Food Glorious Food.

While on vacation, I had the opportunity to eat several different dishes, some healthy, others not so much.

My brothers and I went to see Transformers. The movie was noisy and dumb, but it isn't summer without a Bay-Blow'em-up. I was still a little jet-lagged and somehow managed to doze off during the explosion-filled finale. Afterwards we ate at a Casey's and I had a Bison burger. When finished, my older brother Mark paid the Buffalo Bill.













Curse you McDonalds and Burger King for having "Happi Setto" with cool collectibles simultaneously. Fortunately, they also sold the "Legion of Super Heroes" and "Simpson" characters separately, so I didn't have to consume their "food" every time.















Other fast food outlets were more disappointing in their toy fare. I did have a Harvey's burger (...They make a hamburger a beautiful thing, don't you know, but they only offer crayons to the kiddies) and a poutine. Not the healthiest of meals, but it did sate my appetite. Nori loves a good burger, so he'd be impressed by this.














MMMM, poutine.


















BigBob & I were downtown trying to sell some of my several boxes of books. Beforehand, we partook in a nice slice of New York pizza before trekking the boxes down the street. I made 160$ total in sales, but still had innumerable books that I gave away to the fine folks at Goodwill.














One thing I have vowed is to eat more salads. En route to school in the morning, I am no longer grabbing a sandwich, but am consuming 御握り (onigiri or rice balls or more accurately-triangles). Today, was シーチキン ("Sea Chicken" better known as tuna) and a 牛タン (gyutan or Beef tongue).








Speaking of food, one of the coolest things about working in Japan, is the obligation co-workers show to furnishing one with goodies that they've collected while vacationing. Some of the おみやげ (omiyage or souvenirs) that were waiting 'pon my desk for my return were:

会津牛せんべい, (Aizu-gyu senbei) or rice crackers flavoured with beef tongue from Aizu.
















チョコボール (ピーナッツ), (choco bo-ru, pi-natsu) or chocolate covered peanuts with a sort of toucan-like mascot called キョロチャン (Kyoro-chan).















大阪岩おこし, (Osaka, iwa okoshi) or a famous snack from Osaka that looks like a granola bar and tastes spicy and sweet and crunchy. Frankly it looks like something I'd hang up for a parakeet to peck on, but it does taste pretty yummy. For the obsessed, one can order a cell phone strap shaped like the snack if you'd like.















春華堂うなぎパイ, (Shunkadou, unagi pai) or EEL PIE! Eel and Pie are not words that one normally associates together, but this concoction from the Shunkado region specializes in unagi-pai and it is quite tasty, sweet & nutty and not-at-all slimy.











Kind of makes the crappy caramel and a penny that I'm giving out pale by comparison. But hey, I've got over 500 students to give stuff!