Friday, April 29, 2016

Taxi Drivers' Gift

On the corner across the street from my house is a taxi business, with many cars and drivers.  I have to walk past this corner to go anywhere from my apartment.

View from my balcony.  Taxi business is on the corner to the right.

The taxi drivers are older men who bow and yell out Konnichiwa when I pass by.  I wave and greet them in return.  When I was coming back from my walk, they waved me to come over to the building and gave me these three bamboo shoots! They are bigger than they look in the picture.


I googled how to prepare them and found a YouTube video.  It looked like a lot of work, but I tried it.  



People in Japan are so friendly and nice.  If taxi drivers in the US yelled to me, I'd probably ignore them and I certainly wouldn't accept food from them.  I do love living in Japan.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

So how does it taste? You are so right about the US. It's become a very different place. I am loving you living in Japan - I have learned so much

Pamela said...

To tell the truth, it doesn't taste like much. It's a little bit bitter. I put some in the fridge and added it to a salad. It's a lot of work, for a small amount of what you can eat.

I'm glad to hear you are learning about Japan along with me!

Queeniepatch said...

How very kind of these men to give you bamboo shoots. I bet they would not offer it to any Japanese woman who passed by their garage! It has its merits to be a foreigner in Japan!
Good of you to precook the bamboo. It is the first and boring step. Next you have to cook the cut up pieces in soysauce, sugar and mirin, and you have a delicious spring dish. You can add the bamboo shoot to fried noodles or rice.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

How lovely and friendly. Such a change from the US for sure!!
xx, Carol

Janie said...

Another adventure! I think Queenie is onto something with the 'next' step in preparing bamboo.

Beatrice said...

Hello, reading your post about bamboos reminded me of a recent post by Taniwa:
http://bytaniwa.blogspot.fr/2016/04/bamboo-shoots.html
She posted at about the same time as you!
Thank you for sharing your glimpses of Japan with us.