The differences in food between Michigan and Japan

I wrote that I was very confused about the difference of units between the US and Japan in my previous post.

Today, I would like to write about the differences of food between Michigan and Japan.

I am going to mention what I was surprised by when I went shopping, in Michigan.


1. VERY large!

Some of the supermarkets are very large!

It sometimes takes time to find what I want.

And it's like walking exercise when I am exploring in the supermarket!



2. Various kinds of products

I sometimes can't choose between products because there are too many choices.
For example, milk.

There are so many sizes and kinds.

I think if I could try some, it would be easier to choose.

When I bought a gallon of milk, it wasn't good.

I had to drink all of it even though I didn't like it.



3. Various kinds of potato

I was surprised to see a lot of kinds of potato!

I used to buy Danshaku potatos or May Queen in Japan.

I still don't know what the difference is between yellow potato, red potato, and white potato!

I was also surprised that they were very cheap!

My children love French fries, and I often buy frozen French fries.

They are very cheap, so I often put them into their lunch boxes.

They love them very much and I just heat them in the oven.

Very easy and they are happy.

This is exactly "killing two birds with one stone"!



4. Various kinds of cheese

I often bought a pack of sliced processed cheese when I was in Japan.

I was surprised to see a lot of kinds of cheese at the supermarket.

When I went to the sandwich store with my children, I didn't know how to order.

I observed how other people were ordering and found out that I should write down my order on the bag of the sandwich!

The bag was on the counter, so I took it and read what was written on it.

There were several options on it, and what I had to do was just check what I wanted.

I understood the options of bread, ham, vegetables and sauce, but I had no idea about the kinds of cheese.

I asked the staff,

"What cheese do children usually like the most?

He answered,

"American."

"American? Is that the name of the cheese?"

I thought in my mind, I didn't know about the names of cheese at all.

"OK, I'll have that."

I said to the staff.

My children asked me anxiously,

"What kind of sandwich are we going to eat? "

"I am not sure, but it would be nice!"

I answered.



5. Cabbage is very hard!

I don't know why but I feel that American cabbage is harder than the Japanese ones.

I try to simmer cabbage when I cook it.



6. Cucumber is very thick and big!

My 8-year-old daughter loved cucumber when she was in Japan.

But after we moved, she doesn't like it, very much anymore.

Because they are very thick and big!

They are not prickly.

I was taught by my mother that prickly cucumbers are very fresh.

I wonder how I will be able to know that they are fresh or not without prickles.



7. Meats are very cheap!

I was surprised that meats are very cheap!

A pack of meat is usually very big, our family couldn't eat up one pack of beef for steak.

Meats are usually sliced into thin pieces and sold in Japan.

If I want shaved meat here, I have to ask the staff to shave them or cut them by myself.

I am getting used to cutting the meat by myself little by little.



8. The colors of cake decorations are very vivid!

I was surprised to see the very big cakes at the supermarket.

But what made me more surprised was the colors.

Blue? Pink? Orange???

I have never seen such colors used for cakes in Japan.

I agree that they look colorful, fun, and cheerful.

I would like to try it someday.



9. There are few options for fish.

It might be only in Michigan, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a lot of kinds of fish here.

Most of them are salmon and tilapia.

I have never tried tilapia, but I like it very much.

The taste is like a cod.



10. Japanese food sold in Michigan is way too expensive!

When we first started living here, we often went to the Japanese supermarkets.

The prices were too expensive!

I understand it is costly to import them from Japan.

But I feel like I pay too much in unnecessary charges for them.



I enjoy finding such differences.

I will never know unless I try!

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Expensive sweet mango made in Japan

My husband sent grapes as a summer gift to his cousin about two weeks ago.

Grape is famous specialty goods of our neighbor city.

We received a summer gift from them yesterday.

It was mango!

Mango made in Japan is very popular but very expensive in Japan.

I have never bought it ever before because it is too expensive.

I emailed my husband about the gift.

He told me this morning that he promised his colleagues that he would bring mango and eat it with them.

"No way! I want to try it, too!"

I complained to him.

"I will bring only one, so let's try it for breakfast."

He said and cut them.

"Wow! How sweet!"

It was really nice.

Our children don't like mango, so they didn't try it.

My husband and I were able to enjoy eating them very much.


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Yearning for Old Fashion

My 5-year-old daughter's fever finally went down yesterday, but my husband still has a fever.

Maybe because he didn't get the flu shot.

Since they needed to rest at home, I accompanied my 7-year-old son's practice of riding a bicycle.

Then we went to the city library to return and borrow some books, then we went to the bookstore.

I bought him a book named "Doraemon the latest secret tools encyclopedia" as a prize of winning the Karuta competition held in his class before.

(I wrote about it in my previous post : http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/02/good-day-and-bad-day.html )

He had wanted it for a long time, so he was glad to have it.

1600 kinds of secret tools are introduced with their pictures in the book, and he enjoys drawing them looking at the book.


When we went out of the bookstore, I told my son:

"Can I stop by the Seven Eleven (convenience store)?"

"Sure. You want doughnuts, right?"

I was impressed that he was able to guess my idea.

"Yes. When we went to the Seven Eleven before, the doughnuts were already sold out. Do you remember it? I have wanted it since then."

We drove to the nearest Seven Eleven.

"What? Oh no! The store has been already closed! When did they go out of business?"

I was really surprised because I didn't notice the store closing even tough I passed in front of the store by car when I went to work.

We decided to go to another Seven Eleven.

"Oh my goodness! This Seven Eleven was also closing-out. Well, can we go to another Seven Eleven again? I DO want the doughnuts!"

I told him, and he said:

"OK! I want to eat the doughnuts, too!"

He seemed to enjoy this trouble.

We drove to another Seven Eleven again.

We reached there and went into the store.

"Look mom! There are doughnuts!"

"But... the Old Fashion ( a name of the doughnut ) is already sold out. I like it very much. If you are OK, can we go to another Seven Eleven again? After coming this far, I DO want to eat the Old Fashion! I know there is a Seven Eleven which opened recently near here. So let's go there!"

I drove my car about for 5 minutes, then we reached the Seven Eleven.

"I hope we can buy them this time!"

We went into the store.

"Wow! We finally found the Old Fashion! I will take three, please."

We finally bought them!

My son and I were glad together.

After we came home, we told my daughter and husband:

"We bought doughnuts! Let's take a break. But it's already 5pm!"

My children and I enjoyed eating the doughnuts of our wish.

Poor my husband didn't want to eat them as I expected because he still had a feer and couldn't taste.

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Why is this Yakiniku so delicious?

Since Japanese black beef and pork were being sold at special prices at the supermarket, I decided to buy some for dinner yesterday.

"Today's dinner is Yakiniku!"

I told my family members.

Since Japanese beef is usually expensive, so I rarely buy it.

I cut some meat and vegetables, then spread newspapers on the table to prevent oil stains.

It is not really ideal, but I think it is a practical way.

We started grilling the meat and vegetables on the hotplate.

I was surprised that our children ate the meat and vegetables heartily, in paticular, my 5-year-old daughter ate a lot of beef even though she doesn't like meat.

"Why is this Yakiniku so delicious?"

She asked me.

"Well, maybe because you are having dinner with all of your family members."

"Indeed! Today's dinner is like a Yakiniku party!"

She likes parties very much.

Actually my husband comes home late at night on weekdays, so we are not able to have dinner together.

Maybe our children were glad that all the family met at dinner.

My 7-year-old son asked me:

"Why are there so many vegetables even though today's menu is Yakiniku?"

"Yakiniku is oily, isn't it? If we eat vegetables, it can cancel-out its oily and strong tastes out."

I never said that it was because beef is expensive!

But I think it makes good nutritional sense (It's a kind of excuse!).


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Baked sweet potato

I bought sweet potatos at the unmanned sale stand near my house two days ago.

→ ( I wrote about the unmanned sale stand in my past entry :http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2014/11/japanese-conscience-unmanned-sale-stand.html )

Sweet potatoes are one of the flavors of autumn in Japan.

My children like sweet potatoes, so we looked forward to buying them from the stand.


After we came home, I asked my children,

"Do you want to eat baked sweet potatoes?"

"Yeah. I want to eat!"

I baked them by microwave oven.

It took about 20 minutes.

"Smells good!"

My 5-year-old daughter said.

She likes sweet potatoes very much.

"Come and get it!"

I told them.

They, who always would not come at dinner time, came in hurry.

"I want to eat the biggest one!"

She said.

"I am going to give you this. It is the biggest, right?"

She seemed to be satisfied with it.

"Itadakimasu! (Let's eat!)"

"Oh, it's hot! But sweet! Yummy"

It is better than snack.

It contains carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins, potassium, minerals.

I would like to get them again if I find they are sold at the unmanned sale stand.

Why don't I get them at the supermarket?

Of course I can buy them at the supermarket, but it is expensive.

The unmanned sale stand is the best place to get them for me.

 

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Food is scary

I make miso soup every morning.

I put some vegetables in it.

I put zuiki (a taro stem) in miso soup last Tuesday because my husband cut it from our garden last Sunday.

My husband and I were talking during breakfast.

Suddenly, the inside of my mouth had begun to tingle.

"What's this? Ouch! My tounge and throat are very painful!"

I tried to analyze what may be the cause of the pain.

The pain began afer I ate miso soup.

"Maybe the taro stem was the cause! But we have eaten them when your mother sent us many times before. Why did this taro stem make me itchy?"

I searched about the taro stem on the internet, then I found the fact.

The scum of taro stem is made up of calcium oxalate.

Since its crystals are sharp, we will have a scratchy throat if we eat something which still contains scum.

My husband said,

"Wow! I didn't know about it. It is good before I eat it."

"Don't you have any words of sympathy for me? Ouch!"

He laughed at me.

My 5-year-old daughter was worried about me,

"Are you OK mom? I hope you will be fine soon!"

"Thank you... Ouch!"

It was my first time to have a terrible experience about food.

I thought it might be a poison.

Since the taro stem was prepared by my husband, it is like being poisoned by my husband (just kidding).

The pain settled down around noon.

Food is scary.

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The summer gift which I am glad to get

We recieved a summer gift from my brother-in-law 2 days ago.

It was an assortment of peaches!

They are packed carefully because they are easy to be damaged.

I like fruits very much but I rarely buy a peach because it is expensive.

I was very glad to get them.

Since we live near a grape-producing area, we send them to him and other relatives every summer.

If they are glad, we will be also glad.


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Summer feature ~Watermelon~

I bought a big water melon at  the unmanned sale stand near the nursery school.

(The past entry about the unmanned sale stand →　http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2014/11/japanese-conscience-unmanned-sale-stand.html ）

It was bigger than my children's heads.

My children were so glad to see the cut water melon.

It looked yummy!

Since this was the first time in this year to eat watermelon, we were very excited.

My children and I ate three pieces each.

It was so sweet and yummy.

It is still in rainy season in Japan.

But I prefer now than too hot summer!


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A day when family spent at separate locations

I worked yesterday.

And my husband visited his brother last Saturday and Sunday. It takes 4 hour drive to reach his house.

So I asked my parents to come to our home and take care of them.

They asked their grandparents to take them to the theater to watch the movie of "Youkai Watch".

It is very popular among Japanese children and now it is called as a social phenomenon.

The movie had just released on last Saturday, so I guessed they had better reserve their seats.

Before I left home, I booked their seats on the website.


After I finished working, we went to the conveyor belt sushi bar.

My husband called me that he could go with us, so all of us met there.


My parents told me,"We are glad that you booked our seats. If you didn't, we could not watch the movie because it was so crowded! Many people were making a line to buy tickets"

My children enjoyed it so much and they could get "Darknyan-medal" as a limited gift for 5 million attendances!

My husband bought souvenirs for us.

Very long carrot!

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Autumn leaves are beautiful!

I went to the park with my family yesterday.

There were a lot of trees in the park, the autumn leaves were very beautiful!

My 4-year-old daughter was able to stand on the swing!

When I was an elementary school student, I had fallen down from the swing and got a crack in the bone of my wrist.

When I watch over my children getting on the swing, I sometimes remember the bad incident and I worry about them.


She started playing with the boy who seem to be like her age.

She is good at making friends, she is very optimistic.


As for my 5-year-old son, he became a little pesmistic when he felt sleepy and hungry.

He told me, "I finished the all playground equipments. I want to go home!"

My husband and I decided to go to a steak restaurant near the park for lunch.

My son complained to me, "I wanted to eat Chinese style fried rice than steaks!"

We rarely have an opportunity to eat steaks because it is expensive, so we didn't change our decision.


After all, my son enjoyed having a special lunch for kids.

This photo below is a steak which my husband ordered.

We spent too much money for lunch, but we enjoyed it.

It's OK sometimes, isn't it? ( I often persuaded myself.)



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The Sweet Potato Party!

Our family held "A Sweet Potato Party" at home yesterday.

I steamed the cut potatoes by the rice cooker.
(I think that sweet potatoes become sweeter when they are steamed using the rice cooker.)

And I baked them with butter until they turned slightly brown on the hotplate.

At last, I sprinkled a little salt on them and ate them.

These were SO YUMMY!!

The vegetables during this season are very rich in taste therefore simple seasoning brings out the taste of the vegetables.

I was so surprised because my children, who usually won't eat vegetables so much, ate them energetically!

They were so yummy that my husband told me that he wanted to try the other vegetables.

He prepared green peppers, carrots, potatoes, and wieners and baked them with butter.

These are also very YUMMY!

We couldn't stop eating yummy autumn food!

I was going to eat a sweet potato as a snack, so we started the party at 3:30pm.

But they were so yummy that we decided to have them for dinner.

The delicious and fun party lasted until 6:00pm.



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