Hiroyuki

Water not vinegar. I wonder what you made think you should use vinegar.

When you get off at Shiozawa Station on Echigo Line, you will be greeted by this snow crystal pattern on the floor. Shiozawa Station: It looks almost desolate, but my wife says it's not unmanned. When you walk down the main street, you will soon see this three-story wooden inn on your right. I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite buildings in Shiozawa. In two or three minutes, you will come to an intersection with traffic lights. When you turn left, you will see Bokushi Doori, mentioned upthread. When you turn right, you will see Herb Doori (Street). The sidewalk on each side of the street is paved at intervals with tiles with different snow crystal patterns on them. Some examples: As this board says, tiles with 35 different patterns are used, all from the book, "Hokuetsu Seppu" (Snow Country Tales), by Suzuki Bokushi, a writer who was born in Shiozawa in the Edo period. This is Suzuki Bokushi Memorial Hall, located in Shiozawa. I like this wooden-structured building more than the exhibits. To keep this post food-related, I'd like to stress that it's impossible to talk about the specialties of Shiozawa such as rice and sake without referring to snow.

Does anyone know how this nashi got its name? Because it's a cross between one variety from Nii-gata (新潟) and another from Ko-chi (高知). Nii + Ko = 新高, thus niitaka.

Japan's catch quota on minami maguro has been decided to be halved. This decision is by this Commission. I recently had very tasty minami maguro. For more photos, click here.

At the nursery school that my two kids went to, lunch was served, but each child had to bring a bento of cooked rice (or a slice of bread). My wife and I usually cooked rice in the morning, but when we had to cook it for supper for some reason, we wrapped one bento-ful of rice tight in plastic wrap as soon as the rice was cooked (within 30 minutes or so after it was cooked), let it cool for some time (for 30 minutes or so), and put it in the freezer. The next morning, we took it out and reheated it in the microwave. I don't know if this is the best way, but it was at least a method recommended in a TV show.

Some other features of the festival: Echigo Mochi Buta (soft and juicy pork in Niigata): Close-up: Koshihikari beer, available at Kanazawaya liquor shop only: For more, click here. Kinoko Shin Soba (buckwheat noodles made with newly cropped buckwheat, topped with a variety of simmered mushrooms) Close-up of the mushroom pot: My son ordered one. He said that the mushrooms were amandare (honey mushroom), maitake, and buna shimeji.

By "the former Yukijirushi's Nature", I meant MEGMILK's Megumi. Was it that good? I thought it was the same as Nature... ← No it is different tasting than nature (I also found nature bland) and it is quite pricey usually more than Bulgaria. I usually eat it for breakfast with some homemade granola so the creaminess and touch of sweetness is nice. I don't think I would care for it with savory dishes as much. ← I bought four packs of Megumi today for 138 yen per pack (it was on sale). I compared it with Bulgaria at lunchtime. You could say the Megumi is creamier and less sour, but I really don't care about which brand to buy. I'll stick to the policy: Buy the cheapest on the day.

Actually, this festival is part of the campaign that is running in the Shiozawa area (from October 1 to November 3). The name of the campaign: Shiozawa Shinmai Campaign. Here is the cover of the guide to the campaign: Map inside the guide: I'm planning to go to one of the twenty restaurants in the Shiozawa area that participate in the campaign and report back. If you want to see the guide in more detail, here is the web version of it: http://shiozawa.interwindow.net/ Scroll down and click the photo of the cover of the guide.

No, I didn't. Thanks for the information! I'll ask my children if they want to make them.

In the Shiozawa area, there are two sake brewries: Aoki Shuzo and Takachiyo Shuzo Kakurei (left) is a brand of the former, while Makihata (right) is a brand of the latter. This is the office of Aoki Shuzo, which is located on Bokushi Doori, mentioned earlier. This is the storehouse of the brewery: In front of the storehouse, there is a spring: Can you read the inscription?

Can you guess what this building is? It's a bank. Cool, isn't it? This is a doctor's office: If you want to see what it was like one year ago, click this. These two buildings are on Bokushi Doori (Street). If you want to see what the street looks like, click this.

I bought a 5-kg bag of Koshihikari rice at a "home center" today not because I wanted it but simply because the Koshiibuki that I usually buy was sold out. Edited to add: The 5-kg bag was 2,980 yen. The place of production on the label was simply "Niigata" (not "Uonuma" or "Minami Uonuma").

I went to this small, local festival, "Shinmai Matsuri", today, first with my son and later by myself. Can you guess what this is? It's rice chaff. What are they going to do with it? I'll give you the answer later. A line of people waiting to be served: I got mine! A shio musubi (salted rice ball), some pan-fried(?) vegetables, and clear soup with maitake (Ishizaka maitake!) and other stuff. The rice ball is, of course, made with Shiozawa Koshihikari rice! A real treat for any Japanese! I had two brands of sake: A retro bus: Nuka momi (bran and chaff) kama: The answer to the question above: The chaff is burned to cook rice. Small kama to use in a rice-related quiz: When I came back to the site, the rice was already cooked : A rice-related quize is under way: I was glad to find that I wasn't late to taste the rice cooked in the nuka momi kama: Look at the world's most expensive and tastiest rice: Two girls received the first prize: I bought these: Three packs of Ishizaka maitake, hand-made konnyaku, and purple sweet potato yokan.

We did it again! Our small satsumaimo patch: Big ones: This is all we got from the patch: I am now boiling some of them to make some "sweet potatoes". My son likes them.

No, not bitter at all. They are all about the texture. The sauce that I made was: 1/2 cup (= 100 cc) dashi 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp sugar (The original recipe called for 1 tbsp sugar). The sauce was less sweet and wasn't sour, so my wife put some more sugar and some vinegar. But I liked my version.

Strange as it may sound, I bought a pack of kakinomoto the other day for the very first time, mainly because it was on sale (98 yen). It has a crisp ("shaki shaki" in Japanese) texture, and my son says he likes it very much (it's sometimes served at school lunch).

I would call it curry chahan... Kris, what has happened to your "Hokkaido White Curry"?

A large supermarket opened the other day, and they had a maguro kaitai (tuna dissection) show as an opening event today. My two kids and I went to see it. Such shows are quite popular in Japan, and attract many customers. Before the show began, customers were invited to answer a quiz. The first question was: What is the species of this tuna? The second one was: How much does it weigh? The correct answers were minami maguro and 37 kg. Can you guess who got the first prize (chu toro tuna)? My daughter! I later learned by looking at other packs of chu toro tuna sold that the prize was worth around 1,200 to 1,300 yen. The show began: First, two kama (collars). 1,000 yen each. Second, the head. 1,000 yen. You can see two eyeballs. Third, nakaochi (flesh on the backbone, usually scooped with a large spoon). Four packs from one side and five from the other. They didn't tell customers how much it was. I wanted one pack, but lost at rock-paper-scissors . They gave customers free sushi samples. I had five or six of them. Really tasty. I bought one pack of akami (lean tuna). Akami was 580 yen per 100 g, Cho toro was 780 yen per 100 g, and O toro was 980 yen per 100 g. Quite expensive, but you can't complain considering the quality. I usually buy much cheaper bincho and kihada maguro, which are tasty enough, but this minami maguro tasted much better. Chu toro and akami on a plate. We (four of us) ate it with vinegard rice. Edit: Corrected 3.7 kg to 37 kg.

I learned today from a TV show that at this school, school lunches are made by hotel restaurant chefs. http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/primary/schoollife_1.html (Japanese only) The school lunch expense is 95,000 yen per year, which is, according to the TV show, about twice as high as that at normal elementary schools in Japan.

Thanks for all the photos and detailed explanation, Cheeko! I was reminded that tsukimi was originally a Chinese tradition. In Japan, we never associate it with "reunion". We just look at the moon, say something about it, eat tsukimi dango, and that's about all. It's just a family affair. Come to think of it, it's totally different from hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Don't ask me why.

In Japan, some are fans of Kinoko no Yama while other are fans of Takenoko no Sato. What if your family have both fans? You can easily solve this problem by buying this combo pack. 12 packets in total (Where is the missing one? In my daughter's stomatch.) All my family are fans of Kinoko no Yama. We bought this pack for 198 yen (it was on sale).

I call it a kaki . I'm curious, is it supposed to be eaten when it has become that soft in your area/country? I like hard ones like these. My wife likes soft ones like yours.

Watch all the video clips under the eight categories ranging from SPA and EVENT. I'm sure you will enjoy. You will feel as if you visited the Snow Country.

When I went shopping the other day, there was a man at the supermarket who gave out free samples of "kuwa no ha men" (mulberry leaf noodles). I asked him if it was a specialty of Tookamachi city, and he replied that he was the only person who makes it. So, strictly speaking, it is not a speciality of Tookamachi city (adjacent to Minami Uonuma sity), but I thought you might be interested. So, here it is: I bought two packs: It was good! Very smooth texture and faint leaf flavor.

We weren't hit by a typhoon, but it rained all day yesterday and we forgot all about tsukimi! It's still raining. Looking forward to your pics.