Tag: travel

A short trip to Kanazawa

After the heat of the summer and before the crowds of international tourists flock the country again we decided to go for a short trip to Kanazawa. Our last visit was more than 10 years ago, before the Hokuriku shinkansen opened… we drove there and stopped to visit friends and Shirakawa-go at the time and stayed 3-4 days in Kanazawa. But I had a rather fresh memory of the city, the many places we visited already, the atmosphere of a rather rich and refined city. So this time we decided for a rather different program:

1. We rented a house not far from the main market to be able to enjoy all the local and fresh food Kanazawa and Noto offer.

2. We moved by bicycle around the city to expand the explorable territories and just enjoy riding in new surroundings, see further than the stuck in time places, where people actively live and work.

3. We put more focus on the contemporary scene visiting craft galleries and the beautiful 21st century museum for the Yves Klein exhibition chiefly (we skipped the permanent exhibits), since we already visited all the historical sights during our previous visit. And visited also the National craft gallery that moved from Tokyo to Kanazawa a few years ago.

At gallery Kiku & Sayuu we incidentally found the same metal craftwork artists Yuichi Takemata, that we loved the first time we visited and where we had bought order-made spoons. This time we came back with sets of forks and knives. Also discovered Rei Camoy’s work, a great surprise and a new fancy.

Additionally we toured bakeries and cafes, and found the most exquisite bagels to-go and cookies for our breakfast at Hug mitten Works, up north of the city, a fairly uninteresting ride to a typical suburban area, but damn… the bagels were so good that it is my target ideal bagel next time I bake some.

The market was a great fun, local green grocers too, with local products, fresh fish and vegetables. The region is famous for certain greens, such that gynura bicolor – 金時草 – kinjiso, lotus roots – 蓮根 – rencon, and propagule – ムカゴ – mukago (recipe coming soon). And of course, a few local Japanese sweets… we couldn’t resist to have gold leaf covered castella in the city famous for its gold leaf fabrication.

The minimal kitchen

When on travel, eating out for every meal has always been a problem for me. Too much food, too rich, too many ingredients, too much preparation, too far… not enough simple food, not enough traceability… there are so many reasons why I love homemade food… I have been used now for a long long time to making my own food even with the simplest ustensiles and in the most rudimentary kitchens, but for long stays cooking with a kettle, a plate and a knife used for eating, that would be a little too constraining. So when we decided to travel to Paris I had one strong requirement: our hotel room should have a kitchen. We found a place that checked all the boxes finally: the Majestic hotel. The kitchen wasn’t even tiny, with a great opening on the terrace, but minimally equipped: a frypan and a pan. I bought a kitchen knife, a wooden spoon and a bottle of olive oil, and I was ready to cook for 10 days. I need nothing more than that.

The farmers market down the street on President Wilson Avenue on Wednesdays and Saturdays provided us with all the basic, local and seasonal ingredients we would need. The fish mongers, the cheeses and the organic stalls are really great. For breads there is also a nice stall. You can also find there beautiful flowers, kitchen knives, and a few Italian food stalls, perfect for ravioli and others stuffed pasta. We didn’t test the meat stalls, as I barely cook meat, but there are a few with a nice selection.

May in France is the season for strawberries, the very first cherries, green peas, asparagus, artichokes, new potatoes, new carrots etc… I focused my shopping on products I would usually not eat in Japan. Artichokes and white asparagus definitely were on the top of my list.

Nearby you can also find one of the trending patissier-boulanger shop: Cyril Lignac, which is the first one to open in the area: 7:00AM. With the jet-lag it’s almost too late, but we could manage to postpone breakfast until then and eat fresh pastries for breakfast. I would particularly recommend their pain aux raisins. Extremely delicious.

As a result, I tested some classic recipes and also created a super simple white asparagus recipe that I’d like to share with you.

White asparagus in tomato sauce

  • 5 white asparagus/person
  • 2 ripe and large tomatoes/person
  • 1tbs of olive oil
  • A pinch of salt and pepper

Wash and peel the asparagus. Cut in 3cm long chunks. Blanche them. Drain, let cool down and pat dry. In a pan add the olive oil and the diced tomatoes. Cook until it has reduced enough and it becomes a thick tomato sauce. add the cooked asparagus. Stir well and serve. That’s it!!!

A day-trip to Mashiko

Days off in the middle of the week are rare. Most national holidays would be somehow close to a weekend, so we would spend them in Ohara. This year the emperor birthday was on a Wednesday and we had to be in Tokyo the day before and the day after. Everyday I see mount Fuji from the window I want to go there, so we first thought about going there. But the fear of wasting our time in traffic jam, and the lack of idea of places to visit around kind of killed the idea in the egg. Instead we were looking for a place with not only rich nature, but something more. I pulled out our old guide books and we ended up picking Mashiko as our destination for the day. Our criteria were simple: the driving time should be about 90min, it has to have great natural environment, it has to have some craft or art to see, and some historical sights, finally a possible, even short, hike with a spot to lay a blanket and picnic in the sun. Mashiko 益子 is about 130km from Tokyo, many sites recently registered as national cultural heritage, in particular some temples in the forest near hiking trails, and is famous for its potteries. Additionally the place where Shoji Hamada, who contributed to the creation of Mingei 民藝. It ticks all the boxes.

A broad look at Mashiko

Mashiko is a small potter town. It is all well set to be a tourist attraction, but the pandemic made our visit a little paradise. Very few tourists in the main street, and even fewer people to the slightly more remote sights such as temples and shrines, and Hamada’s house. So every thing was quiet, bathing in the warm light of the cold winter sun.

Many of the pottery shops on the main street are just average but some do have a very nice collection of Mashiko yaki 益子焼. Some are more like galleries with edgy works. The indigo dye house down the corner of the street is worth the visit. On the opposite direction of the street, the big plaza with the ignominious giant tanuki (see picture above) is more so-so, but continue further and there is an amazing antique shop. But what we really felt for was Hamada’s residence, about 15min away on the other side of the hill. The walk there was charming, and the property is pure delight. It is nice to see all these kilns covered going uphill. Abd the Saimyoji temple and the Tsuna shrine.

Random pictures of Hamada’s house, Saimyoji, Tsuna shrine, the best 3 of Mashiko for me

It was really cold there but it was beautiful and quiet, and people really kind. I’m sure we’ve missed some interesting sights, but that’ll give us an excuse to visit again!!!

And as we could go back to Tokyo without packing on local products we stopped at Mashiko michi no eki 道の駅, a very nice new wooden structure, also quiet and spacious, to pack on fresh fruits and vegetables and on staples such as flour, soba, rices. They had an excellent selection very nicely presented.

We didn’t know what to expect exactly but Mashiko surely charmed us!

Malta

  • After being in Italy several times around Christmas time, whether in Sicily, in Tuscany or in Rome, this year we decided to go a little further south and went to Malta. It was a destination that has always attracted me while in the meantime I didn’t know what to expect. And it was actually a nice discovery. First of all a place with a new language. Indeed, like the history of Malta, the language is a very surprising one mixing so many influences. Sometimes it feels like Italian, sometimes includes English with Arabic tonalities, others it looks like Greek or Eastern Europe languages. The cultural heritage is quite impregnated in the food culture as well. The proximity of Sicily provides the country with all the Italian produces I love so much, but Malta also has a cuisine of its own. Being a rather simple desolated island, and inhabited by a crowd of hunters and fishermen there is a lot of game and fish cuisine. The former that I wouldn’t try as game is not part of my diet, in particular they love rabbit and for me it is impossible to eat rabbit. For fishes that was easier. They have always nice way of cooking them, whether it’s grilled with a sauce made of tomatoes and capers or in a soup. But to be honest the thing that impressed me most and attracted me most was the Maltese breads and pastries.

    • Baker’s stand at a morning market

    We started discovering the breads at a morning market in Birkirkara, the little baker stand had so many varieties. I fell for the little sesame rings called Qagħaq tal-Ħmira.

    Qagħaq tal-Ħmira

    While they look like a bagel they are so much more delicious!!! Slighly flavored with anis, cloves, and lemon, they are a little soft and slightly sweet, sonething closer to a very light brioche. I’ve already found the recipe and will try very soon making some. The other bread that was really nice was the ftira, a kind of flat bread, used often for sandwiches. It’s a bit like focaccia but much less oily. It can be served with all kind of things inside. I opted for an English contemporary version at Emma’s kitchen, a cafe recommended by my IG friend @junkikat who lived in Malta last year.

    Ftira

    The other savory discovery was the pastizzi. A Maltese pastry filled with ricotta, or green bean puree, or sometimes chicken or meat. While the one with ricotta were super delicious, the one with green beans purée slightly spicy were just over the top! The mix of the buttery pastry dough, crunchy and light and the thick purée slightly flavored with clove and other spices… damned that was sooo…. delicious!!! Pastizzi are a big tourist thing so you can find some everywhere. Sphynx is a chain store making some, but not necessarily my favorite. The Crystal Palace in Mdina had a good selection and they were quite good. In Birkikara we had some from a small cafe that were really good. Each are different so you can try them all and find the one one you like best!!

    Pastizzi

    Finally, let’s talk sweets! Maltese traditional sweets are made with honey, almonds, figs and are super delicious too. The most famous is probably Qagħaq tal-għasel. A ring with fig and honey in a little dough.

    Qagħaq tal-għasel

    While they look rather dry and stuffy, the fig and honey filling is actually all creamy and soft. My favorite ones were from Parruċċan in Mdina. There are also sweets with almond base paste such as what they called macaroons and that can be found in any confectionary, and also the delicious Kwarezimal, normally for Lenten, but available all year round at cafe Cordina in Valetta.

    Well of course we just didn’t spend all our time in Malta eating. We also visited many places, went horse riding and enjoyed the nice weather. I really loved Mdina for walking around the nicely renovated and clean city, all the places to visit, the vista of the island from up there, and the lack of touristic shops (may be because it’s winter…). There were also much fewer people than in Valetta hence it was very quiet.

    Macau

    My job really takes to places I would never have thought of going, Macau is one of them… when we moved to Japan we traveled a bit around; Seoul, Pekin, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia… but Macau wasn’t really on our list. And I wasn’t planning to go to the conference until I was invited to give a keynote talk…

    I can’t really say I have visited Macau but I have for sure seen a lot of casinos and shops, shops, shops all in mazes of corridors with no exit, so oppressive that you feel trapped. I lost my way many times until for a second I thought I made my way out, only to realize that it was a trompe l’œil…

    So I didn’t have time to see the historical places, but as I was looking for a real place outdoor to have lunch I found this interesting Michelin street food ranking and there was a few shops and cafes in Taipa, so I took a cab to grab my lunch there at Sei Kee coffee. I don’t know what I was expecting… probably something like Japanese pork sandwiches from Nagasaki, the famous kakuni manju. What I found was a pork bun a lot less refined, yet it was using these spices that you can smell everywhere in the city and are really smelling nice. It was tasty and good but too meaty and fat for me… The milk tea though was really good!

    Continuing my walk in the small touristic streets where shops sell mainly some kinds of what looks like dry meat, I smelled a nice custard odor, milk and eggs, probably from some egg tarts, a very famous Macau’s food but I actually found a biscuit shop, also with the Michelin street food sign and decided to stop to buy some almond cookies, their specialty, to bring back to Japan. There was no English either there, but good I know how to read kanjis and many are close enough to Japanese so I know what I buy and what is inside the products before buying them!!

    Well that’s about what I saw from Macau and tried… Now time to go back home! Though I love the morning swims when I live in a hotel, I prefer bodyboarding in Ohara. I am tired of hotel life, room service and being far from A..

    Travel and hotel life in Toronto

    When I travel for more than two days I usually manage at some point to have access to a kitchen so that I can cook a bit wherever I am. Whether I rent a place with a kitchen or I do a kitchen take over at some friends’ place. I like to cook the local and seasonal products, and also to have homemade meals with just the right preparation and the right size. But sometimes this is not possible and I feel miserable! This trip to Toronto is one of these. I stay the whole week at a hotel without access to a kitchen… and without the time to shopping in a nice grocery store. My schedule was too busy for that and I only could shop at the 24-7 nearby grocery store with fruits coming from wherever it is… So I am craving for homemade fresh and local food. Of course I am a master of in-room food preparation. Before traveling I often search for the hotel nearby grocery stores or farmers markets, preferably the one with local products and arrange my schedule to have a chance to visit them. I always travel with a super good multipurpose Sicilian knife that can be used for anything from fruit peeling to bread cutting, and I often prepare food in my room. Indeed, the first thing I do when I arrive in a hotel is to get geared: I ask room service for a kettle, one or two plates and cutlery and it all usually comes with proper clothes to be used as kitchen clothes, but they never have good knifes.

    As usual I did my homework and had a list of places to go visit upon arrival, but it was without counting that I arrived on Thanksgiving day and the many places I wanted to visit were almost all closed. So that dramatically limited my access to food resources. Not to add that Ontario may have a large variety of fruits and vegetables in the summer but when fall arrives, apples are pretty much the only local fruit available and the beautiful season of mushrooms and pumpkins requires a cooking range or some more elaborated equipment. Anyway… I managed to survive I guess…

    Though my working program was quite intense with very little free time, I managed to have breakfast at a place I discovered last time I was in Toronto, where they have a delicious spice chai: Hot Black Coffee, and delicious muffins, with also plenty of vegan options, and to check out a place that everyone was talking about: Momofuku. I could see it Momofuku from the hotel elevator on my way to the pool every morning but didn’t know what it was (I first thought it was a daifuku place!!!). But it was on everyone’s mouth…

    For those like me who don’t know, Momofuku is a branch restaurant of very popular NY chef Wang, that specializes in Asian fusion and in particular in noodles/ramen (kind of reminded me of the movie You’ll always be my maybe). The Toronto branch has a noodle bar and a high-end restaurant. I didn’t have time for the high-end. Knowing that I only had ramen once before with fish broth because I don’t like the pork-chicken… broth, I am not an expert in ramen, so eating some fusion ramen is not a blasphemy to an institution for me but I can understand that some purists may be shocked by some of the combinations proposed on the menu. I took some vegetarian noodles, with pumpkin (now or never!) and cheese. This was definitely an inventive combination! But not an uninteresting one… In any case, the restaurant itself was a very nice bright space quite enjoyable.

    Now I’m heading back home to my kitchen and you can’t imagine how happy I am to have a long weekend to cook and bodyboard! The simple idea of making pancakes for breakfast while A. prepares his coffee rejoices me!

    Lozère

    Hello there!!! You may have wondered where I was all this time… well… after another crazy busy week in Tokyo, a rapid stop in Paris, and a long drive, I was in Anilhac in my parents country house to celebrate their 50´s wedding anniversary. The house is not equipped with internet and there is no 3G or 4G coverage there either. So obviously I had to be disconnected for a while. After that I went straight to Germany for work and now I’m finally on my way back to Paris for a last stop for work before heading home… pfiou…

    Being disconnected from my phone wasn’t a big deal to be honest… I can totally live without it and days in Anilhac we’re actually busy with hiking, flying and very little cooking as mom had planned everything… I only made pancakes for the whole family one morning…

    Lozère is not very famous for food and staples: the most well known products are chestnuts from Cevennes, cheeses made of sheep milk, honey, wild berries, and wheat… that’s probably it… it’s a very barren region, with tough winters and dry summers, very poor. Mostly sheep and shepherds. Actually, the house is a former sheep house my parents transformed 45 years ago in a country house.

    Life for me in Anilhac is about being outside, hiking, reading and drawing by the fireplace, then having meals all together.

    Meals there are usually simple… a very lot of cheeses for me (this place is cheese heaven!!), and some cured meat for A., fresh vegetables from the neighboring kitchen gardens, and some wild fruits from the garden or harvested during the hikes: plums, hazelnuts, blackberries… oh… and braised potatoes of course! Baked in the embers of the fireplace.

    Oh! And my parents had a surprise for us: I finally managed to fly a glider from le Chanet airfield… it was quite an experience… after seeing my sister doing it 37 years ago, and always wanted to try…

    Take off

    Seoul

    Though very close from Japan, it’s only the second time I travelled to Korea. Until this week, I have always avoided traveling to Korea, in particular to Daejon, where a lot of events in my professional field happen. The reason is simple: our first experience with Korea, back then in 2005 was a very disappointing one. Living in Japan for 1 year, we were not sure about what to expect, but except for two or three very very nice people we met, we found the city dirty, people rude and openly racists, and the infrastructure a pale mimic of Japan and we just decided not to go again. Forced by A.’s work now, 14 years later was a good time to check out on the city again. I had no expectations at all and I got this time a rather better impression. OK I stayed in Gangnam, didn’t go on the north bank and it was a mere 48h… I enjoy the cleanliness of the city, the people that were nice, even if they may have I found me rude as my Korean is even worst than my Chinese, or to put simply, I don’t speak a word of Korean, which I found very embarrassing, but I tried to make up for my rudeness with many smiles! Because like when I was in Beijing last November, the air is really dirty from Chinese industrial pollution I limited my walks outside, or went out with mask and sun glasses, but even though my eyes were on fire… I still enjoyed a bit of the walks in the small streets to go up and down hill all the time, offering view of the city sometimes, or sneak peeks in the beautiful manicured private gardens. I also by chance run into an organic grocery store: Chorocmael (초록마을), packing on a few things I usually cannot find in Japan: organic local pine nuts, many different types of herb teas… and fresh local raspberries, that didn’t look like the ugly giant raspberries usually found in western markets. Actually they were so time and cute, that I wasn’t even sure they were raspberries, because of my inability to read.

    Food wise I didn’t got too wild, and didn’t have so much time for it. I liked the small cafes with outdoor seating, but I mainly preferred the indoor seating option because of the pollution. And for the food I didn’t get too adventurous, as I don’t like meaty food, sea food, nor spicy food. My best friend on the menus was always kimchi rice. The most appropriate to my liking was the one from a small cafe/florist 식물원282. Most dishes are served with pickles that are absolutely divine. They are prepared differently than Japanese pickles and are just super delicious too!!!

    So… except for the pollution, the overall experience was quite positive and I guess I’ll go again!!! Now I need to start learning Korean a bit!!!

    Tsunan – 津南町

    Every once in a while we go to visit our friends and their cat in Tsunan, in the Niigata mountains. We originally planned to go for new year but the snow has stopped us: our car is not equipped for snow… so we took the opportunity of the long golden week to drive up and to stay 2-3 days there. We’ve been there 10 times or more, at each season but it’s been a while we haven’t been in spring and it was the perfect timing for sansai as you already from my previous post, but also cherry tree blossoms and beautiful river streams full of the recently melted snow.

    Each time we discover something new, but we also have a few habits. Let’s start with the habits:

    1. Always stop by the COOP shop in the village to buy 三八五 – sanhachigo to make pickles. They also use to have delicious apricot jam but not anymore…
    2. Drive up to Sakae to buy honey and pollen. I started eating pollen a long time ago, under the pressure of my nutritionist mum. At first I hated it, but after years, now I really find it easy to take a spoon of pollen every morning before breakfast.
    3. Stop at the sake factory, not for sake but for some carrot juice! They grow 雪下人参 – yukishitaninjin literally carrots under the snow, and they give a very nice and sweet carrot juice. You may also find the juice other places.
    4. Stop at the local antique shops. Well, actually this time we didn’t since K. gave us plenty of ceramics and glassware.
    5. Take a walk to the geo-park to see the cliff and the river. We really love that place, even if a few years ago they transformed the little path into a wide wheelchair friendly road, with an artificial pond… the view hasn’t changed a bit.

    As for the new things… we discovered Nakago – 中子 a small village by a lake with a few sakura tree. The place is on a plateau where they do a lot of farming. The beautifully opened view and the quietness were totally exquisite.

    The other place we went was on the way to Akiyamago, a small village with a suspended bridge on top of the Nakatsu river, the Mikura bridge – 見倉橋. It was a beautiful walk down the river, and you can go up the other side of the bridge to the Mikura village. But we didn’t, so next time we’ll visit K. we know were we could go!!!

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