grateful

Sometime during the ending part of November, friend Mayumi sent me several photos of her persimmon drying project.

She said she was drying 200 of them!

Today, she sent me 25 of them!

I put most of these into the freezer...and will eat some in the the coming days!

Thank you Mayumi! 

kaki no senmon

Bought some kaki (persimmon) treats from Nara.

Kaki no senmon is an online shop that specializes in everything persimmon that started in 1965.

I purchased these Kyosho no kaki (tiny dried persimmon filled with a chestnut paste)...not too sweet, love it!

We also tried their kaki no ha cha (persimmon leaf tea)...there is a slight persimmon fragrance and slight sweetness even though nothing is added.

Persimmon leaf tea apparently has lots of vitamin C, so this will help us during the upcoming winter.

One other item I purchased was their yuzu maki kaki, this was similar to something we tried in Toyama

This version is yuzu kanten that is rolled with dried persimmon.

The yuzu flavor is really light, almost non-existent

I'm glad we tried all of these.

I would definitely buy their tea and chestnut filled kaki again.

kaki namasu

Another recipe I tried from Shirogohan...kaki namasu.

I like the idea of putting fruit into the namasu.

Hopefully I can find fresh kaki for new years, so I can put some into our namasu.

1/2 kaki, peeled then sliced into thin strips

1/4 daikon, peeled

1 carrot, peeled

1/2 teaspoon salt

Namasu marinade

6 tablespoons dashi (stock)

4 tablespoons vinegar

2.5 tablespoons sugar

Julienne daikon and carrot

Add salt and massage, set aside for 10 minutes

Mix sauce and stir until sugar dissolves

After 10 minutes squeeze out the water from the carrot and daikon

Pour the sauce over the veggies and add the sliced kaki

Mix well and chill before serving

NOTES: I used the food processor and shredded the daikon and carrot

I thought adding stock to the namasu marinade was different but it adds lots of flavor

Super easy to put together and tasty

I would definitely make this again.

kakigonomi

 

Found a dried kaki (persimmon) called Kakigonomi made in Toyama prefecture.

Whole kaki that are quite large and about the size of your palm.

The seeds were large, pointy and long.

They were good with wine as well as eaten in its own.

A little pricey but I’m glad we were able to try these.

okesa

There is a variety of kaki (persimmon) called Okesa from Niigata Prefecture.

They are huge!

We tried the anpogaki (semi-dried) version and the inside is like jelly.

Delicious.

ryoheido

Ryoheido is another Gifu sweet shop from the Ena area that specializes in all things kuri (chestnut).

This particular sweet is called Kurifukukaki (literally chestnut lucky persimmon).

A dried persimmon filled with a slightly sweetened chestnut paste.

I'm glad we got to try this.

Ryoheido
kiosk inside the ticket gates of Tokyu Futakotamagawa station

ichidagaki

We tried Ichidagaki this morning.

These persimmon are grown and dried in Shinshu, Nagano.

They are a lot smaller than the anpogaki that we've tried before.

And while the anpogaki are semi-dried and more gelatinous, the texture of the ichidagaki remind me of dried apricots.

I'm glad we got to try these and I'll be on the lookout for these next season.

Satoshi went back to work yesterday and already they have a 3-day weekend...

Enjoy your weekend and if you are in the areas affected by that krazy snow cyclone thingy in the Eastern part of the US, please stay safe!

kinro kansha no hi

Today is Kinro Kansha no Hi, a national holiday that shows an appreciation for laborers and production, to me it is a combination of Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Thinking of family and friends in the States and around the world too.

Hope you all have lots to eat and are able to spend some time with the special people in your lives.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

chojugaki

We came across Chojugaki recently.

Choju means long life and gaki (kaki) is persimmon in Japanese.

The insides are not as gel-like as the anpo-gaki that we have tried in the past, but still very delicious.

I'm glad we tried this and will keep my eye out for both types.

kimorigaki

I've always thought that the reason people with kaki trees left kaki (persimmon) on the trees were because...a)they didn't eat them, b)grew tired of them or c)just couldn't reach them.

The other day, the weather dude taught me something new...kimorigaki (key-mow-ree-gah-key).

Kimorigaki is when you pick the amount of kaki that you will eat and share the rest with the birds/deer/monkeys/wild boars/bears (yup, there are all these wild animals in Japan) by leaving it on the tree...

So the next time you see a kaki tree with some persimmon still on it, you'll know why.

Cool, yeah?!

p.s. Just wanted to let you know that it will be quiet here as I go to Hawaii for an emergency...have a nice weekend, be well and hope to talk to you soon!

anpo-gaki

I've written about anpo-gaki here.

We recently tried some from Tottori prefecture that are called Saijo Persimmon.

The seeds really look like kaki no tane (rice crackers).

Even though these were the first ones that had seeds in them, the persimmon itself didn't disappoint.

Sweet and gel-like.

We're back to "warmer" weather this week. Hope your week is going well.

anpo-gaki

I had been curious seeing these anpo-gaki in the markets.

They are semi-dried persimmons. I hadn't bought them before because they tend to be kinda pricey. The kaki pictured above is 125 grams...pretty huge if you ask me.

Cutting into it is like cutting a dried apricot but there is lots of "gel". I found a great detailed article about kaki, in general, here, if you are interested.

Satoshi and I shared the anpo-gaki, I had mine with oatmeal and some pumpkin seeds.

The kaki was so sweet! like eating a jam.

I can't believe we've been missing out on this delicacy...now we know.

tanenashi kaki

The apples this year haven't been to crisp. Probably because of the funky weather.

So, I've been buying different fruits for our breakfasts...like this kaki (persimmon). It's called "tanenashi" which literally means "no seed". It actually had teeny seeds though.

What have you been enjoying?

thank you!

Got these from an acquaintance, she had these drying on her lanai and gave me 4.

They were still a bit "moist" so I am drying them on our lanai.

Thanks Mayumi-san!

It's Friday here and the end of the month...have a nice weekend!

spice kaki jam

I saw this recipe on a blog, it rained all day on Monday, so I kept busy by trying this.

My jam didn't come out as bright orange as the one on the blog, but I think it came out pretty good.

Spice Kaki Jam adapted from the internet
400 grams kaki (cut into 8ths, peeled then weighed)
80 grams sugar
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
1 tablespoon pine nuts, goji berry, raisin & almond mix + more for topping

Cut the kaki into 8ths then peel and weigh it. Take out any seeds if any.
Add the kaki, sugar, lemon juice and 5 spice into a pot and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
If there are any seeds that you couldn't remove when cutting the kaki, remove them now.
Add the pine nut mixture at the end.

NOTES: This tastes like prune mui. I think next time I make this, I would cut the kaki into smaller pieces rather than have them in slices.

This was good on yogurt, and I also added a little more of the pine nut mixture when I served it.

kaki

It is kaki (persimmon) season here.

Got a good deal on this persimmon, 78 yen and seedless.

Delicious.

world kindness day

Did you know that Sunday was World Kindness Day? I didn't.

On Monday, I ran into some kindness...a person had a box of persimmons sitting at the front of their house with a note..."please help yourself".

I've not seen this around our neighborhood much, but thought it was nice of them, so I took one.

Another man, who bypassed me while walking had taken three.

The persimmons were quite large.

I think I've said that the savory rice cracker called "kaki no tane", is named so because it resembles the seed of the kaki.

It sort of does.

Peel the skin and take out the seeds.

This one wasn't too sweet but it was a nice treat and a nice act of kindness...Gochisoosama!

kinoko and kaki

It is mushroom season here. The supermarkets are filled with all sorts of different kinoko (mushrooms).

Satoshi had to work on Saturday, so I made dinner. I used to meet him in Umeda for dinner, but his job doesn't always end on time, and sometimes I would have to wait until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm, so instead of waiting around for him to finish, I started making dinner so that I can eat when I was hungry.

Saturday's dinner was beer clams...except that I used white wine and added some maitake (hen of woods) mushrooms. I served them on toasted french bread. (The best part was dipping the toasted bread into the sauce...)

I also made some carrot cucumber salad and marinated some red onion and red bell pepper in the mustard seed vinaigrette.

Monday's dinner was adapted from the French Market.

Pork with eringi and porcini mushrooms (Serves 2)
213 grams (7.5 ounces) thinly sliced pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 eringi mushrooms, thinly sliced
handful of dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted, saving some of the mushroom "juice" (strained)
pinch of dried garlic slices
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
flat leaf parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the thinly slice pork.
In another pan, heat the other tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms.
Cook the mushrooms for about 4 minutes then add the vinegar and garlic.
Add the mushroom mixture to the pork after the pork is no longer pink.
Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with flat leaf.

Serve on toasted french bread (again dipping the bread in the sauce was the best!).

Simple and delicious.

It is also kaki (persimmon) season here. Recently my MIL gave us 3 bambucha (huge) kaki...each was about 300 grams (about 10 ounces).

Actually, I've never purchased kaki in the supermarkets because I didn't really like them. I think I've had persimmon in the past that was not ripe and really hard.

But after eating them over the past couple of days, they sort of reminded me of ripened papaya. I'll try picking some up the next time I'm in the supermarket.

We've started the weekend early here, be back to tell you about it soon.

around the neighborhood

The weather has been kind of weird, raining off and on and blustery and the sun making candid appearances. Plus, the trees still think it is autumn, some still have their leaves and the ones that didn't get to change color have started--and it is almost Christmas!....I think something is broken...

I wanted to share with you some sights from around our neighborhood.

A persimmon tree that lost all of its leaves and still had TONS of fruit.

Tsubaki (camellia) trees in both dark and light pink.

A gingerbread house in front of a baking class. Seeing this brought back memories of the Christmases where we would get together with several families to make gingerbread houses. One of the mothers would bake the parts for the houses, others would bring the candies. We would all then gather at one house and each family would put their own house together. It was tons of fun! We used royal icing to put everything together then stuck candies on the roof and walls. It was interesting, most of us had never seen or played in snow because we grew up in Hawaii, and all of our houses had icicles hanging off the roof and there were snowmen on the front lawn.

Tonight's dinner was kind of an ad-lib. I intended to make gyoza (pot stickers), but the wrappers I had in the freezer were freezer burnt or something, they were REALLY hard and not pliable, so I had to throw them out. Left with only the filling, I decided to pan fry these up...gyo-burg (gyoza burgers). With a glass of Minoo pale ale, they were delicious!

Hope you have a great week!

okara "potato" salad

Part of tonight's dinner, a "potato" salad made with okara (soy bean curd lees). I found this recipe on the okara package and changed it here and there. It is really easy to make.

Okara "Potato" Salad :serves 4

120g okara
1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly
1/2 a carrot, sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper
A few slices of ham, cubed
1 tablespoon plain yogurt--no sugar added
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1. Put the cucumber and carrot in a bowl and sprinkle salt on to it. Let sit for about 3 minutes to draw the liquid out 

2. Take veggies, rinse and squeeze out as much of the water as possible.

3. Add ham, okara, salt, pepper

4. Add yogurt and mayo. Mix well.

Enjoy!

NOTES: You can use whatever veggies you usually put into your regular potato salad (if you use frozen peas and carrots, just omit the salting (Step 1)). This recipe is good because okara has no distinct flavor of its own so it actually tastes like there are potatoes in the salad, even if there aren't! Oh, and if you make it the night before, you can come home from work and just heat up your main dish....Dinner is served!

I also wanted to share with you something that occurs during autumn--A lot of people dry their kaki (persimmons). I've often seen them hanging off their lanais, but this was the first time I got to actually try some. My student, Kazumi, gave me some yesterday, her friend's mom dried them. Apparently, they had so many kaki, that her friend's mom was peeling kaki almost everyday!

It was interesting to see up close, they use nylon type rope and stick the stem of the kaki through the rope to "string" them up. The kaki is sweet and reminds me of dried apricots. Just be careful of the pits, they are quite hard!