Sunday, November 7, 2010

Back in Japan (November 2010)...Soba, Shochu, and Wine


I've been actually back in Japan past some days. I left LA on Tue (Nov 2) to stay in Japan for a little over two weeks.


Photobucket
It was nice to see mom, sister and her son again. On the arrival night, we had dinner at the regular "first night" soba place near home in Urawa. I had fried Hiroshima oysters, soba with grated yamato-imo (mountain yam) and shrimp tempura, and black sugar shochu on the rocks (30% al.). Such a lovely dinner.


Photobucket
Next evening, we had dinner at home. 1996 Lou Dumont, Volnay "Lea Selection" was at its peak and showing the nice minerality and softness. Lou Dumont is a winery by a Japanese winemaker, Koji Nakada. Besides his own wines, Mr. Nakada also introduces his hand-selected back vintages by different winemakers in Bourgogne under "Lea Selection" label.

On the next day, my trip to Iga, Osaka, and Kyoto started...reports from each city will follow later (when I have time to post pictures).