noryo yuka

Kyoto is surrounded by mountains making the heat and humidity hard to escape during the summer.

One thing you will see from May to September are eateries setting up large wooden platforms.

These are called "noryo yuka" or "kawadoko" depending on the area the platform is set up in.

Apparently it is called "noryo yuka" if the platform is set up facing the Kamo River and "kawadoko" if the platform is set up in the Kibune area of Kyoto.

We've had experiencing the Kyoto yuka (it is also called yuka for short) on our bucket list for awhile now, and finally got to cross it off over the weekend.

Since we didn't have reservations we walked along the Ponto-cho area of Kyoto and looked at various menus and prices for their yuka.

We found a reasonably priced lunch at Ajigasane. Apparently this is run by Tenkkaippin, a large chain that is known for their ramen. Ajigasane serves kaiseki style Chinese meals.

Because there is a little stream flowing under the noryo yuka, it was very cool, almost to the point of feeling cold.

Lunch was their kaiseki bento...they had two to choose from. We had wanted to try one of each but were told that for two people you had to choose only one type of bento...boo!

So, we went with the cheaper of the two bentos...about 2900 yen plus tax.

The bento included...fried satoimo, spring roll, ginger pork tofu, salad, sashimi, sweet sour fish, assorted appetizers.

The food was delicious and really filling.

Dessert was a hard steamed castella and green tea mousse with gritty green tea that wasn't mixed well...meh!

After lunch we walked along the Kamo River.

You can see all the eateries that have their yuka set up and you will realize how high up you actually are. In Kyoto, even Starbucks has one.

Overall, we would choose another place to have lunch or dinner, but were happy to experience this and thankful that the weather was cooperative.

If ever you are visiting Kyoto during May through September, this is something I would recommend experiencing.

Ajigasane
141-4 Wakamatsu
Nakagyo, Kyoto
Phone: 075.256.1777

snackage

Picked up this savory Sahale Snacks while in Hawaii.

Called Sahale Crunchers, this pairs almonds with parmesan and herbs.

Perfect with wine or beer.

mizudashi

Been making mizudashi (cold brew) coffee these days.

The days are still very warm and it's only in the early mornings or evenings that the temps are comfortable.

Right now, my favorite jar to use is this Bonne Maman...I usually just add ice and milk for an iced cafe au lait and drink it straight from the jar.

What are you enjoying these days?

campbell early

We recently tried a grape called "Campbell Early".

The skins are dark purple and quite bitter and there are also seeds.

The size of the orbs are bigger than Delaware, oblong shaped and are a little tart.

I'm glad we got to try this variety.

It's Friday and we have a 3-day weekend, hope your weekend is a good one!

renkon shoga gohan

I was watching a show the other week and they were talking about foods that help bring your immunity up.

The show also talked about different prefectures in Japan and what they eat for longevity.

One food item that caught my eye was renkon (lotus root) shoga (ginger) gohan (rice).

In Kumamoto prefecture, they eat a lot of renkon (lotus root) and one way they like to eat it is with rice.

There wasn't a recipe given so I pieced together different recipes to come up with this...

Renkon Shoga Kamameshi : serves 4
2 cups rice, washed
45 grams shoga (ginger) thinly sliced
400 mililiters dashi (stock) (2 cups)*
40 mililiters (8 teaspoons) shoyu (soy sauce)
20 mililiters (4 teaspoons) mirin (sweet rice wine)
20 mililiters (4 teaspoons) sake (rice wine)

*To make dashi
450 mililiters water
4 grams dashi konbu (seaweed for dashi)
4 grams katsuo-bushi (dried bonito)
Put the konbu into the water and just before coming to a boil, remove the konbu.
Add the katsuo-bushi and turn off the heat.
Strain the dashi in a cheesecloth or paper towel.

For the renkon:
50 grams renkon (lotus root), washed well and chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)

After washing the rice, add the ginger, dashi, shoyu, mirin and sake and cook in your rice cooker
In a frying pan, heat the oil and toss the renkon to coat
After the renkon is coated with the oil add the sugar, sake, shoyu & mirin
When most of the liquid has evaporated add renkon to the cooked rice

NOTES: You might be wondering why the renkon isn't added to the rice to be cooked together? Apparently it will lose its "crunch" if you cook it in the rice cooker. Another point that the show made was that renkon shouldn't be peeled, just use it as is, lots of vitamins in the "skin", so scrub it well as it grows in the mud.
My ginger was really mature so there was lot of "strings", if you do use mature ginger, cut up finely instead of just thinly slicing.
Also, I would use sesame oil instead of olive oil, to give the renkon and rice a little more flavor.
Overall though, this took some time to make but I liked this and will definitely make this again.

p.s. Last night we had a lightning "show". The rain was hitting our glass door on the lanai, knocked over several plants and gave everything a good drenching. These sudden showers are one thing but the amount of rain they bring are krazy! Stay safe & dry everyone!

funky

Last night we had some funky clouds, but could still see the Harvest Moon...kinda.

Hope it was clear on your side of the world.

chushu-no-meigetsu

Last night was chushu no meigetsu. This is what they call they call a full moon in the middle of an autumnal month.

Awhile back, I wrote a detailed post about jugoya, and while researching for this post, it seems that it means the same thing as chushu-no-meigetsu...the harvest moon.

We once visited Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto while they were celebrating the Harvest Moon which I wrote about here.

　Don't forget to eat some tsukimi dango while gazing at the moon.

Enjoy!