Takoyaki Party

Mrs Game Fugu gave a Takoyaki pan to me for Christmas, which we recently unpacked and used when some friends joined us. Takoyaki is originally from Osaka, and is made by grilling chopped octopus in batter with green onion. When the octopus balls are cooked, they taste great covered in okonomiyaki sauce.

They are the perfect party food, because everyone is involved in making them. We all gathered around the table and used a gas stove to heat the pan. Then, each of us had a different responsibility:

• Pouring the batter;




• Adding the chopped octopus;




• Adding the green onion;




• Adding the tempura scraps;




• Rolling the ball of batter as it cooks to stop it burning;




• Keeping everybody's beer glasses full!

One other thing that helped us have a great time was the star of the evening. Mrs Game Fugu ordered a whole fresh octopus, and it was huge!

Nobu Restaurant

To celebrate a friend's birthday, I went to Nobu in Mayfair for lunch. The food was excellent - the best Japanese I have had outside of Japan, and the portion size was generous as well. Even better, there was no fugu on the menu!

I chose the Nobu Bento Box, which included the famous Black Cod with Miso. I had tried this before at a Teppanyaki restaurant nearby, but this was much better.

Shin-Sekai Fugu

Whilst I really enjoyed the kushikatsu in Shin-Sekai, I must admit not all the food was good. After we finished lunch I spotted the other famous food for the area - fugu!

Please stick with kushikatsu and don't eat Fugu!

Osaka Food

After the long flight and arrival in Osaka, I was really looking forward to eating some real Japanese food. Fortunately, the old friends I was visiting knew some good places to go. As soon as I dropped off my bags at their apartment we went to a local Okonomiyaki restaurant. We were greeted by some friendly locals and each ordered Kansai-fu Okonomiyaki. I prefer Hiroshima-fu myself (with noodles!), but it was still delicious. Maybe I am biased after living in Hiroshima-ken for two years...

The next day we went to Shin-Sekai, an old part of Osaka famous for restaurants and entertainment. We were visiting an Onsen in the area I had been to before, but before that we needed some energy. After walking around the streets for a few minutes, we quickly picked the restaurant with the longest queue. It was an old kushikatsu place that advertised all of the famous people who had eaten there in the past. This was my first time eating kushikatsu, and I absolutely loved it! I'm glad I could find another Japanese dish I like to eat, but wish it was a bit healthier.

Shinkansen to Osaka

Mrs Game Fugu and I arrived on a Saturday morning at Centrair Airport, Nagoya. After catching a local train into the city centre, we separated. She stayed in Nagoya to meet some old friends and her family, whilst I went to Osaka by Shinkansen to visit an old colleague from when I was working as a JET in Hiroshima.

Catching the Shinkansen is one of the things I always look forward to when I visit Japan. I'm looking forward to the day we have high-speed rail in the UK too.

Finnair Upgrade Get!

Mrs Game Fugu and I flew from London to Nagoya via Helsinki with Finnair. Earlier in the year Finnair had offered discounted seats for visiting Asian destinations, and we managed to get return tickets for £420 each including all taxes. Not bad! It did make me worry about the quality of the economy seats and service though, especially after reading some horror stories about Finnair using old MD-11s for their long haul flights to the Far East which didn't have an in-flight entertainment system.

Fortunately the Helsinki-Nagoya leg was in a much more modern A340, and even more fortunately we received an upgrade due to overbooking. Despite all of the flying I have done in the past, this was the first time I have been upgraded for a long haul flight! We made the most of it, relaxing in the extended seats so that when we arrived in the morning at Centrair (Nagoya's airport) we were ready to enjoy the first day of our holiday.

I would be happy to fly Finnair again in the future!

Japan 2008 Holiday

On an early October morning Mrs Game Fugu and I were finally able to leave the apartment for our annual holiday in Japan. Ever since returning to the UK from teaching on the JET programme in Hiroshima, I have been able to go back once a year to see friends still out there and visit some new places. This year the plan was to visit Osaka, Nagoya and Nara.

When I have spoken with friends in the past about going to Japan, their first reaction is almost always "Wow, it must be really expensive." I always responded by saying it was much cheaper than people believe - good restaurants and izakaya were affordable, and hotels were less expensive than in the UK. However, I cannot say this any more! When we changed our £ into ¥ (Yen) last month, the exchange rate was £1 to ¥196. With the credit crunch and threat of recession in the UK, this has fallen to ¥146. Now I agree, it is expensive to have a holiday in Japan!

Getting Fit With Fugu

I had the opportunity to try Wii Fit for the first time when I friend brought it over earlier today. It was amazing how sensitive it was. When you first attach a Mii to the game, you go through a series of balance tests to determine a Fitness Age. For me it gave an age of 27, which was exactly correct! It also said I was a little underweight, but what do you expect when I am full of small plastic balls?!?

The games we played were good fun (especially heading balls and a ski slalom game, though I wasn't very good at it), but I think it would be too much of a fad for me to get it and play it enough. Too lazy to exercise...

My friend also brought Big Beach Sports for the Wii. Trust the 1 * reviews.

Cooking With Fugu

Please note the title of this post - cooking with Fugu, not cooking Fugu! I am poisonous (and not tasty!)

Today I became a true Englishman by cooking my first ever Sunday Roast, following this recipe from Waitrose. The roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings were provided by Aunt Bessie, so I cheated a little bit. Next time I will make my own crispy potatoes.

After eating all that food I'm stuffed! Time to take a nap.

zzzzzz

Chibi Fugu Report - Kabocha Edition

Chibi Fugu here! Sorry for the long gap between reporting, I was being lazy and letting Game Fugu do all the updates. Still, now I'm back I have some great news on the Bromley vegetable garden. In addition to chillis, aubergines, pumpkins and tomatoes we now have a new addition to the family - kabocha (カボチャ)!

Mrs Game Fugu bought a kabocha from Waitrose recently, and after we finished eating it she tried planting some seeds in spare pots. We didn't think anything would grow, but a few days ago one of the four pots had a seed starting to sprout. It has already reached about 6 inches in height.

Now we have to hope a Japanese pumpkin can survive in the British summer. I think it will be kept indoors mostly!

Figeac, France

This week I spent two days in Figeac, France at the Chateau Viguier hotel. The town has a long history, and the hotel we stayed at was a converted 14th century monastery. It was also surprisingly clean. A couple of times I saw a guy on a moped riding around with a suction pipe, and noticed he was hoovering up dog mess - maybe this is the secret of how the town stays so tidy!

Figeac is a small town (about 10,000 people), but is famous as the birthplace of the one of the Rosetta Stone translators, Jean-François Champollion. The region is also well known for its Foie Gras - perhaps a more stomach churning dish than black pudding and haggis!

Wine Fugu - Chat-en-Oeuf

Now that the English summer has arrived (and gone, and arrived again), it's time to break out the chilled rose wine and relax in the heat. Our local Waitrose has a good selection which Mrs Game Fugu and I are working through.

My buying process is a complicated one - as I know nothing about wine, I go by what looks like good value and has an interesting bottle. For this reason a picked up Chat-en-Oeuf (Cat on Egg), a French Rose with a kawaii drawing on the bottle.

Unfortunately, my selection method failed me on this occasion. Instead of a nicy fruity wine as described on the label, it was dry and a little sharp. Any advice on how to pick a better wine next time?

May Day at Hastings

As the weather was great, I visited Hastings on May Day. Unfortunately I didn't realise that was the same day everyone else South of London goes to Hastings as well - including hundreds of bikers. The place was absolutely heaving and it was impossible to find anywhere to eat lunch without a reservation, but fortunately after climbing the cliffs it became a lot quieter. I ended up sitting down on the grass looking over the town and enjoying an ice cream to keep cool.

Dutch Beer Experience - Rodenbach

Last weekend Mrs Game Fugu and I stayed with friends in Izegem, a small city in Belgium close to Ghent and Bruges. The first thing we did, after eating a few waffles, was try the local brew - Rodenbach. It was my first time trying a red ale (mixed from young and aged ales), and it tasted pretty good.

Of course, as a Belgian beer it was also pretty strong...

Chibi Fugu Report - Chilli Chan Progress

Chibi Fugu here! Chilli Chan has done well this week, and is now up to four leaves. Every day it follows the sun as it crosses the window, so it turned 180 degrees to help it grow straight. It's amazing how much it can move in a few hours! It is still too slow for a video report though, sorry...

Some people have asked me, as a fish, why I care about how spicy a chilli is. Well, we have tongues too! Of course, if it is very spicy I won't have a problem drinking plenty of water to cool it down. Advantage fish!

Haiku Review - Tenchu Z

Sneaking in shadow
Dumb AI fun to exploit
Nin nin nin nin nin

Chibi Fugu Report - Chilli Pepper Edition

Chibi Fugu here! After a recent visit to Sandbach, I got my hands on a chilli pepper seedling. It only sprouted a week ago, so it will be a few more months before there is anything to eat.

I don't even know what type of chilli we will get from it. Hope it's not too spicy...

I will keep the blog updated with photos of it growing, and deliver an exclusive report on how hot it is. Watch this space!

Haiku Review - Final Fantasy VII - Crisis Core

Spiky haired hero
Random encounters galore
Sad ending coming

Haiku Review - Dead or Alive 4

Last boss is a bitch
Thumbs hurt from button mashing
Volleyball much easier

Dualshock 3 GET!

Mrs Game Fugu returned from a holiday in Japan today with a present - a white Dualshock 3 controller. I've tested it out with Super Stardust HD, and can confirm that it does in fact rumble. The weight of the controller is much more satisfying to hold as well, and I wish I had another game to try it out on. Every PS3 game I've bought so far has been traded on after completion though - it might not get a chance to shake its thang again until MGS4 comes out.