Yakiniku

It's been awhile friends!!!

A very LONG while. Though I am truly sorry for the period of blogging silence, I do have a pretty good reason for my absence. I was in HAWAII!!! I was sitting around in Ithaca, right as the weather was starting to get nice again when my friend offered to take me with her to Oahu. Being the adventure-lover that I am, I just could not resist! The plane ride was actually quite comfortable, as comfortable as traveling could be. Luckily for me I was able to relax in my friend's roomy backpack while she had to deal with all the typical traveling stresses. It's great to be small sometimes.

Once I got used to the 6 hour time difference from Ithaca, NY I was excited to see what Hawaii was all about. A big part of the culture, I quickly discovered, was food! So much food, so much variety, so much... per portion! This was not fine dining in portions, but fine dining in flavor definitely.

So one of my first culinary delights came in the form of yakiniku. Yakiniku is when you order meats and veggies at a restaurant and it comes to you... raw! At first I thought it was a joke and the people I was with were trying to trick me. But then I took a closer look at the table and realized that there was a charcoal grill right in the middle! So I guess I had to work for my food that night. But it was definitely worth it.

I found huge tongs on the table.
Needless to say, I would soon find out exactly what those tongs were for...

That's silly! I think they forgot to cook this...

Oh hey look! A grill! In the middle of our table???
(ooop... don't drop me now!!!)

Ah... so this is how it works. Deeeeelicious!

So that was my first yakiniku experience friends. Some people might be slightly put off by the thought of having to cook their own food in a restaurant, but I found it exhilarating. I've always thought it a shame that you cannot smell your food cooking when you go to a restaurant, a sensation that always heightens my enjoyment of a meal, so this yakiniku adventure was a great culinary adventure indeed.

Much love,

LFM