Category Archives: 農業

焼酎, 美食, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Shizuoka, Shochu

Shizuoka Shochu tasting: Sugii Brewer-Saisuke Shizuoka Imo

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Sugii Brewery/Distillery in Fujieda City has been noted for quite some time as producing not only top-class sake but alsoo shochu of a superlative level.
They also have the merit to use local ingredients whenever possible!

The imo, or satsuma imo/薩摩芋/sweet potatoes used in this shochu are exclusively grown in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Sweet potatoes (Shizuoka-grown)
Yeast: Shizuoka NEW-5
Kooji/麹: Yellow kooji
Distillation: Normal pressure type
Alcohol: 25.5 %
Bottled in March 2009

Clarity: very clear
Color: Transparent
Aroma: Strong. Nutty. Complex. Hints of pineapple and dry bananas
Body: fluid
Taste: Strong but smooth attack.
Lingers for a while warming up back of the palate.
More complex than expected.
Sweet but dry on the tongue.
Pineapple, nuts, dry almonds, walnuts.
Marries well with food.
Drunk on its own or on plenty of ice mainly reveals a dry nutty, almost sweetish strong accent to rapidly grow into a very dry invasion of the palate.

Overall: A shochu more elegant than expected!
Its strong nutty taste is very pleasant and marries well with any food.
I personally appreciate it on its own poured over a lot of ice like I do for any higher quality shochu, although great with the addition of lemon or lime juice or mixed with Perrier water!

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Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Bento, 美食, Ekiben, 観光, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Tourism, 弁当

Shizuoka Ekiben/Railway Station Bento: Unagi Meshi/Eel Ekiben at Shizuoka City JR Station

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Unagi/Eel/鰻 is one of the famous local products in Shizuoka Prefecture and they are particularly popular in Summer!
The eels are first grilled then repeatedly dipped into tare/sauce and broiled over a live fire.
There are many recipes for them and accordingly, tastes even vary from city district to city district!

Tokaiken Co Ltd. offers a single ekiben with eel simply called unagi meshi/うなぎめし/Eel Lunch.

The design is very simple and actually the eel represents the first character “u/う” of unagi/うなぎ in hiragana！

As usual all ingredients are clearly stated by Tokaiken Co. Ltd

A film of special paper prevents the eel to stick to the box cover!

Now, what do we have?

It all looks simple but this eel has been carefully broiled!

A small bottle of extra “tare/たれ” sauce is provided!

Pickled daikon and a sachet of Japanese pepper/sanshyou/山椒 for more seasoning.

That’s how it looks after having sprinkled the eel with the “tare” and the “sanshyou” powder!
One scoops it with chopsticks together with rice.
Simple, satisfying and delicious!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, 野菜, 農業, French Cuisine, French gastronomy, French Restaurant, Gastronomy, Shizuoka, Tourism

French Gastronomy: Shizuoka Komatsuna and French Summer White Truffles

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Service: excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable to slightly expensive, good value.
Strong points: Interesting wine list. Great use of local products.
Entirely non-smoking!

I’ve decided it is about time that I ceased to describe the full dinners of some of my favorite restaurants for the simple reasons that so many dishes deserve an article of their own!
In the future you can expect a full dinner (not all, mind you, especially for the new establishments I’m bound to discover) to be fragmented into delicious episodes!

The other day Tooru Arima/有馬亨さん surprised me again with one of his typical creations: Shizuoka-grown komatsuna and French Summer White Truffles!
The komatsuna/小松菜/Japanese mustard spinach (they don’t taste like mustard!) were organic naturally, and from Hirokawa Organic Garden in Mishima City.
Komatsuna is usually stir-fried, pickled, boiled and added to soups or used fresh in salads. It is an excellent source of calcium.
It is very popular in Japan, Taiwan and Korea and Shizuoka is a big producer and exporter.

Since truffles, be they French or Italian, black or white, are naturally organic, the whole dish can be considered as fully organic except for some sauce ingredients.

Tooru kept things simple by frying the komatsuna in olive oil with a minimum of salt and pepper.
As the komatsuna produce a lot of juices when fried, Tooru added lemon juice and fond de veau/veal stock to the juices for the perfectly balanced light sauce the vegetables deserved.
He then “simply” sliced plenty of those white truffles all over them!
Extravagant!

Note that he could have made the dish completely vegetarian or vegan (he would on request!) by replacing the fond de veau with Madeira wine for example!

To be continued…

PISSENLIT
420-0839 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Takajo, 2-3-4
Tel.: 054-270-8768
Fax: 054-627-3868
Business hours: 11:30~14:30; 17:00~22:00
Closed on Tuesdays and Sunday evening
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)
Credit Cards OK

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, 野菜, 観光, 農業, Fujinomiya City, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Shizuoka, Tourism, vegetables

Organic Vegetables at Kitayama Organic Farm (2nd interview)

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My purchase of the day!

As promised last Sunday I went all the way to Fujinomiya City yesterday to pay a visit to the Hirakakis’ Kitayama organic farm!
Masaaki Hirakaki/平垣正明さん (45) was kind enough to pick me up at the station in his small pick-up truck to drive me all the way to their home across his fields.

Masaaki Hirakaki/平垣正明さん！

Once again it was flaming hot and I certainly appreciated the slight drop in temperature as their fields lie at an altitude of 400 meters at the foot of Mount Fuji (which was lost in the clouds then). Mind you, it can be bitingly cold there in winter!

They grow all kinds of vegetables here and there on plots of land totaling 6,000 square meters!

When you discover all that natural grass (tough to keep in check!) between the rows of vegetables and among them you understand quickly that no insecticides, herbicides or agrichemicals are used there!

I just couldn’t catch all the names of the fancy vegetables, some of them in some kind of Italian. I just sweated too much and was too busy to take pics to jot down all the names! Next time I will take a secretary along…?
Anyway, these chili peppers are a sweet variety!

Common (?) green pepper.

Dwarf violet eggplant/aubergine.

Big and round violet eggplant/aubergine.

The same in its row.
Notice that the ground is protected with black vinyl to keep off insects.

Long and thin “thread eggplants/aubergines”!

Very crunchy and juicy Japanese cucumber!

Sweet potatoes/satsuma imo!
Again tough work to pull off that grass (used as compost later!)!

Beautiful pumpkin with an impossible Italian name!

The same and its flower!

I love all those healthy pumpkin flowers!

Instead of using insecticides or herbicides Masaaki “burns” the soil under vinyl sheets with the help of natural sun light and heat!

There is certainly no lack of pure water constantly flowing from the slopes of Mount Fuji!

Green okra!
Some plants are marked with a ribbon to indicate they are let grow freely to supply next year’s seeds!

Okra flowers are edible!

Big violet okra grown for their seeds!

Masaaki also grows his own rice, half for his own consumption, half for sale!

Have you ever seen rice flowers?

These tomatoes are not let to grow on stalks. They are for cooking, not to be eaten raw!

Sweet white corn field! It has to be protected with nets to fend off rampant civets!

Incredibly sweet and juicy eaten raw!

The Hirakakis (both 45 and so young!) in front of their home they built with their own hands!

Part of the day’s crop on sale!

Their home is such an intelligent jumble of bits and pieces, including some real antiques!

They do have many friends of all ages from all sorts of locations to help them organize regular parties!
Many of them are producers I will soon visit!

Organic shallots left to dry outside.

Rare organic chicken and quail eggs from a friend’s farm!

We actually went back to the fields to pick my favorite banana peppers! Incidentally these grow upwards!
The Hirakakis, professional photographers, moved here from Shizuoka City 6 years ago.
At the time Kiko had a pet rabbit she fed with organic carrot leaves grown by a friend.
They started to grow organic carrots for the pet, which developed into full-fledged organic agriculture!

Little beauties, aren’t they?

Tomatoes for cooking!

Kiko san fried the same tomatoes with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and cheese!
So sweet and delicious!

We ate them with these enormous organic sweet basil leaves!

I purchased all these for my friends in their izakaya!

Aki Suzuki/鈴木朋さん at Yasaitei/やさい亭 in Shizuoka City!
She does not look too happy, not because of the beautiful vegetables she holds, but because I caught her on a busy day! LOL

Can you guess which ones I brought?

To be continued…. I mean these trips to Fujinomiya City!

Kitayama Organic Farm
Masaaki and Kiko Hirakaki
418-0112 Fujinomiya Shi, Kitayama, 3102
Tel./Fax: 0544-25-2795
Mobile phone: 090-2261-8821
HOMEPAGE
Orders accepted according to personal priorities and seasonal availability!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, Desserts, 観光, 農業, French Cuisine, French gastronomy, French Restaurant, Fruit, Gastronomy, Restaurants, Shizuoka, Tourism

French Gastronomy: Shizuoka Dessert-Fig Compote and Dark Tea Jelly at Pissenlit

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Service: excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable to slightly expensive, good value.
Strong points: Interesting wine list. Great use of local products.
Entirely non-smoking!

Shizuoka City and Prefecture are not only famous for their vegetables, but also for their fruits, and figs are certainly very popular here!
Shizuoka Prefecture also produces more than 45% of the total green tea crop in Japan, but did you know it was also the birthplace of dark tea (black or red) in Japan?

Chef Tooru Arima/有馬亨さん has this knack and talent to combine French and Japanese gastronomies in a constant search for originality and new tastes!
I wonder how much time he spends on them as the simple complete peeling of a fig before cooking it in compote is painstaking and sticky work!

Preparing food is one thing, but presenting it is certainly another!
No wonder Tooru’s desserts are so celebrated in this town!
Incidentally, this beautiful mint is organic from Hirokawa Garden in Mishima City!

The jelly is made from dark tea cultivated and processed in Shizuoka Prefecture and laid over a granite made with the juices of the fig compote!

Yes, not only a spoon but you also need a fork and knife to fully enjoy and appreciate this superb dessert!
I do not need to explain the pleasure I had cutting the fig and admiring the colors!

And it was absolutely succulent and again perfect in this hot weather!
To be continued…

PISSENLIT
420-0839 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Takajo, 2-3-4
Tel.: 054-270-8768
Fax: 054-627-3868
Business hours: 11:30~14:30; 17:00~22:00
Closed on Tuesdays and Sunday evening
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)
Credit Cards OK

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, 野菜, 観光, 農業, French gastronomy, Gastronomy, Japan, Shizuoka, Tourism

French Gastronomy: Kakegawa Tomato Jelly and Gaspacho with Hokkaido Salmon at Pissenlit

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Service: excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable to slightly expensive, good value.
Strong points: Interesting wine list. Great use of local products.
Entirely non-smoking!

Kakegawa City and its neighborhood are celebrated all over Japan for its superlative tomatoes.
Chef Tooru Arima/有馬亨さん, who is very particular about his vegetables, obtains his tomatoes from Mr. Ishitani/石谷さん and comes with some very interesting, and delicious, creations with a vegetable which has become so common!

The tomatoes come into two facets of this beautiful dish:
First the tomato jelly which “rides” a piece of marinated salmon called “tokishirazu”/時鮭, a variety from Hokkaido. This jelly is made from sieved tomato pulp, gelatin and the strict minimum of (secret?) spices, salt and pepper.
Second the soup, or gaspacho, made with the same sieved tomato pulp and first-class olive oil.

For a better view!

The bed of lettuce is organic from Hirokawa Garden in Mishima City!
Served chilled, it makes for the perfect appetizer in hot summer! I can assure I didn’t leave a drop of the gaspacho!
And it is so healthy!

A little pice of the same marinated salmon with coarse ground pepper!

To be continued…

PISSENLIT
420-0839 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Takajo, 2-3-4
Tel.: 054-270-8768
Fax: 054-627-3868
Business hours: 11:30~14:30; 17:00~22:00
Closed on Tuesdays and Sunday evening
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)
Credit Cards OK

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Bento, 美食, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Shizuoka, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/43): Another Earthquake Bento

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I’m getting used to earthquakes…
Just before midnight yesterday the shouts of the Missus woke me up. I had gone to bed early while she was still fiddling with the computer.
On the Japanese scale a 6.2 tremor struck from deep in the Suruga Bay just in front of Shizuoka City which was jolted up to 5.2 but only for a short time fortunately.
Having made sure the Missus had calmed down I just went back to bed…

This morning things were normal as no tsunami or damage had been announced.
The Missus was soon hard at work preparing my bento…

While the rice was being steamed she prepared one of her specialties, chicken breast fillets stir-fried with burdock root and black sesame seeds. She included sesame oil and spices at the last minute and mixed the whole with the rice and letting it cool before filling the first box with it!

I contributed to the side dish as she used some of the organic vegetables from Kitayama Farm in Fujinomiya City I had brought her last Sunday.

She stir-fried the above as well as using some of the tomatoes for the salad.

She stir-fried the small violet egg plants she had sliced beforehand with the roughly cut banana pimento in basically the same way as the chicken with plenty of yellow sesame seeds.
She cooked plain and slightly sweet tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette with a nice crispy outside.

As for the salad she placed three types of sliced tomatoes on a bed of lettuce: The orange tomatoes and the green heirloom tomatoes are organic.
She added a last touch with Shizuoka-grown (Shimizu Ku) blueberries.

Who said that an earthquake stimulates the appetite?

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Baird Beer, Beer, 美食, 観光, 農業, Gastronomy, Tourism

Bryan Baird’s Newsletter (2011/08/02): Asian Beauty Biwa Ale & Brewer’s Secret Handshake

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Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin
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Upcoming Seasonal Releases: Asian Beauty Biwa Ale & Brewer’s Secret Handshake

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

We continue thirstily working down through our deep lineup of Baird Beer summer seasonals. Today it is one of our special fruited ales that is stepping up to the plate: Asian Beauty Biwa Ale.

Asian Beauty Biwa Ale 2011 (ABV 5.8%):
Biwa is “the small, yellow, edible, plum-like fruit of the loquat tree.” We had no idea what it was until our partner-friend-carpenter-farmer, Nagakura-san, brought some in several years ago for us to taste and then brew with. It is an extremely subtle fruit that harmonizes sweetness with tartness. Asian Beauty Biwa Ale is coyly fruity, spritely effervescent and yet delicately firm — like a true Asian Beauty!

Asian Beauty Biwa Ale 2011 begins pouring from our Taproom taps beginning Wednesday, August 3, and it is available for delivery from our brewery beginning Tuesday, August 2. Due to the very limited number of bottles (633 ml), we will not be selling Asian Beauty on our consumer E-Shop. It will be available, however, through select Baird Beer retailing liquor shops in Japan.

In the summer seasonal on deck circle is a sacred ale: Brewer’s Secret Handshake.

Brewer’s Secret Handshake (ABV 6.0%):
The German city of Dusseldorf is renowned for its Altbier. From time to time, apparently, the city’s Altbier brewpub brewers make seasonal specialty Alts as surprise treats for customers. These specialty Alts are known as sticke (secret) Alts or Latzenbier (slab beer). Compared to standard Altbier, the secret versions tend to be stronger, darker and hoppier, according to German beer writer Horst Dornbush.

Brewer’s Secret Handshake is our version of a sticke Alt. It is fairly strong (6% by volume), darkish brown in color, and unabashedly hoppy (50 IBUs of US Magnum, NZ Hallertau Aroma, US Perle and German Tettnanger). It will be available to Taproom patrons who are privy to the brewer’s secret handshake beginning Wednesday, August 10. Shipments to Baird Beer retail accounts will begin on Tuesday, August 9. Retail accounts are welcome to contact Kojima-san at the brewery office and begin reserving for shipment kegs and bottles (633 ml). Again, due to very limited bottle supply, we will not be selling Brewer’s Secret Handshake on the brewery E-Shop.

Upcoming Taproom Events:
*Harajuku Taproom 2-Year Birthday Celebration (Sat-Sun, August 6-7):

That Japanese traditional yakitori-style food and flavorful craft beer are wonderful mates when matched together has been demonstrated beyond doubt by our Harajuku Taproom. This coming weekend, the Harajuku Taproom will be celebrating its 2-year birthday. Highlights of the weekend celebration include:

Tapping of its anniversary ale: Terrible Two Hara-Tap Birthday Ale (a strong golden ale — 6.7% abv — with moderate levels of hop bitterness but heavily laden with spicy-herbal hop flavor and aroma (courtesy of Slovenian Styrian Golding, US Santiam and NZ Hallertau Aroma). This special brew will be available only on draught and only at the Harajuku Taproom
Special weekend-only food menu with items priced in the 500 yen range.
Standing room will be made available for this weekend event and all orders will be handled on a cash-on basis. Please mark your calendar and plan on joining the celebration (and be sure to wish the terrific team at Harajuku a Happy Birthday!).

Cheers,

Bryan Baird

Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, 野菜, 観光, 農業, Fujinomiya City, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Organic Vegetables, Tourism, vegetables, Vegetarian cuisine, 有機野菜

Organic Vegetables at Kitayama Organic Farm (1st interview)

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As the second Sunny Sunday Event was held in front of Parco Department Store, Shizuoka City, yesterday I went to check if Ｉ could find new participants to this local market featuring shops and growers from all over the Ｐrefecture.

It certainly paid off as I had the pleasure to meet Masaaki and Kiko Hirakaki/平垣雅章と紀子さん, a very young-minded couple from as far as Fujinomiya City at the foot of Mount Fuji, an area celebrated for its many organic vegetables growers!

Kiko had this great idea to exhibit their vegetables in pots, pans, baskets and boxes and provide customers with osier baskets to choose their vegetables at their own leisure!

These beautiful pumpkins are not easily available in Europe but here in Japan they are very popular!

It is certainly a great pleasure for a lot of people to discover that such common place vegetables are also grown organically!

So cute and so appetiｚing!

Actually Mr. and Mrs. Hirakakい are also professional photographers who decided to seriously grow organic vegetables 4 years ago!

They were so passionate explaining everyone all about their vegetables, their season, their taste, the best way to cook them and so forth!

They certainly attracted some major celebrities of Shizuoka Gastronomy!
I very much doubt I will be able to take such a picture at ease any time in the future:
Ms. Tokiko Hirano/平野斗紀子さんof Tamara Press
Mr. Testuya Sugimoto/杉本哲也さん, Owner/Chef at Tetsuya Sugimoto
Mr. Tooru Arima/有馬亨さん/Owner/Chef at Pissenlit
Mr. Fujio Satsukawa/薩川さん/Owner/Chef at Chez Satsukawa
It also shows that the Hirakakis have attracted some serious interest!

Look at the beauties I bought and that the Missus is going to prepare for us tonight!

I will have ample opportunity to explain all about their vegetables and varieties as I’m going all the way to Fujinomiya City and interview them very soon!

Kitayama Organic Farm
Masaaki and Kiko Hirakaki
418-0112 Fujinomiya Shi, Kitayama, 3102
Tel./Fax: 0544-25-2795
Mobile phone: 090-2261-8821
HOMEPAGE

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

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Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

焼酎, 美食, 酒, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Numazu City

Shizuoka Shochu Tasting: Takashima Brewery: “En” Sherry Barrel Matured Rice Shochu

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Takashima Brewery in Numazu City has been justifiably considered for the past few years as one of the most daring Sake Breweries in Japan.
Not only content with producing nationally recognized sakes, they also make use of the sakekasu/white lees of their premium sakes into some extraordinary rice shochu!

Having distilled the sakekasu into shochu spirits they store the latter in sherry barrels inported from Spain to mature for at least two years.
The result is a unique nectar the color of wood.
Actually, the first time they submitted it for registration with the Japan Bureau of Taxes and Excise, it was refused for the somewhat pernicious reason it was too dark and resembled too much to whisky!

Takashima Brewery: “En” Sherry Barrel Matured Rice Shochu

Rice
Alcohol: 25~26%

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Wooden, light brown orange
Aroma: Strong. Alcohol. Plums, oranges.
Body: Fluid
Taste: Fruity and complex.
Plums, nuts.
Disappears quickly warming up the back of the palate for a long time.
Both elegant and puissant.
Fruits keep reappearing with every sip.
Very reminiscent of whisky and anturally dry sherry.

Overall: Extremely elegant and rare shochu!
Probably a unique taste in the whole of Japan.
Drinks easily.
So complex that it requests many a sip to properly discern it.
Should be drunk poured over a lot of ice.
Mixing it with water, or anything else for that matter, would be tantamount to infanticide!

Takashima Brewery
410-0312 Shizuoka prefecture, Numazu Shi, Hara, 354-1 ( a few minutes walk from Hara JR Station)
Tel: 055-966-0018
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

美食, 酒, 観光, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, sake, Shizuoka, 地酒

Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Sugii Brewery-Suginishiki Yamahai Junmai Homare Fuji Genshu

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The name of this brew just made by Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City seems indeed a long story!
Yamahai is the old traditional natural way of making sake shunned by many breweries but not so much here where this brand of sake is increasingly becoming popular!

It has two great nerits: it is made with Homare Fuji sake rice grown in Shizuoka Prefecture and it is a junmai (no alcohol added) genshu (no water added). Practically untouched!

Rice : Homare Fuji
Rice milled down to 70%
Alcohol: 18~19 degrees
Dryness: -1.0 (sweet by Shizuoka standards)
Acidity: 2.2
Yeast: Association No 7
Pasteurised only once
Brewed in 2010
Bottled in July 2011

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Faint golden hue
Aroma: Fruity: banana,, custard, pears.
Body: fluid
Taste: Dryish attack with a lot of pears and junmai petillant.
Complex. Fruity: Pears, oranges, custard.
Pears lingering in the back of the mouth for a while.
Very pleasant and easy to drink.
High alcohol contents affect taste very little.
Turns quickly dry after a sweetish start in spite of its -1.0 status (sweet).
Oranges, pears, black cherries and even almonds keep coming back with further sips.
Changes little with food.

Overall: Very pleasant sake in spite of its Yamahai genshu status which just shows how great skills can help make such a supposedly strong sake easy to drink.
Complex and surprising.
Although obviously designed to accompany food it is best enjoyed on its own slightly chilled. It could reveal other facets if served lukewarm/nurukan.
Certainly one of the best sake made with Homare Fuji rice I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
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Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Bento, 美食, Ekiben, 観光, 駅弁, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, Shizuoka, Tourism, 弁当

Shizuoka Ekiben/Railway Station Bento:　Natsu Chisen

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Saturday is a busy day and I just don’t have the time to go to a restaurant or back home.
No problem at all as the Shizuoka City JR Station is quite near!
As I knew that the new seasonal Summer Ekiben called Natsu Chisen/夏千扇/”The Thousand Fans of Summer” was on sale it was a good occasion to sample it!

Like the Spring edition, the box is longer than usual and beautiful and served with chopsticks and toothpick!

At 1,000 yen, it is not so cheap, but it is fresh and fast! And it is local food!

As usual the contents are clearly indicated by Tokaiken Co. Ltd.

A piece of hard transparent paper protects the contents.

Now, what do we have here?

Ume Chirime Han/梅ちりめん飯/steamed rice mixed with bits of umeboshi/pickled Japanese plum and fried shirasu/sardine whiting also called chirimenjyako!

Katsuo Ryuuta Age/鰹竜田揚/Deep-fried bonito which had been previously coated with cornstarch.
Salad of rice-vinegar-pickled cucumber, wakame seaweed and thin rice noodles.
Orange wedges.

Nikudango/肉団子/Meat ball in sweet and sour sauce.
Tamagoyaki/卵焼き/Japanese omelette (quite sweet!)
Salad of cooked beansprouts and senmai/せんまい/ a kind of wild mountain vegetable.

Yuba Hirouusu/湯葉ひろうす/Tofu ball containing vegetables.
Boiled stringbean and carrot, konnyaku/elephant’s foot tuber jelly, and simmered tougan/冬瓜/Winter melon in the shape of a leaf!

Lettuce around broiled aji/鯵/Horse mackerel and soy sauce mini bottle.
nasu/茄子/eggplant (aubergine), in this case mini-eggplant grilled, peeled and served with grated ginger!
The little green cube is matcha jelly!

Very satisfying and delicious. A real summer ekiben in spite of the name “Winter melon”!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

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Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Bento, 美食, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/42): Tea Soba & Cherry Shrimps Quiche Bento!

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I wonder whether I could say this Bento bore the influences of East and West!
Tea and soba/buckwheat noodles are definitely Eastern although they eat a lot of buckwheat in Western France…
Quiche is definitely Western but the Cherry Shrimps can be found only in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan!

The soba/buckwheat noodles are made in Hamamatsu City with Shizuoka Tea, hence their beautiful color!
The Missus having boiled, drained and cooled them, mixed them with salad beans and hime soba/姫蕎麦/buckwheat sprouts and tea dressing from Shizuoka before topping them with freshly grated wasabi from Utogi, Shizuoka City! Very local ingredients, indeed!

The side dish comprised the aforesaid Cherry Shrimps/sakuraebi/桜海老/ from Yui, Shimizu Ku, Shizuoka City, inside the quiche!

The quiche had been made the night before as a friend had come for dinner then!

The quiche had been made in the modern way, that is, light and healthy with a very thin crust consisting of filo crust.

The quiche had been laid over a bed of cress and complemented with more cress, red radishes and grape tomatoes all from Shizuoka.
As for dessert a couple of Japanese cherries!

Plenty of colors, healthy. delicious and so local!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

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Bento, 美食, 農業, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/41): Cherry Shrimps & Chicken Patties Bento!

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Sakura ebi/桜海老/Cherry Shrimps are the most famous seafood of Shizuoka Prefecture, a region already blessed with the richest bay in Japan, namely Suruga Bay/駿河湾.
Although we are not in season they are available frozen, good enough for a bento!
In season they become a real treat, cheap here but at steep prices elsewhere if fresh!

The Missus first steamed rice with finely cut ginger root and the cherry shrimps, and once cooked, mixed the whole lot with boiled edamame (green soy beans).

It certainly makes for great design, colors and balance.
It also gives an extra satisfactory “bite” to the rice!

The side box consisted of ingredients both from the land and the sea!

Those tubes are called “chikuwa/竹輪 in Japanese. They are made of fish paste first steamed then grilled around a stick.
They can be bought in any supermarket in Japan. If you cut them and push cheese or cucumber sticks inside them like the Missus did they for great design (and snacks, too!).

Chicken patties are called “tsukune/つくね in Japanese. They consist of minced chicken and spices (the Missus wouldn’t tell me!).
The Missus wrapped them in shiso leaves before pan-frying them for extra taste.
She added fresh shiso leaves, mini tomatoes and “himesoba/姫蕎麦/buckwheat sprouts for vitamins and fibers.
The dessert was blackberries from our balcony!

Very much a summer bento!

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

With a Glass,
Clumsyfingers by Xethia
Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento

Beer, 観光, 農業, Gastronomy, Numazu City, Tourism

Bryan Baird’s Newsletter (2011/07/27): Baird-Ishii-Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA Charity Collaboration Brew

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Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin
bryan-sayuri.gif

Debut: Baird-Ishii-Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA Charity Collaboration Brew

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant disaster that struck the Tohoku region of Japan in March destroyed and upturned tens of thousands of human lives, not to mention the economic and environmental havoc that it wreaked, and continues to wreak to this day. The catastrophe lays bare for all to see and feel the tenuous nature of life.

Tragedy, though, also can bring to the fore the best and most enduringly strong aspects of life: e.g. selfless sacrifice, generosity of spirit, camaraderie among strangers, etc. These inspirational and life-affirming human traits have, thankfully, been demonstrated in countless number in the aftermath of the Tohoku disaster.

It was in this life-affirming vein, I think, that Stone Brewing Company of San Diego, California invited Baird Brewing and Ishii Brewing (a Guam-based brewery owned and run by Japanese national, Toshi Ishii) to collaborate on a beer that would be brewed with two purposes in mind: (1) financial contribution to the Tohoku region disaster relief effort, and (2) encouragement of spiritual uplift and joy in an otherwise depressing time. Wonderful beer is a powerful thing; humans have know this for many millennia. As brewers, the one thing we certainly can do in times like this is try to harness and unleash the positive power of beer.

The great bulk of the 300 barrels or so of Baird-Ishii-Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA that was brewed has been sold (and continues to be) in the United States, with Stone Brewing generously donating 100% of its sales revenue to the International Red Cross, earmarked for Tohoku disaster relief. Fortunately, though, through the offices and hard work of Stone’s Japanese importer, Nagano Trading, we were able to procure a couple pallets of the collaboration beer for delivery to Japan. These pallets arrived at Yokohama port several days ago and have just now cleared customs. The first of these kegs will be tapped, in a Taproom-wide charity celebration, this Friday, July 29 at 5:00 pm sharp at all Taproom locations.

Taproom-wide Charity Celebration Debut: Baird-Ishii-Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA (Friday, July 29, 5:00 pm Kick-Off):
Ishii-san and I flew to San Diego in May to brew this collaborative IPA with Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele and his Stone Brewing team. Several rounds of collaborative emails in advance of our trip yielded the beer concept: a strong (9% ABV — matching the magnitude of the Tohoku earthquake) and hugely hoppy (over 100 kettle IBUs of Warrior and Pacifica varieties and two-stage dry-hopping with a combination of Aramis, Crystal, Pacifica and whole leaf Sorachi Ace) ale enjoying a simple but robust malt base (100 percent Maris Otter from England), made drier by additions of Belgian candi sugar, and brought into complete balance with dry-tea additions of whole leaf Shizuoka sencha. I have yet to drink the finished beer myself, but the reviews coming from the U.S. are tremendous.

Each of our Taproom pubs has an allotment of four kegs of Japanese Green Tea IPA, which will be poured until the final one kicks. They will be sold by the pint (1100 yen), half-pint (750 yen) and taster glass (400 yen). We will donate all of the sales proceeds to the Tohoku Project of the All Hands Volunteers charity organization (http://hands.org/projects/project-tohoku/). This wonderful organization is lean and focused, assembling teams of volunteers who are dispatched to the Tohoku region to engage in the vital work of clean-up and reconstruction. The Tohoku project director is Mr. Satoshi Kitahama who can be reached at the following address: satoshi@kitahama.com.

In addition to this Taproom allotment of kegs, Nagano Trading has a dozen or so more which it plans to allot in a blind raffle to interested craft beer retailers. The raffle allotment will be announced by Nagano Trading on August 3. Also, one pallet of bottles of the Japanese Green Tea IPA has been imported by Nagano Trading. Retailers and individual customers interested in obtaining kegs or bottles should contact Andrew (andrewbalmuth@naganotrading.com) or Akemi (akemiohira@naganotrading.com) of Nagano Trading directly.

In the spirit of this charity effort, Nagano Trading also has volunteered to donate a portion of its sales proceeds to Tohoku disaster relief. We would ask that all other retailers who obtain and sell this Japanese Green Tea IPA also donate some portion of the sales revenue to a charitable organization involved in Tohoku relief. We will be sure to post a list of all donations made once the last bottles and kegs have been sold.

We look forward to hosting you at one, or more, of our Taproom pubs this Friday for the charity debut of this truly one-of-a-kind collaboration beer. Please come thirsty and with a charitable spirit.

Cheers,

Bryan Baird

Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery