Uzuki ・Cooking class in Kyoto: 2011

Uzuki in Shiwasu : Thank you so very much!

I thank you all so much for coming to my kitchen and sharing the enjoyable time together this year!

Also thank you so much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways!

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

Mary Ray Cate has sent
the beautiful Haiku poetry for the holiday season.

On the hillside lie
Grey skeletons of pinons
Cradling new green trees.

Here is the letter from Stephanie-

Vicki and I would just like to let you know, how very much we enjoyed the afternoon cooking with you. I would also like to say how much I appreciated the extent you went to for myself, by showing and cooking vegetarian foods. Your meal was amongst the best food I have tasted in Japan, and I will try these recipes for myself when I get home. Thank you once again for your hospitality.

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

Here are winter dishes by Magali & Jeremie
the top: fried namafu(raw wheat gluten) with shiro miso sauce
the center: brochette of beef-roll, shiro negi(similar to leek, but thinner & softer) and ginkgo nuts

at the bottom:
renkon & ebi o-yaki; Japanese style lotus root galette or lotus root pancake with prawns!

Their pretty nama-yatsuhashi sweets

Magali & Jeremie

Maia's o-bento:boxed meal, she loves Kyoto style o-bento!

Horenso no goma-ae:dressed salad of spinach

Month of autumn tints : Shimotsuki

Autumn rice: cooked rice with mushrooms(shimeji, eringi and shiitake) & crabmeat

Let's have a cooking session, have an enjoyable time together!

Please have a look at
Momijigari
and Fukiyose

Kuri-kinton:chestnut sweet

Uzuki in Shimotsuki:November

Thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

Kikuka-kabu: sweet vinegar pickled turnip - Looks like a chrysanthemum

Clare & Michael

on the right: kuri-gohan/cooked rice with chestnuts
on the left: buri no misozuke/miso marinated yellowtail

Kaminazuki : Month of gods

Let's have a cooking session, have an enjoyable time together!

Uzuki in October
vase: 'Keikan-ko' flower vase
flower: Murasaki-shikibu

Thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

Simmered vegetables & koyadofu with crab-meat sauce
the photo by Christopher

Tom loves chestnuts, Uriel loves all Japanese foods!

Fresh fig & boiled okura salad with sesame-miso(soybean paste)sauce

Kuri no shibukawa-ni: chestnut with syrup
Please have a look at
kuri-kinton

Helena & Jan

Matcha/green tea Shiratama-dango/mochi balls with grapes & red bean paste

an autumn salad: shimeji mushrooms, kaki/persimmons and grapes

Nagatsuki : Month of full moon!

Let's have a cooking session, have an enjoyable time together!

Uzuki in September

Thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

Tsukimi Dango/tiny dumplings of rice cake for the Harvest Moon

Autumn Nanbanzuke/Japanese style escabeche
ingredients: salmon, shimeji mushrooms and eggplant/aubergine

Red shiso's ear It's pretty!

Anouk & Kevin

Claire & Paul's early autumn dishes

Hazuki : Month of leaves

Let's have a cooking session, have an enjoyable time together!

Thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

Megan & Stephanie

Katharine & Samuel

Fuzuki : July

Let's have a cooking session, have an enjoyable time together!

Uzuki in Fuzuki/July
flower: tora-no-o, kikyou and rikyu-so

Thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well

From the left: Stephanie, Alysa and Kimberly
They all love Japanese music, dramas and foods!
Please have a look at Matcha Shiratama Dango

Poonam & Adrien's seafood 'shumai'

From the left: Heather, Karen, John and Linda

Gomazu-ae is Japanese-style dressed salad made with sesame seeds (or paste)
and rice vinegar.
Sesame (goma) is rich in minerals, vitamin E, vitamin B. It is said to lower blood
pressure, regulate cholesterol levels and have anti-aging properties. Rice
vinegar (kome-zu) is said to reduce fatigue, and clean the blood. It also has an antiseptic effect which can prevent food poisoning. Both goma and kome-zu are super for our health, particularly in the summer!
This month I will introduce 2 different dressings using these
ingredients. Made with fresh summer vegetables, these salads will boost your health and help cool the body during the hot days of summer.

Boiled aubergine/eggplant with sesame creamy dressing ↑

Ingen no gomazu-ae;sesame dressed green beans ↑

Aaron and Henry
Henry is wearing 'Gegege no Kitaro' T-shirt! (on the right)

Their vegetarian dishes

Nagoshi no Harae : Summer Purification, 2011

Nagoshi no Harae at Okazaki Shrine on June 30th

Home-made 'Minazuki'

Minazuki : special rice cake sweet for Nagoshi no Harae (the old ritual)
This triangle-shape expresses a piece of ice. In the old lunar calendar June is the mid-summer. People could hardly get ice in the summer time, those days. In stead of ice, they had this sweets, ‘minazuki’ which feels ice, asking for coolness.

The sweet red beans are used for the topping.
Those days Japanese people believed red beans protect us from evils such as diseases, disasters and so on.

Still now we have Minazuki on June 30th every year.

Please have a look at Nagoshi no Harae, 2009

Minazuki : June

Uzuki in June, 2011

The East Japan earthquake happened on March 11th.
My deep thoughts are with all the people in the devastated areas.

Also we thank you so very much for thinking of Japan and helping us in many ways.

Please visit the website kyotouzuki.com
Please contact at cooking@kyotouzuki.com

If you like,
Pottery Uzuki blogpage as well