Three images from a morning walk in Tennoz Isle

This morning I rose early and headed off to Tennoz Isle in Tokyo for a morning walk with my camera. Tennoz Isle (or simply "Tennoz") is a waterfront area on the Tokyo Bay that was redeveloped in the 1980's and reopened around 1990. It houses many office buildings including the headquarters for Japan Airlines, JTB and the Japan offices of Citibank.

I started from Tennoz Isle Station on the Rinkan Line and walked west along the waterfront until I reached Tamachi Station. Rather cold at 7:00 am at sunrise but gradually it warmed up. Here are a few images from the walk.

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A walk in rural Japan

This morning I took a walk in the warm winter sunshine along a road in Ibaraki between Bando-shi and Noda-shi. Ibaraki is the northeastern part of the Kantō region of Japan, bounded on the north and south by Fukushima Prefecture and Chiba Prefecture. It also has borders on the southwest with Gunma Prefecture and Saitama Prefecture. The northernmost part of the prefecture is mountainous, but most of the prefecture is a flat plain with many lakes. Ibaraki's industries include energy, particularly nuclear energy production, as well as chemical and precision machining industries. The Hitachi company was founded in the Ibaraki city of the same name.
 
There are also many farms in Ibaraki although most of the agriculture is small-scale and limited to family-run operations. Still, it is always enjoyable to walk along the rural roads and see the fields being tended to and various produce growing at almost every time of the year. Now is the season to plant negi (green onion) and the newly planted seeds have sprouted. These vinyl covers protect the negi from frost and birds, and provide a greenhouse-like environment for them to grow in.
 
It is such a different feeling to be in rural Japan than in Tokyo where the pace and pressure of the city is unending. In the countryside, farmers wave to you and, if close by, will often strike up a conversation. Of course only after overcoming the shock of encountering a foreigner walking along a road in rural Japan.

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Ode to a Passport

This week I will say farewell and thanks to a trusted companion of the past five years, my old passport. With its expiration date approaching in six months, I applied for a new passport over the holidays and picked it up at the Canadian Embassy this morning. I am very jazzed to finally have a machine readable passport. I can't tell you the number of times I have gotten exasperated looks from airline check-in personnel and immigration officials when they couldn't swipe my passport.
 
But why the sad good-bye to the old passport? It's only a document, after all. Well maybe but it is also a record of my travels since 2004. Crammed into every available space in the forty-eight pages are visas and arrival and departure stamps from all over the world. There are stamps from the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, China, Korea, Tahiti, and Thailand to name a few. Large entry visas for China,Vietnam and Indonesia. And of course, all of the arrival and departure stamps for Japan as well as my visas and reentry permits.
 
However, the one destination that was undocumented in the passport is the DPKR (North Korea) during my March 2008 visit. The visa I received in Beijing was on a piece of paper and inserted into my passport. Upon arrival into the DPRK, my passport was kept by the tour company and returned upon crossing the border back into China. Alas, no trace of that visa remained. That, however, is not a bad thing. Such a thing could have caused numerous problems entering other countries such as the US. While there may be no trace of the trip in my passport, the memories of that trip remain very vivid in my mind.
 
Thanks my good friend for being a great travel companion and allowing me access into many fascinating places.

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Shiso Vodka

The experiments with infused vodka continue. Last week I decided to try using shiso (also known as Perilla) to flavor vodka. It is a member of the mint family and its oils provide for a strong taste whose intensity might be compared to that of mint or fennel. It is commonly used in Japan and often served with sashimi. A freshly cut piece of maguro (tuna) wrapped in a shiso leaf is a wonderful taste experience. After a week of infusion, the vodka has turned a wonderful light green color and the 'nose' is most decidedly shiso. I can't wait to taste it.

There is absolutely no reason why I included apples and a box of Corn Flakes in the photo except to add some contrasting colors. Hmmm... Apple and Corn Flakes vodka? 

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Cat in a bathtub

This is Bice, our female Bengal, who unexpectedly decided this morning to play in the bathtub (no water in the tub). Bengals are notoriously fond of playing in water but I don't think she was interested. Instead, she just enjoyed rolling around on the slippery surfaces. I tried several angles to photograph her but nothing looked interesting. Then I remembered that sometimes you need to get down to the same level as the subject. Meow!

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Sent from my fabulous iPhone.

Bacon Vodka- First time's a miss

Several weeks ago, as I embarked on a journey to experiment with infused vodkas, I read about trials to create a smoky bacon vodka. The concept seemed interesting to me. I believe many of the foods we love to eat may have interesting versions with vodka, and bacon has a taste that appeals to many people. So I fried about 200 gm of bacon (crispy) and drained the fat away. The cooked bacon was placed in an airtight glass container and covered with Absolut Vodka. I left the mixture to rest in a dark cupboard for about three weeks, checking and agitating it daily.
 
Earlier this week, I removed the bacon (ohh, that would have made an interesting BLT) and strained the vodka twice through coffee filters. Then everything went into a bottle and into the refrigerator to see if more fat would appear. After several days the mixture remained a light brown color and some sediment settled but no more fat. The aroma was apparent but not as I expected. Tasting the vodka on its own wasn't great. Not smoky or strong bacon in taste but more salty than anything. It wasn't looking promising.
 
This afternoon I set out to see if the vodka would stand up to a performance in a Bloody Mary. Overall, the drink was tasty and the flavors worked well together. I used Mr. & Mrs. T Bloody Mary Mix, a little Worcester Sauce and some Red Hot sauce. Still, the bacon taste wasn't as pronounced as I would like it. I think the score for the vodka would be 5 of 10. Interesting but not unpleasant. However not the wow factor I need to recommend it to others.
 
What went wrong and lessons learned?
 
1. I suspect the bacon was not as fresh as it should have been for this purpose. I used US-made sliced bacon from the freezer and I think some flavors from the plastic wrapping and/or freezer were transfered into the bacon. For my next attempt, I am going to hunt down some specialty bacon that is fresh. I may even consider smoking it first before cooking it if the butcher hasn't done it already. This issue underscores the importance of the right ingredients and the sensitivity of flavor transfer from the food source.
 
2. The other theory I am toying with right now is that the fat from the bacon plays an important role in retaining the bacon flavor. Instead of draining all the fat away before infusing, I will keep some or all of the fat with the cooked bacon. It can be strained and removed later in the preparation but I think the fat is important for the flavoring.
 
Someone recently reminded me it took Edison more than 1,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb. Let's hope I nail the Smoky Bacon Vodka well in advance of 1,000 tries. But it will be fun in the meantime. As for the first batch, I think it will be used for a recipe of Vodka Tomato Cream Penne. A port in every storm.

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