Imakoko Dinner

As is becoming tradition, Takashi and the Imakoko staff treated Matt to dinner after Nile worked so hard with them.

Tonight's menu. All Matt can make out is the first three character's which say "today's".

The first couse was "hanabira (flower petal) mochi" something that is often served at the bigining of the year at tea ceremonies. The traditional hanabira mochi is sweet but this is made with dashi, kintoki carrots, gobo, renkon (lotus roots) and katsuona with a deep fried fuki-no-tou on it.

The second course was broiled purple califlour with scalops; along with octopus with a tomato based sauce, and smoked octopus in an oil based sauce.

The third course was a kobujime tai which is a white fish (tai) sandwitched between two pices of konbu to add aroma. Kikurage, brussle sprouts, and wakame accomponied the fish.

Traditionally in Japan, you have osechi, an elaborate boxed meal. To continue celebrating the new year, Imakoko had a highlight of the osechi for the fourth course. Clockwise from top left of the first image, anago, sazae, goma saba, kumoko. Clockwise from the top left of the second image, matsukaze, namako, nanohana, kuromame with toramame, and sardines.

Kumoko, shown above, is a part of the sperm sack of a fish. It is named kumoko because it looks like "kumo" or cloud. It is a Japanese delicacy that Matt is trying for the first time here. Matt thinks it is an aquired taste which he has not yet aquired.

The fifth course is an heirloom carrot soup. Matt was very impressed with the bicolored soup.

The sixth course is miazaki buta (a type of pork) marinated in miso with green beans grown by Yoshie's mother in Miyakojima.



The main dish was nabe. Buri daikon is a traditional winter dish. Traditionally buri daikon is a particular fish (buri) cooked with daikon radish in a soy sauce based broth. Here it is a shabu shabu where the daikon is placed in a kombu (seaweed) broth with yuzu at the table. Each piece of the fish is briefly blanched in the soup before being dipped in a soy sauce based sauce and consumed with the yuzu and daikon.

Because we had been fed extra pieces in course four, and Matt was jet lagged, we were not able to make it to course eight (rice).

We forgot to take a picture of the dessert (course nine). Below is the dessert from a different night that was very similar.

Lavender marshmallow, pink peppercorn brittle, strawberries, hojicha (tea) brittle, and mexican hot chocolate marshmallow.

Fish market in Fukuoka 長浜魚市場

Takashi gets his sea food from the local fish market. The Nagahama fish market, like the one in Tsukiji, has business hours that starts late at night and end early morning. Since Takakashi has been going there for 3 year now, therefore has the relationship with the people at the market that he can now call (in the middle of the night) and ask them to hold fish for him.

Nile went to the market three times while she was there and Matt went once as well after his arrival. The second week Nile was there, Imakoko was totally booked and Takashi needed to buy a lot of fish. After Takashi spended an amzing amount of money, Nile got to ride the little cart running around the market delivering fish.

今ここは福岡の長浜魚市場で魚を買います。長浜の魚市場は築地の魚市場と同じで営業時間は夜中から朝までです。父は３年間まじめに通ったために最近（夜中に）電話で魚を注文できるようになりました。ナイルは三回、マットは福岡に着てから一度一緒に行きました。ナイルの二週目に行ったときに、今ここが満席だったのでたくさん魚を買いました。いっぱい魚を買った後で、ナイルは魚市場を走り回る荷台つきスクーターに乗せてもらいました。

The left photo below shows fish labed for Imakoko.

左下の写真の魚は今ここのラベルが置いてあります。

Often fish stick out of Takashi's bags.

度々、買った魚の尻尾がバックからはみ出ます。

After getting all the fish, Takashi goes to breakfast at the market where he often gets the market gossip like how the weather might be changing and thus affecting particular fish prices.

After going to the market for 3 year Takashi no longer has the need to eat fish every time he goes to the market. Nile, however, maxed out in all the fish she could get. Matt tried to get some fish but not too much since he doesn't do fish for breakfast very well.

魚を買った後で父は市場で朝ごはんを食べ、天気の変化によって変わる魚の値段の予報など噂話を仕入れていきます。
三年間市場に行っているので父は毎回魚を注文しなくなりました。でもナイルは魚を毎回食べました。朝ごはんに魚を食べるのが得意でないマットは少しだけ魚を食べました。

Matt's Anago tempura; Nile's Kaisen don and oyster curry.

マットのアナゴのてんぷら、ナイルの海鮮丼と牡蠣カレー
After coming home at 8.

８時に帰ってきてから。





It was Nile's job to clean the Sazae.
帰ってきている間は、サザエの掃除を毎回しました。

Chicken surprise

A chef-friend of Takashi's gave him a couple liters of egg whites because he had only been using the yolks recently. Takashi wanted to give him something as a surprise involving egg whites. Chicken is sometimes baked in a dome of salt held together with egg white, so they made one of those

Not content to bake a chicken in it, they decided to give him bird shaped cookies instead. However, that wouldn't be fun enough, so they decided to make some foam snakes in that would jump out when the package is opened.

Here is Takashi testing the snakes.

The gift is presented

and surprise ensues.

Later the snakes were repurposed in a gift to Matt.

Early morning, Nile visited the fish market, and it was already near closing time.




Endless varieties of fish. Imagine what it was like a few hours earlier.



Fugu is the Japanese puffer fish. This is a delicacy as sushi. Chefs need a licence to be allowed to prepare it because the fish if cut wrong it can be lethal.



After the fish market they had a traditoinal Japanese breakfast, which is really dinner since this is what the fishermen eat after a hard night of working on the boats.

See the web album for large versions of the pictures.

Visiting a Farm Outside of Fukuoka

Nile visited a farm outside of Fukuoka. More pictures in the web album

Nile in Japan

Nile arrived in Japan and is working with her dad in his restaurant. She's uploaded
some more pictures in a web album.