Afternoon Snack - Crepes!

Another thing that Machida is known for is their various crepe vendors - yummy!

Here is a display case that showed amazingly life-like representations of their most popular crepes. Luckily, most looked delicious although they had a few savory versions with tuna salad or potato salad, yuck!

I went with the strawberries, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream, Rich went with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream, and Amy went with strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Here is the girl making our orders - she was amazingly skilled (and I'm not being facetious). She assembled all three of our orders simultaneously, including making the crepes on a pan and scooping the ice cream, and had each crepe wrapped perfectly.

Here's a close up look at my crepe - I didn't realize it when ordering, but the ice cream crepes also had some corn flakes added for a nice crunch.

I swear it's just the angle of the photos that make these crepes look gigantic, because all it took was one minute and a few bites for them to disappear.

And yes, all three of us headed to gym with my Dad later in the afternoon to make up for this calorie intake!

More Scenes from Machida

As you can tell from the title, today marked my third visit to Machida. Amy and Rich wanted to pick up some omeyagi (gifts for others that you buy while on a trip) and I'm always game for a shopping trip!

This is the main street in Machida - there are half a dozen different department stores that border this street, with the train station at the end of the street.

Amy fortified herself with a Georgia Cafe Latte from the vending machine.

I wanted to assure everyone that Machida does in fact love you.

For lunch, we faced a bit of a challenge finding a place that would have enough vegetarian choices for Rich. We ended up skipping the traditional Japanese places and tried First Kitchen instead.

It is fast food joint, similar to McDonalds, but with its own Japanese twists.

Here's a shot of the two trays that held our orders - see how nicely packaged everything is?


Amy had a burger that was topped with bacon, a fried egg and some sort of mayo/potato mix - I decided to skip their burgers (due to the weird toppings) and went with a plain chicken sandwich while Rich had a rich minestrone/shrimp soup.

In case you're wondering what's in the white bags, our fries came individually packaged and we got them in "Flavor Potato" since that was regular (compared to cheese, BBQ, potato croquette - these may all sound good to the average American but you can never be too sure how the Japanese will interpret these flavors!)

Wakiaiai at Machida

As I mentioned in my previous post, my Dad, his coworkers and I headed to Machida to have an early holiday celebration.

The name of the restaurant we went to was Wakiaiai (prounced Wah - key - aye - aye). If you ask a Japanese person what that means, they get confused and then try to explain that it doesn't translate well to English, but it means something along the lines of "friendly," "cozy," and "togetherness".

It is an apt name for a place that specializes in all you can eat and drink specials, as everyone feels friendly and cozy at the end of the night!

The deal is for 3700 Yen (which roughly translates into $40), each person could eat and drink anything on the menu for 3 hours straight. Not a bad deal once you hear what we had at the table.

Upon arriving, the first thing we had to do was take our shoes off to enter the restaurant. Unlike most places, we were given the choice of putting our shoes in plastic bags and carrying them to the table (which most of us opted to do).



There were ten of us total, and we were placed in a room with six of these tables. Ten of us fit comfortably at one table, and with cushions for our butts and a recessed area for our feet to hang (rather than being forced to sit cross-legged), it was actually pretty comfortable.



Three of our party had arrived before us, and had kindly ordered edamame (boiled soybeans), meatballs and fried gyoza (dumplings). Also waiting at each seat was an appetizer plate, a glass for drinks (it looked like it held around 4 - 6 oz) and a wet towel to wipe our hands (one of my favorite Asian customs, you get them on flights overseas as well).



I was pleased to see Yakisoba was also on the menu, as this is a favorite noodle dish that most Americans enjoy.


I didn't take pictures of all the food but this is a rough summary of what we ordered for food:

• Gyoza
• Meatballs
• Edamame
• Yakisoba
• Beef Teriyaki
• Garlic Pizza
• Shrimp
• Smelt
• Fried Rice
• Fried Cheese with cheese topping
• Shrimp and tomatoes in some sort of red sauce
• Salad
• Salad with sashimi (raw tuna)
• Dessert
  

When the restaurant says all you can drink, they mean it! This was my own personal pitcher of Gin and Tonics. I wisely limited myself to a few glasses and stuck with ginger ale for the rest of the night.

I was pleased to learn that desserts were also on the menu. I went with a strawberry cheesecake ice cream, which was very yummy.



Mochi (traditional Japanese rice cakes) were also on the menu, but I skipped them.


This was the aftermath after our three hours was up.

Traveling to Machida

Last night marked the first time I made it back to Machida on this trip.

Machida is three train stops away from Zama and is the best place to shop offbase without having to venture into Tokyo.

My dad and his coworkers decided to go to an all you eat and drink place in Machida as an informal office Christmas celebration. Of course I was along for the ride.

I'll blog more about Machida in the next post but I thought I would devote this blog to readers like Camie as a trip down memory lane.

Walking offbase, the closest subway stop is Sobudaimae. Here's a shot of my dad heading through the turnstiles at Sbobudaimae.

A ticket to Machida costs 180 Yen.

Passing through the stops of Odakyu-Sagamihara and Sagami-Ono, we got off at the Machida stop and were greeted by this view:

For those who are familiar with Machida, the McDonalds by the train station is directly to the right off camera.