Kyoto Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion

Posted on July 13, 2015 by borysSNORC

… and Bamboo Forest day. 🙂

So excited! I have wanted to see Kinkaku-ji, also called the ‘Golden Pavilion’ for nearly 20 years now. It is such an amazing building and is one of Japan’s best known sights. I had seen a hint on an internet travel blog that getting there Monday morning bright and early was the only way to go in the summer tourist season, so out the door we were at 8:00am and hitting the buses (I say buses, because there were several!). We arrived on site around 8:45am and the large wooden gates leading into the complex were still closed. This is a map of the entire complex which includes Kinkaku-ji / Rokuon-ji Temple (aka Golden Pavilion…not sure why this place has three names, but it appears to), the Sekka-te Tea House, the Fudo-do Temple and the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.

The Not So Small Child, however, was not quite as excitied ands he had no idea what we were going to see – so he was busy trying to hook himself onto some free wifi while we waited… in fact, that’s his favourite past time in Japan so far; hunting for free wifi. 😛The doors opened and we were in a group of about 80 early bird tourists to make it in for hopefully unpeopled photographs. We could see the tour groups in buses arriving as we were going in and I can only imagine that it got very packed very quickly. I am unapologetically posting as many photos of this incredible spot as I can. 🙂 It was so peaceful and serene… the pavilion itself is simply stunning.

It was originally built in 1397 as a retirement villa for a Shogun named Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, but his son converted it to a Zen Buddhist temple. The golden colour is from gold foil on lacquer covers on the upper two levels of Kinkaku, and a shining phoenix stands on top of the shingled roof.The first level is built in the Shinden style of the 11th C imperial aristocracy, and the second level is built in the Buke style of the warrior aristocracy. The very top level is built in the Chinese Zenshu-Butsuden style, but overall Kinkaku isrepresentative of Muromachi period architecture. All of which is well and good but I read that in 1950 a young monk became obsessed with the temple and his obsession culminated in his burning the place to the ground! So what we are looking at today is a 1955 reconstruction that was completed using the exact original design, but the golden foil covering was extended to cover the lower levels, which the original temple did not have. Obsessed monks indeed… Oh, and forget yesterday’s Hojo Gardens at Choin-in Temple… these are far and away the most impressive gardens I have ever seen. So immaculately kept and so beautifully laid out. With so many people coming through I can well understand why there are no seats around for people to loiter on, but it would be absolutely amazing to be in here alone under a tree, watching the nearly 50cm long carp and koi plopping in the water occasionally and listening to the breeze in the trees. Just stunningly gorgeous. Makes you wish you had a few hectares at home to make a garden of your own… oh, and the resources to pay the 20 plus gardeners you’d need to keep it looking so lovely and orderly. It has literally just dawned on me why I feel these gardens are so pleasing – they’re orderly. They’re not strategically overgrown English cottage gardens, which have their own appeal in their own right… they’re precise, expertly pruned, well kept and very, very orderly. Which suits my sensibilities perfectly. Off to the side of the pagoda is a little patio/landing where Sayuri is finally united with the Chairman at the end of the film, ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’… going to have to watch that again and see how much of Kyoto, and Gion in particular, is familiar. 🙂
I mean, isn’t that one of the main reasons why we travel? So we can go to the cinema and annoy our movie going companions by whispering, “I’ve been there!” at various exotic destinations. Back me up here, BigSal? 😛 This sign probably says something hideously practical, like, “Tea house This Way”, but with my in-ability to read Japanese and my current effusive state of mind, I am going to choose to think it reads, “Stairway to Heaven” today. Ask me again tomorrow, and it might read, “Please refrain from using these steps, as you can see they are dangerously worn away from hundreds of years of hundreds of feets using them” … yes, all that in just four characters!Next thing we saw was the Ryumon Taki, I have no idea what that means, but the tourists have taken it upon themselves to throw coins into the curved stone bowl, and a strategically placed steel bowl that made a satisfying ting as you coin bounced out of it. Of course we all threw a ‘temple coin’ (aka shrappers) into the bowl. Only Mr K got it in one… and he made a wish for good health, because of course we are on the go, go, go which means he’s coming down with something.Even gorgeous just peeking through the top of the trees…At the Fudo-do shrine, we saw a row of weird little Fortune boxes, and around the corner, English Fortunes, Chinese Fortunes, and Portuguese Fortunes!? Seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up, so we threw in a coin and a genuine ‘Fortune’ came out.Et, voila! My fortune… “An unexpected misfortune will happen to you, but you can get over it if you can behave yourself and are prudent.” Well, so much for that… well behaved and prudent. What are the odds? 🙂 A little baby Shinto shrine, that was around the back of the Fudo-do shrine… I really wish there was ore information on what each of these are for – the complete inability to read anything really makes you feel like you are missing stuff. Mr K contemplating the down hill stairs – there may or may not be a bit of delayed onset muscle pain going on after the Mr Fuji adventure… everyone’s a little sore and double thinking things (the way I do every day, it’s kinda cute).After we left Kinkaku-ji, we were heading for the famous Arashiyama bamboo forest – so famous, it graces the cover of the current edition of the Lonely Planet for Japan that nearly everyone we meet is carrying around (as are we).

On the way, we took a wrong turn from Arashiyama (*mutter mutter* no signs in English anywhere), and ended up wandering over a bridge completely in the wrong direction. In a park, I saw a lovely lady dressed in a formal kimono having some formal photographs taken. Being friendly and REALLY wanting to take her photo, I walked up to them and told her how beautiful I thought she looked and asked the photographers if they were taking photos for a magazine or something. It turns out that this couple are getting married on the 22nd July, and this is their ‘pre-wedding’ photo shoot. Novel idea, but it seems it is quite common here to get your photos taken before the wedding so as not to use up time on the day.
My compliments and congratulations on their upcoming wedding were well received and they were happy to let me take their photo. The blushing bride looked absolutely perfect – though lord knows how she did, given it was 36C, over 70% humidity and nary a breeze to be hard. She must have been so hot under all that, but she just looked so lovely.Eventually we wandered back up in the correct direction, via a stop for kiwi fruit ice creams, and found the relative coolness of the bamboo forest… and I mean relative. It was probably still 30C something in there, but at least you could take your hat off for a few moments and try cool off. It’s not quite as picturesque as the pics on the guide book, but was a very pleasant stroll nonetheless. I did wonder though that with the hundreds of people also wandering through the grove (that I worked very hard to try and keep out of my pics), why haven’t the city/council, just planted another five or six more bamboo groves in various areas of town? Curious.
Some lovely ladies we saw at the train station – apparently it is quite common for tourists to rent a kimono for the day and have their hair done up to tour various sites, and it is very popular with Chinese visitors. After all that – about 5-6 hours wandering around in just draining heat, we came back to Gion and had some quick lunch… followed by a nap for those of us who had completely lost their ability to deal, and The Last Samurai on Blu-Ray for Angel and me. Lunch boxes here are fantastic – so cheap and full of yummy fresh sushi, and available at the 7-11. Wish we could get this sort of thing at home. 🙂 Escaping from the heat for the afternoon was a good plan, we didn’t head back out until after dark when it was a far more tolerable 26C and still 70% humidity… and only then to go have a quick look around the area at night and try to find some ramen noodles. We found several places open just up the street – it’s weird how many tiny little restaurants there are everywhere here, in amongst the houses and down tiny alleys, great little bars and restaurants that barely seat 10-12 people. We also have vending machines with coffee, soft drinks, water and sports drinks just at the end of the driveway that leads into the apartment, and they seem to be on every other corner. But I digress, we found a great little ramen place about 100m from here (after passing three other restaurants!), and had some delicious traditional (according to the menu ‘traditional 1970s style ramen noodle’… lol) meals. Very quaint little place. 🙂

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but no doubt it will involve more sight seeing in the morning, hiding from the heat again in the afternoon, and then going out into Gion to check out the preparations for the festival which starts in two days! 🙂 Lots of lanterns, parade floats and people in the streets, it should be a lot of fun.

Fish Markets and Bullet Trains and Okonomiyaki, oh my!

Posted on July 12, 2015 by borysSNORC

Got up this morning, it’s a transit day – we are off to Kyoto by bullet train around lunch time, but had so far missed an opportunity to go see the famous Tokyo fish markets. We had planned to go on Wednesday, but found out that (very oddly) the fish markets are closed every 2nd Wednesday of the month, so it was go this morning or miss out.

We hopped a cab to head the few kilometres over to the fish markets – with four of us, sometimes it works out cheaper to use a cab than to all whittle down the credit on our Suica cards – and were dropped off right outside the market area. The smell of fish in the air was immediately noticeable, but given that it is quite hot today, not as fishy as you would expect… fresh seafood smells, not rotten ones. We went for a wander through the markets and saw just about every seafood known to man… enormous tuna, salmon, lobsters, crabs, eels, squid, octopus, scallops, urchins, sardines, oysters, pippis, large fish of unknown species (damn not being able to read signs) and so many other delicious fishy type things.

Saw some other market stalls selling knives, kitchenware, ceramic serving dishes, bowls, cups, chopsticks. SaucyMary picked up some little Japanese garden shears that apparently make a very satisfying ‘ting’ noise when you use them.

After wandering the markets for a while we went hunting for breakfast in one of the hundreds of sushi restaurants serving all the lovely fresh fish that comes right from the wholesale markets. The line ups were incredible. Hours long some of them to get into a sushi restaurant. We had no idea which ones are better than others, so we chose a place where 1) we could stand in the shade and 2) had a relatively short line. One of patrons already waiting to go in, told us the line was very short because this restaurant was relatively new – so ‘no reputation yet’, but he assured us it was very good.

*CUE WAITING MUSIC*

Thirty minutes of standing around later… and we finally get in the door. The restaurant was tiny, about the size of my entry way and ensuite at home, with three chefs and a row of tables and tiny stools. We were given the obligatory hot hand towel to freshen up before the meal, which was much appreciated, and food was delivered one piece at a time as the chef made it, onto wooden serving platters that were placed in front of each person. It was crazy expensive seeing it was so close to the source of all the ingredients – ¥2500 per person for the ‘sushi special’ or ¥3600 for the ‘chef special’, but absolutely worth it.

We tried the sushi special which consisted of fresh tuna, cuttlefish, eel tail, salmon, prawn, sardine, salmon roe, tuna rolls, some mystery fish that I have now forgotten the name of, and some green tea and the best miso soup I have ever tried. The chef was adamant that none of the sushi be eaten with soy… right up until the end where he gave us the little tuna rolls, and said, ‘Ok, now sauce.’ Weird that they feel wasabi doesn’t impact the taste and enjoyment of the fish, but definitely no sauce! The chef special included some urchin and scallop, and while I love scallop, I personally don’t enjoy the texture of urchin having had it fresh off the beach in NZ many years ago. All up, a delicious breakfast of the freshest and tastiest fresh sushi I have ever tried – very happy with my wash! 10/10. Would definitely go again and drag all my friends along.

After that it was back to the apartment and collecting all the luggage – compared to other travellers about the place, we seem to be carrying a LOT of stuff. Part of that I think is because when Australians travel, we don’t just go somewhere for a week or ten days… everything is too far away and that involves expensive and tedious long haul flights, so once we are away, compared to other travellers, we tend to stay away as long as our leave and our budgets will allow. So with a 47 day trip that involves trekking up mountains gear and clobber for formal evenings on a cruise ship, that tends to cause a fairly significant packing challenge, and I find myself cursing the fact that we’re not travelling lighter.

Anyway, back to the train, then off to Tokyo Station and switching to the Shinkansen Train – bullet train for the win! 🙂 Mr K, our transport logistics expert was pretty damn excited to be getting on the bullet train. The trip to Kyoto is 513.6kms and is covered in 138 minutes flat. Love it – clean, fast, efficient and goes every 10 minutes or so. We arrived in Kyoto much sooner than I was expecting, the scenery just whizzing by outside the window, and then it was off to rapidly learn a new transit system to make our way to accommodation, which is here – 知恩院前のバス停 if anyone wants to look it up. 😀

We’ve got a lovely apartment with all the mod cons, right in the centre of where the Gion Festival is happening this week. But after a long day, we decided to get take out okonomiyaki from a place called Arachan that our Airbnb host recommended. Shared a seafood one with SaucyMary for dinner and it was absolutely delicious, full of prawn, octopus, squid and fishy bits. Best okonomiyaki ever. I’d say that we should totally have some for dinner again one night next week, but there are too many other things to try. 🙂

Favourite Texas Pulled Pork

Posted on March 1, 2015 by borysSNORC

PREP 15 mins – COOK 5 hrs – READY IN 5 hrs 15 mins

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
(4 pound) pork shoulder roast
1 cup barbeque sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 extra large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
8 hamburger buns, split
2 tablespoons butter, or as needed
1 teaspoon of liquid smoke*

Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.
Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns.

*add liquid smoke if you want, it’s not necessary… and don’t tell Mr K, I’ll end up divorced!

Recipe – Indian curried Chicken on Rice

Posted on January 17, 2015 by borysSNORC

1kg chicken thigh cutlets, skin removed
2 tablespoons mild Indian curry paste (see note)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 brown onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups SunRice White Long Grain Rice
1/3 cup sultanas
1 granny smith apple, cut into 2cm pieces
1 medium tomato, cut into 1cm pieces
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
Fresh coriander leaves and plain
Natural yoghurt, to serve

Step 1
Preheat oven to 220°C/200°C fan-forced. Place chicken and curry paste in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Stir to coat chicken.

Step 2
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, in batches, turning, for 4 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate.

Step 3
Add onion to pan. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until softened. Add rice. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until rice is coated. Stir in sultanas, apple and tomato. Transfer mixture to a 10 cupcapacity, 25cm (base) round ovenproof dish. Arrange chicken over rice, pressing down gently. Pour over stock. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until rice is tender and chicken cooked through.

Step 4
Top with coriander. Serve with yoghurt.

On second thoughts, fuck off with that coriander shit – no one likes it.

From the Chef: Oysters Kilpatrick

Posted on November 27, 2014 by borysSNORC

Had an unnatural urge for Oysters Kilpatrick yesterday, probably something to do with going to the local tavern for dinner recently and seeing them on the menu, but not being even remotely prepared to pay $26 a dozen, for what was inevitably bound to be disappointing Oysters Kilpatrick.

Yes. Disappointing. You see, once upon a time I dated a lovely young man whose father was a chef and that there was a family who know’d how to make fantastic Oysters Kilpatrick… and every single time I have ever ordered in a restaurant (I don’t care how swanky the place is or how nice their flatware) they’re just plain disappointing somehow. So, I’m stuck making them myself. Which I do every year or so to the Corrie family secret recipe…

Here’s what you’re going to need:

Two dozen Coffin Bay or Sydney Rock oysters – the bigger the better!
Shortcut BACON – lots of it.
BBQ sauce – you can be as fussy or as dodgy with this as you want.
Tomato ketchup – fuck off that nasty tomato sauce stuff though.
Worcestershire sauce – the older the better.
Cream of Horseradish – this is the secret ingredient (don’t tell anyone!).

Here’s what you’ve gotta do:

Step 1:
Take your shortcut bacon and trim any extra fat off it – because we don’t need the extra heart attack to go with our high fructose BBQ sauce. Slice it up fine, until it looks almost shredded and then throw a couple of rough cuts to make the pieces about an inch long. Chuck that shit in a mixing bowl.

Step 2:
Pour a generous amount of BBQ sauce onto the bacony goodness. Poor an almost equally portion of ketchup stuff in too. Splash in some Wussy sauce, and add a glob of Cream of Horseradish… yeah, sorry about that. I have absolutely no idea how much of what goes in where, I just make it based on what it looks like. Taste a dab, if it’s not tangy enough – add more Horseradish; if it’s too tangy – add more BBQ sauce. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Step 3:
Carefully arrange your gorgeous looking oysters into an oven tray leaning them up against each other so the bacony goodness topping doesn’t run all over the place – seriously, I meant it when I said size matters! The bigger the better!

Step 4:
Drop a small dollop of saucy bacon topping onto each oyster – be mindful of the fact that this stuff will spread and your oyster will runneth over, so don’t put too much on each oyster.

Step 5:
Chuck the tray in the oven and cook ’em. Maybe 20 minutes, maybe 25minutes in a moderate oven, depending on how dry you like them – if you like the runny juices in the bottom of your oyster shells… turn it up to 220C and cook them for less time. If you prefer your oysters to be sitting in something still similar to the consistency of sauce then 180C for a bit longer. Cook them until the peaks turn ever so slightly charred looking and the sauce looks like Rotorua darling! (ie: like boiling mud!)

Step 6:
Pull them out, allow them to rest a little (seriously, actually do this – or you’ll burn your damn hand or something when transferring them to a plate or whatever and it’ll allow the sauce to ‘set’ a little), then put them on a bed of fancy rock salt to look all pretty – or failing that, set the whole damn oven tray on the table with some bread and hook in.

Ta-da! All gone!