A bit late in posting this but, I want to share my wonderful experience at one of my good friends' Kayo's family home in Tsuchiura where I was graciously welcomed to participate in their annual New Year's celebration. I was especially fortunate since I am currently reading "Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self Portrait of Small Town Japan" which was a generous souvenir given to me by Mr. Kimura on a previous visit. It's a colorful collection of stories written about Japan in the early 1900s about this very same town! I could sense some of the "Old Japan" described in the book during various experiences I had while staying there. Tsuchiura is northeast of Tokyo, a little over an hour by train, in the Ibaraki prefecture and is much more a countryside/small town feeling. It's nice to get away from busy, crowded Tokyo sometimes!
Speaking of colorful, lets get right down to the good stuff: food! As most of you can tell by now, I am hamatteru (crazy for) Japanese food, so how lucky was I? Well, since the Kimura family's business is a local shop selling unagi (broiled glazed eel) and tsukudani (various soy-glaze broiled small fish/seafood), needless to say that high-quality food is VERY important to the them! I knew that the meal would be great, but I had no idea how much so!!! In the picture above (from left to right) I was treated to hotate (scallop), shimp and vegetable tempura soba, kaki (fresh oysters), and kani (crab). And this was just for first meal! wa~oishii!
Next comes the osechiryouri (traditional New Year's foods). Every region, and probably every family, does this meal somewhat differently I have been told. The Kimuras did so much work to prepare such an incredible and sumptuous feast, I felt so grateful to be able to share in enjoying it. First (from left to right) is an overview of all the dishes, second is the "crown dish" osechi (with its assortment of raw and smoked fishes, vegetables, nuts, cheeses), third is a nimono (soysauce-based stew with mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, lotus root and konnyaku) and far right is a seafood salad with octopus, shrimp, fish eggs, and greens. Gochisousama deshita! (it was a great feast)!
These are some shots I took while there and was kind of having fun with lighting and focus. The first one is of kiyomeru (place at shrines where wash hands to purify), the next 2 showing some nice patterns on drinkware, and last one is 'yours truly' painting one eye on the daruma (good luck figure seen around new year's that will grant your wish).
Before leaving for Tokyo, Kayo gave me a tour of the family store that i mentioned earlier. Komatsuya is a very charming shop and was festively decorated for the holiday. Since Kayo is wonderful at Japanese calligraphy and art/design in general, most of the signs and advertisements for the store were created by her. In the 2 pics on the right, you can see the unagi chef preparing the eel for our delicious unajuu (broiled eel served over rice in a laquer obento box). Its very hard to do this since the eel is so soft and broiling it in this way is not at all easy. The eel is dipped 3 times in the glaze while cooking and end up as you can see on the far right. wa~ oishisouna! By far, this was the best eel I have ever eaten and I can't imagine it gets any better ^_^
Additionally, I just want to say that amidst all the INCREDIBLE food, the most enjoyable part was being fortunate enough to spend time talking with Kimura family members, including Grandpa (who is over 90 and challenged me to o-sake drinking! He won, by the way...), Mr. and Mrs. Kimura who were such great hosts and with whom I had many interesting talks, sisters Mimi and Yukiko who were so nice and made feel so welcomed, as well as cousins, uncles and aunts with whom I had so much fun talking and drinking! Kayo's Grandma, sadly, had passed a few years ago so I didn't have the chance to meet her. However, through photos and fond stories, I could tell from everyone that she was there celebrating as well : )
So, if you ever find yourself in a small town with lots of history called Tsuchiura, please drop by the Kimuara's store Komatsuya for the best unagi you will ever have! Many, many thanks to everyone again for an unforgettable traditional Oshougatsu! ^_^
