Can You Guess...

... what this is? ;) OK. Time to tell you the truth. Yep, this is octopus. Boiled… or maybe I should say blanched octopus with ume (plum) dressing. This octopus dish was part of last month’s course meal at the kaiseki place I work at. Of course, for the kaiseki course they used much better, expensive octopus from Japanese waters. What I used, on the other hand, was cheap, pre-boiled and packed pieces I found at a nearby supermarket. But I just wanted to give this a try and at least my curiosity is satisfied now. BTW, have you noticed that obachan is gradually getting out of the cave and now tagging the posts? I modified the categories section on my sidebar a bit today. The reason why I have 2 categories sections is that I had absolultely no energy to tag all of my previous entries. ;P And I’m thinking about making another category for my next project, “my favorite appetizers and sake.” After the izakaya I used to work at closed last month, I st… no, I got a permission to take 1) a recipe book of popular izakaya appetizers and 2) an old food cutter with me. ;) Now that my busiest time is over, I may start my experiments as early as this “Golden Week.” I guess from my previous posts, some of my dear readers already know that I’ve been pretty much interested in our traditional drink, sake. I also have to admit that a recent manga has played a big role in intensifying my interest in this alcoholic beverage. The story of the manga is about an American young guy working at a Japanese sake brewery, and by reading it you can learn a lot about sake itself and various ways to enjoy it. I don't necessarily agree with everything that's expressed in this manga, but still I enjoy reading it a lot. Especially I was happy to see the name of my favorite sake, bijofu 美丈夫 included in one of the scenes (if I was not mistaken). :) Categories: Japanese