Moon viewing dumplings

We have dumplings to view a full moon on the day of harvest moon in Japan. The reason why we eat dumplings at that time is that we thank for a good harvest. Moon viewing dumplings are made from rice flour which is harvested this year. The night of the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, when a full moon beautifully appears is called “Chushu”, so a full moon on the day is called “Chushu no Meigetsu”.

Moon viewing dumplings are usually made from only the rice flour. But in some regions, there are a lot of different kinds of dumplings. For example, moon viewing dumplings are rolled with red bean paste in Osaka.

The “Chushu” was a week ago this year. I eat dumplings then naturally.

Rice cooked with chestnuts

It is autumn in Japan. In the evening, crickets chirp incessantly in the green. There are a lot of nuts of trees in the woods and the forests in the autmun. The chestnut is one of the nuts of trees which Japanese people like to eat in the autumn. Naturally we eat chestnuts without cooking. When we eat chestnuts cooked into rice, we feel that it is autumn. Rice cooked with chestnuts is called “Kuri-gohan” in Japanese. If you cooked other ingredients into rice, it was called “Takikomi-gohan” in Japanese. It includes not only chestnuts but also carrots, mushroom, matsutake mushroom and others.

It is autumn now and I hear the crickets play stringed instruments to smell the rice cooked with the fresh chestnuts.

Pacific saury

Japanese people often eat pacific saury which has been salted and grilled in the autumn. There is one famous traditional Japanese comic story, or Rakugo about pacific saury. The name of the story is “Meguro no sanma” which means pacific saury at Meguro in Tokyo is the most delicious pacific saury in Japan. So the festival connected with this story is held at Meguro in September every year. Thousands of pacific saury which have been salted and grilled are served to people for free at the festival. Many thousands people gather into Meguro when the festival is held in September.

Today the festival of “Meguro no sannma” was held today at Meguro.

Watermelon

I feel the summer will soon come to the end. Before the last week, cicadas have chirred in chorus even in the evening. But this week the singers and musicians are crickets. We eat the watermelon in the hot season. It is served often to be cut into eight or twelves pieces as a dessert. In the case of another, we take the watermelon as an appetizer. It is cooked as the gazpacho of watermelon. I like this dish. Especially if it is served in the small glass which has been cooled in the refrigerator, I find an pretty oasis in the hot island.

The summer will soon come to the end.

Cucumber and whitebait in sweetened vinegar

This summer is really hot in Japan. Then I would like to eat a cool food for dinner. The food I introduce today is cucumber and whitebait in sweetened vinegar. It is cooked very easily and simple taste. Moreover, its appearance shows an image of summer. This may be inconsistent with cool. Although Japanese people remember the season of summer to look at or listen to the image of cool.

For example, the other images of cool are tofu, watermelon and wind bell. These images make us to remember the season of summer and the memory of summer.

White gourd

White gourd is eaten very well in Japan in the summer. White gourd includes much water. White gourd is similar to watermelon on this point. The difference between white gourd and watermelon is the way to be cooked. Watermelon is taken as only desert, on the other hand gourd is cooked as salad, boiled, soup and etc. If you are worried what you should cook in the summer, white gourd may help you to cook.

By the way, white gourd means the winter gourd. It is interesting that the meaning is the winter gourd though white gourd is taken in the summer.

Tofu

This week it has been very hot in Japan. Then I would like to eat Hiyayakko which is cold tofu cut into blocks. When we put a piece of Hiyayakko into the mouth, a chill spreads out from the mouth to the whole body. We feel the summer come this time.

Arashiyama in Kyoto is the most famous place where tofu is made very delicious. It is because tofu consists of much water and the water is very pure and clear in Arashiyama. There is Hozugawa-river in Arashiyama and the source of this river is the north mountain in Kyoto. This area is not developed and maintained true natural.