I told myself I was on a diet… and since I’d spent quite a lot on travel in May, I spent my June weekends at home doing nothing but reading. So I barely made it to any good restaurants. Enjoying life matters, but I guess sometimes you also need time to get yourself back in order.
Anyway, even staying at home, once you’re hooked on good food there’s no way you can stop eating delicious things. So here’s a roundup of what I tried..
Making rakkyo
Rakkyo (pickled shallots) is a specialty of Tottori Prefecture, famous for its sand dunes. I’d only ever seen Chinese-made rakkyo, so these looked really tasty, and I bought a rakkyo-pickling kit at the supermarket and gave it a go. It turned out to be simple. You blanch the rakkyo once, put them in the special vinegar with finely chopped dried chili, leave it in the fridge for about two weeks, and that’s it.
So you pack them in like this.
Tasting them, they’re a bit sweet.. hmm.. and I followed the recipe, too.. There must be some other way, so next year I’ll try to make them better..
This is a Miyazaki mango
JA, which is like our Nonghyup farmers’ co-op back in Korea, was selling it cheap at 1,500 yen, so I snapped it up, but in the end I left it in the fridge for a week before eating it, and it was no different from a Mexican one.. sigh.
These are cherries, my absolute favorite.
Look how big they are. A bit pricey, but really delicious. Because of the diet -_- I couldn’t eat many, just one or two each morning before heading to work. I’ve got a few more things, but introducing them is way too much of a hassle.. so, some other time..