Every year, on July 14 through 16, Shiozawa Matsuri is held on and around Bokushi Dori (Street). That means that the people around here are now in a festive mood, and I am no exception.
On July 14, I had this marvelous assortment of sashimi for lunch all by myself.
毎年７月14日～16日まで、牧之通り周辺で塩沢まつりが行われます。と言うわけで、この辺の人はお祭り気分になっています。私も例外ではありません。
７月14日、一人でこのお刺身の盛り合わせを昼食に食べました。
This assortment is for 3 servings.
I had it with two leftover onigiri (laugh).
この盛り合わせは三人前です。
残りのおにぎり二個と食べました。
I rinsed the tsuma (garnish), shredded daikon and kombu, with water and put it in miso soup the next morning.
ツマ（大根の千切りと昆布）は水で洗って、次の日の朝、味噌汁に入れました。
For supper, I bought these at the supermarket, Harimaya, and had them in their parking area, where tables and chairs were provided. I later bought another beer (sorry, not beer but third-category beer, which is cheaper).
夕飯にはスーパーの「はりまや」で買って、テーブルと椅子が置かれた駐車場で食べました。後でビールをもう一本買いました（ビールではなく、第三のビールでした、失礼）。
Egg salad, salt-grilled kanpachi kama (collar), fried chicken, and third-category beer
卵サラダ、カンパチのカマの塩焼き、チキンフライ、第三のビール
In this parking area, Ultraman Leo appeared!
駐車場にはウルトラマンレオが登場しました！
Odori yatai (lit. dancing stand):
踊り屋台：
すごい！！！
ReplyDeletemuskrat: Thanks for your very short comment (laugh)!
ReplyDeleteSugoi for what? Ultraman Leo (laugh)?
Kirin Nodogoshi Nama is a third rate beer? Never had beer made from soybeans before (anyway I didn't even know beer could be brewed from soybeans). In china I used to drink japanese beer made from rice and corn it was way better than chinese beer.
ReplyDeleteThe sashimi looks great.
Kiki
The shredded daikon looks like transparent noodles! I wonder with what tool it can be made... I think I wouldn't obtain such thin threads with any of my graters... Your sashimi looks fantastic, I agree with Kiki.
ReplyDeleteKiki: Yes, Nodogoshi Nama is a "third-category beer".
ReplyDeleteYou can learn a little about beer, happoushu (low-malt beer), and thir-category beer" from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Japan
Under the Liquor Tax Law of Japan, high tax rates are applied to beer because they were determined in the Meiji period, when beer was regarded as a luxury item. Beer is no longer a luxury item, but the government still imposes the same tax rates on beer. To evade the high tax rates, beer manufacturers started making low-malt beers. Later, the government started imposing higher rates on low-malt beers, and then beer manufacturers started making beers that do not contain malt so that low tax rates on liqueur can be imposed on them.
Initial low-malt beers were simply awful, but low-malt beers and third-category beers nowadays are very good, and I think Nodogoshi Nama is the best of all third-category beers. Anyway, it's the best-selling third-category beer in Japan.
I think that at most restaurants and supermarkets, they use a special, electric machine for making daikon tsuma or a manual tool like this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://item.rakuten.co.jp/wada-k/1445658/
Scroll down and you can find a video.
In Japan, many benriners (mandolines) come with a special attachment for making such tsuma.
At decent Japanese restaurants, they make daikon tsuma using an "usuba" knife. In fact, making such tsuma, daikon no katsuramuki, is one of the first techniques that a Japanese cuisine chef is required to master.
Hiroyuki, thank you for the link. This tool is already on my list of the items to bring from Japan (when I finally go to visit your country of course). So small and so efficient!
ReplyDeleteI learned katsuramuki technique before (not at home, indeed).
ReplyDeleteBut now, never do it again because I don't have usuba >_<
I hope I can grab a good knife with good price, someday(笑)
fred: Oh, did you? You must be a good cook!
ReplyDeleteI once tried to master katsuramuki, but I gave up partly because I didn't have an usuba (I only had the Shigefusa nakiri).
Not as good as you think(笑)
ReplyDeleteI used to watch itasan's video back then...(笑)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HDro-KP9Wo
I can learn quickly from videos, anyway...^^