Monday, November 18, 2013

Back in Japan (November 2013)…DONABE Cookbook Project Begins!

Lunch set at Akomeya including Donabe rice (Tsuya-hime rice from Akita)

HAPPY DONABE LIFE BOOK PROJECT!

I am very excited to officially announce that I am making a donabe cookbook to be published in the US! Ten Speed Press, which is one of the most prestigeous cookbook publishes in the world will publish the book my book. The co-author of the book is my great friend, Kyle Connaughton, who is a former head development chef at Michelin 3-star Fat Duck and a donabe lover. The photography will be done by super-talented Eric Wolfinger. I can't ask for any better team!


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After only 2 days of rest (or just being jet lagged) in LA after coming back from Sicily and Berlin trip, I packed again and left for Japan to start the photo shoot for the Donabe Cookbook. It turned out to be a rocky start, as LAX was shut down after the tragic shooting incident right before my flight, and  I was evacuated for hours.

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After the airport finally reopened, everybody who evacuated outside had to walk all the way to the terminals. It was crazy. Then, I was rebooked to another flight which departed almost 1 am on the following day.

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But, I finally made it to Tokyo. The next day, Eric and Kyle flew in from San Francisco and we had a kick-off dinner at a yakitori restaurant in Ginza.

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We left Tokyo for Iga the following morning and started shooting at Nagatani-en. The report will continue in the next blog posts!

Happy donabe life.