March 10, 2012

Busy Week/忙しい一週間

My family have had a busy week this week. Son's graduation ceremony on Monday, son's public high school entrance examination on Tuesday (correction:  Wednesday, not Tuesday), and the announcement of successful applicants on Friday. Friday night, we went to Tabata-ya to celebrate son's admittance.
今週は我が家にとっては忙しい一週間でした。月曜日は息子の卒業式、水曜日は息子の公立高校の入試、金曜日は合格発表。金曜の夜は、合格祝いに田畑屋に行きました。

Tabata-ya is a buckwheat noodle restaurant located here in the Shiozawa area of Minami Uonuma city. We like the "hegi soba" served at this restaurant, as I previously described here.
田畑屋は、南魚沼市の塩沢地域にある蕎麦屋です。ここで述べたように、私たちはこの蕎麦屋の「へぎそば」が大好きです。

Three servings of hegi soba:
へぎそば三人前(さんにんまえ):
shared by my wife and son.
妻と息子で分けました。

One serving of tempura:
天ぷら一人前(いちにんまえ):
also shared by my wife and son.
これも妻と息子で分けました。

My daughter ordered a chahan (fried rice) set.
娘はチャーハンセットを頼みました。
I ordered a tenjuu set.
私は天重(てんじゅう)セットを頼みました。

The top right lidded black bowl contains miso soup, while the lidded bowl at the center contains chawanmushi.
右上の蓋付きの黒いお椀には味噌汁が、中央の蓋付きのお椀には茶碗蒸しが入っています。

12 comments:

  1. おめでとう ございtます!!! Moving on to high school is a huge step! I'll be you are so proud of your son!

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  2. muskratbyte: Thank you! Academically, my son has already exceeded my expectations, but my ultimate hope is that he finds what he wants to do for the rest of his life as soon as possible.

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  3. Congratulations for your son's exam!
    This restaurant and its food is such a wonderful way to celebrate. Your photos remind me I still haven't tried shiso tempura... It must be excellent.

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  4. Congratulations to your son. Guess he must be very exicted: new school and new classmates, new teachers. And also very relieved. 3 more years before the next big graduation, so he has to decide in 2 years what to do later on in his life.
    Hope you enjoyed your dinner very much - it looks very delicious. I am always wondering how they manage to arrange the noodles so neatly.

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  5. Sissi: Thank you!

    I'd say that shiso tempura is all about the crispy texture because the aroma is lost due to high temperature. Usually, only the underside of a shiso leaf is coated with tempura batter before deep-frying.

    Kiki: Thank you!

    No matter how many times I have tried to imitate how they turn the soba into coils, I just can't do it properly! One secret is that Tabata-ya's soba is twice as long as the normal length.

    My son is a huge fan of Tabata-ya, and just I had expected, he said he wanted to to go there for celebration.

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  6. 息子におめでとうございます!
    食べ物は美味しそうね!食べたいね!

    Thinking about all the people who suffered during the anniversary of 3/11!

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  7. okasan: Thank you!

    I'm thinking about them, too, especially the fish monger in Kamaishi, Iwate that I know of.

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  8. 息子さんおめでとうございます! That's a great accomplishment that he's been exceeding your expectations, and I too hope he can find what he wants to do next!

    That soba looks like heaven in a zaru. It's quite a shame no place around here can even properly cook it, let alone serve such a dish.

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  9. Ruminating Roy: Thank you!

    In general, the Japanese are very particular about the quality and texture of noodles (udon, ramen, and soba, etc.), but somehow, much to the disapointment of Italian people, we are much less particular about those of spaghetti.

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  10. Wow, congratulations to your son and family! That is a very quick turnaround from examination to entrance results! It looks like you had a very happy and tasty dinner.

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  11. YSC: Thank you! I really was a tasty dinner!

    As someone born and bred in Tokyo, I find this order rather stupid: Graduation, entrance exam, and announcement.

    I took this order for granted before I came to Niigata: Entrance exam, announcement, and graduation.

    In other prectures, the order is: Entrance exame, graduation, and announcement.

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  12. Hiroyuki: It really is the small things when it comes to an order for such a thing, isn't it? Here in the U.S. it's assumed that one will be in high school from grades eight or nine to twelve, since almost everyone goes to public high schools. About halfway through the twelfth grade, I had to order and send out announcements for a late May graduation.

    I think I like the Japanese system better, the more I see it.

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