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Matsuri-zushi
Today I joined the Oyama Senmaida sushi-making workshop. It’s not regular sushi. This is vegetarian sushi rolled in special ways to form pictures. It’s like the origami of sushi, really. In today’s class we made a camellia and a snail. For the first 90 minutes, we prepared all of the parts we’d need, cutting sheets…
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Cassoulet
I made my first cassoulet yesterday. I didn’t get a photo when we sat down to eat it, but I snapped one while making it. Tokyo friends with good food sense came to visit and I had a freezer full of random meat, so I emptied the freezer in pursuit of a special dish for…
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Ants Climbing a Tree
I made this Chinese noodle dish for a party and want to save my version of the recipe so I can make it again. The key to the whole thing is finely chopping all of the ingredients so that the “ants” can climb the tree of the noodles. The flavor is spicy from the mustard…
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Demystifying our Mikan
555 is chockablock with citrus trees. There is a yuzu in the front garden, a kumquat over by the hatake, and our Kobayashi mikan. We added a lemon and a lime to the mix this year. And there are four mystery citrus. Probably some kind of natsumikan, a sour orange that ripens in early summer…
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Chocolate for breakfast
Today marks the 8th anniversary of my yoga classes in Kamogawa. They started as a twice weekly practice at Satoyama Design Factory and later become a daily class first in person and then via Zoom. I never set out to be a yoga teacher, but I am glad that I did. My practice has created…
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This summer’s fav drink
Japan ‘s beverage & snack industry is known for its seasonal and limited time products. It’s a manufacturer’s nod to the seasonality of produce and fish, I suppose. Nothing sticks around forever. I appreciate it now, but I still remember the juniper-flavored soda I encountered on our first trip to Japan in 1995. It was…
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Ricotta cheesecake cupcakes
I love cheesecake but a whole cheesecake at home for two people is daunting. Smaller servings are easier to share, so cupcake tins are the way to go. This recipe makes 12 single-serving baked cheesecakes that are creamy and delicious with a generous crust. I adapted this recipe to work with the ingredients I had…
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Pickle Chicken
Every time we finish a jar of pickles, I do a happy dance. Tod makes the most delicious fried chicken with the leftover brine. We call it Pickle Chicken. To be honest, it’s a riff on J Kenji Alt’s Buttermilk Brined Southern Fried Chicken recipe, but with pickle brine substituting for the milk marinade. Pickle…
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Kobayashi Mikan
Mrs. Kawasaki introduced me to the Kobayashi mikan tree on one of our early walks around 555 in spring of 2021. It’s a compact tree with low branches that sits to the west of the house. This was clearly a fruit she liked, because she lingered a while to admire it. “It’s good for jam,”…
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Black Panther Bake Sale Pie
A while back the the dreadful heat of summer, Lawrence was reminiscing about a pie he recalled from his student days. “The Black Panthers use to sell it at their bake sales. Made with beans and spices. We ate it up.” I promised him I’d make one when the weather cooled down. And so over…
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