Hoshigaki is a traditional Japanese dried fruit.
Teriyaki chicken is a popular teriyaki dish.
This is a yellowtail ( Japanese amberjack ) sashimi.
These are the famous "testsunabe gyoza" of Fukoka. It is often sold as omiyage. We went to the shop in Nakasu. (Fukuoka-shi, Chuo-ku, Nishi-Nakasu 1-5)
Shinji-san and I ended our honeymoon at our favorite ramen shop in Tokyo, Ivan Ramen. Here is Ivan Orkin holding his "instant ramen" out at Sunkus convenience stores around the country. And shots of his tan tan men (my personal favorite) made with hearty whole wheat noodles and Shinji-san's favorite, the shio ramen.
The seafood in the markets in Nagasaki were fresh (fresher than what we find in Tokyo) and cheap! Shinji-san made sashimi of several types of fish. The middle photo also includes some basashi, or rare horse meat and fat, which is eaten with ginger and the local sweeter soy sauce.
Salmon rice, kabocha squash, broccoli with a sesame sauce, chikuwa stuffed with carrots and daikon and teriyaki buri.
Nagasaki is famous for its "Nagasaki Champon" which is a bowl of noodles in a tonkatsu-esque broth covered veggies and kamaboko. The top dish, on thin, dry noodles is "sara udon" which is also a local dish.
Here is the tentacles served up tempura after we ate the sashimi portion of it.
Yobuko squid is famous from Saga. We found it on the menu in a restaurant in Fukuoka. It is served while the tentacles are still moving. Great texture and a rich flavor. We enjoyed it with some wasabi and soy sauce.
In the Fukuoka station building there was a small seafood market with a beautiful display of himono, or fish that was cut open, salted and air-dried. This colorful display included tachiuo (cutlassfish), tai (seabream) and more.
A few images from The Fisherman's Wharf at Himi Port in Toyama. This is a small market on the pier at Himi Port. It is just a few minutes from the Himi Fish Market.
Our honeymoon coincided with the harvest of kanburi in the Sea of Japan. Our breakfast this morning, in the cafeteria at the market on the second floor, was "shioyaki" or salt grilled kanburi, and a sashimi platter of both kanburi and sawara.
Shinji-san wanted to see the Himi Port of Toyama famous for its kanburi, or winter buri. The market is small, the photo above shows half of the market. The top two photos are kanburi. We went to the cafeteria on the 2nd floor and had kanburi for breakfast following the morning auction.
We stopped by the lovely village Shirakawago in Gifu, famous for its thatched roof homes. This restaurant, Nomura soba, came recommended by a local. The noodles are made fresh each day.
While it was all fantastic, our favorite was the simple bowl of rice. A unique strain with a gorgeous aroma of straw and the earth.
On top of the Japanese Alps near Gero Onsen is a gorgeous little restaurant called Shimura. Top chefs like Michel Bras have come to this hot spot. Many of the vegetables are grown on this mountaintop garden and even some of the fish is caught by the chef.
On our way to Gero Onsen we transferred at Nagoya. We stopped to try some of the local dishes including "miso katsu" which is tonkatsu with a sweet miso dressing. The other dish, "hitsumabushi" is unagi that is eaten ochazuke style.
This is a typical new year's dish.
We started the 2009 New Year with osechi ryori that I cooked along with tarabagani crab and a sashimi platter that Shinji-san's dad made.
This is the osechi ryori, Japanese food for New Year's Day, that I cooked for Shinji-san and his family. Iritori is the colorful box with carrots, snow peas, lotus root, gobo, konnyaku, shiitake mushrooms and chiken. 