hinata nouen

I recently ordered some figs from Hinata Nouen, through Tabechoku...(I think this is the sixth time I've ordered from Tabechoku since the pandemic started)

This farm is located in Okayama Prefecture.

The set had 3 varieties of figs...Violette de Sollies (left), Masui Dauphine (right).

Violette is a dark purple almost black, Masui Dauphine is a bright red.

and Rhodes...3565 yen tax and shipping included

This is what they looked like when cut in half.

I really wanted to sample the Violette variety because it is apparently really rare in Japan...it was really sweet!

Since the bulk in my order were the Rhodes variety and had to be eaten "right away", I made a small batch of Fig Vanilla Jam.

I also realized that this was the variety I had used when I made this recipe many years ago.

Christine Ferber, the chef whose recipe I use to make this jam, liked my post...total fangirl moment

Looking forward to eating this in the coming months.

 

matsuyama-okayama-osaka

Being a history buff, Satoshi was interested in visiting the Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum.

The novel (Saka no Ue no Kumo) was written by Ryotaro Shiba and introduces several characters who were natives of Matsuyama in the Meiji Era and illustrated that with hard work, anything is possible.

Having not read the book or seen the television drama, I walked through the museum and just soaked in the atmosphere and architecture, which by the way was designed by Tadao Ando (a well-known architect from Osaka).

On the property is also Bansuiso, a French-style structure built in 1922 by a descendant of the Lord of the Matsuyama Clan.

Inside, they were holding a tsubaki (camellia) exhibit.

The camellia is the city flower.

I appreciated that their street cars all had wifi access.

One interesting thing we tried were mikan onigiri by Tamaya.

We got one beef and one chicken.

Both were so tasty! the beef and chicken were tender and the combination of sweet, salty was delicious.

I've tried twice to re-create this already, and think I am getting close to posting about it...

As we walked to the birth home of the Akiyama brothers (residents of Matsuyama that were written about in "Saka no Ue no Kumo"), there was a line outside of a sweets shop, Kiri no Mori.

While Satoshi went to check out the brothers house, I stood in line for these...Kiri no Mori daifuku.

Pillowy soft mochi, sweet bean paste & whipped cream...dusted with matcha powder....mmm!

I'm glad I got one for each of us!

We also tried Botchan Dango...Botchan is a character in the novel of the same name, written by Natsume Soseki, a novelist who lived Matsuyama.

These were really soft bean pastes, not too much taste...meh!

Pon Juice...I've written about this juice here.

I also came across this nice sized bag of brussels sprouts for only 100 yen!

It took a little over 3 hours to get from Matsuyama to Okayama then another hour on the Shinkansen to take us back to Osaka.

At least the weather was nice and we were able to see what we wanted to.

Hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Tamaya
6-13 Dogo-yunomachi
Matsuyama, Ehime
Phone: 089.915.5014

Kiri no Mori
3-3-1 Okaido
Matsuyama, Ehime
Phone: 089.934.5567
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-19:00

kibidango

Awhile back I had written about kibidango.

Well, Satoshi had a business trip to Okayama recently and brought back some kibidango.

These were different from the ones I had previously written about because they weren't covered with kinako (powdered soy bean).

These were quite tiny and perfect with some green tea.

Oh and today is Boy's Day, well, they now call it Children's Day.

I ran into a dressed up Colonel Sanders and had to share...he is dressed in an origami kabuto (helmet) for the occasion.

kibidango

Do you know the story of "Momotaro" (the Peach boy)? Chances are you do, but for those of you that don't, I've found a brief version here. The millet dumplings that appear in the story are called kibidango (millet cakes). These are made like mochi (rice cakes) but instead of rice they use millet. They were really soft and covered with kinako (powdered soy bean).

The prefecture of Okayama boasts that they are the home of Momotaro--though no one really knows for sure. These were omiyage (a souvenir) from Maui Luna, Okayama is her hometown. (Thanks Maui Luna!)

p.s. Today is Satoshi's birthday. I'm not sure what type of cake to make but hopefully I'll get around to it!