Trinoma Landmark Grocery Japan Foods section

Alice-sensei's Afinite lecture a couple of months ago was about using stuff from Japan as teaching material (nama-kyouzai or rearia). She mentioned some local Japanese grocers one can go to, most of them are in Makati. But Landmark in Trinoma carries some stuff as well. Admittedly I wouldnt have known about it if not for Kubo.


The Japanese staple diet: Curry Rice.




The college student staple diet: ramen.




More noodles: udon.

Seasonings:


Karashi (mustard) and wasabi. I don't know why some people think it's spelled "wasabe".



Soy sauces. Kikkoman at the left, I know. Yamasa, never heard.



Sake for cooking. I once bought drinking sake on a whim, but never got around to drinking it. Doc warned me that once it turned yellow it'll only be good for cooking.



Kewpie mayonaisse. I'm guessing because the squeeze bottle feels like a kewpie doll?

Garnishes:


Furikake you shake over rice. But I like the salty flavor so much, I eat it straight from the sachet. Left is a mixture of egg and seaweed. Right one I can't make out but it's proud of it's "color and material harmony".



Flavored seaweed strips. I blame Violy sensei for making me addicted to this for a time. Just like furikake, it's usually to add flavor to rice, and again, I take it raw.

Beverages:


Tea, Calpis water (Kubo's favorite, you can guess why) and Milk tea.



Sushi mats, without the sushi. The only unedible thing in the section.

Foreign brands:


Label says it's delicious due to the bitter and sweet taste.



Doc told us it's 300 pesos per cup at the cafe. Which is almost the price of this entire package.



It's funny that at the local brands aisle, Pocky from Thailand is available, and the label says licensed from Japan.

Recreating real life situations in the classroom

This is one of those places in the mall where you can drop-off your child while you go off shopping. There's a mini hospital, mini market, mini restaurant. Apart from a 33 year old me wanting to stay there for an afternoon, I think it would be a good idea to put these kind of props in a language classroom. Students would find it easier to relate their conversation exercises in the equivalent real-life surroundings than just merely imagining.

My sirens don't sing, they smell

I am always tempted by the odors coming from the adjacent Goto eatery everytime I go to Greenhills Booksale. Truth to tell, I have trouble distinguishing Goto and Arrozcaldo from one another, so I just point to what I want. All I know is they're both a sort of salty rice porridge. This one is topped with chopped fried garlic, onion leaves. Usually chicken is included, but I like this one because it has a whole hard boiled egg (somewhere). People like to season it with patis, a salty liquid made from fish. The green round thingey is calamansi, a citrus like lemon, you're supposed to squeeze the juice over. I usually leave it untouched, too sour for me.