On Saturday night Yoshi and Mamiko invited us over for dinner. Akira was on an overnight trip, so we it was a little quieter than usual.
Mamiko knows a shop nearby that specializes in chicken, and previously they have done homemade yakitori using meat from this place. The quality of the chicken is top notch, and it is sold to be either cooked or eaten raw as sashimi. I’m just getting into eating raw chicken. At first it was a little difficult to take the plunge, but now it is no problem.
But Yoshi wasn’t serving the chicken raw. Instead they had a big pot of hot dashi broth, and we dipped very thinly sliced raw chicken breast into the broth until it started to cook, and then dipped the now white chicken meat into some ponzu and yuzu kosho. It was fantastic. There was almost no fat in the meat so it turned out to be very healthy, too.
We had brought some wine and cheese and we got into that as well, but I liked the idea of delicious and healthy party fare on Saturday night.
Sunday was Setsubun, and we ate a couple of upscale sushi rolls while facing south-southeast, and per tradition, not speaking. This is one of the weirdest traditions that I participate in in Japan. But I’m certainly OK with weird, and any excuse to eat some delicious sushi is good enough for me! After dinner we supplemented a little with some takoyaki, and then finally had some soybeans, which is also a Setsubun tradition. Yum!
