Commissary @ The Line Hotel

Commissary, a restaurant at The Line Hotel.

 

 Clam chowder and bok choy.

Fruit-shopping at Kona Farmer's Market

My annual visit to the farmer's market in Kailua-Kona.

  

This year, I was much more ambitious about what I purchased.

 

Salamanders blending in with the fruit.

 

 

Papaya, star fruit and chicko. The lady at the fruit stand was spectacularly unhelpful when I asked chicko tasted like: "It tastes like chicko."

It tastes like a cinnamon-laced persimmon.

 

Rambutan (the furry red balls), passion fruit (yellow balls), cherimoya (green fruit), papaya. 

 

The rambutans were the easiest to eat, and the most delicious.

The cherimoya was not ripe at all, and tasted absolutely horrible. Apparently it is supposed to taste like custard, and the seeds are truly poisonous!

Palate

 

Palate in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Photos taken in March.

 

Shojin Ryori: Buddhist Cuisine

One of the highlights of staying at Ichijoin in Koya, Wakayama Prefecture was getting to experience shojin ryoryi ("devotion cuisine", traditional Buddhist cuisine that is famously vegetarian. Above was a dinner meal.

Shojin ryori has been around in Japan since the 12th century, and is believed to have a great influence on Japanese cuisine.

 

Many of the dishes are based on tofu, such as this one above, which is made of yuba (tofu skin).

 

Seasonal fruit also play a large role. This persimmon salad also had dried persimmon inside!

Soba noodles and yuba rolls.

The loveliest surprise of the meal: tempura. The inside was...

...fig, which I had never before experienced!

The miso sauce here was delicious. To be fair, though, everything was delicious.

Breakfast, which also features persimmon and tofu.

 

A monk gathering everything up at the end.

Hidden Spaces

Who knew? The second floor of this super non-descript building in Edogawabashi houses...

...a space like this.

A small tea room/restaurant that opened up about three months ago, in what used to be a mahjong room.

 

It's run by three people, and the relatively small room has been decorated lovingly.

 

 The lunch set comes with tea, soup...

 ...main dish and side dishes, with lapsang souchong...

 

...and a desert with pu-erh tea. 

 

Unfortunately, it is set to close at the end of the month for reasons unknown.

Ikiiki-kan in Toyama City

Ikiiki-kan in Toyama City, a building near Toyama Station that triples as a mall, city hall, and museum.

 

Envelopes with illustrations that are a playful interpretation of people's last names. For example, the second-to-left envelope on the top row is for the last name Sato. The kanji for Sato is generally 佐藤, but it has the same sound as sugar, 砂糖. Hence, the spoonful of sugar.

These pencil cases were made of paper. Beautiful, but perhaps not long-lasting.

 

The festival section had traditional drums that you could actually play.

A museum of medicine, which Toyama is traditionally known for. 

 

Medicines were being sold in old-school packaging.

 

A form of paper balloon.

 

In the section for food souvenirs. I wanted these but they were not for sale.

 

Special taiyaki, a wedding gift bag staple.