O-Den

O-den is essentially Japanese yong tau foo. It's one of my personal favs. It's best when eaten in cold weather.

It may be an acquired taste to some of us. For myself, I picked this up when studying in Japan. It's easy to cook. Just throw everything into a pot and boil.

When the weather turns cold, convenience stores in Tokyo will start selling o-den. Not the packaged kind. You literally scoop whatever you want, dump them into a foam bowl, pour some soup inside, and pay at the counter. It's probably 200 to 400 yen. Small price to pay for satisfaction.

(Some guys pay a lot more to get satisfaction at night.)

It has become a habit - now whenever I stay in Tokyo, on some nights I'll grab o-den at convenience stores on my way back to the hotel, for late night supper.

And you occasionally get away paying less. How? Try to hide some of the items underneath others. The bloke at the cash register isn't going to empty the bowl and count. So he may end up undercharging you.

Smiling? Then you're definitely Singaporean.

More info on this delicacy can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oden