Nov 4th, 2009 at 5:00PM:
This is the best day of the week, in my opinion: You're in a midweek groove, but the weekend is in sight. That's a perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling this week in life, too. I'm past the midpoint of many things in life, but the end is nigh! We have a whole lot of great travel reads to be thankful for as well, so let's get started.
This astute article details the dark side of adventure ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
sushi posts
Gadlinks for Wednesday 11.4.09
Nov 4th, 2009 at 5:00PM:
This is the best day of the week, in my opinion: You're in a midweek groove, but the weekend is in sight. That's a perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling this week in life, too. I'm past the midpoint of many things in life, but the end is nigh! We have a whole lot of great travel reads to be thankful for as well, so let's get started.
This astute article details the dark side of adventure ...Flags of the world, made out of food
Sep 15th, 2009 at 9:30AM: The topic of national identity comes up frequently when we travel, particularly when it comes to displaying our home country's flag. As it turns out, the debate surrounding flags is even more "consuming" than we first thought, especially when the flags happen to be made out of food. In honor of this October's upcoming Sydney International Food Festival, the event's organizers have arranged to have ...Gadlinks for Monday 7.27.09
Jul 27th, 2009 at 6:30PM: A glorious Monday here in California! I hope you are all enjoying the last month of summer. Live it up -- and maybe browse some of these travel reads while you're at it.
My boyfriend is a huge fan of conveyer belt sushi. In Japan they call it "kaiten sushi," but in Hawaii they call it "Genki" -- Genki Sushi, to be exact, which is a kaiten sushi chain on the islands. "Genki" means happy, and ...Undiscovered New York: Cooking up a storm
Apr 8th, 2009 at 10:00AM: It's no big secret that New York is absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to food. If you need any proof, Undiscovered New York has already reviewed a whole slew of New York City's more interesting eating neighborhoods and cuisines. Yet one of the greatest benefits of all this great food is that you don't even have to go to one of New York's many restaurants to enjoy it. New York is also a ...Spend a lot to taste a little: the $100,000 tuna
Jan 11th, 2009 at 4:00PM: This past week, two Tokyo restaurants shared the $104,800 tab on a 128 kg (282 lb.) bluefin tuna. If that sounds like a lot, the restaurant actually paid 9.63 million yen-same amount of money, just sounds like more. Okay, if you're impressed by the sheer cost of this fish, it set the buyer back more than $372 per pound. Of course, it's probably worth it. Wall Street Journal reporter Yumiko Ono ...Eating your way through Japan - a photo gallery
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:30AM: The phrase "Japanese food" has a fairly standard meaning in the United States, conjuring images of sushi, instant noodles, seafood and teriyaki chicken. But as I discovered during my recent trip to Japan, the cuisine is far more diverse, delicious and surprising than I could have ever imagined. Over the course of his trip, this intrepid Gadling blogger left no culinary stone unturned and no meal ...Big in Japan: Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo's top tourist attraction, is limiting access
Apr 5th, 2008 at 10:00AM: No trip to Tokyo is complete without a visit to Tsukiji Market (????, Tsukiji shij?), the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. According to estimates, over 2000 tons of fish worth over US$15 million are sold here daily - that's a total of 616,000 tons of fish worth over US$4.25 billion each year! If it comes from the ocean, then chance are that you'll find in at the Central Fish ...Big in Japan: Israel crippled by spring roll strike
Feb 26th, 2008 at 10:00AM: If you turn on the news these days, it seems that just about every other story is about war, violence and suffering in the Middle East.
And of course, at the center of most of these news items is the Holy Land of Israel, the powder keg of religious tensions that the whole world is scrapping to control.
But in the hopes of kicking off your week on a decidedly more optimistic note, I've stumbled ...Relax, sushi lovers in Japan respond
Jan 25th, 2008 at 4:33PM: Crazy Americans! You almost hear the dinner conversations in Japan right about now. Just as New Yorkers are "worried" to "panicked" about toxic levels of mercury found in several sushi restaurants in New York, the Japanese are not worried. ..just like every Japanese woman is perfectly OK eating sushi while pregnant.
The Mercury News (what a perfect name for a newspaper to cover this story) ...Curb your sushi cravings, New York
Jan 24th, 2008 at 1:30PM: Well, just a few days ago I told you about how good New York Restaurant Week was. Not sure if the sushi places around New York feel the same way this time. After today's front-page New York Times expose about high mercury levels in at least twenty New York sushi places, I think people will be skeptical about eating Japanese food for a while. The good news is -- reservations should be easier to ...Big in Japan: The world's most expensive tuna fish
Jan 14th, 2008 at 1:30PM: Are you ready for this one?
Last week in Tokyo, a Hong Kong sushi restaurant owner paid a record $55,700 for a single bluefin tuna.
(In case you're wondering, that's somewhere around 6.1 million yen!!)
The record breaking fish, which was caught off the coast of Japan's northern city of Aomori, tipped the scales at 607 pounds (about $92 per pound of flesh).
The sale took place at the first ...The most expensive delicacies in Moscow and where to find them
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Jan 9th, 2008 at 11:00AM: At some point over the last decade, Moscow magically transformed from a city of terrible restaurants and horrific food to a gourmet capital rivaling Paris and New York for pure culinary opulence and high-end extravagance. In fact, just over ten years ago, there were only one or two "ethnic" restaurant in the entire city. Today, every food imaginable is served here, including some of the most ...Michelin's star: Tokyo
Nov 20th, 2007 at 4:49PM: Yet another reason why I must plan a trip to Japan soon: Michelin Stars are scattered throughout the world, but they tend to be concentrated in the Western world. So it's interesting that this time around, the place with the most stars is Tokyo. A number of Tokyo eateries have snagged the top Michelin rating -- three stars. And while a number of the restaurants that made the list serve French ...Big in Japan: Tuna fish will soon be extinct
Oct 24th, 2007 at 10:00AM: Bluefin tuna are amazing creatures.
First of all, they're freakin' huge - a prize-catch can weigh nearly a ton, and stretch to nearly 10 feet.
Like human beings, they're also warm-blooded, which allows them to live everywhere from the tropics to the poles.
They can also accelerate as fast as a sports car.
As any Japanese person can tell you, they're also the centerpiece of the Japanese diet. ...Big in Japan: What Exactly is Wasabi?
Oct 16th, 2007 at 9:30AM: Did you ever wonder what exactly that green stuff is that you smear on your sushi?
I mean, we all know that wasabi (???, ??) burns like a hell-spawned wildfire, and clears the sinuses with a fiery vengeance. But, where does it actually come from, and how can something so seemingly innocent be so unbelievably potent?
For starters, the best wasabi comes from Japan (no surprise there), most notably ...Bluefin Tuna Fishing Banned in Europe
Sep 19th, 2007 at 4:40PM: Blame sushi! The 2007 quota of nearly 17,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna has already been exhausted for this year, forcing the European commission to impose a ban on bluefin tuna fishing in Europe, specifically in Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain for the rest of the year. Italy and France closed their own fisheries in July and August.
Experts say that the rising popularity of sushi is to be ...Blowfish sold as salmon kills 15, sickens over a hundred
Aug 23rd, 2007 at 4:30PM: As a frightening aside to my Big in Japan column on the subtle art of eating blowfish, MSNBC reported today that over the last three years, fugu meat that has been passed off as salmon in Thai markets has resulted in 15 deaths and over a hundred cases of food-poisoning.
As a result of a nationwide ban in Thailand on the selling of blowfish meat, some rather unscrupulous fishermen have taken to the ...Big in Japan: The Subtle Art of Eating Blowfish (Part III)
Aug 23rd, 2007 at 11:20AM: This is the third and final installment in a three-part series on the subtle art of eating blowfish. If you're new to the feature column 'Big in Japan,' be sure to check out Part I and Part II before reading below.
Still hungry for blowfish? Thought you might be.
Much like choosing a good pizza joint or a romantic spot to sip a cocktail, your fugu experience can vary depending on the restaurant. ...Big in Japan: The Subtle Art of Eating Blowfish (Part II)
Aug 22nd, 2007 at 2:00PM: This is a continuation of yesterday's column on the Subtle Art of Eating Blowfish, and the second installment in a three-part series.
The best time to eat fugu is in the winter, when blowfish pack on the pounds to beat the chill. Needless to say, this is also when the toxicity of the blowfish reaches its peak.
Prices rise. Restaurants are packed. Emergency rooms are on stand-by.
Making sure you ...Big in Japan: The Subtle Art of Eating Blowfish
Aug 21st, 2007 at 11:00AM: In the 18th century, the famous Japanese poet Yosa no Buson expressed his love for eating blowfish in this simple but elegant haiku:
I cannot see her tonight. I have to give her up So I will eat fugu.
Like the great poets of old and new, Buson is no different in that he yearned for a woman that was not his love. However, in the great tradition of finding comfort in food, he instead turns to ...
