Things Japanese V – On the manifold uses of green tea

There are few edibles that are as strongly associated to Japan as green tea. And it is true, green tea is everywhere. Since tea is traditionally only drunk in its green form in Japan, it is usually just referred to as tea, お茶 (o-cha, where the o shows respect).
Since green tea is sensitive to high temperatures (the better the tea leaf, the lower the temperature must be), you can set Japanese “tea kettles” (they are actually rather hot water dispensers that keep the water at a prescribed temperature for an indefinite time) to 60, 80, 90 and 100 degrees Celsius.
Green tea is consumed in masses as ice tea (but unsweetened) sold at the innumerable vending machines located at every street corner. For common use, it is prepared from tea bags, which in general are also suitable for cold preparation. The connoisseur of course brews it in varying degrees of sophistication from tea leaves.

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Trying to Eat

So we’re going to this place “Udon Ichi” close by to University to have some noodles for dinner. Being shown to our seat still works well. And lucky, they have a menu with pictures. We choose different menus with udon noodles and some tempura. Now the waitress asks something pointing at a circle which is half blue, half red. Obviously, the menu comes in two variants. Maybe it means spicy (red) and mild (blue)? To make sure, we try both, I have mine blue, Domenico takes red.

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Food

If you think, an English breakfast is heavy, you have probably not experienced a Russian one yet. You start off nicely with a Kasha, a porridge which can be made of different things, oats, semolina, even rice. Then, you’ll probably go on with more serious stuff, such as an omelet with mushrooms and ham, bliny (the local pancakes), or something fried, such as fried dough balls for example. In hotels with buffets, you’ll also find salads, soups, and other hot dishes such as meat balls. We’ve even encountered fried liver once.

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