend away at the lake.
Re: trying to find American food... have you been to Costco? They tend to be in the middle of nowhere, but I tend to go once every 6 months or so to stock up on things that I can't find in the supermarket or that are crazily expensive - porridge oats, granola bars, nice jam etc. There is some good info here:
http://www.globalcompassion.com/costcojapan.htm
And I think there is mail order via this company:
http://www.theflyingpig.com/tfp/Shop.ASP
which is a bit more expensive but more convenient.
Good luck!
Suzy.

 
At 11:21 PM, Blogger Natalie said...

Thanks Suzy, I had heard about Flying Pig, but I had forgotten the name (I don't know how?). I also found another online source http://www.fbcusa.com/public2/. I may have to break down and try one of the online guys, although I think I have found most things, here and there. As for actually going to Costco, the closest one would be the Tokyo location. So if I ever get up that way I will definately check it out. Thanks.

 

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