Okinawa Cooking Class in Tokyo

Louis and I had free time Sunday afternoon, so we attended a cooking class near Tsukishima station in Tokyo. The class was made up of around 30 people from many different places. There were some native born Japanese people, along with people from the US, Brazil, and Canada to name a few. The class focused on cooking three dishes that are popular in Okinawa. Here we are before the class, ready to cook!

Upon arrival, the teachers assigned you to a station. Groups of four or five people were at each station and worked together to prepare each dish for the group. The teachers get there early to set up trays that have ingredients for each dish separated onto them. 

These trays held the garnishes for Taco Rice.

 These were the ingredients for Taco Rice.

Ingredients for the Goya Chanpuru.

 Goya is the Japanese name for bitter melon or bitter gourd.  

There wasn't a lot of room left at our station once we received all of our trays! 

Louis and I also prepared before the class, and brought our own aprons. I made sure to color coordinate with mine. 

 First the teacher, the very talented Chef Machiko Tateno, demonstrated how to cut all of the vegetables for the dishes. Then, everyone was dismissed to their stations to replicate what she had done. Once finished, we all gathered around again to watch her prepare and cook the food. 

Some of the pictures used in this post are from one of the organizers (a great photographer) of the cooking class, including this next one. I am 100% positive that those are my hands in the next picture. I am busy removing the sprouted end of each bean sprout. Yes. Each. And. Every. One. Apparently it lends to a better texture in the final dish if they are removed. Thank goodness I painted my nails before we went! 

 Once finished, we all gathered around again to watch how to prepare and cook the food. 

Look what good listeners we are!

At this point, seeing and smelling the completed dishes motivated everyone to work together and finish up. Look how busy everyone is!

Here is the completed three dish set. Starting at the top and moving clockwise: Wakame and Okra Soup, Goya Chanpuru, and Taco Rice.

The Chef was really friendly and knowledgable. Plus she got to class hours before any of the students arrived to make everyone desert... Grape flavored gelatin with whole grapes inside... yes!

Here is the group enjoying eating the food. 

 Louis and I didn't necessarily love every dish prepared. The okra in the soup was very slimy and the bitter melon was still, well, very bitter. However I feel confident that I could not only recreate these dishes at home but also make slight changes to the recipes so that we enjoy them more. For example, I am planning on making Goya Chanpuru in the near future, but will take extra care to remove the bitterness from the goya and will only add dried smoked bonito to my dish, and not Lou's. 

I can't wait to attend another class! Louis said he would like the class better if he could drink beer during it...

Katsunuma Grape Farm in Yamanashi Prefecture

Last Saturday, Louis and I woke up early and got on a bus headed for the Katsunuma Grape Farm in Yamanashi Prefecture. It took about 3 hours to get there, and because we took a tour bus, the drive was completely stress free. Here is a picture of me in front of the sign for the farm. 

Our initial opinion of the farm was that it was impressive! Along with many miles of growing vines on the farm, there were lattices supporting grape vines above the buildings, eating area, and even above the parking for the busses. Here you can see the grapes growing above the farms small market and parking area.

And here they are growing under the picnic area. 

The first thing we did was sit down for a BBQ lunch. In Japan, BBQ does not mean smoked meats slathered in sauce. Rather, it simply means you BBQ, or grill, your own meats and vegetables. Each person got a plate that had cabbage, bean sprouts, three types of mushrooms, and thinly sliced beef. Of course, everyone also got a bowl of white rice. You can see the hot plate that was at each place setting in the picture as well. 

Yum!

Louis and I wore paper bibs, as did everyone else eating lunch. The oil that was placed on the griddle top to prevent the food from sticking had a way of splattering everywhere. 

After eating lunch, it was time for 45 minutes of all you can eat grape picking. Here I am at the entrance  to the vineyard fields. 

As an added bonus, the area that we were in was a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. 

If you look carefully at the pictures, you will notice that each and every cluster of grapes has a paper covering. These coverings prevent the grapes from getting covered with too many pesticides.  Some grape clusters were completely covered. I would hate to have the job of covering the grapes with paper... There were so many!

Once we entered the fields where the grapes are grown and stepped under the vines, it became very obvious that we were in Japan. The vines are grown very low to the ground! Our Japanese guide, field hands and other short visitors were all able to walk around comfortably under the grape vine canopy. We, on the other hand, spent most of our time like this:

Although the grapes are covered with paper, the farm staff still do not want people to ingest any pesticides, and therefore asked everyone to remove the skins of the grapes before eating them. At first, we thought this was simply a way of making it take longer for guests to eat the grapes so they would eat less grapes in the 45 minutes allotted. But we soon realized that the skins on these grapes are very tough and are easily removed. Louis or I would cut off a cluster of grapes, grab a grape, peel off the very top of skin, and suck out the insides. It doesn't sound pretty. It didn't look pretty either. But boy, were those grapes delicious! And the scent! Amazing. We ate our weight in grapes. It puts the grapes that we buy in the US to shame. To be perfectly honest, the fruit that we ate at this farm and the fruit that we get in the US should not even be called by the same name. I will be very sad when grape season in Japan ends in the next week or so. Until then, I plan on frequenting my local Japanese grocery store so we can enjoy some more delicious Japanese grapes. Even if they are messy to eat! 

Here we are after eating many, many grapes. Do we look violet? 

We cut one cluster of grapes to take home with us. 2 kilos of grapes (about two large clusters) costs 1500 Yen, or $15 US. This is a normal price for grapes in Japan.

Until next year grape farm!

Clam Digging at Futtsu Beach, Chiba Prefecture

Sunday morning, Louis and I got up early and headed to Futtsu Beach to do some clam digging. The rest stop along the way was right on the water and had great views. 

 We were surprised at just how many people were at the beach digging for clams!

If we ever go again, we will bring foods that require chopsticks to eat with. Sandy hands required creative thinking when eating lunch. 

Here we are enjoying our lunch. 

After two hours of digging, we came home with a decent yield.

After a day in the fridge, I was worried they had died...but upon adding water it was evident they were alive!

Cleaning was a bit of a hassle...

Once cooked, they were very tasty (besides the few that hung onto some sand). 

But how can a meal with red wine be bad?

Hakone

Louis and I went to Hakone back in February. I have finally decided to post some pictures from the trip! The hotel was located right next to Lake Ashi.

While there we had dinner at a nice French restaurant. Very fancy.

Salad course. (Not Lou's favorite)

Main Course

Dessert (My favorite)

The food at the other meals was delicious as well.

The traditional Japanese breakfast was especially good.

Salted salmon is my favorite!

 We took a ropeway up to the top of a nearby mountain. Once at the top there were great views of Mt. Fuji.

The natural occurring hot springs are used to cook eggs.

Hakone is known mainly for its bath houses that are heated by the hot springs. We don't have any pictures of the inside of the onsen... it wasn't allowed. I believe it has something to do with all the nudity  :)