Japanese Food Bites: Indulging in the Taste of Summer

trip prep!

(Written by Mills/Northeastern student Amandine Alexander)

According to a stereotype circulated on TikTok recently, the airport is supposedly an eldest daughter’s ideal environment. I will tell you now that this is true, at least for me.

Multi-step check in and security processing? No trouble. Scrambling to get myself and all of my electronic belongings through security? No need—I know the exact detailed location of all my electronic devices and liquids. Flight delays and other inevitable inconveniences? Bring it on. This is the easy part.

The hard part is the process of actually packing my belongings.

I grew up moving across the world every four years (Florida >> Tokyo >> Hawaii >> Malaysia >> Texas, to abbreviate), so I have plenty of experience with packing and have no excuse for procrastinating.

Alas, my bags remain frustratingly empty as of the time of writing, which is 3 days before my flight.

In my gathering of material for this blog post, I found that one of my peers who so kindly provided her thoughts—Jo Guarin, thank you very much—is far better suited for advice in this department:

I write these thoughts while feverishly packing for our DOC program, running loads of laundry, making last minute purchases for items that may be of assistance during our trip which finally starts this weekend…kidding! I have been super excited for this trip ever since I was accepted into the program and honestly started packing about a week ago! 

Items I bought in preparation included:

• face sunscreen stick 

• UV umbrella for sun and rain

• packing cubes

• magnetic power bank 

• electric hand fan

• and a blank notebook for stamp collecting!

This extremely sensible packing list puts my barren suitcase to shame. In fact, re-reading it for this blog post has successfully motivated me to get my items together:

Much better. Jo’s list includes packing cubes, which I don’t have, but would be very useful in compressing items, especially if I were to bring smaller omiyage, as Prof. Ito is doing:

Omiyage is the Japanese word for souvenirs, and bringing them is a very culturally appropriate way to express your gratitude to people you’ll be close to throughout your trip! I’m sure the folks at Ochanomizu will be quite impressed with Prof. Ito’s assembly. I myself have been saddled with many items to give to my relatives.

This is my second year in a row going to Japan, which is an unusually high frequency of travel for me. Last year, I went with my dad on a pseudo-solo graduation trip to go and see my family for one last hurrah before committing to college in the U.S. There was a sense of finality to it, as flights are expensive and college is hard, but I suppose fate just couldn’t keep me away.

Jo shared that this is also her second year in a row visiting Japan:

I have been to Japan before only on family vacation last year, but returning to such a beautiful and lively country on my own fills me with a different type of anticipation. Being able to learn and experience everything from a new solo perspective is something I have been looking forward to for months now, especially with a focus around food! I even started my own food journaling account on Instagram with the intention of both documenting my regular foodie adventures as well as using it as a platform for this trip. 

…She is arguably far more prepared than I am in every way for every aspect of this trip.

Though I have no experience with food journaling or otherwise foodie-related activities (that’s more my sister’s department, as the self-appointed family meal photographer), the culinary/cultural emphasis of this Dialogue is what I am most excited for on this trip at the moment. Japanese food has always been comforting to me—it’s what I grew up eating, what I always cook for myself, and what I now cook for my friends in university when they visit my apartment, since I’m the only one with a kitchen.

I also happen to know Prof. Ito is extremely qualified in the food department. I had the privilege of being invited to her home for Thanksgiving through a friend who was taking her class; she had extended an open welcome to all of the stragglers at Mills College who did not go home for fall break. The decadence of the food and the warmth of her household indicated that she and her family take cooking and hosting extremely seriously. In fact, it was probably one of the best meals I experienced during my freshman year at college. I look forward to hearing her insight on the culinary journey across Japan that she has curated for us!

I am also looking forward to tackling my favorite cuisine on the microscopic level as well! Despite not having firsthand experience with his classes, I heard very good things about Dr. Young’s tutelage from my roommate (Hannah Winans, who worked in his nematode(?) lab), so the bar is high for this trip.

As I finish up my packing, other nerves set in too; this isn’t just some leisurely excursion, but rather an academic endeavor through which I wish to gain more knowledge. Having been on co-op for the last 6 months, I’m hoping that this experience will also help jumpstart my mindset and shift it toward gearing up for the upcoming fall semester shortly after the trip ends. 

Meeting new people doesn’t always come so easily either. Many of my classmates on this DOC are people that I’ve never met before in person and although I’ve grown accustomed to the stereotypical college introductions, that uncertainty of how you’ll get along with others still rings true. Regardless of such feelings, I am ecstatic nonetheless to meet everyone in Japan this coming weekend. またね!

I’ve spent far less time at Northeastern/Mills College than Jo has, but her final thoughts resonate with me regardless. I don’t know any of my classmates yet either; I admit that I’m nervous (and excited!) to meet everyone and hopefully make friends. At Mills College, I was largely surrounded by freshmen due to the nature of the acquisition, though I also befriended a few graduating seniors and graduate students. I think it will be interesting to get the chance to immerse myself in another piece of the wider Northeastern campus community.

With that being said—see y’all on the other side!

bonus: montréal!

Almost nonsensically, my flight to Tokyo from DFW transits through Montréal with a 20 hour layover before the final connection. I’m typing this from a Marriott hotel 10 minutes from the airport, having freshly undergone the trials and tribulations of international flight.

I know I said getting through the airport was the easy part, but I’ve been forced to eat my words somewhat by the circumstances:

• Having to get up at 6:30 AM (okay, fine, this isn’t the worst)
• Being forced to check my carry-on at DFW, where I was reassured I would be able to reclaim it from the aircraft before my 20 hour layover
• Not being able to reclaim my carry-on upon my arrival in Montréal, of course
• Having to wait for an hour by the baggage terminal after asking a kind agent to please get my bags back to me
• Misidentifying the hotel shuttle and having to wait another hour for the next one (this is admittedly my fault)
• Having my credit card decline a total of 9 times (this one was brutal). Apparently Canada doesn’t like Discover very much.

It’s not so bad. I have my bags, I have a hotel, and I managed to grab dinner.

Speaking of dinner, let’s kick off the food review portion of these blogs starting at the Montréal airport:

Java U café: $14 USD ★★☆☆☆

Items ordered:

• Cappuccino
• “Le Laurier” bagel sandwich

Would give it 1.5 stars, but bonus 0.5 points because I was so hungry and it was filling. I forgot to take a photo, but this entry doesn’t need one—just picture a takeaway coffee cup and a lackluster pre-made lox bagel sandwich.

The cappuccino was alright. The milk was over-steamed and the sugar had been killed, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The “Le Laurier” lox bagel sandwich was the real show-stealer here, by way of insulting my Jewish ancestors and crapping on even my general sense of taste. For some reason, when I asked for it to be warmed up, it had been put through a panini press and thus had grill marks on it. There was no lettuce. There was only the suggestion of red onion in thin, millimeter slices. There was no tomato. The only ingredients in this sandwich present were cream cheese (thank God), lox, and black pepper, the third of which constituted the dominating flavor of the sandwich.

Nevertheless, I ate the whole sandwich and drank the cappuccino and felt slightly guilty doing so. I can’t knock it too badly for being airport café fare, anyway.

Foccaccio Italian Restaurant/Bar: $31 USD ★★★★☆ (3.5)

(price is inclusive of tip and tax.)

This is arguably not the kind of place a solo 19-year old in a linty She-Ra T-shirt and sweats should go to eat dinner at, but I went anyway because it was only 7 minutes from the hotel. Also, my card had just declined 5 times in my attempt to pay the hotel safety deposit, I had a long day, and I wanted to treat myself.

Items ordered:

• “A Foccaccio”(?) tortellini pasta
• A negroni, since it sounded fancy and I am of legal drinking age in Montréal

The pasta was delicious. The sauce was olive oil, white wine, chopped tomatoes, garlic… and salt. A lot of salt. That would have been my only complaint about this dish, but the sauce redeemed itself somewhat by being a good dipping base for the (hard, cold) bread.

The negroni was on the weak side. I felt a little scammed, but it did taste good. Not much to say about it, besides that it was overpriced and underwhelming.

While this is supposed to purely be a food review, I can admit to myself (and you) that having my card decline another 4 times could potentially have damaged my impression of this experience. To add insult to injury, the server, a man about my father’s age, proceeded to lecture me about bringing cash and ensuring I have different methods of payment. Merci, monsieur. Je suis seulement une stupide americaine, désolée.

With this dining experience under my belt, I can say more confidently than ever that I look forward both to the Japanese cuisine AND warm hospitality that generally accompanies it.