Tickling Two Sets of Parents with One Magical Potato

Wow... two parcels just arrived.

1) From Max & Co. - My 2010 Tiger Eto!! Yaaay! Now I have collected an entire 12 years (one full set) of eto from Max. It's kinda sad, though, because this is the LAST one... Boo hoo hoo!!!

His mom also sent me a jar of umeboshi, and a jar of rakkyo. She makes the best rakkyo in the multiverse, bar none!

2) 10 lbs (2X5 lbs) of special Kamisho Sato Imo potatoes

I ordered these on the net two days ago ($65 total). They are special potatoes from Ono City, Fukui where I used to live.

The timing is perfect because I planned to take them when I go and visit one of my coworker's homes during the New Year. Her parents are both originally from Fukui so when she told them about ME working in the same company they got excited (home town ties are strong...) Since she recently bought the condo for her and her parents to live in, I asked if I could get a "house tour" some time and she invited to come during the new year holiday.

So... I thought to myself that I just have to get a box of Kamisho Sato Imo potatoes and I am SURE that her parents will love me! How many foreigners would even KNOW to bring such a special gift as something famous from their home prefecture (that they left decades ago) that fits perfectly into the New Year.

Besides, Miyuki told me that her mom's New Year cooking is absolutely fabulous. I asked her how her mom makes ozoni (new year soup) and it is just like the way Mayu's mom makes it (with lots of vegetables). When I heard that, I just KNEW that I HAD to bring the sato imo for them for the new year.

Then Miyuki sent me a kmail and told me to come on January FIRST! Holy shit! I was thinking maybe the 2nd, or 3rd... but nope; she needs me there on the 1st as she is busy during the rest of the holiday. I was worried because the website said the earliest they could deliver was January 3rd...

Luckily, when I ordered online I wrote an impassioned memo, telling them of my life in Fukui, and Ono, and how much I love it, and miss it all... how special Ono is to me, how I grew up there, and visited dozens of times a year my old (and young) friends in Ono... how the food is delicious, the famous water delectable, the scenery unforgettable, the air pure and perfect...

And guess what?

They arrived!

*GRIN*

So I'm off to deliver a box to Mayu today (unbeknownst to her) so that she can give them to her parents. Then tomorrow I'll take another box and wish Miyuki and her parents a shin nen aisatsu (new year greeting)!

And I have my 2010 Eto Tiger from Max! Yaaay yaaaay!!!

I get to make a whole bunch of people really really happy (yes, I know it sounds crazy, but here in Japan getting these potatoes will make them ecstatic... potatoes... I know.... but they are special, almost magical potatoes [the size of a ping pong ball])

Magical!

What a fantastic way to end the year.

I love you!

Cam

Obama On Food

The Japanese sure do seem to LOVE President Obama!

Look what they have created now: Obama-maki zushi.

You take a square of nori (seaweed, lay down rice, insert various meats, fish, vegetables, roll it all up into a big cylinder, and cut off slices. I guess they used brown rice...

Can you imagine the minds of the people to have thought up how to lay this all out so that when cut, you have the face of Barack Obama?

For anyone who thinks Obama is HAWT, now is your chance to dive right in and take a big bite!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Not for the carbohydrate-weak-at-heart.

Note: Image lifted from: http://gawker.com/5156001/obama-sushi.

Special thanks to Dunnster for always finding the most insane stuff!

Eat! The Yaki Imo Man, or Play Now & Pay Later

The Yaki Imo Man came up my street so I decided to run outside and get a yaki imo. It was a wonderful stone roasted sweet potato from the southern most tip of Kyuushuu, Japan, in Satsuma, near Kagoshima where a very big active volcano, Sakurajima, resides.

These things are so soft and buttery, and ... they just melt in your mouth! The outside skin is crispy and delicious. It is just such a wonderful treat to have in the winter when they come around. This is a Japanese tradition.

(Of course I've been suffering from massive carbohydrate overload all evening, and now thanks to that giant carbobeeste I am so starving I could eat a wooly mammoth, hair and all!)

I love you!

(just don't touch my dinner! grrrrrrrr)

Cam

Celebrating with 'Shrooms!

On Sunday, Mayu and I went to Heisenji to take photos and video of the koyo, autumn leaves. It was too early. You can see the results in my recent video.

So on Monday, in the mist, I suggested we drive way up into the mountains, all the way up to Izumi-mura (35km from here, but 1.5hrs to get there) through some of the more rugged yet beautiful terrain in the prefecture. I used to work up there every Thursday when I was working for the School board. It was an absolutely wonderful place to go, a village with a population of about 500 people at most (including those in the cemetery!)

Unfortunately.... the leaves aren't quite ready up there yet, either, as you can see in these three photographs I took:

There are a few photos more on Flickr if you care to see, but the colours aren't there yet. Don't mind the turkey... it was a homing-device "gift" from a friend of yore...

But! On the way down the mountian we took a detour through the mountains up a river and to a village that is known for it's historic refuge of ronin samurai and their families who were escaping the Tokugawa Shogun's fall from favour as the Shogun was busy absconding with land and doing what it is that all dictators love to do (enrich their coffers).

Apparently the families of the local ruling clans that lost battles to protect their lands here had to run for the hills and run they did! Hiding up in the Kamiono area must have been an amazing feat before there were any concrete roads, highways and tunnels up in THOSE mountains! It is said that even now, some samurai swords can still be found when land is overturned as everyone hid their clan background by pretending to be simple farmers just in case the Shogun's army might happen upon them waaay wayyyyy deep in the mountains.

There also happens to be a deep mine up there and tourists can take a ride into the closed mine (for money, of course).

We didn't go there for the history. Nope. We didn't go there for the mine, either. We went there because we wanted mushrooms!

There is a mushroom factory up in that area, and we figured that since we were "in the neighbourhood" (only about 4km away) we would head on over and pick some up.

I LOVE Japanese mushrooms! There are so many varieties here, that Japan truly is a 'shroom-lover's paradise! Why just yesterday in the supermarket I bought five varieties alone!

In Japan, we may not be able to get butter, we may have a run on bananas due to crazy banana diets, but can we get mushrooms?

YES WE CAN!

I love you!

Cam