Inari
One of my favorite afternoon snacks is inari. The little sushi shop on the corner usually has little sets of three that I grab when I need just a little something extra to get through the afternoon. Inari is made by taking thinly sliced tofu and deep frying them twice so that the tofu cooks [...]
Takoyaki
Takoyaki is a round dough dumpling, generally with some onions, cabbage, and other random veggies thrown in. In the center of each is a piece of octopus – tako in Japanese. The batter is poured into round, golf ball sized, molds. The veggies are sprinkled on top and the chunks of octopus are dropped in each one.
Konnyaku
Warning! Gelatinous mass alert Konnyaku is made from the flour of a small variety of a palm that is sometimes refered to as Devil’s tongue. Let’s get this straight: gross, wiggly, giggly gelatinous mass made from something called Devil’s tongue…yea, that actually makes sense. The flour from the plant is transformed with limewater into a [...]
Matsutake
Folks regularly ask us what we eat. The easy answer is whatever we are hungry for. I am prone to fixing whatever is in season and looks best at the numerous food shops we have in our neighborhood. Within a short walking distance of our home we have three butcher shops, five fish mongers, another [...]
Yuzu and Ponzu
Yuzu is a citrus fruit indigenous to Japan. It is about the size of a medium sized orange, but its skin has a slight yellowish hue. The fruit is pale cream in color. While the skin is wonderfully aromatic, the fruit itself is so bitter as to be nearly inedible. The skin can be found [...]
