Back in PDX and looking for groceries

Well...here we are. Freshly done with graduate school, back in my hometown, a new year, and not yet a new job.

I've been back in Portland for a little over two weeks now, and though all of my boxes from Tokyo have been back for most of that time, most of my belongings are still tucked away inside them.

On the road to visit my grandparents, shortly after Christmas

    
The last two weeks have been spent pretty much the same way I usually spend a break in Portland: Christmas with the family, of course, as well as catch-ups with friends, a visit to see my grandparents in the Tri-Cities, trips to the dentist and hair salon...In some ways, it still feels pretty much like I'm on vacation (albeit a lengthy one).

Taken on the drive home from visiting grandparents. Isn't Oregon pretty?

       
Although re-entry shock hasn't really kicked in yet, it's important to me to find ways of maintaining small parts of the life I had in Japan. Nine years taught me a lot about myself and was plenty of time for me to make new habits. But that's a topic we'll have to return to later.

For now, one of the things I really miss from Tokyo is the food. Nothing fancy, just some flavors, ingredients (especially the quality and varieties of the veggies!), and cooking methods that we don't really use here that often.

Daikon and leeks (the closest I'll get to naga-negi in Oregon) spotted on today's shopping trip

      
But today I got a treat. This afternoon my parents and I took a drive out to Tigard to check out H Mart, a Korean grocery store that also carries imported items from Japan, several other regions in Asia, and even Latin America. (For those really important Japanese items, Uwajimaya is still the best hook-up, but if we're being honest, H Mart is the more affordable of the two.)

Taro-imo from Mexico. Who knew?

I picked up an American-grown kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), for basically the same price I would pay in Tokyo.

      
I enjoyed the produce section quite a bit, but it was also fun to walk around and pick out familiar Japanese products and labels.

Ok, ok, so the label's not exactly in Japanese. But I got a good laugh out of this one--for nostalgic reasons.
And I think a student or two in Tokyo might see the humor in this one, too. ;)

    
I also enjoyed the packages of California-grown Japanese rice.

Koshihikari (pictured here) and Akita komachi (below) are two popular varieties of Japanese rice.

     
Many of their products were labeled in Korean and thus unreadable (I'll have to wait for my next trip to Uwajimaya to get miso...), but it's nice to know that there's at least one more Portland-area location where I can find things not otherwise available at my local supermarket. Today's purchase included a kabocha pumpkin and a bottle of mirin (a sweet rice wine used for cooking).

Maybe I'll be able to use some of my "free time" to cook up some Japanese dishes...Who's got suggestions? What should I cook? :)