michael lambe

RANDOM STUFF

First thing; belated thanks to Mario and Shiori for putting me up and feeding me last weekend. I hope I didn’t wake you getting up so early when I left that morning. I’ve been meaning to text you but I hate texting so I probably never will. Your picture’s on Flickr by the way (more about that below). Mario’s soup has inspired me to order the Moosewood Cookbook. One of the greatest pleasures in life is eating good food, and one of the others is sharing it with others. I think I could easily get into cooking in a big way…

Next; I’ve added some more links to the right of this page. At the top we have the usual world-saving stuff that most of you simply “don’t have time for right now”… At the bottom I’ve added a link to my pictures on Flickr, so you can browse through some of the better snaps I’ve taken over the last few years. There’s only a few pictures on there now but I’ll be uploading more as the months progress. There’s also a link to Scott McCloud’s “Morning Improv”, a simple idea: “one hour each day, whatever comes into my head”, which is simply brilliant. Scott McCloud is the author of the ground-breaking “Understanding Comics”, which you can take a look at here:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006097625X/104-7974043-0563144?v=glance&n=283155. He’s also A MAN OF IDEAS and we like that don’t we?
Oh yes.
Here’s a sampling of some improvs for you: http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-12/mi-12.htmlhttp://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-06/mi-06.htmlhttp://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-07/mi-07.html

On the topic of comics I was interested to read on Neil Gaiman’s website that he is working with Roger Avary on a film adaptation of Charles Burns’ “Black Hole”: http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/burns/burns.html. Could be interesting - although I can’t imagine how… Gaiman’s site also had a link to this, which you can easily pass on to all you love (pun intended): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKi5kv7MwPg

Also, here’s a tale of character, attitude and resilience from the Motherland:
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_1187361,00.html

TEN GLORIOUS DAYS
As of Friday at 2:00pm I was on holiday. For Ten Glorious Days! This was of course an excellent reason to do something I haven’t done for a while – hit the town and have larks. We started off at Pizza Ya, which is undoubtedly the finest pizza restaurant in Kyoto and has the best pizzas I’ve tasted in Japan to be honest. To find it; head west on Shijo till you are roughly halfway between Kawaramachi and Karasuma (where Starbucks is). Then turn left and go south on Yanaginobanba. Keep your eyes peeled on the left as it’s tucked away in a corner and quite easy to miss. It’s a tiny wee place so you might need to book it in advance to be sure of a seat, but I think not that many people know about it to be honest. We enjoyed the anchovy and black olive pizza and washed it down with ice-sharp Sicilian beers. (In Sicilia fa sempre caldo!) http://www.pizaya.biz/

Here’s the Pizza:

Here’s the fine Sicilian beer:
Next, I fancied a bit of music so we went to “Sesamo” a little basement Spanish style Tacos bar off Kiyamachi (north of Sanjo). On Fridays and Saturdays they always have live music, French accordion players, jazz, Spanish guitar etc and the cover charge for the music is only ￥500. This time it was Spanish guitar which I was quite happy about. “Ah,” I thought as I knocked back another San Miguel, “the guitar is a beautiful instrument… when I’m not playing it”. I noticed on Friday that though the place was crowded, I was the only man in there. I wonder if it has anything to with the tall husky-voiced bar-tender…

Finally, my favorite bar: Tsurugi. For a long time I was looking for a bar I could call my own here in Kyoto. I stumbled across this one quite by accident. It’s small and scruffy (like me) and both the master Ueno-san and the regular customers are friendly and ready for a chat and a bit of a laugh. I shan’t tell you where it is though, ‘cos it’s my secret, special place. Ha ha.
Ueno-san: The Master of Tsurugi and a true master of “Om-rice” cuisine.
Suwa-san - a regular - having a bit of a laugh. I’m told he’s a monk, but it’s hard to believe. I’m going to visit his Temple on Thursday to make sure.
Mamiya-san; lovely chap. He knows a lot about 60’s and 70’s Japanese Rock and he shares his knowledge. He lent me a Ryo Kagawa CD the other night, once again furthering my education.

BEANS

Now, I was reading the other day that scientists in South America have found that by fermenting beans they can both improve their nutritional value and reduce bowel-cheek-flapping-gas-passage. This inspired a flurry of headlines, the best of which was probably “Venezuelans Avert Gas Crisis”. (You can read a more serious article here: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1624063.htm)

This is all old news here in Japan the homeland of the fermented bean. Natto, despite the benefits to one’s health, does taste and smell exactly like what it is: rotten. That plus the stringy spidery slime that it produces can easily induce a gagging reflex in the first time consumer. The Japanese however, will often have their foreign guests try this unique dish and then fall about in mirth at the expressions of disgust and dismay these moldy beans give rise to. It was precisely this sort of thing that caused me during my early days in Japan, out of pure spite, to force myself to eat the stuff every day. Now, perversely, I actually quite like the stuff. What is interesting is that though natto is popular in the eastern Kanto area of Japan, people here in Kansai are none to keen on it. There’s a theory about this, to do with horses. It seems that natto was first created accidentally by soldiers in the 11th century. They were busy boiling beans as feed for their horses when they were suddenly attacked. Leaving in a hurry they packed the beans in straw and fled. On unpacking them later, the soldiers discovered that the heat of the horses sweating bodies plus the bacteria in the straw had worked together to ferment the beans into A NOXIOUS MOLDY BREW. Men of lesser hearts would have thrown them away, but our lads were famished so they ate them anyway – and weirdly, liked them. Thus natto culture was born (allegedly). Actually, there does seem to be a correlation between those areas of Japan where people like natto, and those areas where horses are traditionally reared. I’m not sure if these particular fermented beans can avert the blazing saddles phenomenon however, so more research may be needed on that. But why take the fun out of beans anyway?

The Japanese seem to know a bit about that too: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0916291529/ref=ase_recommendedrea06/104-7974043-0563144?s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=recommendedrea06

Click here for the facts on flatulence:

http://www.heptune.com/farts.html

Click here for Nattoland:http://www.ynest.com/nattoeng.htm