baked apple

I've got tasteless apple today. I just wanted to eat small apple, that wasn't good. so that I put them in the oven. It's quite better than eating raw.



and there is wines and sake that I've sipped recently. Vercheny(the left pic) was made in Loire, Thierry PUZELAT. It was easy to drink, so that I drained this bottle one night. I hardly drink that much, because I'm a light dinker. It was that nice. La pente de chavigny(the middle of the pic) was also made in Loire, Mikael Bouges. This white wine was nice too. I've drain this bottle for three days. At the first night, fruity, mineral, and I've felt the character of Sauvignon blanc, and second night, I've felt like honey and citrus. the third day was also nice. It's very nice wine. The sake(the right pic) was hiyaoroshi which means brew it in Spring and bottled in Autumn for maturing.

sawaya matsumoto

I've drunked a chilled sake tonight. I like this brewery's sake. This sake is also a nice one as daily. There is a Japanese tsumami(nibbles), "Shutou" on the right picture. It doesn't look nice, but nice taste. It's made from the fresh guts of katsuo(bonite). It's cleaned, salted and mature for one year at least. It has bitterness, salty, and like anchovy. Shutou is a kinda of sake stealer in Japanese, which means sake will empty as you notice. It's like too nice to drink with it. I think some people never used to taste this kinda nibbles, but some people love them. Ofcourse, it goes together with rice or ochazuke style!

tonight dinner

I ate simmered daikon(Japanese radish) and buri(a fish). It went together with sake of course. after dinner, I bite a stick of dango(kusa dango).

sawaya matsumoto

It's getting one of my favorite sakes, sawaya matsumoto. I love the atsukan of the junmai. This sake is genshu, stronger than usual sake. It tastes nice. I recommend it as hiya(chilled).

a Japanese soup in the winter

Kenchin jiru, a soup made with some vegetables mainly and pork at this time. I also added "Seri", kinda herbal leave in the winer. Of course It goes together with sake!

sasanishiki

I've opened the sake(genshu) that I bought last weekend from Kidoizumi brewery. It's made from the rice called "sasanishiki". There is a sake made from the rice, "yamda nishiki", but I prefer sasanishiki. yamada nishiki is little too pure for me. Sasanishiki has many tastes and little wilder. I prefer that at this time. It smelt like melon and caramel sometimes, tasty, and nice sweetness and acidty. nice balanced. The genshu is stronger than usual sake, about 19 to 20%. I've sipped it with two cheeses tonight, baratte and bleu des causses. baratte is petit goat cheese and tasted more salty than usaul, because it's aged. but It went together with genshu. Blue was also wonderful, mild taste, I think the beginner would love it.

kidoizumi

A sake brewery located in Chiba pref. It was the first time to see a chai. This chai makes sake with organic rice since 1956! It's almost like Bio Dynamiques. Of course, they do that naturally. It seems completely different from recent organic movement. Somehow, It reminds me Gerard Schueller and some wine makers.

This is my first trip to Oohara. The funnel draft was used before, but there is the other one.




The giant round something on the left photo is called "saka bayashi", which means new sake coming. The middle photo was a wooden pot(barrel) to steam the rice. Nowadays, There are less people using and making this type of pot, but the wooden pot has several advantages. it can absorb extra moisture while steaming. I've told that the moisture is quite important to brewing sake.

After steaming, about 20% of the rice move to a room called "koujimuro" and resting(growing?) with their temperature, about 35 to 40 degrees C. The room controls the temperature. There is a couple of phases. and become "Kouji". We ate them, tasted little sweet and tasty when we chew on them.

This is called "Shubo", which is a ingredient to brew sake, made with 7% of the steamed rice, water(called shikomi-mizu) and lactic acid bacterium. This brewery makes the shubo by a unique way, called "Kouon-yamahai", one of Yamahai, but completely different. Usually, yamahai is made in low temperature, about 8 degrees C. but Kouon-yamahai is made in high temperature, about 55 degrees C. it's an opposite idea. The both way means the same, to keep away the other bacterias from developing. We also tasted the shubo and tasted like yogurt and little sparking. and this shubo has energy, You can see they are live, moving! I recorded it with digital camera. but I don't know how to upload on this blog. That's sorry!

As for the rest, All ingredient comes together and become sake. there is one dangerous point in this phase, brewing sake in this pot, if people fall into it, they go straight to die by the lack of oxygen. Sometime, It happens sadly.. After the brewing, Just squeeze the sake and finished.

We've tasted some sake and koshu(aged sake). In this chai, 1984 to now, They makes koshu almost every years. It's like whiskey. The color is nice. The taste can't be judge by seeing the color and vintage. Each vintage has characters. I really appreciate the Kidoizumi brewery.

Junmai Nama Genshu

I've sipped a sake, Junmai Nama Genshu, brewed by Sawaya Matsumoto. Nama genshu is stronger than usual sake. Usual sake is added water and be pasteurized, like distilled alcohols. The proof is about 18%-20%. It's not that strong, because Sake isn't distilled. This nama genshu is easy to drink and taste natural. I don't know the detail, but I like the sake like this. Roquefort went together with it too.

daily sake

Sawaya Matsumoto Junmai, You can buy a bottle(700ml) at about 1000yen. I recommend to drink as atsukan(warmed sake). I drunk some with simmered Daikon(Japanese radish) and Hakusai(Chinese cabbage). I added add thickness with Katakuriko flour(starch).

warmed sake with nice music

I've sipped Atsu-kan(warmed sake) with nice sounds. The sake was 2 years aged sake, brewed by Hatsumago brewery, located in Yamaguchi pref. The alcohol was about 16%, little stronger than wine. It tasted strong, but smoothly. and It smelt honey. The sounds were the new album of Iron and wine, and Gil e Jorge(Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben, a studio session recored in 1975). I felt This album of Iron and Wine was different form the others. but I liked this one too. His voice was nice as before. His sister sang too. Gil e Jorge was also nice. very relaxing music. It sounds like they played freely.

a unique tofu

This is Tofu marinated and fermented with miso. It's called "Tofu no Misozuke". The texture is like cheese. and it tastes cereal side, which means tofu made from soybeans and So is Miso. It's different taste from milk product. but It's similar with cheese. It went together with Atsu-kan(warmed sake).

umeshu

umeshu is a Japanese liqueur made from ume(Japanese apricot) and Shochu(distilled japanese alcohol, stronger than Sake like whiskey and brandy) or Sake. This umeshu was made from sake. It has sweet taste and nice scent of Ume. It's like a juice. It's easy to drink for light drinker and woman, somehow It tends that woman loves this kinda sweet alcohol in Japan, not every woman though.

kokken junmai ginjo

kokken is a sake made in Fukushima pref. This sake melt melon, vanilla, and little pine. It has sweetness and little acidity.

tsurunosato kikuhime 2006

This sake was surperb! It's wonderful balanced. It tasted rice, smells vanilla, bitterness, acidity, and sweetness. It's wonderful. The brewery is Kikuhime located in Ishikawa pref. I paired it with shishamo(a saltwater fish). This shishamo was also extraordinary. It's not usual shishamo. It's made in Kanedai-oono & Co Ltd in Hokkaido pref. It's completely different. It get tangled on my tongue, clinging to my tongue?, whatever I liked it.

hana-omoi

hana-omoi is the rice developed in Aomori pref and some sake breweries. It's said that they has struggled to develop this rice for 15years. They aimed to make the same quality as Yamada-nishiki which is said the best rice for making sake. I tasted it with a dish, simmered with Hakusai(Chinese cabbage), Tougan(Japanese(Chinese?) winter melon), tiny dried shrimps, Ganmodoki(a fried tofu dumpling vegetables), some Chinese soup stock cube and mirin. Tougan isn't sweet fruit like usual melon. People eat it as a vegetable.

weekend relaxing

I've opened a sake and drunk it with arani(simmered fish). This sake was strong and tasted little acidity and sweetness. it smelt fruity and vanilla. I meant it's not vanilla flavor which people describe about wine, not oak flavor. I meant vanilla beans. Sometimes, I get a feeling of vanilla flavor when I taste sake. it went together with arani. I also drunk sake as Atsukan. Atsukan is a hot sake, and you can heat it by heating in a microwave nowadays. You can taste different tastes with one sake. After dinner and before sleep, I've puffed a mini cigar, "Punch Petit Punch". What a wonderful night.