Fancy Cake Day

So after I made myself get up around 1:00 on Saturday, it was pretty slow-goings. I managed to get myself to the shower and back, and then finally got put together enough to make a trip to the Yaoko supermarket to get some lunch and groceries. Everyone else was still asleep or had already eaten, so I was going to be going by myself, but I actually met Jen coming in right at the door! So we had a nice walk there together (where I successfully lead the way to Yaoko for the first time, as per Hunter's previous instruction) and I bought a ton of snacks...

There's something I had begun to notice about my eating habits over the past year or so, and that is that once I start to feel the slightest bit full, unless I'm eating something truly amazing, I stop eating. I don't really like the feeling of being full, it makes me feel a little ill, and I'm usually tired of what I'm eating by that point. At UVa, I'll find myself buying snacks, only for them to sit in my room for weeks because I'm never really in the mood to eat them.

All of these former truths seem to no longer be the case. While my first batch of groceries lasted me a pretty long time, they've started disappearing quicker and quicker. Yesterday, I ate 16 tuna sushi rolls, followed by half a bag of corn/choco snacks that I've become addicted to despite their unusual taste combination, a small package of pocky, and a small bag of Cheetos. For some reason I just can't stop eating! I've lost that full feeling somehow... I wonder if Japan has finally destroyed the metabolism of my youth which made it possible to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, because my appetite was fairly conservative. Nick suggests that it's just because I'm walking about 20 times as much as I was before I came here, so I'm actually more hungry than I think I am to begin with... I sure hope so, because I've gotten mighty used to not ever having to think about how much I eat of what.

So after I bought all my groceries, which I would apparently consume half of within the next 24 hours, and headed home, I was pretty much too worn out again from lack of sleep to do much of anything. I decided to just lay back down and relax for a while. Four hours later, I'm awakened by my new cell phone buzzing on my floor. I checked it, and Greg had messaged asking if I had eaten. Let me tell you another thing about me pertaining to food. I'm not sure if this is how it goes for everyone else too, but if I take any kind of nap right after I eat, I feel absolutely miserable when I wake up. I'm exhausted and groggy, but mostly my whole insides just feel bleh. I think it's because I'm taking gravity out of the digestion process by laying down. Anyway, I felt awful and not hungry at all, but I knew I should eat because it was 8:00pm and I wouldn't get another chance.

The guys were in the mood for train station udon, so we made the journey to Nishikawaguchi Station, where we discovered that there are several floors of restaurants we were unaware of. The real restaurants were too pricey for us, but we found a great vending machine udon shop on the 2nd floor! I got the Tsukimi (moon viewing festival style) udon. Time for more explanations... Udon noodles are thick wheat noodles, I can't really think of pasta equivalent in America. They're an enjoyable size and consistency and easy to eat! I had been hesitant to try any so far because I had first tried them at Sakura in Charlottesville and thought they were no good (they kind of tasted like wood...), but of course, Japan's udon is delicious. It's my new favorite noodle!

Now let me explain something about Japanese food and eggs. The Tsukimi udon is udon with an egg on top. A lot of Japanese dishes feature eggs as a standard part of or an extra bonus to the dish. While we generally think of eggs as a breakfast food, or to be included in the making of something only (like in cookies or cakes), it's not uncommon at all to see a regular version of a dish here, and then a slightly more expensive one that includes an egg. I first saw this on the first night of being here, when Dan got an egg on the side with his gyuudon at Yoshinoya. Usually you mix it in with whatever you're eating, often rice or noodles.

Here's the part that's going to make the parents unhappy.. a lot of times the egg is raw. That's right, raw eggs! Oh no!! In some dishes like katsudon and curry, the egg will be sort of scrambled I guess and placed on top, but if you order an egg on the side, or something with egg on top, there's a good chance it's going to be raw. Now normally, I would never dream of eating a raw egg with anything except a skillet. But for some reason, I trust the Japanese food methods, and for some reason egg just makes everything richer and more flavorful. It's awesome in rice, and adds a lot to the broth of a noodle dish. Also, it's fun to watch because your clear raw egg whites will start to turn white as they cook in the hot soup broth =) If I think about the raw egg thing too long, it starts to weird me out a little bit... but when it's sitting on top of a bowl or rice or udon, it just seems so natural, like "Of course there's an egg in here! Awesome!"

After that, I decided I would give in to some indulgance after such a long day the day before (and since I had money to spare by not buying any drinks the night before...) and buy a lovely cake from the lovely dessert store in the station. It was called Ginza Cozy Corner (that must be where home-base is, because we're not really anywhere near Ginza). There were a lot of cute strawberry cakes and cheesecakes, but I was in the mood for chocolate of course. I paid a fairly reasonable 302 yen for a small slice of chocolate mousse cake, which the cake worker lady put in a small box, whose make and model was apparently determined by asking me how I would be taking it home (walking) and how far away my home was (about 10 minutes). Some might consider this purchase an extravagance, or unnecessary, but I knew at least one person wouldn't think that way, as long as I provided detailed photos and taste descriptions. This one's for you mommy! =)The bag


The box in the bag, it says I have to eat it today! Looks like I have no choice...



The setup inside the box. The cake wedge stuck in the corner, with a cardboard square housing a napkin to take up the rest of the space in the box. They had so many cake pieces this shape, I would've thought they would have a smaller, more suitable box for just one slice. Then again, maybe only poor foreigners just buy one piece. The way the perforation came down the front was kind of cute and convenient for getting the cake out safely. There were no utensils in the box, which was disappointing. I ended up borrowing one from the kitchen, which I still need to return....

It had a fancy chocolate/caramel (I'm assuming) triangle piece stuck in the top. It tasted alright!

There was a long plastic rectangle wrapped around the edge to keep it safe! It peeled off pretty easily and didn't take too much cake parts with it.


Ta-da! It's my cake. It came on a cute little doily thing with ribbons printed on it. The darker layers are cake and the light layers are mousse.

Notice the layer second from bottom that looks a little different. It was sort of a chocolate and crunchy stuff mixture, a la Nestle's Crunch Bar (but it was still fairly soft). That part was super delicious!


It took me a while to realize what was going on with the top part here. I guess I just assumed it was a magical thin layer of darker chocolate mousse, but once I inhaled some cocoa powder/knocked some cocoa powder off on my desk, I realized it was just the regular mousse, shaped into a cool design and then covered in cocoa powder. It made the mousse more chocolaty, which is always good, but it was a little overpowering if you tasted it right off the bat. And it was a little too easy to inhale/knock off on your desk.


I'm curious as to how they made the design on the top with the mousse.. maybe o

The crunchy part revealed. It was delicious, but it was so much tougher to cut than the rest of the cake that I would pretty much destroy the next part of the cake when trying to cut it.


Overall, it was a delicious cake and I enjoyed it very much! I felt very gourmet and chic, and with prices the way they are in Japan/Tokyo, I didn't feel too bad about paying $3 for it. (I kept trying to compare it to Dairy Queen Blizzard prices..) Maybe I'll be able to find a more local-ish place that's not at the station where I can get delicious desserts for cheaper...

After enjoying my delicious cake, and staying up for a while longer because I had slept too much before, I hit the hay after a long and exhausting 48 hours. I hope you enjoyed this post! Since there weren't as many events, I was able to go more into detail about my thoughts and aspects of Japanese culture! That's probably the direction these posts will take once school gets started and I'm in more of a routine! I kind of like it better that way =) Sorry they're a little behind, by the way! There was just toooo much exhaustion to stay on schedule, but I should catch up today!