Now THIS is what I call fast food....

The Bento Box: (or, the OBento as it is often called on the label of the box) Japan has answered the prayers of train travellers throughout the western world. Be gone stingy sandwich with the filling only down the centre on view. Good riddance over priced glutinous pasties and the guilt ridden remainder of the journey. Hello, fresh, healthy, delicious meals all ready to be tucked in to on your next train journey.

We boarded the Shinkansen bullet train and lifted the lid. Smiles all round... G's box contained: various styles of rice; octopus tentacles better than any we'd sampled over the last two weeks; teriyaki beef; baked salmon; stir fried vegetables; katsu (breaded) potato cake; beef dumplings AND pretty pink radish things... all for Y750. Even better, it sent a brewing hangover in to oblivion and kept the hunger at bay for a good 6 hours.

The only down side to experiencing the delights of a Bento Box? I know the next time I'm standing on the station concourse having to choose from The Pasty Co, Subway and Burger King a little pang of withering gloom will set in and I'll start wondering why a flight to Japan has to cost so much... and certainly too much to pick up lunch.

Okonomiyaki

A major reason of my desire to travel to Japan was because I'd heard it was a food lover's paradise... and I have certainly had that claim vouched for. It seems that every area we visited over the three weeks had its own speciality and for the city and environs of Hiroshima, one special dish is okonomiyaki (translated, it literally means "what you like...").

This dish is cooked on a hot plate in front of you, or perhaps to one side depending on how busy the place is, and you allow it to continue cooking as you serve up slices with your own griddle slicer thingy (!). It's a carbo loaded hit of noodles and pancake with egg, vegetables and seafood served in a stack, all melting together.

Cook your own...

Step 1: cook a thin pancake on one side, and fry off grated cabbage, spring onion on another section of your hot plate. Meanwhile, also fry off the cooked noodles on another section of your hotplate. Make sure all the piles measure the same circumference because they're going to be stacked on top of eachother.

Step 2: create a stack: pancake on the bottom, vegetables as the next layer, then put the (now well cooked) noodles on top.

Step 3: whisk up your egg mix (making sure you include additional flavourings e.g. tiny chopped onion / spring onion / pepper) and create the omelette layer. Meanwhile, get your meat / seafood on the griddle and stir it in to the egg.

Step 4: all cooked. Stack the egg and seafood mixture on top of the noodleyveggiepancake and serve... remaining on the griddle.

Enjoy with plenty of soy sauce. Filling, tasty and easily adaptable to suit your tastes.

Get your greens.

In my view, real comfort food is the food which makes you feel nourished and replenished, a meal where the “stuff” that your body so intuitively craved feels like perfection on a plate. When G and I touched down in Chicago, the extra 5 hours we now had to spend awake when our bodies were craving sleep was just enough to have us teetering on the brink of culinary confusion: was the mean before bed to be Coco Pops or Kung Pow Chicken? Having been fortunate enough to make a number of long haul journeys, I know that the fastest way to regulate your body and relieve jet lag is to get the right meals at the right time, stay hydrated and power through as close to the new bed time as possible. Yet, the weird nutritional cravings just seem too hard to ignore sometimes.

My craving after a flight is pretty much always the same: broccoli. Steamed, stir fried, boiled, it doesn't matter just as long as it's plentiful. I remember arriving back from various Melbourne to Manchester flights and my dad dutifully shlepping to Sainsburys on the morning of my arrival to ensure that we had a fridge full of the stuff, even when I was arriving home at 6am... So imagine my delight when G and I stumbled across a Bubba Shrimp diner at the esplanade in Chicago, a 10 minute walk from the Hyatt where we were staying (I know, the Hyatt: fancy,,,). We stood outside and gazed through bleery eyes at the menu: prawns by the kilo bucket, bottomless root beer and (“Woah! Stop!) my favourite, broccoli.

In less time than it would take to recall whether it is the stem or the floret which contains all the nutrition, we were sitting in a booth giggling at all the 'Forrest Gump' memorabilia in our, now well developed, jet lagged zombie states, We were encouraged to go for more than a kilo of shrimp, but G showed impeccable restraint and I focused all my attention on the mountain of the beautiful green stuff: fresh, steamed, butter free. All cravings met.

An English delight

Our first holiday together was in Cornwall where we went camping (in the loosest sense of the word, thanks to the spot with the electric supply, the George Foreman grill and the ipod speakers). Aside from the plethora of cornish pasties (I can't believe I went so many years not knowing that the twist at the end comes from making sure that the filling stays inside and that the whole thing can be eaten with one hand, the twisty bit of pastry at the end acting as a handle which was usually thrown away had it become dirty in the process), we had delicious seafood, a fillet steak which G still holds up in this top three and the super English tradition of...

... the cream tea.

Not much evidence left in the picture above, but it was probably the most perfect setting to stop on the coastal path and refuel with light scones, smooth, rich cream and homemade jam. There is a reason that scones are a staple on the food technology (or in my day, home economics) curriculum: they are darned tasty. The savoury yet sweet combination wins every time. Simplicty at its best.

And after a meal comes....

Following a long day of hiking and a fantastic meal with the wonderous Roz and Kamel in Petra, G had a very traditional Jordanian khawa (coffee) where the spoon was all but able to stand on its own. Now, he loves a good espresso does G, but this was a new experience all together. A good one, but one that made us wonder how something can taste so good when you are experiencing it in the country, and taste so different, so unlike anything you remember when back home.

Cardamon features heavily in traditional arab coffee and the smell took me back to my first experience of the coffee ceremony in Aswan, Egypt, as I read Adhaf Soueif's 'Map of Love' and gazed at the gathering fellucas at the edge of Elephantine Island.

You can try to find a recipe which works, to recreate the flavour and the memory of that moment. But the joy isn't simply in the pot, cup or bowl before you: it's in the bustling street outside, the heavy air which clings to your skin, or the pause where you get to sink back and actually expeience every flavour of the day. The joy of trying to recreate the taste is actually the joy of reliving it in your memory, and the joy of having the time to breathe in the experience you were fortunate enough to have in the first place.

Oh Chicago

G was very lucky: I surprised him with a trip to Chicago and New York for his 30th (and we happened to be there for my 30something too). Now, putting it bluntly, we both enjoy a good feed and it appears that if there is good food to be had then it is very likely that some of the good eatin' will be found in Chicago.

We'd heard a number of people mentioning this "awesome" popcorn place, but we discussed and reasoned and decided that, really, how good could popcorn be? During a busy (and cold) day sightseeing, we wandered in to the theatre district (just along from the city centre jail with the roof top jail garden?!), turned a corner and pondered on the long queue before us. Garretts Popcorn http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/ was open for business. And, boy, were they doing business. Popcorn business is booming in Chicago. Crowds of people formed orderly queues and discussed the various recipes they'd tried to come some way to matching the quirky taste of Garretts. But no one knew how, so they kept coming back for more 5 or 6.5 GALLON (yes, GALLON) bags of the prized Chicago mix.

The Chicago Mix - CaramelCrisp® & CheeseCorn™
The Chicago Mix is the culmination of our popcorn tradition! Our chefs gently blend CaramelCrisp® and CheeseCorn™ together to create The Garrett Mix. Take comfort in The Mix’s seductive sweetness and wholesome, savory cheesiness.

"That's just wrong!" you may cry. And we thought so too. But when in Chicago, do as the they do so we did and, well, suffice to say that the taste sensation was something to behold.

We went with the "normal" person's size and it was probably a good thing. For the next two days we both had slightly orange tinges to our fingertips (I imagine the 5 gallon fans will be arming yellow elbows!) and slightly guilty looks of pleasure: caramel and chesse. Wrong, but so, so right.

That evening, we headed for the train journey to New York, a gift from my folks for our birthdays. A small cabin had been booked, complete with fold down bunk beds, toilet, sink, and we were invited to spend the first hour in the VIP section for wine, cheese and biscuits. How very civilised. Our friendly meet and greeter sat us on a table with some other Brits and we greeted eachother with smiles and a shake of their slightly yellowed hands.

The husband grinned at our outstretched hands - "You found Garretts too!"

More, more, more!

This is the meal which knocked the socks off the rest of our Seattle eating experience: fillet of salmon, stuffed with clams and smothered in a smooth, creamy, tomato sauce on a bed of crisp salad. This is the meal which makes me now consider writing down the exact contents of a good plate so I can hope to emulate it when no longer on the same continent. But sitting here now, gazing at the picture and putting myself back in the seemingly grotty bar, this is the meal that I wish I could eat again right now...