Osaka's Okonomiyaki

[okonomiyaki + yakisoba]

Delay no more... I'm starting to get emails from readers checking my whereabouts. My wanderlust has gotten me to Japan and back. This time besides shopping and more shopping in Tokyo, I got around taking the Shinkansen bullet train to Osaka and Kyoto for a bit of outside-of-Tokyo reality. Though I must say, I'd rather spend the entire 10 days in Tokyo alone. There's just too much to see and too little time to fit all in.

With a food-themed blog like this, a snapshot of the food I savored is a must. First off, let's check out this Japanese pizza-like delicacy from the Osaka area. Okonomiyaki restaurants are so much fun. They're more like street food than anything else fancy. You get a server turning the gooey dough into a irresistible crispy pancake filled with seafood or meat right in front of you on a grill. Top it up with bulldog sauce, mustard and Kewpie mayonnaise, you've got just the right flavors oozing through the thick yet light pancake. I'd say it's like a cross between savory pancake and pizza. To check out how this is done, here's a recipe to attempt.

[Japanese pancake/pizza]

In Osaka, we were fortunate to have an old college mate of mine to take us to the best restaurants around. Ryutaro and I went way back to our junior year when we both had part-time jobs at the same place. Those were the days when we had to show up at 7 in the morning, preparing salads, fruits, sandwiches and packing them into clear plastic cases for delivery across different cafes on campus. Now 10 years later, he's a successful businessman having been expatriated to Egypt where he met his wife and now having a new-born daughter named Marina. It's so much fun to relive the good old days with lotsa beer and good japanese bar food. Ryu is just how I remembered him to be, his ability to down pints of beer before the first course is served and his laughing reprise of what life brings. 

Autumn notes in my pumpkin soup

[La calabaza - Fresh pumpkin]

I love the seasons. They somehow serve as a time marker for me and I love the change of wardrobe and the different holidays and foods that comes with each change of season. With no signs of falling leaves and a drop of temperature, a bowl of warm pumpkin soup serves to remind me of November, the only month left before fairy lights are lit up and year-end reigns in.

Living in a metropolitan city means as long as you have the resources, you can get just about any ingredient you need for the enterprising cook. My first attempt with pumpkins here were quite a bit stressful as I realized right before serving my guests that the local variety made the taste completely off. So last minute measures to save the tureen of soup included throwing in some curry spice and that somehow helped.

While food-shopping in a Japanese grocer the other day, I discovered a completely different species -- Japanese pumpkins -- with its beautiful dark green hue on the outside and radiantly golden flesh in the inside. Aha! I found the closest substitute to recreate my trustworthy German pumpkin soup. With all those jack-o-lanterns chucked aside for disposal, you might want to think about using them to impress your love ones with this easy culinary treat, spiced with loads of tarragon and nutmeg. If you are a little adventurous, here's a spicy Asian take on the vegetarian soup, the Thai pumpkin soup, made with lemongrass and coconut milk. And most importantly, be mindful about how you would spend the second last month of the year. Before you know it, a good year would have just flown past.