Heidrum Meadery

When we went to Marin County to buy oysters last month, it was a beautiful day and we felt like making another fun visit so decided to drop by a meadery on the way back home.

Heidrum Meadery has been making mead, a honey wine, first as a small enterprise since 1997 then moved to the current gorgeous location in Point Reyes in 2012.

They offer a tasting flight as well as mead by the glass, and you can stroll in the garden with a glass of mead in your hand.

California Sage Blossom
Aromas of melon and passion fruit.
Sweet molt-like flavor with soft bubble.
It tasted good with bitter chocolate.


Sonoma Mountain Apiary
Fresh aromas of white flowers like jasmine and thyme.
This mead tasted good with nuts.


Madras Carrot Blossom
Aromas and flavors of honey, Rice Krispie and fennel.
Fresh mouth feel.

California Orange Blossom
Honey and orange blossom with a bitterness of citrus skin. 

There is a slight sweetness in the after taste. Easy to drink.


Hawaiian Macadamia Blossom
Pineapple skin, hibiscus, pear and sweet passion fruit.
Aromas are sweet but there is a savoriness which makes this good with food.

Oregon radish Blossom
Complex aromas of daikon, yomogi, ginger and a slight funkiness.

Good pairing with semi sweet chocolate.



When you hear “honey wine” you expect something sweet but their meads were more savory than sweet and good drink with food.

They have picnic tables in the backyard so I strongly recommend to bring some snack and taste their meads with food.

Japan Trip - Tsukiji Fish Market

We couldn't leave Japan without breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market, so we made a quick trip to Tsukiji on our last day in Japan.

First, we went to the Tsukiji Namiyoke Shrine.
This shrine is just outside the Tsukiji Fish market.

In this shrine, there are monuments to thank for the giving from the nature.

These made us realize that as foodies, we should never take this giving for granted.

Then we went inside Tsukiji market (Jyonai).
We didn't have time to wait for Sushi, so we just did shopping here.

Spice store, Karaimonoya.
They proudly sell Curry Powder which was made by Indian.

The guy said that once I ate curry made with this spice, I would never go back to other curry spice.
The people in Tsukiji possess some kind of convincing aura, so I bought two of them.
The store wasn't busy at that time so he wrote me a recipe for this Curry powder. How nice!
I have to try this recipe sometime soon.


This is Fish Market so there are full of foods and restaurants.
But don't forget to buy other food-related items.

Where else can you find Sazae key chain?

Outside the Tsukiji market (Jyogai).

You find many small stores here. The atmosphere is so lively that I enjoy coming this area as much as inside the market.

I love these tiny alleys, too.

JC bought a pair of scissors to cut chicken.
Made in Tsubamesanjo, Niigata. This area is known to produce great stainless steel products.

This is very sharp and can be taken apart for easy and thorough cleaning.

Our breakfast was Grilled Scallop, Oyster (both of them were HUGE!), Onigiri (rice ball), and Makizushi (rolled Sushi).

I bought a lot of dried foods. Mission completed.

Tsukiji Fish Market is planned to move to another location sometime soon.
I understand that the facilities are becoming too old to deal with perishable foods, but Tsukiji Fish Market has this special feel which you can't recreate by just bringing in the same stores.
It's shame that I will never experience the same atmosphere again.
I will miss this place greatly.

Japan Trip - Edo Komon Dyeing Factory

One very cold day, I visited Tomita Some Kougei near Takadanobaba, Tokyo.

Snowing in November: quite unusual site for Tokyo.

Tomita Some Kougei is a Edo Komon Dyeing Factory.
They welcome visitors at their work place.

Edo Komon is a dyeing technique using stencil templates.
The designs are usually consist of tiny dots and it looks almost plane from distance.

Ise Stencil Template

Hariita boards hanging from the ceiling

First, place fabric (Kimono fabric is about 12 meters) on the long, straight Hariita board: it's essential that the fabric is straight and there are no wrinkles.
Hariita board is about 7meters long so place the fabric on the front and back side of the board.

Set the stencil template on the fabric, place resist paste with a paddle.
When you finish pasting one area, move the template to the next but you have to be extra cautious so that the design looks flawless.
After placing the resist paste to the entire fabric, dry the fabric.
This process is called Katatsuke.

The stencil template is made of multiple Japanese papers pasted together with Persimmon juice.
These templates are cleaned and dried before storing.
The templates withstand about 200 times use.

resist paste placed on the white fabric

With a paddle, dye the fabric with the base color: make sure that there is no irregularity of color.
This process is called Jiirosome.
Steam to set the color on the fabric.

Wash off the resist paste from the fabric, then dry.
You will see the white design emerging from the background base color.


This is a sample of designs.

They use black base color to make the design clear.
When you order, you can of course choose whatever color you want.

This is Edo Sarasa. Multiple templates are used for the multiple colors.

Before I visited here, I thought this place would be some kind of museum, didn't expect to see people actually working.
They were happy to answer to my question, but seeing them working seriously on this quiet, snowing day, I hesitated to make any noise (I still asked questions, though).

When craftsmen work sincerely, even their simple tools are beautiful.
These are brushes for Bokashi, the shading effect.

Next day, it was still cold but sunny.

A view from Shinjuku Takashimaya's roof garden.

Japan Trip - Kappabashi and Oden

We love food and we (or JC) love cooking, so our shopping destination in Japan is always Kappabashi.

Kappabashi is 800 m long street near Asakusa, which is filled with about 170 kitchenware stores.
It was a holiday so many of the stores were closed, but it wasn't a problem because each store had this wide variety of kitchen goods.

If all the stores were open, I don't know what to do!

We were like kids in a toy store but I knew that excitement would cloud my judgement, so tried to purchase only necessities.

These are the things we bought:
Durable stainless steel baking sheet × 2
Durable hand-made strainer × 2
Moomin cup
Stainless steel grill net for BBQ
Small stainless steel net (as soap dish)

JC wanted to buy Hario's heat-resistant glass cup but he couldn't find it.



Then we walked a little toward Asakusa, and went to Otafuku, 101 year old Oden restaurant.

Oden is fishcakes and vegetables cooked in Dashi-based soup.

They had a menu in English but we luckily sat in front of this big pot, so we just pointed at the ingredients we wanted to try. It was fun!

All of them were cooked in the same soup, but none of them were samey.
Very good flavor of Dashi and warmed me up on that cold day.

JC had Ebisu Beer and I had Umeshu (plum liquor).
Umeshu somehow went very good with Oden.

Good food and good, friendly service. Very Shitamachi (unpretentious downtown feel).

Then we walked to Asakusa. There is always festive atmosphere here.

We enjoyed the beautiful autumn color.

JC had endless appetite in Japan. Another snack: Beef Tongue stick and Sake.

And...

...Tattooed Kewpie!?

Japan Trip - under the railway

There are many eateries under the railway in Tokyo.
They are known for its fun, unpretentious feel.
Yurakucho Sanchoku Inshokugai is one of them.

There are seven restaurants in this area. What makes this Inshokugai unique is that these seven restaurants represent certain areas of Japan and use ingredients from there (Sanchoku means transported directly from the local farm).

We chose the one called Kaimaru, a shellfish specialty restaurant.
Their ingredients come from western part of Japan.

We started with shellfish salad. I chose Chuhai and JC chose highball for drink.

Then Scallop with butter. Gooood!!

Five kinds of steamed shellfish came in tin can. I liked that.
Each of them were huge and meaty!

It was busy, noisy, typical under the railway pub.
The food was good: they use fresh ingredients and cook to maximize the goodness of it. However, the distinct atmosphere definitely added to the flavor.

Japan Trip - Bar Radio

I love cocktails.
There are numerous bars in the world which serve cocktails. Many of them are fun and busy.
However, I like to have carefully crafted cocktail in calm, quiet atmosphere.

Bar Radio is in Aoyama, Tokyo. About 5 min. walk from Omotesando station.

Inside is dark and quiet.
People come here to appreciate the craftsmanship of the bartenders, not to get drunk.

My first cocktail was Blood and Sand. Classic cocktail.

We'd been drinking cocktails with fruit juice in Japan and experienced hit and miss (this Blood and Sand was a big hit!).
JC learned the difficulties of making well-balanced fruits-based cocktail from the recent Tiki cocktail craze, so we asked the bartender if there were any tips to reach the perfect balance.
It was a cold night and we were the only customers there at that time, so he explained in detail why it was difficult, why the use of lemon and lime was critical, and, after all, only the experience would teach you.
This advise encouraged JC (or gave him an excuse to restart the Tiki craze).

Then we started to talk about antique glasses.
The owner Mr. Ozaki has an impressive collection of antique glasses and he uses them at the bar.
They choose a glass which suits for the cocktail and for the guest.

One sharp, stylish flute glass got my attention and I asked the bartender to make something for the glass.

I forgot to ask the name of this cocktail but it was a great cocktail. Sharp and delicate, just like its vessel.
It was like that he knew exactly what I wanted when I saw the glass.

All the bartenders were humble: they like to talk to you but never become overly friendly.

Many stores, not just bars, when I feel welcomed, it's because people there are very friendly and try to communicate.
However, at Bar Radio, they are more quiet than talkative, more polite than friendly, yet I still felt very welcomed.
Wondered why.

Then I found out that they adapt the concept of tea ceremony to entertain the guests.
Their service is calculated to play the background role, and they believe that there ought to be some kind of tension involved in the space.
I like that.

Japan Trip - Shopping

One of the things I wanted to buy during this Japan trip was a broom.
Broom is just a cleaning tool, but when it's carefully made by craftsmen, it's beautiful.
And the idea to clean the room with a beautiful piece of art made me excited.

Shirakiya Denbe has been making hand-made broom since 1830.

They made me try several brooms because each hand-made broom has slight difference and they wanted me to chose the one with right feel for me.

The one I liked the most was very light and moved smoothly. Unfortunately, it was too long to fit inside JC's trunk.
So I bought the one which was 60 cm long, a little bit heavier but felt smooth.

This broom catches every bit of dust, and small enough to clean the tiny space where vacuum can't reach.
When this broom becomes old, you can trim the edge and keep using until it becomes too short. Eco!

Japan Trip - Marie Claude

One Sunday evening, my longtime friends took us to a French restaurant which is not trendy or hip, but serves honest and well prepared food.

Marie Claude is a French restaurant in Akasaka, Tokyo.
It sits inside a building quietly and hard to find, but once you are inside, you find cozy and welcoming feel.
Their dishes are also cozy and welcoming, and good quality.

Appetizer.

Ham and melon.

Pickled pumpkin was sweet and sour. Interesting idea.

Scallop tartare.

The carrot dragonfly gives cute seasonal feel.

Fish crudo.

Onion Gratin Soup. Very authentic.

Duck Breast with Crushed Black Sesame. This combination was magical!

Gratin Dauphinois was amazing, too.

Marie Claude doesn't have the glare of Michelin Star restaurants.
This is more like home food, but very, very carefully made.
The owner chef runs the kitchen alone: it's not easy to run this business in Tokyo and cook all day by herself but she keeps the restaurant opening because she genuinely loves cooking and sharing it with others.
Her dishes reflect that: pure love and passion.