Food

I've been trying to think of some variety for my home-cooked meals lately. Here's the list of my major supplements thus far:

• Spaghetti
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
• Mashed Potatoes
• Fried Potatoes
• Potato Salad
• Rice
• Steamed Vegetables
• Pancakes
• Ramen / Udon / Soba
• Boiled Eggs

Feels like I'm overlooking a couple of other simple meals. If you readers out there have any ideas, help me out.

I finally ate some cereal! Any cereal here is usually pretty expensive (it's about $5 for a very tiny box of Frosted Flakes or Cocoa Pebbles). However, just the other day I noticed a good-sized bag of granola for a decent price, so I snatched that right up. And it was good! I love granola, but it's hard for me to find a brand I like; a lot of granola I've tried has been either hit or miss. Anyway, it was a good little treat for me. My breakfast is normally a banana and a peanut butter sandwich, which is an odd lunch to start the morning with.

The school lunches are always a surprise and a treat. They're quite filling, too, and for a very reasonable price. The school's lunches have been a big help in getting me acquainted with a good variety of Japanese meals. Some of the things I've eaten have been absolutely delicious, but others.... I have trouble with the fish. For one, the fish is always served whole -- if it were just the meat, that'd be perfectly fine by me. The skin is never stripped, though. The eyes that the fish used to have are typically burned away into the now crispy flesh. The kids eat it right up, head to tail. I eat it, too -- I always clear my plate -- it's just odd for me. It's like eating crunchy meat.

I love the variety of candy here, and I'm sure the dentists do too. I buy a new type of candy every time I'm in the mood for some, and everything tastes better than the last. Such fun treats. No boring brick-shaped hunks of chocolate. You get inflated graham bears with chocolate bellies instead, or chocolate-covered potato chips, or an ice cream sandwiches wrapped in a chocolate-coated waffle (everything's got chocolate on it). It makes eating junk food fun again!

Haven't been eating out any. Much too pricey. For my first week here in Tokyo I didn't have a kitchen or anything, so I was eating three ten-dollar meals every day, which adds up quick. Again, if anyone has some inexpensive meal ideas, help me out.