Kyuushoku Best Ten and Worst Ten

In no particular order, things that pop up and make an impression on my palate or senses.

BEST (Lunch makes me happy!)
1. Grilled fish with a miso sauce. Mmm mmm mmm. Minus points if I have to pick through bones though.

2. Curry. Always good, whether they go for a traditional Japanese curry or mix it up with some dry curry or more Indian style.

3. Salads with Sesame (goma) dressing. I have such a love affair going on with Goma Dressing.

4. Niku-jaga and its relatives. Beef stew and it always has the right flavors and I don't have to deal with anything strange popping up.

5. Anything that claims to be sushi. This includes Temakizushi (you are given the rice, the seaweed, and the fillings, and you do a 'make your own' sushi wrap) or Chirashizushi (stuff thrown on top of sushi rice) I like the way the rice tastes, and the toppings/fillings are usually good. One time the rice was just normal rice though. Other teachers complained loudly, voicing my thoughts for me.

6. Spinach salads. Mom must have done something to me when I was young because I love the taste of spinach. (Also love - mustard greens (小松菜), garlic chives (ニラ), and Mizuna)

7. Fried (anything). Notably delicious are Shrimp and Pumpkin Croquettes.

8. Fruit, when easy to eat. I also tolerate fresh oranges even though they make my hands all sticky.

9. Tofu anything. Especially in a nicely flavored soup with greens and pork.

10. Desert! Today we had Sudachi (kinda like a lime) flavored Jello.

WORST (Lunch makes me CRY)
1. Noodle dishes. The noodles are invariable overdone and mushy. We did have a semi-decent spaghetti once though.

2. Whole Fishes, ESPECIALLY Shishamo (AKA tiny river fish ready to lay some eggs in your stomach). Even if I am not expected to consume it whole, the process of working around the fish bones with my chopsticks is time consuming and annoying.

3. Natto. Mother of all painful lunches. Worst when someone decided it went ok with mayonnaise. I can handle it though...somehow.

4. Bread. The exception is Pineapple Bread, which has enough moisture from the pineapple to be quite tasty, but usually the bread I get is dry and unappetizing.

5. Rubbery, what are they smoking today? salads. Usually tasteless and boring. Eaten quickly so as to use the better parts of the meal to help one forget about their depressing existence. Honorable mention - that potato salad with apples in it.

6. Tasteless Soup. Please add seasoning.

7. Getting the mushy part of the rice. It's like ...eating mushy rice.

8. Most squid. I only like squid two ways -- dried or fried. Keep your grilled, boiled, whatevered squid out of my life.

9. Salt Salmon. Hey what does salmon taste like if you grill it with a ton of salt until it's the consistency of canned salmon? ...mostly just like salt.

10. Frozen Mandarin Oranges. A crime against nature.

Some things I hated a year ago are gone from the 'worst' list. Prime example is 'purple rice'...I've grown to like the taste of the pickled purple...things which give it its flavor. Hooray for assimilation!