When Tarir Square forced the expulsion of (the Pharoah) Mubarak from his "presidency," I received emails inquiring about my safety in the Arab Gulf. While there's some (unacceptable) political repression in Bahrain, it does not affect me or the project I am working on. The mess in Yemen should settle down, too; there isn't any hydrocarbon wealth to protect there but it's a dream for tourism, so insh'allah it will resolve soon.
I consider it a privilege to be living abroad, assimilating in a totally different social and professional culture, finding a way to succeed in the morass of organizational chaos inherent in the clash of nationals and ex-pats tasked with delivering huge multi-year projects. After 18 months away and attempts to chronicle bits and pieces, this thing looks more like a travel guide than a journal. So enjoy a culinary report from beautiful Japan...
I traveled in early February to Tokyo, Kyoto and Naoshima Island. Tokyo for business and the other two crammed into a weekend - an itinerary I am glad I achieved but paid a painful price to complete! I'll start with Kyoto, where my colleague and I stayed at a traditional ryokan built in 1818. We barely caught our train from Tokyo to Kyoto. I had been up all night in order to witness the famous tuna auction at 5am at the Tsukiji Fish Market (future posting) on the last morning in Tokyo and was fueled by adrenaline and caffeine to pack and get to the train station on time. After a 3-hour speed ride on the immaculate and efficient bullet train/Shinkansen traveling approximately 300km/hr, we checked into Hiiragiya Ryokan (check it out on travel web sites) and spilled into the streets to power shop the few hours left in the afternoon and early evening before stores closed.
I haven't stopped marveling at my willingness to spend USD 600+ per person that night in Kyoto to essentially sleep on the floor on futons but it was an authentic experience, especially with the extravagant kaiseki dinner prepared and served with strict observance of the rules of etiquette for every detail of the meal. Mariko, our personal attendant, elegantly and serenely brought our many courses, shuffling in and out of the room in her tight kimono. Like a tourist, I took photos of every course, which I share below in stupefied awe of Japanese culinary arts:
This is Mariko. She served us 11 courses in our room on a low table where we sat on the floor and studied the menu description to identify the gorgeous and exotic fare.
Course 1: Apertif (Shokuzen-Shu) of Shirozake - sweet sake with ginger.
* no photo - got organized with the camera after the sake *
Course 2: Appetizer (Sakizuke) of crab, canola blossom buds with crab belly sauce; yellowtail, Japanese white radish, long green onion and Yuzu citrus.
Course 3: Simmered dish (Nimono-Wan) with paste of shrimp and white fish, Japanese white radish, Shimeji mushroom, oyster, carrot, Uguisuna cress and Yuzu citrus.
Course 4: Sashimi dishes (Mukouzuke) of Japanese spiny lobster, flatfish, tuna, red turnip, carrot, green laver, young perilla stems and wasabi.
Course 5: Featured dishes (Hassun) of yuba (skin of soy milk) with shrimp belly sauce, broad bean; boiled abalone and soy beans, Japanese parsley; steamed sea urchin, grilled sierra, Japanese white radish with Botargo.
Course 6: Grilled dishes (Yakizakana) of beef with sake lees, bamboo shoot, butterbur, Shimonita-long green onion.
Palate cleanser called "Middle of dishes" (Oshinogi) with turnip pickles, Inari-zushi (vinegar-flavored rice wrapped in fried tofu). * no photo *
Course 7: Steamed dishes (Mushi-mono) of turnip, tilefish, dried sea cucumber ovary, wasabi.
* photo of bowl with lid, forgot to shoot contents *
Course 8: Deep-fried dishes (Age-mono) of globefish, Fu (wheat gluten), Aralia elata sprout.
Course 9: Soup (Tome-Wan) - mixed miso soup with tofu, yuba and long green onion, and Course 10: Rice (Gohan) with sardine and Japanese pepper; pickles (Kou-No-Mono) of turnip, Mibuna ress, Japanese white radish with red perilla.
Course 11: Dessert (Mizu-Mono) of tangerine, orange, strawberry, cream and mint with apple cake.
After consuming this extravagant meal, we went out to the Gion district to try our luck at seeing a real geisha - yes, the setting of Memoirs of a Geisha is a real place. We found one and my camera wasn't ready to snap a good shot of this lovely geisha scurrying between teahouses, hounded by a western photographer (silhouette on the left).
The next morning we ate in the breakfast room, which was a zen dining room with glass walls to the property's garden. I loved the homemade soy and asked for another helping, which may have been impolite but we were out of there in a matter of hours and for what we paid, a little more soy did not seem too much to ask!
Posts
