Chopsticks? Of Course We Can Use Them!

From Fukuoka, Japan -- 9:52 AM 9/11/08

As I write this post we are sitting in our hotel room, having morning coffee, watching the Tampa Bay Rays play the Red Sox (game is tied right now at the top of the sixth), and following the tsumani warnings for Northern Japan on several television channels. Apparently there is some seismic activity going on today in on Hokaido, the northern island.

Today is Peter's back to work day. He'll be at the theatre by 10 am for prep time and run throughs. Then there are two performances today at 2 pm and 7 pm. We'll see the 7 pm performance since Peter will be the "swing" then. Usually the swings don't perform in the first and last performances of a city run. Peter will do the lead track on Saturday at 1 pm so we'll see that performance, too.

We're located in the Nakasu district of central Fukuoka, about 20 walking minutes from the Sun Palace where Blast performs. The hotel is at the edge of a huge nightlife district. Guidebooks say this area has over 2000 clubs, restaurants, ramen shops and more. Last night we saw even more people on the streets and it was only Wednesday night.

The ramen stalls along the river open around sunset. Lined up one after another, the open air cooking booths have charcoal fires contained in metal cookers. Ramen is pork broth and noodles served in a large bowl. You get your choice of meat and/or veggies added to the bowl. You eat with chopsticks and drink the broth as you get further into the bowl.

Some stalls (the good ones, we were told) have lines of people waiting and sitting on little stools along the river. When you eat, you pull up to the counter in the booth and choose your food. One stall might have the Fukuoka Hawks baseball game broadcast on the radio. Another had a TV screen tuned to news. Still others have waiters walking the sidewalk and preparing guests for their seating.

It's all very casual and very conversational. Smells range all the way from "Hey, let's eat here" to "keep going, keep going." We considered a meal, but Peter wanted to introduce us to okonomiyaki which he calls Japanese pancakes. So we found an okonomiyaki restaurant in at Canal City, a beautiful multistory shopping and hotel complex further upriver.

At the okonomiyaki restaurant we sat in a booth that had a large hot plate built right into the tabletop. We ordered, or shall I say that Peter ordered. Most restaurants have English menus and non-Japanese speaking diners point to the entree that you want and say "hai" which is yes and then indicate how many you want. The exception seems to be Coke which is a universal word here.

We ordered okonomiyaki with beef, pork and veggies. The waiter brought a bowl with chopped cabbage, what looked like mayo and an egg. He stirred all together and put the ingredients into a shaped pile on the grill. Meat or veggies went on top. He left for five minutes or so. On return, he flipped the "pancake" and sprinked what might have been very thin dried bacon on top. Everything smelled very good since it was cooking right in front of us. Peter also ordered sea scallops with butter which they brought to him and he grilled separately.

The waiter flipped the pancakes again and then swirled a brown sauce on top. One guidebook said that the sauce contains worchestershire sauce. I thought it was sweetened, too. Then, we ate. Each of us had chopsticks and a small metal spatula to cut off our wedge of okonomiyoki. Ed had not used chopsticks before and quickly proved to have great dexterity. We enjoyed the foray into a type of Japanese cuisine that was new to us. For the record, on Wednesday night, Ed ate sweet corn OFF the cob with chopsticks. Hmm. . .he's getting good!

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Today's pictures show the ramen stalls and the okonomiyaki meal.