Hiroyuki

This evening, mochi maki was held at the building site of a doctor's office. Building site just before the mochi maki. More than one hundred people turned up, I think. Do you know who got the one and only ten mochi? I did!! Can you read the letters 天もち? I am almos too lucky!

The long pink thing that looks sort of like a scallion? It's probably a young ginger shoot. ← OK, thanks SuzySushi. Now I know what Terrasanct meant by the garnish. Yes, you are right. A young ginger shoot (me-shouga in Japanese).

It's just browned flour, I think. This dish is a sort of sanma meuniere. The sanma were first degutted and rosemary leaves were inserted, then the sanma were dusted with flour and sauteed in olive oil until brown. Ms. I seems to like to add some Italian accent to her dishes.

I think the heat in the summer is more bearable here than in Tokyo and your area. Obviously, my town does not suffer from the heat island effect. Ms. I is a cheerful woman, and she says that she can relieve her stress by cooking and hosting guests. It's nice to have someone like her around, isn't it? Other dishes I didn't mentioned in my previous post: 1. Sweetened miso paste wrapped in shiso leaves 2. Pickled eggplants 3. Cooked rice 4. Cold tofu 5. Wiener sausage fritters 6. Assortment of vegetables 7. Seasoned bracken shoots 8. Mentaiko (spicy cod roe)

Ms. I of the construction company invited us and Miss S to dinner again last night, at her house this time. When we arrived around 6 o'clock in the evening, all the marvelous dishes were ready to be served, all made by Ms. I. We drank beer and also daiginjo of Shirataki Shujo http://www.jozen.co.jp/top/Default.asp (Japanes only). What a treat! Karaage with negi (Japanese leek) sauce: Ratatouille, saury (sanma), and edamame: Potatos with anchovy paste sauce, etc. After the dinner, we all drank herb tea. Ms. I kindly put the leftovers in two juubako and gave them to us. Thank you again, Ms. I.

I never had sakura (cherry blossom) ice cream. There seem to be several versions of such ice cream, such as the one containing 'sakura liqueur' http://www.rakuten.co.jp/sch/545439/526373/#541985 the one containing salted cherry blossoms, and the one containing cherry leaves. Simple recipe for making sakura ice cream with salted cherry blossoms: http://www.adver.co.jp/c-ai-new/tokushu/3.htm Ingredients (4 servings) 400 ml store-bought vanilla ice cream 3 tbsp salted cherry blossoms Soak salted cherry blossoms in lukewarm water to remove salt. Shred them. Mix them with softened vanilla ice cream quickly. Freeze in the freezer to harden. Salted cherry blossoms are called sakura no shiozuke 桜の塩漬け in Japanese. Other webpages containing photos of sakura ice cream: http://www.otama.tv/mypage/g_all.asp?m_id=250&cnt=9&page=3 (Scroll down) http://www.oishi-mise.com/sakura-aisu.htm http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/canonixy/diary/20050403/ (Scroll down)

So, uh, no updates from anyone? I continue to use fake mirin, and I'm quite satisfied with it.

I'd like to know what Korean and Chinese spoons are. I took a picture of the forks and spoons I happen to have in my house. I don't think that those used in other households vastly differ from those shown above. The three leftmost ones are for children. To be more precise, the leftmost one is not a spoon but a renge, a spoon-like implement used to drink ramen soup.

This is the ochugen (summer gift) we received from the construction company. It's soumen (thin noodles). Miss S of the construction company directly handed me this gift. In Japan, it's not customary to tear the wrapper before the very eyes of the presenter. We usually open the package after we return home, carefully removing each piece of cellophane tape, and store the wrapper for later use.

Got a reply from him. He said he didn't know, but said he will ask someone the next time he goes to Tsukiji.

Today, another tatemae ceremony was held, and so was mochi maki. Look at what my kids and I got.

土用の丑の日 doyou no ushi no hi falls on July 28th this year. Let's have some eel on this day! I saw a sad news story on TV yesterday about the eel wholesale price being increased by 30% because of low catches of young eels . For information on doyou no ushi no hi, check this out: http://tasteofculture.com/display-text.php?pd_key=32#top

I googled, only to find that there is surprisingly little information on the subject. I sent an inquiry to someone who might know. Hope I get a reply from him.

In Japan, every major event is held on a lucky day, that is, on a Taian day. Visit the site for more information about Taian and the days of Rokuyo: http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/rokuyo.html#days Thus, we held our jichinsai on June 4th, signed the contract for the construction of our new house on June 19th, and held our tatemae ceremony on July 11th, all of these days being Taian days. On June 20th, one day after we signed the contract, Ms. I of the construction company invited four of us (my wife, my two children, and me) to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant serving seasonal dishes. Miss S, the young, beautiful first-class architect who designed our house, who is also an employee of that construction company, came along. An assortment of sashimi: Edamame, yakitori, tsukemono (pickles), and otoushi The otoushi on that day was a kind of corn potage jelee. The otoushi is a small dish you are served first when you order something at a Japanese restaurant like this; you don't order it but you will be charged for it. Grilled kamasu Grilled ibo dai Other than the dishes shown in the photos above, we also had atsuyaki tamago (type of thick omelet), a piece of which is shown in the plate on the left side of the photo below. (Sorry, not a good photo.) Finally, we all had una juu (broiled eel served over rice in a box), except the kids, who each had an onigiri (rice ball). It was the best meal I had in years. Many thanks to Ms. I.

I think you are satisfied with Helen's descriptions, but just in case you aren't, 祝 shuku (top left corner) means congratulation. 大入 ooiri (top right corner) means packed house. It literally means "a lot of (people) are in." 生 nama (center) means raw or draft. 宝船 takara bune (middle) means treasure ship. サッポロ生ビール Sapporo nama bee-roo (bottom) = Sappro draft beer I congratulate you on the 'ooiri' of your blog.

Haha! Sorry, I guess most people think that kyogen springs from Noh, but one of its roots are in rites or celebrations from folk religion, and the appeasement or pacification of earth spirits is one of those...it's no more than a dance move in kyogen these days, and as you say, nobody would call a kyogen actor instead of a kannushi these days if they wanted a religious rite performed... ← Is that so? I have to admit I know almost nothing about noh or kyogen. In another thread, you wrote: Probably the most famous proverbs about mochi is "Mochi wa mochiya." ●餅は餅屋 [英訳] For rice cakes, go to a rice-cake maker. from http://www8.plala.or.jp/y-naka/kotowaza-mo.html My father-in-law said that he could pound mochi, but we placed an order with a mochiya.

Great thread, great photos. I had often wondered what kind of rice Urasawa used for his shari (vinegard rice), and I recently found an answer. Koshihikari. from here: http://www.gayot.com/restaurants/features/urasawa_menu.html Have any of you discussed rice in general with Urasawa and/or the rice that he uses for his shari?

The 建前 tatemae (lit. pre-building) ceremony, also called joutou shiki or muneage, is held to celebrate the construction of the structure of the building and to thank the carpenters for their work. Our house on the day of tatemae: For our tatemae ceremony, we prepared: 3 surume (dried squid) 1 shou of rice 1 gou of salt 1 bottle of sake 1 bunch of bananas 5 oranges The touryou (master carpenter) put some water in a PET bottle(!). You don't necessarily have to hold a tatemae ceremony. For one thing, it takes a considerable amount of money, and some people opt not to do this. Then again, many people do hold tatemae, but not mochi maki. Ms. I of the construction company says that eight out of ten customers opt not to hold mochi maki. Mochi, scattered from the second floor of the house (and picked up by my daughter): Each mochi is about 6 cm in diameter. Some people seem to scatter mochi from the roof of the house, not from the second floor. The touryou said that they used to do it that way in the past. Four 'sumi' mochi (corner mochi); and one 'ten' mochi (heaven mochi), top leftmost one The sumi mochi are thrown at the four corners of the second floor. Legend has it that those who pick up a sumi mochi will be the next to build a house. The ten mochi is thrown last. I don't know the legend about the ten mochi. (I googled to find an anwer, but in vain.) Besides the mochi, we also prepared: Various candies, sembei (rice crackers), and other sweets and Two hundred and fifty 5-yen coins and fifty 50-yen coins, all with a piece of red-and-white ribbon in their holes This way of using the ribbon was my wife's idea based on the advice of the stationery shop's lady. People, mostly children and their mothers, trying to catch and pick up mochi

Are you kidding? How can a kannushi be associated with kyogen? The kannushi walked before me to show me where to sprinkle the salt, though. I forgot to say that after the ceremony, we all drank a little bit of the sake. I took the sake home, and the kannushi took all the other foods to his shrine. One clarification: The rice offered was not gohan (cooked rice) but o-kome (uncooked rice).

In a word, rice, sake, and salt are considered sacred, and are essential items at any Shinto ritual. As for other items, any 'yama no mono' (anything from field) and any 'umi no mono' (anything from sea) will be fine. Funny you noticed spinach, though. My wife wanted to get some komatsuna (a type of green), but spinach was on sale and komatsuna was rather expensive when she went shopping two days before, and that's why she got a bunch of spinach. She later called Ms. I to ask if spinach was OK and if cabbage was more appropriate (we had a head of cabbage in the fridge). Ms. I assured her that spinach would be fine.

地鎮祭 Jichinsai (lit. earth-appeasing ceremony, or groundbreaking ceremony) The jichinsai is held to announce the construction of a new building to gods, not just one god but 'yaoyorozu no kami' (multitudinous gods), and to pray for the safe construction of the building. We had our jichinsai on June 4th. As instructed by Ms. I of the construction company, we prepared: 1 shou (approx. 1,800 ml) of rice 1 gou (approx. 180 ml) of salt 1 bunch of bananas Some oranges (Any other seasonal fruits will do.) 1 bunch of spinach 1 daikon (Any other seasonal green vegetables will do.) 1 salted trout 1 bottle (approx. 1,800 ml) of sake The kannushi (Shinto priest) said a prayer that lasted ten minutes or so, then he told me to clap my hands and bow several times (I just don't recall how I did that) and others to follow suit. Then, he told me to sprinkle the salt at the four corners and the center of the place where the house was to be built and Ms. I to sprinkle the sake on those points. Ms. I had told us that the jichinsai would take about an hour, but it actually took half an hour or even less. In my next post, I'd like to talk about our tatemae (roof-raising ceremory) and mochi maki (rice cake scattering).

Kura Corporation has been innovative in that it has developed a touch-panel system from here:http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/?articleID=1977 and in that it has developed 'muten kura zushi'. By 'muten', they mean that their shari is free from both artificial and natural additives. The rice is seasoned with 100% rice vinegar, natural dashi, sugar, and salt only. And, they serve "chilled neta and hitohada shari". Hitohada means human skin temperature. They have installed high-tech systems: a "time limit management" system whereby sushi is automatically discarded within (in?) 55 minutes, a "plate counter" that counts the number of plates that each customer has eaten, and a "sushi robot" that makes sushi sanitarily. Links to other webpages containing some description of Kura Corporation: http://web-japan.org/trends01/article/011126sci_r.html http://www.japaninc.net/article.php?articleID=135 http://www.ikjeld.com/japannews/00000032.php Another company worthy of mention is Kakiyazushi, http://www.four-seeds.co.jp/kakiya/ which is operated by Four Seeds Corporation http://www.four-seeds.co.jp/ which also operates PIZZA-LA. http://www.pizza-la.co.jp/index.php Kakiyazushi is a new type of kantenzushi restaurant aimed at females, providing a "modern, chic, and stylish" atmosphere (according to their website), using chairs imported from Italy and other items http://www.hotpepper.jp/s/H000001487/top.html (See the 2nd photo.) http://www.tesoro.st/store/aohara/area03/003/ (See the 1st photo.)

- Each individual plate on the conveyor belt not managed properly. Who wants to eat stale sushi on a plate that's been on the belt for hours? - Customers smoking. Sushi chefs smoking! I moved out of Tokyo in 1990, and here in Shiozawa, there is only one kaitenzushi restaurant, so I really can't answer this question. All I can say is that I like this place, called Sushi Douraku http://www.citydo.com/prf/nigata/guide/sg/205000122.html because human sushi chefs make nigiri, not robots, they use expensive Koshihikari rice for shari (vinegared rice), and they have tatami (straw mat) floor spaces where you can relax. Besides, they have ramen, tonkatsu (pork cutlets), pickles, tofu, and many other items, besides nigiri. I will answer these questions later.

Sorry, I can't give you much information. How about visiting Doguyasuji? http://www.doguyasuji.or.jp/ (Japanese only) http://www.doguyasuji.or.jp/multilang/english.htm (English)

This is where the kitchen will be. Note that our house is being built with the zairai koho, or conventional construction method, which is the traditional post-and-beam construction method quite popular in Japan. The platform frame construction method is commonly known as 'two by four' in Japan. Today is a special day for us because we are having a tatemae (lit. pre-building) ceremony this evening, which is also called a joutou shiki (roof-raising ceremony). At the ceremony, we are going to do what is called mochi maki (lit. rice cake scattering). I'd like to start a new thread on tatemae, mochi maki, and jichin sai (groundbreaking ceremony) later.