My Last Cooking Class at Kita Tamiya, 3-03-2013

Well the goodbyes have started.  I joined the very nice women of North Tamiya Community Center for what would be my last cooking class there.  They hold the class every other month so the next one is just a few days before I leave and I'm sure I'll be too busy.

We made some special mochi that is used / eaten for girl's day (yesterday) and some other yummy things.

On the way home (well actually in the opposite direction from home) I stopped at the handmade ice cream shop hoping to score some yuzu sherbert before it was out of season, but unfortunately I missed it...  it's been too cold to eat it and then ride home.  Today isn't warm but it's not quite as cold so I thought I'd go for it. Trying to channel Lauren's ice cream eating resolve.  Oh well.  I had to make do with some dekopon (a kind of honey tangerine or orange) sherbert which was quite good.

Yuzu is special though.  It has an incredible aroma as well as a delicious taste.  The peel is sooo fragrant, it's often used in soup or nabe.  I love it.  I had some hot yuzu juice at the Kochi farmer's market a couple of weeks ago.  It can also be used in the bath.  It's thought to help your body resist colds, etc.  You can buy yuzu jam at the Korean market in Seaside and I've made tea from that, but you can't up the yuzu flavor without upping the sugar so it's not quite as good (to me anyway, I like the tartness).

Here are the pictures from lunch.

Soup - finely chopped cabbage, scallions and carrots in dashi
with a little soy sauce.  Thickened with corn or potato starch.

Top right, then clockwise - sliced daikon layered with minced
chicken with cabbage and leeks, sauted, then steamed; kabocha
(Japanese pumpkin), brocolli, carrots, minced chicken patty
(left over from the daikon stacks).

Really delicious buri (amberjack, a type of yellowtail) steamed
in sauce served with simmered daikon and kabocha.

Rice to which dried salted sakura (cherry blossoms) were
added to give a pleasing aroma and interesting taste.

Special mochi for Girl's Day.  The green is for the grass
or earth, white in the middle is for the snow, the
pink on top is for flowers (the promise of spring).

These were too sticky to make into the diamond shape.
So we had to eat them this way.  No problem!