tkg & natto

You ever have one of those days when you needed to overcome things you feared eating, fast?!

That was the breakfast for me at Waterfront Inn Yosaso...

The photo above is what we were served....miso soup (not pictured), nori, pickles, rice, tiny dried mackerel, a raw egg and natto...

To tell you the truth, I've tried natto before. I didn't like it, it was too stinky.

I thought I could give the natto to Satoshi, but I would still need to eat the raw egg...gah! and I would definitely be hungry afterwards, I thought.

So instead of taking the easy way out, I went for it.

I mixed my natto, put a little onto my rice. And put it into my mouth.

A little sour, but other than that...not bad. Not smelly...

So what is TKG? in Japanese it is the acronym for "tamago kake gohan" (raw egg on hot rice)

If you were to eat an egg raw, I believe the only place you would be able to (without fear of getting sick) would be in Japan.

I didn't grow up eating eggs this way, so this was another food fear for me to overcome.

On the hot rice, the egg supposedly "cooks" a little, but for the most part it is still really raw.

Since it was still raining quite heavily, I quietly bargained with "someone up there"..."if I eat all of this, will you make the rain stop?".

I thought that would be a nice "reward" for overcoming the foods I feared eating.

And wouldn't you know, after breakfast, we checked out, the rain went from downpour to slight drizzle and by the time we reached Miyazu, the sun came out...

I don't know that I would choose to eat natto or TKG again, but at least now I know I could if I had to.

miyazu-ine

Since rain was forecast in the afternoon, we were up and out the door early after a Japanese style breakfast.

From Miyazu, it is about a half hour bus ride to Ine (ee-nay), a sleepy fishing village on the Tango peninsula.

By eight-thirty, we were on a 30-minute boat ride to view the funaya (boat houses) village from the ocean.

Back in the olden days, this area was not accessible by car, only by boat, which is why they have these types of houses.

The bottom floors of these funaya are actually "garages" for boats and the living area of the home is located on the second floor.

We also learned that after roadways were made, the extended family lived "across the street" from the funaya.

Back on land, we walked to the minshuku that we would be staying at and left our bags.

Then we went to get bicycles.

The nice thing in this village is that you can rent "electric bicycles" for a small fee or use their "my power bicycles" for free.

The "my power bicycles" can be returned anywhere in the village, while the "electric" ones need to be brought back to the place you rent them from.

We went with the "my power" type and decided to check out the michi no eki (parking area), which was at about the middle of the village...what we didn't realize was that it was at the top of a mountain...gulp!

From the top of the mountain, you can see the whole village.

Satoshi decided that he wanted to check out the other side of the village, so we gingerly went down the steep road then made our way to the other end of the village.

On the way, we decided to stop in for coffee at Ochayanokaka. (Love their homemade cups!)

The lady was so nice (and trusting) that she left us to watch her shop until help came, while she went to be a guide for a boat tour.

We then made our way to the end of the village.

By this time we were feeling hungry, so we returned our bicycles and then went to look for lunch.

Being a tiny village, and GW, not many places were open for lunch.

We ended up waiting over an hour in line at Heishiro.

Satoshi and I had their kaisendon (seafood bowl), this hit the spot!

While waiting to check-in, we walked around the village.

There were many kura (storerooms) that had different emblems on them. These emblems are called kote-e (ko-tay-ay). The emblems are three dimensional figures, words or family crests to wish for good fortune, ocean safety and such.

Just as we checked-in to the minshuku we would be staying at, Waterfront Inn Yosaso, the rain came...good timing.

This place was renovated and the area where the boats used to park was transformed into the dining room.

This minshuku has no televisions, phones or clocks in the rooms...so bring a book!

Dinner was krazy!

All that for two....

I could only eat so much, and gave half of my crab to Satoshi...he was super happy.

Oh there was also o-suimono (clear soup) with takenoko and kelp in it and yuzu sherbet...(sorry no photos)

Totally full, with no access to wifi or tv and the rain coming down, we ended up turning in at 20:30!

It was another long but great day.

Ochayanokaka
780-3 Kameshima
Yosa-gun, Ine-cho
Kyoto
Only open on Saturday and Sunday

Heishiro
155 Aza Hirata
Yosa-gun, Ine-cho
Kyoto
Phone: 0772.32.0055
Closed Thursdays
Hours: 11:00-14:00 (lunch), 17:00-21:00 (dinner)

Waterfront Inn Yosaso
507 Aza Hirata
Yosa-gun, Ine-cho
Kyoto
Phone: 0772.32.0278

p.s. I have a few more GW posts, so stay tuned!

we're back

We're back from a trip to Amanohashidate and Ine.

Golden Week ends on Thursday, so I'll work on photos and such then.

Hope to have a post up soon.

Talk to you later!