As I’ve written before, I use Paprika to organize my recipes, and one of the category labels I use is “Try” for recipes I haven’t made yet. But at some point, I started saving recipes to this category faster than I made them, and it got completely out of control–350 recipes or something like that.Continue reading “Experimental Supper Club #5”
Author Archives: mourningdove
Nakasendo Trail: Post-game show
Two words: SUMO and CAPYBARAS. But not yet. We woke up to a hot, hazy morning in Tōkyō. Just a couple of blocks strolling around Asakusa made it very clear we were going to have to make a plan that involved air conditioning. So, we set off for the Tōkyō National Museum and enjoyed aContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Post-game show”
Nakasendo Trail: Day 6 (Oku-Hida and Takayama)
Really, I have no one to blame but myself. I’m the one who insisted on (me at least) catching the 10 am bus to Takayama so I could maximize my time in the traditional lacquerware town before we caught our train back to Tōkyō. True, Cheryl is the one who then suggested we get upContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Day 6 (Oku-Hida and Takayama)”
Sketty Noodles
Look, honestly I don’t think it would help to provide context…so enjoy!
Nakasendo Trail: Day 5 (Kamikochi and Fukuji Onsen)
One word for today: MONKEYS!! But not yet. We decided to take one more dip in the onsen at Higashi Ishikawa and delay our departure for Kamikochi in the morning a bit in order to give the rain a chance to pass over, and our strategy appeared to work—we never suffered more than a sprinklingContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Day 5 (Kamikochi and Fukuji Onsen)”
Nakasendo Trail: Day 5 (Yabuhara to Narai and Matsumoto)
What I learned today was that life in the Japanese Alps during the Sengoku (Warring Provinces) period must have been fairly brutal for all involved–the warlords who were constantly having to raise armies to attack their rivals, or defend against those attacks; the reluctant farmers who were forced to leave the rice paddies they hadContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Day 5 (Yabuhara to Narai and Matsumoto)”
Squarer-than-usual Pizza
I meant to post this week-before-last for Pepperoni Pizza Day but didn’t get around to it. But I wanted to share the happiness I felt when I realized I could make a personal-sized pepperoni pizza by halving this recipe for square pizza from Kenji and baking it in an 8×8 metal pan. We don’t haveContinue reading “Squarer-than-usual Pizza”
Nakasendo Trail: Day 4 (Kiso-Fukushima)
Today was my favorite day of the trip even though we just stayed around Kiso-Fukushima, and that was largely because it was my sister’s birthday, so we maximized the fun. The weather had thankfully cooled off a bit, so while the Germans peeled off to go back to a nature preserve on the Kiso RiverContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Day 4 (Kiso-Fukushima)”
Nakasendo Trail: Day Two (Tsumago to Nagiso and Kiso-Fukushima)
This was the day I met my Japanese boyfriend, Kiso Yoshinaka. Never mind that he’s been dead for 900 years and change; I like unavailable men. But more on Naka-chan in a bit…. Since my sister was recovering from a foot injury, and I had tweaked my knee the previous day, we let the restContinue reading “Nakasendo Trail: Day Two (Tsumago to Nagiso and Kiso-Fukushima)”
Ceramics Saturdays: Jōmon Ware (and other treasures from the Tokyo National Museum)
Anytime I visit a museum in Japan I’m struck by how much of what we call “modern” art and design in Europe and the U.S. looks like very old Japanese traditions. It’s not just a coincidence of forms, either: when Japan re-opened to Western trade during the Meiji, Japanese arts and crafts flooded the EuropeanContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Jōmon Ware (and other treasures from the Tokyo National Museum)”
The Rookery 