FlyingRat

Argh! Until I saw this thread, I had completely forgotten about Hina Matsuri this year! In my defense, my husband and I just moved to Bangkok in mid-February, so we've had a few other things on our minds...plus, our sea-mail shipment, containing my hina dolls, isn't arriving until around the first of April, so we couldn't really celebrate in the proper style anyway. With all the Japanese restaurants and such around here, one would think I'd at least have seen something about Girl's Day so far! Torakris, do you still do kimekomi? I study with a wonderful lady in the Washington, DC area (well, at least I did until the move), and I hope to find a teacher here in Bangkok. One of these days I am going to do a full set of hina ningyo.

My husband and I will be doing the Mexican Riviera trip with his family on the Golden Princess over Thanksgiving week 2007. We're really looking forward to it, and hope to get some glimpses "behind the scenes": my MIL works for Cruise Line Agencies in Juneau, AK and is acquainted with several of the captains, and the Golden Princess is up there right now for the summer Alaska cruise season, so she's made arrangements to work that ship before it departs for the south. Does anyone have any recommendations for the Golden Princess? This will be the first cruise for my husband and me, so we're just looking forward to the experience more than the specific destinations, but any Riviera recommendations are appreciated as well.

Which cookbook, if I may ask? Hee! I grew up about 30 minutes from Jamestown, Virginia, and went on any number of school trips where we visited the reconstructed fort (from 1607) and tried our hand at making cornmeal mush cakes. I'd love to visit a reconstructed Jomon, Yayoi or Kofun settlement (I can't remember off the top of my head where the biggest ones are). That's really interesting about the ama-kara flavoring-- I know that they used amazura or honey before "real" sugar became available, but I hadn't thought about the whole flavor profile changing because of it. On the subject of soy sauce, I'd love to find a source for "hishio" (although the word's still out on what it was exactly, if I remember correctly).

This sounds wonderful and fascinating-- I will add it to the list!

Found it! The specific restaurant I was thinking of is Rokusei-- a (very good) kaiseki restaurant that also does "royal court cooking". I guess it's stuff in this vein that I would like to find more of, if possible!

Kristin, Thanks for the link! Yes, shojin ryouri is definitely something we would like to try (we were thinking about staying at a temple, which I've heard is an interesting experience and a good way to try the food depending on where you go). As for kaiseki, anything is good but cha-kaiseki is something I've been reading a lot about and would really like to try if possible. I remember finding a link at one point to a restaurant that actually serves Heian-style banquet food, but I'll have to dig that one back up! As for specific dishes, I can't think of any off the top of my head-- but I know there are a lot of places serving "traditional" recipes. I'll have to talk it over with Josh and see if there's anything specific from Ryouri monogatari that he would like to try to find. Thanks, and thanks a million for your help!

Greetings all, (Hey! First post!) I've been a lurker for eGullet for some time, and I must say that I've really enjoyed reading all the forums, especially the Japan one. My husband and I both spent time in Japan in college (study abroad) and reading some of the threads really brings back memories-- the food was one of my favorite aspects of my trip! That said, we are planning a two-week trip to Japan in November of 2006, and there's something in particular that I was hoping the members of this forum could help with... My husband and I are both very interested in Japanese history (we belong to a re-enactment group), and in particular, Josh is currently working on a translation of Ryori monogatari, a "cooking manual" from 1643. We also have done some research on Heian-period foods and cuisine, and have had some themed events (check out here for an amusing picture...) Are there any restaurants, shops, etc. that we could visit that specialize in "historical" food and cooking (mostly pre-Edo, although Edo is certainly interesting itself)? We would love to include such places in our trip plans if possible (in the interest of both research and fun). We plan to spend a good amount of time in both the Kyoto and Tokyo areas, but I would still love to hear about places outside those areas, because that might be a great reason to travel elsewhere. Thanks in advance for your assistance!