A Favorite: Okinawa's Goya Chanpuru and A Recipe for You

Goya Day in Okinawa May 8th !

Not to worry.  I didn't forget about Goya Day.  I just forgot to tell everybody else.

For those who don't know, a goya is called a bitter melon in English.

They look like bumpy cucumbers. But, don't taste anything like a cucumber, at all.

Bitter, is the word that best describes them.

People either love or, hate goya.  There's no in-between. 

Sort of like beer; it's an acquired taste.  I love the stuff.  Beer, too.

Why Celebrate Vegetables ?

 

 

 

 

In Okinawa we like to party so, we celebrate anything we can.

See, in Japanese, the word "Five" is "Go" and May happens to be the fifth month.

The eight day of the month gets a little tricky, to explain. Let's try, anyway.

Eight, in Japanese would be "Hachi" but, we'll just use the "Ha" part of it.  OK ?

Now, "Ha" rhymes with "Ya" sort of.  Doesn't it ?

Well, you put the "go" and "ya" together and that gives you goya.

It sounds like a good enough excuse to celebrate, to me.

So, that's what I did, until the wee hours of the morning.  The Missus was with me, most of the time.

The photo above was my Goya Chanpuru, just before I consumed the whole thing.


Time 12:51AM.

 

 Nobody cooks Goya Chanpuru better than Mrs. RyukyuMike.  That's the truth.

If you want to try making your own, I'll hook you up with this video I found.

Some crazy gal cooks the stuff with her dog on the kitchen counter !

 

Ever Hear of National Hamburger Day ?

It Takes All Kinds of People to Make the World Go Round

 

And, they're all here, right now !

This photo was taken at the Cafe Captain Kangaroo in Nago City, Okinawa, Japan.

It is a Roo's Special Burger.

Not to worry.  There wasn't any kangaroo in it.  It was beef, I think.

In my endless online searches for the truth, I came upon some important information for you.

THERE REALLY IS A NATIONAL HAMBURGER DAY

Do Not Mark Your Calendar Yet

 

All excited when I learned this important tidbit of information, I went to mark my calendar.

May 28, 2013 wasn't on the darn thing because it runs out December 31st.

So, I did more research, until the results favored me.

BINGO !

There's a Hamburger Day December 21st.  My calendar just got marked. 

That's the day I'll celebrate.

There's some folks who claim July 28th is the correct day.

When the New 2013 Calendars Arrive

 

It'd probably be a good idea to mark all the National Hamburger Days down.

We wouldn't want to offend anybody.

Would we ?

Visit my website for today's Feature Photo

Year of the Rabbit 2011 (Photo) Okinawa: An Insider's Tip

Here it is, New Years Eve, where I'm at anyway. I guarantee in the next few days I'll get tons of emails wishing me a Happy New Year. I know because I do the same thing as soon as Christmas is over. I start telling everybody to have a Happy and Prosperous New Year, right on through the first week of January. We all do it and it's a good thing. It sure beats talking about the weather.

The Year of the Rabbit is 2011 so, I dug up this photo that I shot back in 2007 to show you what a rabbit looks like in the wild, at night, with camera flash. That's if you don't want to use red-eye reduction on your camera or in editing afterwards. Some people I know will have eyes like this when the wake up New Years Day after a night of celebrating. In Okinawa, we have New Years twice!

The Western, Gregorian, Christian, whatever you want to call it, calendar that a lot of the rest of the world uses, is used in Japan, too. Even in Okinawa we have the Western calendar and celebrate the New Year like folks in the western world. The New Year will start January 1st and people will be popping champagne bottles, kissing strangers on the lips and singing Auld Lang Syne in Japanese in my bar tonight. And they'll be running around with hangovers for the next three days visiting temples to try and have good luck in the Year of the Rabbit, 2011.

It's good for business. People are already buying rabbit jewelry, bunny footed pajamas and slippers and probably wedding gowns with rabbits sewed on them. Some of them even buy pet rabbits for their kids. Then, when they get tired of abusing them, turn them loose, like the one in the photo above. That's no wild rabbit. He's a rabbit turned loose in the wild; a feral rabbit, I guess.

Here's a tip from an old Insider. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2010 the Year of the Tiger, doesn't end December 31st 2010. The Year of the Rabbit starts on February 3, 2011.  That'd make New Years Eve the 2d of February according to my calculations.

Not one to put a damper on everyone's holiday celabrations I'm going to dig up that Auld Lang Syne music, buy some bottles of champagne and wash the wine glasses for tonight.

What the heck, I may as well trim the beard, get all spruced up and wear my Sunday best for the New Years Party. Even if some good lookin' stranger-gal doesn't run up and kiss me on the lips, it could be my dressed rehersal for the 2011 Year of the Rabbit New Years Eve Party in February!

WHEREVER IN THE WORLD YOU ARE PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.  AND, I WISH YOU AND YOURS A SAFE, HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !



RELATED LINK: 2011 THE YEAR OF THE PARTY RABBITS