Comfort Foods

#5 and #6: Matsutake Mushrooms and Zenzai Mochi

Recently, we embarked on a mission to find Matsutake mushrooms. These mushrooms are usually really hard to find, making them an expensive fall food in Japan. Despite the price, many Japanese seek out these mushrooms for their wonderful aroma.


This is a Matsutake mushroom stand in Shiga. I was really surprised to learn that most Japanese think the taste of the mushrooms is just futsu, or ordinary, but that the smell is so good they're willing to pay upwards of $50.00 (or more!) for only a few. Contrarily, everyone seems to agree that Shiitake Mushrooms taste great, but the mushrooms sell for a much more reasonable, futsu price!

Yeah, I'm not joking. On the right hand side, you can see the four mushrooms available for purchase at over the equivalent of $65.00 USD.

So, are they worth the big bucks? We tried them in Matsutakegohan, or mushroom rice, and also in some soup and they were pretty delicious. Both of the dishes were prepared for us by some of our very generous friends, so we can't say we'd necessarily go out on our own and buy them. But hey, gotta' try everything once!

After we secured the mushrooms on our trip, we stopped at a traditional Japanese sweets shop to try just that--traditional Japanese sweets. The sweet we tried is called zenzai mochi, which is basically a sweet red bean soup with rice cake inside.

Yum! This sweet can be served both hot and cold, depending on the season. We had ours hot, and it was a very happy way to warm up in the fall weather.

Oktoberfest and Tsukimi

The wind has blown a warm yellow moon up over the sea; a bulbous moon, which sprouts in the soiled indigo sky, and spills bright winking petals of light on the quivering black water.

-Sylvia Plath

It was time for one of our favorite little celebrations of the year: Oktoberfest. We started the night with some German beer.

Then it was time to dig into the main course!

Apples with caramel apple dip, French bread, German Sausage Kettle, cheddar cheese and summer squash with onion, garlic, tomato and cheese. Yum!

Beer, apples and caramel apple dip

Close-up of the summer squash dish

Chad and Yasu, digging in.

Never realized until that moment that French bread actually makes Chad's eyes roll.

After eating way too much (and adding more German beer and wine to the festivities), we decided it was time to check out the moon. A less well-known celebration in Japan, Tsukimi, or moon-viewing, takes place in the fall to honor the autumn moon. I think this is a really sweet tradition, and falls in line with the cliche about stopping to smell the roses. We should stop and recognize the beauty of the moon every night, and Tsukimi is a nice reminder. And to top it off, part of the tradition includes drinking sake and eating mochi (rice cakes)!

We had some white mochi with a light sugary powder and anko (sweet red bean paste) inside.

This year, the night for Tsukimi fell on September 22nd, but at that time we were on a plane headed to Thailand. I had wanted to celebrate so badly that I checked the moon calendar to find out when the next full moon would be. Turned out it was the same night we had chosen for Oktoberfest, and despite the clouds, we got a great view.

By the way, you might know a tricky little cat (who doesn't know me anymore!) named Tsuki. Please remind him to be nice to us when we visit Michigan next month. We've got tickets to go home for two weeks!

Sakura at Starbucks

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Spring is on everyone's mind! It doesn't help that stores are rife with advertisements and products showing cherry blossoms. Not to be left out, Starbucks has introduced a whole line of sakura products, ranging from mugs and teddy bears, to steamers, frappuccinos and cakes.

I usually don't frequent Starbucks too often, as it's quite similar to the ones back home and just as expensive (but for smaller sizes!). However, I can't resist when Western franchises "glocalize" and create local specialties! I met a woman from my gym and decided to try the Sakura Steamer.

The verdict? Not bad. I liked the actual drink well enough, but the special pink toppings tasted a bit like plastic. I decided I'd stick with a Chai Tea Latte in the future--but that didn't prevent me from bringing a little sakura home to Chad!

Sakura Sweet Pan (Pan is pronounced Pahn, and it means "bread")

Chad thought the cupcake was okay (it tasted a little soapy). It sure looked pretty though--it even had a real flower on top!

Is everything filled with anko, or sweet bean paste here? :-)

Our Sakura experience at Starbucks may have been less than amazing, but seeing the real cherry blossoms is going to be great! We are eagerly anticipating the season along with the picnics and sunshine.

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