Country Manor Jiroemu

Boss Man got a call from a local restaurant owner the other day, and the owner said "Bring Liz to the restaurant sometime soon."  Boss Man asked me, "Do you so Mr. X?" but I didn't no anyone by that name, so I was a bit perplexed.  Nonetheless, we made plans to have lunch at the restaurant that Friday and see what was going on. Boss Man had been there a few times to entertain guests from Vietnam, so he knew the way.  We drove  into Miyoshi, and as we got further and further off the main streets I started to wonder where we were.  Then Boss Man says "We're here!" and turns off the car.  I get out, and to my surprise, I see this:

The gate house was built in 1884 and the main house in the back was built over 300 years ago!

 SICK!  I knew I was in for a new experience. Jiroemu is the name of the estate.  Yes, the house has a name.  It's been around for centuries, and the current master of the house started a restaurant with his wife.  They grow their own vegetables, and raise their own chickens. The vegetables are organic and the chickens are raised uncaged, so I can feel good about eating here!

It's tsubame season!  In the summer, tsubame, or swallows, build their nests under roofs all over town. They are protected so people just leave them be.  I'm glad because they are the cutest birds I've ever seen. This sign says be careful of the swallows above.

I love the kitschy, homey feel of the interior.

The house is so old! There is an old fashioned sewing machine, and in the corner is a Victrola (old record player) on top of an old-fashioned refrigerator.  It's the kind you have to put a block of ice in!

LUNCH!  They only serve things they have raised, grown in their garden, or gathered themselves. Everything is fresh and organic and healthy! The concept is to serve food like the food Japanese farmers used to eat.

Grandma's pickles.  With the exception of the pickled plum on the bottom left and the ginger on the bottom right, everything is radish! It's all picked differently, though, so you can enjoy several different textures and flavors.  I was in love with the sweet mustard pickles, bottom middle.  

This is a type of cheese.  They boil milk down and skim off the curds, which they then season.  For cheese, it's really light but very flavorful.

This one was a salad of fresh bamboo shoots! Bamboo shoots are low in calorie and high in fiber and vitamins!  I usually don't like bamboo shoots because they can be hard, but these were tender and delicious.

These are fuki! Fuki are an edible plant that is traditionally gathered in the mountains.  Lots of people eat it around here simmered in a soy-sauce based broth, but its easy for them to get really salty.  I don't know what these were simmered in, but they had a really light taste so I polished this off in no time.

They must've known I was coming.  They just knew I love tomatoes.  I am a sucker for delicious, fresh tomatoes.  I have no idea what this green leafy stuff is but it added an herb-y taste that matched very well.  I could eat this for days.

Candied orange peel!  Again, I usually avoid it because it just tastes like straight sugar to me, but this was delicious.  It was really lightly candied so it just tasted like a very sweet orange; the sweetness didn't overpower the citrus flavor, and it was really soft like a piece of candy.

Homemade miso soup (as in, the miso itself is homemade) with bitter melon.  Yum!

This is the fluffy omelet made with eggs from the chickens they raise cage-free!  This is actually Boss Man's omelet.  They actually like to make their omelets "melty", which is what Japanese people tend to prefer. I like my eggs boiled and scrambled HARD, no juicy stuff, so my omelet was a bit different but still really good!  The mayonaise is also made from the same eggs.  You can buy a bottle if you like it!

Does anyone else know Donna Summer?  "Dim all the lights sweet darlin',  'cause tonight it's all the way..."

"Turn up the old Victrola, gonna dance the night away!"  It's so exciting!  When I was a kid I always wondered what a Victrola is.  BAM!  There it is.

 It turned out that the master of the house asked me to do a translation for the restaurant, which I accepted gladly.  Then again, his wife speaks English really well!  I think they can handle English speaking guests without problem.

Still... this place was definitely an experience. I was so excited about it that when I got home, I told my friends all about it. I had two friends visiting me from the US and they were supposed to leave that afternoon, but they were so interested in the restaurant that they rearranged their schedule so I could take them for dinner.  I brought along Kimbap from down the street, too.  Yay!

The second time I went, I still wasn't hungry yet, but they were kind enough to bring out some items I hadn't tried earlier.  This is their homemade chicken sausage and a stir-fry. The stir fried chicken is marinated in shio-koji, which is this year's most talked about health food!  Its a sauce made out of a mold used for fermenting.  It may sound gross, but it really increases the flavor of foods, makes 

Mint soda!  I'll admit, the taste is not what I expected, but I suspect that this is because I rarely have anything made with real, fresh-picked mint.  Still, its a light-tasting, refreshing drink.

Between the house and the food, the girls were impressed.  We even saw the owner of the house walk around to the back of the house and pick some of the food we would be served.  Now that's fresh!  Not only is this a great, relaxing place to have a healthy lunch (especially on a day with nice weather), it's a great place to bring visiting family and friends to give them a taste of the Japanese countryside.  I only have a week left in Minamiboso City, but I hope that amidst the packing and the farewells I will have time to come back to Jiroemu.

Liz

Kondo Farm's Stand at Furari!

After a long hiatus, Sugar and I decided to restart our weekly lunches. Hooray!

There is a book (pamphlet? I don't know what to call it) I got during my first week at city hall called "Minamiboso Kuitabi".  Kuitabi basically means "eating trip".  It's a beautiful, full color book that introduces local restaurants and their recommended dishes.  So, essentially, I have been drooling over Kondo Farm's panini for 11 months.

Luckily for Sugar and I, they have a little stand at the michi-no-eki (roadside station) in Tomiyama, Furari.  There is also a really huge farmer's stand on the first floor of Furari with fresh local veggies and fruits, live fish, prepared foods and sauces, sweets, and flowers!  The second floor has a bunch of restaurants so if you're ever in the area it's a great place to stop.  You don't even have to get off the highway!

I've been to Kondo Farm's stand 3 times before I they were always sold out.  I decided that if they were sold out again this time that fate was against me and I should just give up. Luckily, fate was on my side!

We ordered panini lunch sets. First they bring out a salad and a drink while they make the paninis. 

This may be the best mozzarella cheese I've ever had.  It's soft but firm, almost meaty.  The dressing on this salad was a simple splash of vinegar drizzled with olive oil and a touch of herbs, and sea salt. Simple is best!  It's quite good.

In comes the panini!  Oddly, the first thing I noticed is this bread.  It has an almost buttery taste.  Inside there is cheese, lettuce, tomato, and....

BACON!  ...or ham?  I dunno but it's  delicious. To be perfectly frank, I don't love the way lettuce gets soggy when it's warmed up, but I think next time I will just ask for no lettuce.  The sandwich is huge, though.  Eat it while you're there because it's just not the same once it cools down.

...and there you have it!  I'm sorry for taken pictures of a half-eaten sandwich, but I was so excited to eat this I bit into it before I remembered to take a picture.  Anyway, if you love good, fresh cheese Kondo Farm's stand is worth a try!

Liz

Odori Kitchen Just Keeps Getting Better

It's been a long time!

I've been busy with other projects and just haven't set the time aside to post lately.  I have much to show you, but in the meantime, I feel the need to revisit the subject of Odori Kitchen in Shirahama.

Roara, author of the blog "This is where I live." somehow made her way from Chiba City down to Odori Kitchen and (naturally) fell in love.  So she invited a few friends and I to go down this past Saturday, blessed with good weather, and have lunch on their lovely patio.

This is my 3rd time at Odori Kitchen (my 2nd lunch) and I feel like it just gets better every time I'm there. It was a perfect day to spend a warm, spring afternoon: great food, great people, and great conversation.

The restaurant has got some new menu items in for spring, so I thought I should show you. YOU NEED TO GO!  Call me when you do... I want to go, too.

My dish!  Shrimp and asparagus tomato cream sauce pasta. The sweetness of the fresh asparagus matches well with the shrimp and long onion, and there are little capers in the sauce for a salty kick. This might be the most well-made tomato cream sauce pasta I've ever had.

Bamboo shoot and ham risotto!

Bacon and assorted green beans spaghetti.  It had string beans, sugar snap peas, and sora-mame.

Gorgonzola fusilli.  I think Seeks unhinged his jaw and threw this down his throat.  He ordered a large portion and it was still gone in 3 minutes.

The B-set lunch comes with a dessert.  Three of us had panna cotta.  It was fluffy, creamy, and delicious with vanilla bean specks and a tart fruit sauce that brought out the cool sweetness of the panna botta.

Kimbap had the very last spinach chiffon cake. (Seeks almost fought her for it.)  I'm not a huge chiffon cake fan (because I like my cakes FULL of shortening) but this was rather moist and just sweet enough. You could taste the slightest hint of spinach but it wasn't overpowering or "green" tasting.  All in all, a very well-made cake.

I don't want to be a groupie, but I am a huge fan of this restaurant.  From time to time, they also sell food from booths at local events and festivals, too.  Next time I see their booth, I'm there.  Next time I can get a friend to go for dinner with me, I'm there.  One day, when I muster up the confidence, I'm just going to go up to the owner and ask him to marry me.  Imagine eating like this every day....it would be a dream come true!

Let's get to the point: go, people.  Go now.

Liz

Cafe' of My Dreams: Rosso in Kamogawa

I am so sorry for the late post!

A few weeks ago, a friend, K, and I went up to Kamogawa (the Pacific side of the peninsula, about an hour's drive east through the mountains) to meet another friend, S, for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Rosso Bianco.  S, K, and another friend, L, have all been there multiple times and rave about how good it is.  I was skeptical (because K likes Cocos and I think their food is awful), but still really excited to try this place out.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Quite surprised, actually.  Now I feel like they were holding out on me all this time, lol. Check out the photos:

It was a cold rainy day, so coming inside to find an old-fashioned wood-burning stove washed warm and cozy feelings all over me.  Plus, the cafe' is dark in a really relaxing way.

This is exactly what it looks like: fresh tomato, mozzarella, and ham.  But really, it's SO much more.  This is a combination that's been done OVER and OVER, but at Rosso they do it so well.  The ham is a bit drier and more solid that most raw hams I've had in Japan, and the saltiness and texture balance perfectly with the sweetness of the tomatoes, the springy softness of the cheese, and the tang of the original sauce (yes, it's not just olive oil on top).

I ordered an extra plate of this.  I honestly could've just lifted the plate up and poured it down my throat,  I was so enamored with this dish.  The owner thought it was weird for someone to get so excited about something so simple. 

This is the blue cheese pasta that S ordered IN ADDITION to his full set meal and the appetizers that we shared. Good grief this man can eat.  I didn't get to taste it, but it smelled fantastic.  I think I'll be ordering pasta on my next visit....

This was what I ordered: barbecue chicken.  It is not the gooey red Kraft barbecue sauce I envisioned. It's spicy, sweet, savory, and really light.  The chicken was a juicy and flavorful skinless cut.  This was great with rice, but I think this would also be amazing on a salad.  I'd love the recipe for this sauce, too.  I think I could use this on poultry, meat, or fish easily. 

This was what K and S ordered: the beef carpaccio.  According to them, it's one of the greatest things that's ever hit their taste buds.  I have an aversion to raw animal flesh, but this dish looked and smelled pretty good, and after the great success I'd had with the other dishes I am tempted to try a piece on my next visit.

By the way, the barbecued chicken set also comes with the miso soup, rice, pickles, and little dish of veggies (top left) like this one.

a little food porn for you connoisseurs...

Dessert plate!  It was coffee jelly and a cheesecake?  I don't know what it was, but it was set down before me and I ate every last crumb like it was my last meal on earth.  I even eyed the dessert case and contemplated buying a cheesecake,  but I know I would probably get that thing home, eat myself to sleep, and wake up next to an empty dessert pan with nothing left but regret.

Check this out.  Its some sort of kitty crispy who-knows-what decoration. So adorable.  I love this place.

Look at the pretty leaves in the sauce river!  I guess now you know how long ago I visited...

So there we have it friends.  I've extended my 'Boso dining guide outside of just Minamiboso City because there are SO MANY great places to eat here.  Being in the countryside means that the food can go from the soil to your plate in the same day.  We've got freshly caught fish, fresh picked veggies, fresh dairy, and freshly slaughtered meat.  Being close to Tokyo and Yokohama means we have chefs who worked in places with some of the highest standards of food in the world, and they move out here to get away from the city. They're still close enough to Tokyo that they can go anytime, but they can enjoy the beautiful scenery, fresh air, and great produce out here. It's taken me 2.5 years, but I finally realize how lucky I am to be able to be here.

Poetic-waxing aside, Rosso Bianco might be going in my top 10.  It's casual dining, in a dim, relaxing atmosphere, with a really interesting chef (you should definitely talk to him, he's hilarious).  Plus, the drive from Minamiboso City to Kamogawa, whether through the mountains or along the beach, is absolutely beautiful.  I can't wait to go again...

Love, 

Liz

Best New Pizza Topping: Chili! @ Indy's Pizza in Chikura

My mouth is watering and my stomach is growling as I write this post.

The other day my coworkers and I finally got out to Indy's Pizza in Chikura for lunch.  I say "finally" because for about 3 months we tried to plan a lunch out their, but either our schedules or their schedule (their days off can vary from month to month) didn't match up and we had to go with "plan B".

But finally, after a long wait, Sugar, Nyanko-Sensei, our friend Y-san and I got out to Indy's Pizza for some freshly made, hand-tossed, brick oven pizza from Indy's.

Here's the outside of the stop.  It's pretty easy to drive right by it if you're coming to Tateyama, so keep your eyes peeled!

I am in love with the inside of this place.  There's plenty of bright, natural sunlight, and it feels like eating in a friend's bike garage or something.  The feeling is casual, and the interior is interesting enough that if you go alone you could entertain yourself by literally staring at the walls.

Plus, the place is spotless.

There are only 4 or 5 tables and a counter inside.  You can always order pizza for takeout, though!

They built that oven by hand so they could make the wonderfully crispy, chewy pizza crusts I have grown to know and love.

Make sure you're not trying to eat in a hurry; all of their pizzas are made to order so it takes a few minutes for your food to be ready.

First up: the homemade bacon and seasonal veggie pizza. It's amazingly fresh and light tasting - the "bacon" is more of a smoked pork.  

I could eat this entire pizza without feeling the greasy bloat I get from 2 slices of Pizza Hut in the States.

Next up: a sausage and mushroom pizza.  This was very different from my image of sausage and mushroom pizza - I always think of spicy, crumbly pork sausage and sliced white button mushrooms. This pizza had the meatier, pink sausages that are better known in Japan, as well as enoki, eringi, and maitake mushrooms.  While I would've liked a little more spice from the sausage, I loved the flavor coming from the mushrooms (which I used to hate only 3 years ago).  Plus, this pizza sticks to the fresh & light theme of pretty much everything they serve.

They saved the best for last.

I have to admit, I was skeptical about this "chili beans pizza".  I mean...beans on pizza? Really?  Luckily Y-san ordered it, because it may just be the best-tasting non-traditional pizza I'VE EVER HAD.

The chili's light spice matches really well with the flavor of the cheese. It almost tasted like there was sour cream in this pizza - there was a tangy, creamy taste to it.  Plus, the texture of the meat and the beans works oddly well with the chewy, wood-fired crust.  Next time I go, I am just going to order this, stuff the entire pizza in my face, and then see if I have room for anything else.

It was so sad to leave this bastion of pizza goodness!

 When I left that day I said, "Mark my words: I'll be back." I mean it.  Actually, if I had time, I'd go there every week.  The pizza is fresh, handmade, delicious, and won't make you dieters ball up into the fetal position and cry out of remorse.

Plus, it's less than a 5 minute walk from JR Chikura station, and only a few minutes from the beach. You really have no excuse to miss this place.   Maybe I'll go again this weekend...

Liz

Super Sized Vegetable Ramen at Yamaki in Tomiura

There is a really popular ramen shop near the 7-11 in Tomiura called "Ramen Yamaki".  This place always has a line after 12:00 noon, so my coworkers Nyanko-Sensei, Sugar, and I dashed out the door and got there a little early so I could try their famed vegetable ramen.

From the outside....

... on the inside. The shop isn't very big, but there is another room with a few tables around the corner to the right.

My coworkers order chashu (char siu, roasted pork) as an appetizer. The pork was thick and meaty and the sauce was just a little spicy.  The crisp strings of onion matched well with the slightly oily meat.

We also had gyoza.  They were nice and crisp on the bottom and soft on the tops.  I recall the gyoza being fairly good, but I only ate one because I wanted to save space in my stomach for what was to come...

This is my order - the yasai ramen, or vegetable ramen.  Even though the veggies are piled up over the bowl, this is the normal sized portion.  It's always like this.

The stir fried vegetable mix mainly consists of cabbage and bean sprouts, but also contains onion, carrot, those black Chinese mushrooms, Chinese chives, and pork. The veggies were very lightly seasoned, but nice and crisp.

You can also chose the soup base for your ramen.  I chose the soy sauce based soup since I figured it would be lighter than a miso base.  Since we only have 1 hour for lunch, I decided to start right away.

I think I spent a good 3 of those minutes trying to find the noodles under all of these vegetables. I recommend ordering your noodles a bit undercooked (katame) because they're going to soften up in the broth.

Sugar got the miso ramen. I've had it before - good and filling.  I couldn't finish my miso ramen last time, so what on earth was I thinking when I ordered the vegetable ramen?!?

Nyanko-Sensei loves spicy foods, so he got the tantan-men.  As red as this is, believe it or not, Nyanko-Sensei still added spice to this.  It's probably plenty hot for most people, though. 

After 30 or so minutes of my best effort, this was all I could do. I was just starting to really get into the noodles.  It was pretty darned good, too - not too salty, not fishy, and not oily. It was a solid soy sauce based broth that matched really well with the sweetness of the veggies.  If I had more time, I would've eaten more.  2 hours later, I was at my desk and hungry again, wishing I'd had the time to get through this bowl.

Then again, I probably saved myself from a painful stomachache and a post-carbfest energy crash afterward.

I still want to try it again...

If you're getting on or getting off the highway in Tomiura and find yourself hungry, I definitely recommend stopping by Ramen Yamaki.  If you're coming from Tateyama, turn left at the light just before 7-11, go over a mini-bridge, and park in the open lot on the right.  You can see the entrance to Yamaki from the parking lot.  As far as I know, they're open open weekdays, and only for lunch.  I
guess when you have a line of customers at lunchtime every day, you can afford to close for dinner.

Good thing I work 2 minutes away.  I'll be back for round 2 with that veggie ramen...

Liz