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After more than 160 posts I figured I better mention sushi for the first time. The above photograph is from a sushi restaurant in Kyoto. I’m actually not a huge fan of seafood which means that I only like a few kinds of sushi. However, this restaurant served much more than sushi so I had shabu shabu or sukiyaki. I don’t remember which. Whichever it was, I do remember it was very good.
御馳走様でした！
Maruyama Park in Kyoto is a wonderful place to be when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. You’ll find yourself mixed in with many groups of Japanese enjoying hanami (blossom viewing) parties. If you don’t bring your own food have no fear. You can purchase fish on a stick (or a bunch of other delights) from various street vendors. We passed on the fish on a stick and went for some yakitori instead. You can’t beat yakitori washed down with C.C. Lemon.
If you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning you are probably wondering how I have gone through over forty blog entries on Denmark without mentioning Danishes (as in the pastries). Well, we didn’t ignore them even if I haven’t brought them up yet. In fact, we probably had almost one a day.
What we in the states refer to as “Danishes” is called “wienerbrod” here. I had one before each class on campus at the Copenhagen Business School canteen that was simply divine. I never got tired of “my Danish” or tried a different variety. It was simply perfect in every way. This Danish of mine didn’t necessarily look any different from those in the states, but it tasted much better. The croissant-like edges melted in my mouth and the jam was unlike anything I’ve had before.
The above photograph is of my kids in the pastry shop just around the corner from our Frederiksberg apartment. They enjoyed the cookies as well as the pastries, and, as you can see, could become quite transfixed by the sight of them.
The shop owner, above, assembled our choices as our mouths watered in anticipation.
I miss Denmark.
Food in Copenhagen is not cheap. When purchased at the grocery store it will run you 2X as much, on average, when compared to the U.S. When purchased at a restaurant food can cost up to 4X as much as the good old U.S.A.
I get a good lunch at the canteen at Copenhagen Business School for about US$6 to $7, but other than that the pickings have been slim. We did find one other good deal. At a place called “Lille Istanbul” on Viktoriagade near the corner of Vesterbrogade in Vesterbro there are about 13 different, very tasty sandwiches to choose from. They are called “Super Sandwiches” and they go for only 25 DKK (or just over US$5) each.
Last night we went out to a place all of the guidebooks rave about as being the best deal in town. “Le Le Nha Hang” is the name of the place, and it, too, is in Vesterbro. The food was OK, but the prices are no longer under 100 DKK as all of the guidebooks promise. The cheapest dishes start at about 115 DKK now. Their menu has been revised recently it seems. For a bowl of soup, a salad, and two drinks the two of us paid just over US$70. It was a good meal but not something I would pay more than about $20 - $25 for in the U.S.
I finished sorting through my Fushimi Inari pictures and, although difficult to do so, cut the remaining pictures I will share with you down to seven. You’ll get three today and the last four tomorrow. (Remember that these pictures look far better if you click on them. Also, if you have a monitor with screen resolution settings of something higher than 1024 x 768 and your browser maximized you’ll have better results.)
After walking (generally upwards) through a few hundred yards worth of torii we came upon an empty restaurant. We hadn’t eaten breakfast yet so this was perfect. The setting for the eating place was spectacular. We could look out over the groves of trees, bamboo, and torii gates while eating in this peaceful setting. We were perched slightly above everything so the views were wonderful.
In the above photograph you can see the tokonoma (床の間 or decorative alcove usually featuring a scroll) with ikebana (生け花 or flower arrangement) and also some reserved tables (予約席). The floor is made of tatami (畳) mats.
The lighting in the above picture is not so good, but you can sort of see how marvelous the views are from this restaurant.
What does one eat at the main Inari shrine dedicated to kitsune? We ordered inarizushi and kitsune udon of course.
The food was good and my daughter (pictured above with me) now considers inarizushi to be her favorite food. I enjoyed talking in Japanese with the old lady from across the road. It was from her house that the food came. I said this was a restaurant, but it wasn’t in the typical sense as no food preparations went on there. All of the food was cooked and brought over from the house across the dirt path. This place was simply for eating.
After eating we headed down the path instead of farther up. We didn’t actually make it to the main shrine at the top of the hill, but that just means we have to go back someday to explore in more detail. 
We were departing the country in a few hours so we didn’t have time to take all of the paths.
The way down was a different path than the way up and featured many shrines (even a Buddhist one or two). The Shinto one pictured above has a plaque that says 玉姫大社 (jewel princess big shrine or tamahimetaisha). 玉姫 has to do with wedding places so I’m guessing this shrine has something to do with weddings; perhaps offerings are left here to wish for a successful marriage. Tamahime Taisha featured the first of the many Japanese lanterns we were about to see along this exit path.
