Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Hi, Friends! Looks like it's been almost a year again since the last time I tried to update my blog! I have so much to catch up on, and it's overwhelming to think about all of the 2018 Japan/Taiwan posts, let alone the past few years. My last two posts were an attempt to catch up on the trip out to Hawaii January of 2020, while this and the upcoming ones are dining during a pandemic. At the time, we were torn on going out to eat (selfish), and if we should just keep staying home (paranoid). We really couldn't win. In the end, we decided that we should try to eat out and support the restaurants we want to see come out of the pandemic. To do this, we wore masks, and actually kept them on when we were not actively eating. In following various restaurants on Instagram, it is disheartening to see how people refuse to be considerate of others.   In deciding where to go, I took into account how much risk we were willing to take (this was just after having the first dose of Moderna...

I firmly believe that countrywide, we have a shortage of airports with solid restaurants to eat at. This is why I am extra appreciative of the airports that do give passerby access to food that make you forget you're at an airport. The kind of food you would seek out normally if you felt like having a nice dinner out. As someone who flies a fair amount, I really do appreciate good airport food. Not only that, I know if I don't eat something at the airport, I will be hungry on the plane or have to suffer through eating some weird microwaved lunchables on the plane.  The first time I flew through Narita was on a flight back from Taiwan. This was about ten years ago. The cheapest flight was a United Airlines flight. One of the reasons I don't like United is their constant delays. The flight from Taipei to Tokyo was uneventful, but my flight out from Tokyo to San Francisco was delayed FOUR HOURS. I walked around the entire airport. I walked from one terminal to another. I ...

[Link to Part IV - Otaru ] I thought that four days would be plenty in Sapporo, but with our flight back being canceled and us being put on an earlier flight, we were cut down to three days and one morning. So, for our final day, we stayed in the Sapporo area. We started our morning by traversing through the 2-3 feet of snow that fell overnight to the JR station to wait for the shuttle that would take us to the seafood market. One quick ride and we arrived! Again, we were overwhelmed with how much there was. This market was bigger than the one in Otaru, too. Crabs for days! Scallops, scallops everywhere! I think next time I will buy one of these to eat by myself. Kegani - horsehair crab. Very stabby if you touch it with your bare hands. When we ate them, I used gloves so avoid chafing. And yes, I am using stabby as a real word. Snow crab legs. These are much sweeter than anything I've had before. One of the workers was using the heate...