English Diary: The Japanese Food that I have Missed. 20220511 #2-89

Hello everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Mai and this is the Nomadonomado English diary of the 11th of May 2022. 

Last night,  I had a Sake, Mutsumi Junmai Ginjo Shiboritate (freshly brewed) Genshu (non-water-downed). When I first drank it, I thought it was too sweet for me, but the more I drank, the more delicious it became. 

It’s relatively strong in terms of alcohol, 18 per cent. It has a slightly yellowish colour as they didn’t add any water. 

The fragrance was not strong, and there was a soft bitterness left on the tongue. 

Despite the relatively high percentage of alcohol, it was quite smooth, surprisingly. Overall, it is the one that you find difficult to stop drinking after you once start drinking. 

This is my first visit to Japan since March 2020. I missed Japanese food and drinks a lot. So I would like to catch up with it while staying in Japan. 

You may be surprised, but Maitake is one of the Japanese foods which I have missed. We can’t buy Maitake mushrooms in Canada. I haven’t seen them in England either. 

Japanese mushrooms or Asian mushrooms, I should say, are not cheap in Western countries even if they have them. I have seen Enoki mushrooms or Eringi mushrooms in Canada and England but they normally are expensive. Shiitake mushrooms and Shimeji mushrooms are more common than Enoki or Eringi mushrooms but still not cheap. 

As I said, Maitake mushrooms are the ones you cannot buy in Canada. So I bought three packages of them when I saw them in the supermarket in Japan the other day. I cooked them with garlic, butter and soy sauce yesterday. 

I bought a little package of Ika-Soumen yesterday, which is sliced raw squid. Sashimi which means raw fish is also the food that I must enjoy in Japan. 

Nira is another ingredient which is difficult to get in Canada. You can buy it in an Asian supermarket. They call it “Chinese leek” in English. But the ones they have are very skinny, not like Nira that you can buy in Japan. 

I stir-fried Nira with bean sprout and sliced Chikuwa which is a type of fish cake for lunch yesterday. 

I imagine that more cooking is coming while I stay in Japan. Last night, I talked about going to the Tsukiji fish market with my dad who knows about fish more than me because he used to work at the fish section of the supermarket. 

I have a feeling that I have to talk more about Japanese food, but it will be in another episode. 

That’s all for now. Thank you for listening. I will be super happy to receive your comments, feedback and questions. 

And don’t forget to visit my website, nomadonomado.com where you can find the English part of today’s script. 

Thank you very much again. I will talk more about my stay in Japan in the next episode. Until then, goodbye.