Shaven Bonito and sea weeds, autumn leaves

As this was the first time for them to visit Kyoto, I made a typical tour plan. The tour date was Novemeber 1oth, when leaves started to change their color. This time , I was a guide of a family from Malaysia. I found she took a photo of red or orange leaves in every place. I was wondering why she stopped so often because autumn leaves can be seen every place. Some of them are so beautiful but others are just show us their beauty alone. She said that was the first time to see the colored leaves. Yes, I understand why. They came from the country with a warm climate.


Thank you for reading my blog. When I asked them what they wanted to have for lunch, they said "OKONOMIYAKI" That's because of this blog. I took them to the OKONOMIYAKI restaurant near Nishiki Market.





Then we enjoyed Nishiki food market. Look at the price of Matsutake mashroom. Yes, that was the highest price I have seen in my life. It is said that Matsutake produced in Kyoto has a high quality with a nice matsutake smell. Even after it is cooked, we can still enjoy its smell along with its light resilient texture. Anyway, the price was surprising. ...







Asian people sometimes know very much about Japanese food. They are not an exception. She said the price of sheven bonito was cheaper than that sold in her country. She bought sea weeds and shaven bonito there.





A baby boy was so cute. I sometimes played with him during the tour. Just before I had to say good bye to them, he called me antie! That's the way they call a woman. Still now, when he sees me in the photos, he calls me "Antie" , of course, which pleases me a lot.













Date : Nov. 10th
Tourist : a family from Malaysia
Tour : Fushimi Inari shrine, Kiyomizu temple, ( OKONOMIYAKI )Nishiki food market, Golden Pavillion ( later they visited Ryoanji rock garden by themselves)

Home cooking 1

Spring is the season in which a new sprout starts its upward journey above ground. Bamboos are no exceptions. We enjoy eating bamboo shoots at home as well as in the restaurants serving Japanese cuisine.

One of the most popular cookings is the one with WAKAME seaweed, called WAKATAKE-NI .
The other day I cooked it at home. I'll show you part of it.

First, we cut off the tip of it, then, parboil it with rice bran for more than one hour.




After cooling it, we take off the bark, and cut as you like.

Boil again with soup(made of water and shaven dried bonito), soy-source, sake, sugar and a little salt.
Here it is!




Enjoy this homemade cooking! This tastes really good because............. I cooked it!!

Nishiki Food Market

If you are interested in taking a quick glance at Japanese food culture, why don't you visit NISHIKI FOOD MARKET?



It's a 390 meter-long archaded street. 130 shops are along the narrow street, one block north of the main street, SHIJO street. You will reach Nishiki Tenmanguu shrine at the east end.
Walking along the street, you can hear cheerful voice, "IRASSAI MASE!!" calling you!




Most of these shops open around 9 AM and close around 5PM. They sell a wide variety of food, such as dried goods, sweets, pickles, eels, fish, processed egg, rice, noodles, rice cakes, beans, chestnuts, tofu, meat, chiken and fish paste as well as kitchen knives and flowers.

The end of the year is the busiest day here. People in and around Kyoto come to get some food necessary to prepare for New Year's feast.



Just taking a look at each shop is, needless to say, interesting. But some of them allow you to try their food, and to take pictures though some don't let you do it.




Oh, one thing I have to say! There are no rest rooms here. So, please do your business before visiting here!




Some shops are closed on Wednesday or Sunday.

Nearest bus stop / Shijo Takakura ( from Shijo karasuma, or Shijo kawaramachi, 5 min. walk)

Enjoy your meal!

Last month, I showed around Italian speaking people. At the lunch time, when lunch was served and when we were about to eat, they said, "Enjoy your meal". And last week, a new member of our service, Ririko and I showed around the guys from Italy. At the lunch time, I heard the same words."Enjoy your meal".

The words sounded nice to me! In Japan, we usually say "ITADAKIMASU". The direct translation is "I am going to have the meal " in a polite way. And we also say "GOCHISOUSAMA (DESHITA)" whose literal meaning is "It was a good meal" or "Thank you for the meal" when we finish a meal.

We, Japanese tend to show gratitude to a person who makes a meal. On the other hand, "Enjoy your meal" tells us that we should enjoy our meal! The expression related to the meal interests me a lot.

So, Let's enjoy our meal and express thanks to a person who makes our meal!