Arashiyama and Nabe

The other day, instead of studying, I decided to go exploring with Jazmin to Arashiyama. Arashiyama is one of the famous parts of Kyoto, which in Kyoto, says something because all of Kyoto of Kyoto is pretty famous. So, Arashiyama is really famous for temples, and the more traditional arts in the city. But we didn't go to temples really because frankly, I'm a little templed-out at the moment. Instead, we went to one of the very famous bamboo forests behind one of the temples.

Beautiful, isn't it? I admit, it's my first time to really see bamboo, so I was super pscyhed. I can't imagine having to chop any of this stuff down, it's ridiculously strong. And this bamboo is easily the size of a small plate.

After our random explorations outside of the normal touristy zone, we ended up going to a friend's house to make nabe. Nabe is extremely delicious. Basically, you put a bunch of stuff in a pot and then let it cook for a little while and then serve directly from that pot into people's bowls. Ours was full of deliciousness. It went something like this:

1. Start with a soybean milk base for the broth
2. Add pork
3. Add yam noodles
4. Add mushrooms
5. Add carrots
6. Add cabbage
7. Add fried tofu

And let me just say to you that it really doesn't look as delicious translated. There are so many bad connotations with those words that I just put up there, but you know what? Try to ignore them. And think of the feeling you get when you walk into the house and you've had that bowl of spaghetti sauce or something boiling on the stove all day, and you think, "Wow, I'm home, and this smells so delicious." That's the feeling you get with nabe.

And now just because I'm thinking about it, and I really think I owe all of you a picture, here you go. This is my bowl, perfectly arranged by Tomoyo.