It’s been 10 full days since I arrived, and so far, it has been a whirlwind of forking delights. Here are just some of the forking highlights from days 3 – 10:
Tororo Soba: Cold soba noodles with a soy sauce and fish stock based sauce, topped with grated yamaimo and nameko mushrooms, garnished with shiso leaves and nori. Made by my host, Masayo.
Bukkake Somen: Cold somen noodles with a stock-based cool soup, topped with tempura. Made by Mayumi, wife of a former co-teacher.
Takana Cha-han: Fried rice with takana pickles and jako (baby sardines). Made by me. And if I do say so myself, sooooo forking yummy.
Awabi: Like an oyster, but larger, delicious raw with a squeeze of lime juice and accompanied by thinly sliced myouga (fresh ginger shoots)
Yomogi Mochi: A sweet, pounded sticky rice treat filled with red beans. The mochi in this case is pounded together with yomogi, a medicinal herb, which lends the mochi its green colour and a special flavour.
Panya-san: Or, in English, the bakery. Filled with goodies such as mentaiko french bread, chestnut “cherry blossom” shaped buns, custard-filled cornets, and many, many more soft, white, buttery breads. Definitely not a place for the gluten intolerant or anyone with any hope of sticking to the Atkin’s diet.
and only in Japan…
Coffee and Cigarettes: When was the last time your coffee was presented to you with an ashtray?
Hayari-mono: Things in Japan become fads, or hayari-mono, very quickly and with a degree to which wouldn’t be seen in North America. We stood in what would have been an hour and a half (we wouldn’t have made our train) for what appears to be a sweet version of dried out, toasted french bread – “Rusk” (http://www.gateaufesta-harada.com/app/home.html)
Maccha Pon de Ring donut: Ah, Mr. Donut, the Tim Horton’s of Japan, where you can get a mochi-textured (chewy) maccha flavoured donut, filled with condensed milk and dipped in maccha chocolate.
mmmmm… Japan is forking delicious.
Let's Forking! 