doyo no ushi no hi

Yesterday was doyo no ushi no hi (literally mid-summer day of the ox. It is believed that each part of the day follows the 12 zodiac signs, e.g. 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock is the ox, or something like this.), it is the day to eat unagi (eel) to build stamina to last the summer. You should have seen the shopping arcade and supermarket, unagi everywhere! (The fishmonger in the shopping arcade actually had part-timers come in to help grill the unagi!)

I was a bit leery about buying unagi though, there have been news articles in which the ones being imported from China are being raised inappropriately. I hope the Japanese supermarkets and vendors are labeling products properly, there have been incidents in the past where they change the label in order to sell items.

For example, when the B.S.E. (mad-cow) thingy was going on here, some supermarkets switched the labels for beef coming from the U.S. and labeled them as Australian or Japanese to get rebates from the government and also to make a sale. Another scary thing about this is that products, like cows and such can be imported as babies then raised on farms and as long as they have been in Japan for a year, they can be called "Made in Japan". And even though you are choosing local (Japan), the restaurants and bars may not.

Another scary thing that is going on here is that Japan is now exporting rice to China. With fears of reika (cool summer) this year, I hope the government has an ample stash for us in Japan, since part of reika comes shortages of rice. (Apparently, the last time for reika was 1993 and they had to import rice from Thailand)...I have a feeling though that they are just looking to make a quick buck and aren't thinking that far ahead.

Sorry, I got sidetracked...back to unagi, I personally don't like unagi. I think the first time I tried it, there were bones in it and the unagi was kind of oily tasting, not a good first experience.

Still, I try to eat it at least once during the summer, just to go through the motions, in hopes that it helps me survive the summer (believe me, I need all the luck I can get especially with Japan summers). Satoshi, on the other hand, loves unagi and every time we go to his parent's house they order this dish for us to eat. He always tells his mother, "Kat doesn't like unagi", but she always forgets and orders it and I force myself to eat it because I don't want to be rude.

So, I bought unagi yesterday. Cut off the tail and the head-like area and throw them out, they are too hard to eat. (The first time I bought unagi, I served Satoshi the head-like area and tail and he told me that I'm supposed to throw it out, who knew?)



Slice up the body of the unagi and put it into an omlette and serve on rice. Sprinkle some sansho (Japanese pepper) on top.

I feel more powerful already...