Innie or Outie

This fast food meal combines a little bit of everything: grilled chicken in tomato sauce, ground beef in demi-glaze, sausage, broccoli, corn, potatoes, a few strands of spaghetti, and rice.

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Here is another popular local “fast food” known as tendon or tenpura donburi. The tenpura is placed on the rice and covered with a sauce. Also included in this version is pickled cabbage and pickled ginger.

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One of the favorite food items on island is tonkatsu, or deep-fried pork cutlet. This version is one of the entree meals of a local fast food chain. The cutlet comes with a sauce and spicy mustard to provide additional flavor. Also in the meal is rice, a small shredded cabbage salad, some pickled veggies, a scoop of potato salad, and a few strands of spaghetti. In addition, I ordered another one of the small salads available.

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Local fast food chains aren’t limited to bentos. Like other establishments, they also serve a variety of entrees and side dishes. Here is a selection of ginger pork, accompanied with pickled cabbage, pickled ginger, regular cabbage, rice, and side order of salad:

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Here’s another of the choices in the local bento box cuisine. This one had rice, chicken, Chinese-style pork, shredded cabbage, various veggies, and pickled plum.

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Oden is one dish available at some of the convenience stores on island at this time of year. It is similar to nabe, but has a much cleaner tasting broth. Each person chooses which items are desired from the “cafeteria style” menu of goodies that simmer in a main broth 24 hours daily.

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Hubby chose sausage, daikon, ashitebichi (pig’s feet), kamaboko, stuffed cabbage rolls, potato, koniyaku, and konbu.

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Although hubby and I have been married for over 30 years, and he knows it’s not necessary to shower me with “special little somethings” on V-Day, he just loves to surprise me with different chocolate goodies anyway. This year he found a chocolate liqueur to help wash down the chocolate covered cherries.

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This version of Japanese “fast food” or bento, which contains a fried egg and pork luncheon meat, is more typical of the local diet.

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This is one Japanese version of fast food (more commonly known as bento) from a local chainstore. This one had salmon, shrimp, chicken, egg, various veggies, pork, rice, pickled plum, and cheese croquette.

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Every once in a while, I (like most other people) just get a craving for “fast food”. When my hubby came back with the meal, he brought with him a new item being offered by one of the chains. The box, a cute Valentine’s “fast food” idea,

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was much more charming than the actual food item itself.

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