What I Ate Today: Memmi Spaghetti the Great

The only class I had today was Japanese Grammar, which begins at 8:45 in the morning. I slept for about 5 hours last night, so I was happy when I thought about taking a nap at my dorm right after the class. 

What I did actually, however, was to have an early lunch. I wanted to try niku jyaga (肉じゃが, simply means "meat and potato"). It's invented in the mid- or late- 19th century, when Japan was rapidly 'westernizing' itself. 

The story is like this. An admiral ordered the cook to make a meat stew, as he missed it so much. Japanese people were still not used to eating meats, however. In order to make it 'edible' for ordinary Japanese soldiers, the cook made it 'Japanese' by using shoyu. Believe or not, so is it. 

The meal was not bad. According to the nutrition analysis on the receipt, my meal was quite balanced, except that there was too little of 'red' foods (which means proteins e.g. meat and tofu). Overall, it was nice meal. It'd been much better if I had more side dishes, though.

Today was rainy a bit. The campus looked great in green. Autumn leaves were falling into the stream, and trees gave an ovation to wind when it came.

On the way back to the dorm, I found a bakery which sells 'plain' breads. Of course I bought some pieces. Not bad.

LDP is campaigning now. As I don't have a TV in my room, I have no idea about what's going on. Anyways, in Japan, one has to write down the name of the candidate for whom the voter wants to vote. I think it has a negative influence on the representation of people in politics and the universality of suffrage. The professor of 'Introduction to Japanese Politics' told that there was an attempt to turn the voting system into a digital, computer-based one (one of the reasons must be what I wrote here), but they failed. Well, fortunately, the literacy of Japan is high, maybe thanks to its good(?) education system.

For dinner, I used Kikkoman(キッコーマン)'s Memmi(めんみ) for the sauce. I also put pieces of pepper-seasoned pork legs, and added Parmesan, parsley, basil, and garlic (i.e. all the spices I have). Taste? Awesome. Maybe I should be a cook. The combination of Memmi, parsley, and garlic was especially great. As I didn't fry the noodle, there was less fat, making the calories lower. The only flaw of this meal was that it made too many things to wash. From knife to pot, and from pan to chopsticks. It's like I washed all the cooking tools and dishes I have. Well, but it was worth doing all the work. The cooking itself was not at all difficult, too. Live long and prosper, Memmi!

By the way, as my mom bought me a coffee kettle, now I can finally have a cup of black tea in my room. A small, warm piece of happiness.