lunch in downtown Yuzawa

This was lunch in Yuzawa. We had planned on skiing on Sunday but high winds and heavy rain kept us away from the slopes. So our huge group broke off into little groups and explored the streets of Yuzawa.

We found plenty of little stores selling Japanese sake wine, rice, and plenty of pickles. Hiro tells me that because there are many mountains, people were forced to use salt and seasonings such as chili peppers to preserve the food. Yuzawa is kind of famous for its chili sauce (see centre picture) which is made from chilis, yuzu Japanese citron and vinegar. It was delicious stuff. We could have samples of all kind of pickles, which I love! We tried a sample of sake-doused cake and enjoyed it so much that we bought some for Hiro's mom. ":) Mmm. It reminded me of how some Europeans soak their cakes in plenty of kirsh, mmm...yummy.

Lunch was at a crowded little restaurant. There were two groups ahead of us but because it was just Hiro and I, we were able to get a seat at the counter after not much waiting. This restaurant was recommended by a follow ski-trip member, Rick. We had a mini-ikura (salmon eggs...see pic on the left) rice bowl, mini soba noodle box, and mini tempura rice bowl (see pic on the right). The tempura included fried maitake mushrooms...think portobello but even meatier with kind of an oyster/seafood taste. I believe they are called oyster mushrooms in English. You can buy maitake mushrooms almost anywhere but these particular ones cannot be bought from the average supermarket.

It was at this restaurant where I learnt a memorable lesson. I always knew I held chopsticks incorrectly but I was also told my scoop up/pick up method was incorrect. I was surprised to hear that. So I corrected my scooping style and found out the correct scooping style made eating a lot easier and enjoyable. Hurrah and thanks to Hiro for not being afraid to point out my chopstick faux pas. Next time you eat with chopsticks, check BOTH your chopstick holding technique AND your scooping style. My family always said, "so long as you can eat with chopsticks, it's okay, technique does not matter" but realistically speaking, the scooping style makes a world of difference!