昇仙峡, Shosenkyo is one of the most beautiful places Mei-Shun recommend you to visit. White, uniquely shaped rocks give wonderful contrast with clean, emerald water especially in winter followed by simmering hoto. It is a miso stew with various vegetables including pumpkin, Japanese white radish, carrot, leak, etc. while meat and hoto noodle. We found it nice in summer as well with egg plant, cucumber, tomato and okra today.
good taste
Happy Birthday
Standard… to you mom, in 草津, Kusatsu on one-month summer vacation there for these several years. She often told Mei-Shun that her birthday gift was a watermelon in her childhood. She and her two younger brothers were so happy to see it cooled in a well. Yes, that fruit worked as a birthday cake for children. Even today, big watermelons seem to symbolize joy of summer, especially for big boys including Shin, his late father and Mei-Shun’s. Shall we go to a greengrocer’s shop to buy one?
Sweetfish
Standard鮎, ayu tastes the best from June to August. Mei-Shun has a propensity for it, asked Shin to arrange a lunch date at their favorite Japanese food restaurant in Shinagawa. They know well what she covets, serving a course featuring grilled one. This genuine delicacy is edible from top of head to edge of tail, except for white-salted fins. Oh, rainy season is over in Kanto area. Thank you so much for bringing real summer to us.
Long Rain
StandardIt seems we are still in the season this year. Such weather may remind Mei-Shun’s generation of 1993, when cool summer affected seriously on rice harvest. We lacked rice so much that our government imported a lot from Thailand. It might have lead to today’s popularity of Thai cuisine in Japan. At that time, however, the fluffy texture of Thai rice was a kind of shock for most of us. On the other hand, もちもち感 =mochi-mochi-kan, a lush mouthfeel of Japanese rice have been well accepted in many countries recently.
Happy Donuts
StandardSometimes you really crave them, don’t you? Mei-Shun does, maybe because she resembles her late father in favorite foods. He used to bring home a box of assorted donuts after job. Little Mei-Shun was so happy to choose one as a dessert next morning. Now on low-carb diet, she has to refrain from sweets as much as possible. However, when she feels herself out of control, it seems better to eat them a little, replacing other carbohydrates. Breakfast toast for example, as the best candidate for substitution.
Minazuki
StandardHalf of 2016 has already passed. This Japanese confectionery written in 水無月, meaning June, is popular in Kyoto. We have no time to drop in on sweets shops last time, so ordered it from たねや as usual. Shin has made a step into summer diet. Now a competition between him and Mei-Shun starts — winner would have a right to ask him/her to buy his/her favorite food!
Burrata!
StandardHave you ever seen this cute, white creature? Looking like a baby, it is a delicacy of cheese ball filled with strings and cream. An Italian master living in Hokkaido is the only person who has technique to make it in Japan, Shin said. He seems quite right — one of Mei-Shun’s best impressions on that area is amazingly tasty dairy products, followed by potatoes and beer.
Refreshment
StandardWhat is your favorite ice cream flavor? It is chocolate-mint for Mei-Shun. Cup, corn or bar, any type would be welcomed. She recently found a chocolate-coated bar — how gorgeous! As rice seedlings grow up, her weight started to decrease. For a success in control, she must make that great taste once-a-month joy.
After 1Y+3Wks
StandardMei-Shun reserved a beauty salon in Shinagawa again, not to avoid a phone call from Dr. A. Shin’s schedule allowed them to meet there only today.
A 加賀(=Kaga, current Ishikawa Prefecture) cuisine restaurant always guides them into a room called 寿椿, meaning celebrated camellia. A wooden “pheasant” welcomes them as usual, yet his blue feather is all different from normal ones. You are a peacock, aren’t you?
… Woops, no message was recorded on our home phone.
Gorgeous Sakura
StandardThey have 3 breeds of 八重桜 at 乙戸沼 Park. One looks like holding a lot of 桜餅=sakura-mochi, a seasonal Japanese sweet with leaf-flower combination of brown-violet pink. Another has less browned-normal pink while the last one green-delicate shade of light pink as follows.
meishunkikunoe 