April 6, 2008
Mitsuwa: Pork, Candy, and Eggs Dressed As Bunnies
- No entering for you.
I love Japanese food heaven (supermarket/food court) Mitsuwa (aka one of very few cool places in North Jersey), but going there on a Sunday can be a total bitch. Rebecca and I went there two Sundays ago in lieu of hauling our tired bums to New York City (yes, I know Manhattan is right across the river from Mitsuwa, but I didn't want to drive in) and after slowly rolling around Mitsuwa's parking lot along with other hopeful Mitsuwa-goers and finding nothing, I turned around and parked in the lot of the neighboring shopping center just north of Mitsuwa. Parking there may add a few more minutes to your walking time, but it'll be faster than sadly staring at all the occupied spaces, slow-moving families pushing overflowing shopping carts, and cars waiting to get into the spaces occupied by the slow-moving families.
- Rebbie + curry
We eventually made it in for a late lunch. And went straight for...
- KATSU!!
PORK KATSU! Or at least I did. For about $9 you can get a katsu combination platter with a fried pork cutlet, fluffy pile of shredded cabbage, pickled vegetables, block of soft tofu, bowl of chunky miso soup (chunks being vegetables and...pork?), random splodge of canned mandarin oranges, and more rice than you actually need. I hate wasting rice, but I can never finish the portion. I managed to eat everything else though.
We wanted to try the black sesame soft serve in all its turd-shaped glory, but just as I was going to place my order, the clerk took the sign down. They had run out. Just at that moment. Epic fail.
- Mm, candy
We satisfied our sweet tooths (teeth?) with Meiji Fruits Drops, a long-established Japanese hard candy whose awesomeness mostly stems from being packaged in a flask-shaped tin (and it tastes pretty good). They're like Sakuma Drops, the central candy in Grave of the Fireflies, if that makes them any more appealing. If you haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, you should, even if it ends up one of the most depressing movies you'll ever see. But it's also been one of my favorites since I was a little kid. A strange, little kid. (I just bought the DVD on amazon.com. I need my heart-wrenching depiction of WWII from the viewpoints of starving children, stat.)
- I LOVE EGG
While browsing the Mars NY store in Mitsuwa's adjoining shopping center, Rebecca and I spotted the best capsule toy dispenser ever full of I Love Egg toys. You don't know what I Love Egg is? Let me educate you:
- Love the egg...love it.
IS THAT NOT THE MOST AWESOMELY ADDICTIVE ANIMATED HOMAGE TO EGGS YOU HAVE EVER SEEN? If you disagree, you're just wrong. Sorry. ...Wait, I'm not sorry, you should be sorry.
Armed with only enough quarters between us to buy one toy ($1), what did the machine bless us with?
- BUNNY!
BUNNY EGG! OH MY GOD, bunny egg with buckteeth and a nubbin tail! I celebrated with excited squealing. And since I couldn't handle missing the other seven figures from the toys series, I later bought two full packs of it on eBay. Yeah, I'm proud of it. And no, I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these egg toys.
Address
Mitsuwa
595 River Rd
Edgewater, NJ 07020
[Shuttle bus info from NYC]
Posted by roboppy at 11:36 PM
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Comments (18)
God Graveyard of the Fireflies was so depressing. It's one of the those movies I loved but I'm always hesitant to rewatch or to recommend to anyone for enjoyment purposes. I'm the only one with the dvd out of my friends so when they want to watch I'm always like......ehhhh no can't handle it right now.
I've lived in NJ all my life, working in NY now, but never been to Mitsuwa. I should go...
Posted by: mike at April 7, 2008 1:03 PM [#]
Mitsuwa is awesome...I've never seen so much yummy looking plastic food in my life!
Posted by: Eric at April 7, 2008 2:44 PM [#]
waaaah i love Grave of the Fireflies (must be my eternally pessimistic russian doom gloom)
and they actually sell GotF candy in Japan (with the girl on it and everything ::weep::) which we just had to bring as a err...gift o_O
also YAY BUNNY!
Posted by: olia at April 7, 2008 4:32 PM [#]
kimmaaaay: Oh crap, I don't remember that scene. ...Well I'll find out when I get my DVD, WOOOOEE LET THE TEARS FLOW!
Thanks for reading! And laughing loudly! If you don't laugh, I weep.
Julie: NOO DON'T LET THE EGG KNOW THAT IT FAILED.
LAG: Damn, Japan will be much more exciting than Mitsuwa. Like Mitsuwa x 100000. HAVE FUN!!
Mike: True, the movie isn't really something you really wanna...throw a slumber party for and break out the popcorn for. Maybe tissues. Waah.
Go to Mitsuwa! Stat!
Eric: I love the fake food!
Olia: It's also a cute movie...I mean, aside when all the bad stuff happens. So it's happy for about 7 minutes.
I heard about that candy! It's an apt commercial tie-in, but...weird too. Ya. "Here's the girl that died, wee!"
BUNNEH!
Christina: Yeah, it's a good price! It's a food court after all. Which is why MITSUWA IS AWESOOOME.
Posted by: roboppy ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.roboppy.net/food/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 7, 2008 6:53 PM [#]
Hey Rob-O
[quote=Roger Ebert] I was amazed, the first time I saw Grave of The Fireflies, to find that I was actually moved just about to tears...[/quote]
Watch Robert Eberts review at You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3AAIWyak94&NR=1
Oddle Doddle!
rEd
Posted by: redrhino at April 7, 2008 8:36 PM [#]
I've recently started reading your awesome blog and I have to say that I had a the greatest giggle over the I Love Egg video...incredible. (I may have just found a new personal theme song!) Thanks so much for your great stories and pictures; I love what you're doing! :)
Posted by: littlepiggy at April 7, 2008 9:32 PM [#]
That is a shizzload of food for $9. I don't like to waste food, either, but since rice is fairly cheap and you ate everything else you really shouldn't feel too guilty.
I must have one of those eggs. I don't care which one.
Posted by: auntjone at April 8, 2008 9:33 PM [#]
That is a ginormous lunch meal, especially for pork katsu at nine dollars! I usually just get that and a bowl of rice for around five dollars. And, what a coinkydoink! I have the same exact bunny egg...except now it has lost both its ears and no longer white.
Posted by: Selven at April 8, 2008 10:37 PM [#]
redrhino: Oodle doodle, not oddle doddle!...although that sounds cute also, heehee.
Thanks for the youtube link!
littlepiggy: Thanks for reading my blog! Glad you enjoy the egg song, AS EVERYONE SHOULD.
Carl: Mm...eggunny...
I mean...mmm...pork...
auntjone: You should just get the whole set...ON EBAY! Endless happiness!
Actually, I still dunno what to do with these freakin' egg things.
Selven: Oh my god. You have. The bunny egg? What?! You win 50000 awesome points. Even if it's turned into an off-white earless bunny egg.
Jesse: Oh, I still have the image of the bandaged mom in my head.
It's possible I didn't really "get" it as a kid, but I know I liked it. I am odd. I mean, my other face movie was My Neighbor Totoro, HAR HAR. (And everything else by Miyazaki.)
Posted by: roboppy at April 9, 2008 12:11 AM [#]
I was so excited to see I love Egg on your blog!! A friend and I got one from the vending machine every time we went to a certain movie theater on long island (got doubles of the bunny and the jester though). Yeah... they don't serve a purpose so much but I found some nifty places to hang them :) Hope you are enjoying yours!
i loved your blog! it really is so well made with lots of thought and very interesting as well! I just started a video recipe site that shows you step by step how to make stuff, www.ifoods.tv and i also started out as a blogger so it's great seeing other bloggers doing well, keep up the good work"
Posted by: ifoods chef at April 17, 2008 9:33 AM [#]
Vanessa: DOUBLE BUNNIES! That's like the jackpot! Kinda!
I still dunno what to do with mine now that I have a whole set. Ahh!
ifoods chef: Thanks for reading!
Posted by: roboppy at April 20, 2008 7:55 PM [#]
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: This is the 
so yeah, when i saw the fruit drops, i immediately thought of that little girl in grave of the fireflies. any semblance of control i had crumbled after i saw that she could sew...("whaa?? she even sews! *sobs*) - during the flashback, you know...that scene.
anyway, i've been reading your blog for a while and your writing never ceases to entertain me. (many random laughing of the loud variety fits have occured while reading your entries) - nice! *high fives* oh, and the food's not bad either, hehe.
Posted by: kimmaaaay at April 7, 2008 12:15 AM [#]