Part IV: Umeshu

The plums at the bottom

On my last night at home, I invited all my friends over for a Japanese meal: Sukiyaki. Eating from the same pot can really bring people together. I only wish we could have made it on the table as is conventionally done, but my parents don’t have a strong enough hot plate and we can’t uninstall a burner from the stove, so I made it… alone. Thanks to my mother’s creativity, we did, however, bring the pots to the table and were table to keep them warm on fondue burners. The result was hot sukiyaki all the way until we poured the last drops of liquid out of the pots.

Spiced Hot Chocolate

Quick, hot comfort in a glass

It seems that lately I’ve been needing a good share of comfort in the shape of heart-warming foods. I must say the weather here in Kyoto has really been dreary lately, switching from snow to wet snow to rain to just plain drab. Without central heating, only space heaters (because of the inability to install insulation in Japanese houses), it feels colder than it is.