THE Kobe Beef Experience

Now, I know I just explained in the last blog that I am a Pescatarian now (not forever, but definitely for now). And I have been VERY faithful since the beginning of December EXCEPT for an opportunity to go eat the BEST steak in the world: Kobe beef IN Kobe. So yes, I cheated. Just a bit. For the sake of a fond memory and good story. :) Oh, AND there was the time I cheated by eating Chick-fil-A when I was home in Virginia for a week... So I'm MOSTLY a very good Pescatarian. There are some things that simply tempt me beyond what I can bear! LOL!

Our dear friends and fellow Setllers nerds, Travis and Allison. We decided to pack up for a night in Kobe and couldn't resist playing travel Settlers on the Shin ride!

Our hotel lobby, LOL.

We found a place to play Settlers later in our hotel!

First meal: LUNCH. At the number one rated Kobe beef restaurant in Kobe.

The chef began by slicing garlic really thin and making fried garlic chips.

Wow.

A little corn chowder.

The chef cut off large portions of fat and cooked it down so all the vegetables he prepared for us were exposed to the broken down fat juices. This is the real deal, folks!

His knife skills were spectacular.

Here come the veggies! The whole experience was amazing. The way the food was paced helped us slow down and really appreciate each individual bite. There really is NO comparison to Kobe beef. It's marbling is SO perfect that it simply melts in your mouth. We decided to put it in its own category. We can't consider it steak because no steak will ever compare!

After lunch, we headed over to a sake brewery for a tour. Here are some figures depicting just a couple of the many, many steps it takes to create sake!

Token picture in front of the sake barrels.

Round two: DINNER! Our chef was super friendly and smiley.

Our appetizer was delicious. Couldn't quite tell you what it was, but it was stellar.

I opted for scallops instead of beef for dinner. Quickly reverting back to my Pescatarian ways...

A sashimi plate. Everything is so beautiful, sometimes it's hard to eat!

The BIG cuts for dinner.

Travis trying to look like the type of person drinking coffee from a teacup after dinner. Remember how you added mints instead of sugar to that coffee, Travis?? :)

So much fun and SO stuffed!!

The next day, we walked to the Earthquake Museum. On the way, we passed this slide. And couldn't figure it out. It's made of CONCRETE.

Um, ouch?? Is it just park art?

The Earthquake Museum. There was a HUGE earthquake in Kobe a couple of decades ago so they have almost had to rebuild the entire city since then! The crazy thing is, four days after we visited this museum, we had the biggest earthquake Iwakuni has had in many, many years in the middle of the night. We woke up freaking out, stuff was falling, the whole house was shaking, and Joel and I ran downstairs and sought cover. We probably overreacted a tad, but after going to the museum, I wasn't taking any chances!!

We had lunch at a Native American inspired restaurant. We accidentally ordered DOUBLE what we thought we were ordering, so the guys told Allison and I to go shopping while they ate the second round, LOL.

Classic Japanese apparel

Probably should have bought this one, LOL.

We had a FANTASTIC time with really good friends, and we will NEVER forget the beef. Kobe rocks!

Palau Beach Vacation: Part 2

We are SO sorry it has been so long since we last blogged! We have been crazy busy... and a little lazy. :-) So it's about time we complete our story about our adventure to Palau!

We were able to visit some strange, pretty unexplainable monoliths on the North side of the main island.

According to our research and what the Palauans told us, there are several ideas for how these monoliths came into existence. One leading thought is that they were used in early trading days between the islands as a marketplace of sorts. 

Some of the monoliths have faces carved into them. (Pretty fancy if it was just used as a haggling table) They're interesting because they are super heavy and obviously did not originate on top of this massive cliff far above sea level... fascinating and curious.

Who are these crazies?!? :-p

That same day, Joel and I went hiking (in the rain!!) to a beautiful waterfall. The tough part was realizing the entire first half was down hill, so the whole time we were just dreading the hike back up. But, we saw some interesting things along the way, like this photo op for corny people! I guess we prefer kissing over monoliths to standing in a wooden heart.

There was a track that paralleled the walking path that could carry folks one at a time in a little car. Frankly, it looked a little scary. Glad we hiked. 

Part of the trail actually took us through some mini-rapids. It was awesome trekking through the river. 

Cool, huh? And so beautiful! (the trail, not Joel, LOL)

There were plaques explaining the Palauan story behind the waterfall. It was an interesting and odd tale about two fish that only had one eye each.

We made it! The waterfall!! Now time to hike all the way back up!

Next up: Our scuba trip!!! Apparently, Palau has some of the BEST scuba sites in the WORLD! We were told we were spoiling ourselves far too soon in our diving careers by coming here.And we were definitely the "noobs" on the trip. Divers are a special group of people, though, and are known for being super helpful. And help us they did. It'd been a while since we'd hooked up tanks and practiced breathing through the regulator. But, it came back to us eventually!

So, no, This is not a picture we took. But it should have been. We forgot the proper lens for our underwater camera so we will forever beat ourselves up for that faux pas! We did see white tip sharks ALMOST this close though, and it was SO FREAKY COOL! They couldn't care less that we were swimming around in their habitat.

We saw TONS of schools of fish. They let us swim right into their group. You'd think they'd let you touch them because you're so close, but I guess thay had to draw the line somewhere, LOL.

The dive trip was AMAZING. And we would go back just to dive again in a heartbeat!

For our last big dinner, we went to Mogmog. Seafood at its best, let me tell you!

The appetizer of the night was this special seaweed dish. It was really good actually - almost like miniature grapes that had a real salty pop.

When I saw this fried garlic dish on the menu, I HAD to have it. Worth it.

Joel got the seafood sampler. We can't even begin to describe how tasty every single thing was! Lots of crab, clams, ahi tuna, etc etc. DELICIOUS.

And I had to order snapper one last time with a great garlic sauce. Y'all can only imagine what my breath was like that night! :-)

The last image I will leave y'all with is something we DID NOT eat. You know we will try most things, but as a Pescatarian now, I definitely couldn't bring myself to eat a fruit bat and Joel wasn't feeling it that night, LOL. Apparently, it's quite the delicacy! 

Palau is a fantastic island and the real deal. You can spend tons of money and stay at one of the small, but posh resorts. But, that's just not us. We are so glad we had more of an authentic experience, met the locals, enjoyed the lifestyle and pace, and were able to have a wonderful break from reality. Thank you, Palau!!!