December 20, 2009

• Torii, Torii, Torii

  After my early blogging today, we went to Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine, probably the most impressive, bewildering thing I've seen yet.  And exquisitely beautiful.

  Torii are those arches you will often see at shinto shrines.  My understanding is that they are gates that signify that you've left the material world for the spiritual.  This shrine is apparently also called the "shrine of a thousant torii," and that's probably not far off.  It's toward the hills, and there is a large path around the hill and up it, filled with small shinto shrines.  It was originally a shrine to the gods of rice and sake, and later for success in business (as the agrarian foundation of the economy matured).

  It's a sprawling area that wraps around this hillside, and if you go all the way towards the back and up several steep, hairpin turns, it's a whole days worth of hiking.  And totally worth it.

  And tonight, we successfully made it to Tosuiro, and it was totally worth it.  This was the real deal, and we were the only gaijin in the whole place.  From shoes off at the door, to sitting on tatami mats at the counter, it was a great experience with good food to boot.  After we ordered our meal (I got the five course set) and drink (warm sake, because it's COLD here right now), our waitress -- who is from Kyoto, has never been to Tokyo (much to her consternation), but who was in San Francisco and taking English courses at UC Davis -- brought this very cool, well, glorified hot pot with a chassis.  It was a wooden box that plugged into an outlet, and the main reservoir was filled with water and homemade tofu and some spinach or seaweed leaves.  Built into the unit was also a ceramic cruet for soy sauce, that actually fit into a socket built into the chassis, which enabled the sauce to be warmed to the same temperature as the tofu.

  Course 1: chilled tofu with green onion and thick nori.  The texture was not unlike a soft cheese, but with a rich, earthy tone.  Quite good.
  Course 2:  soft yuba served on a leaf over ice, with ginger (nice, hot ginger), microgreens of what I think were radish, and an accompanying sauce.
  Course 3:  fried tofu with some kind of savory thick sauce; chewy tofu with a similar consistency to taffy, covered in a sweet sauce with sesame seeds; some kind of wakame/carrot hash
  Course 4:  fried squares of yuba (one of my favorite ways to prepare yuba, but, y'know, fried, it's like cheating); tempura battered veggie resembling okra; tempura battered squishy tofu; delicious side condiment of salt mixed with finely microplaned lemon zest.
  Course 5:  rice in broth with picked plum; two small squares of daikon radish; herbaceous stalks with shaved seaweed; some kind of has with seaweed and (I swear) cumin and possibly onion; tea
  Dessert:  a tiny scoop of soymilk and daikon radish ice cream.  No really, radish, this was superb and refreshing.

  These were all small portions, which was perfect, and although I've just had some Pocky, this was the result of a craving for chocolate rather than being hungry.

  Lots of pictures coming up:

  

  • 8:31 am
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