As Liza Dalby says, in Japan people eat certain foods on certain days.
I’m all for that!
But I missed the day for eating eel by a few weeks. Actually, I have missed it by almost seven years.
As I think it’s been that long since I had my favorite food in the world, cooked over charcoal, kabayaki style.
I just had to rectify this, so I waited for the teenager to come and visit his poor old mother… I waited and waited–and finally yesterday he arrived and we immediately ordered eel from one of our favorite restaurants, Osawa, here in Pasadena.
It was so delicious!!!!!
The boy asked if unagi really gives people power when it’s hot. Or is that something they just do?
According to Wikipedia:
Kabayaki eel is very popular and a rich source of vitamins A and E, and omega-3 fatty acids.[3] A popular custom from the Edo period calls for eating kabayaki during the summer to gain stamina, especially on a particular mid-summer day called doyō-no ushi-no-hi [ja] (土用の丑の日),[3][4] which can fall anywhere between July 18-August 8 each year.
So there you have it!
We were on a roll so the next day, we went to H Mart and got supplies to make Hawaiian poke and miso soup with Manila clams.
Kazy made the miso soup (I gave instructions), and we put together a Poke bowl with fish from Vital Farms. I made Olivier Salad– a labor of love, as it takes me forever to cut everything.
Was a great day!
And next year, I want to eat eel a bit earlier in the season.
Dewdrop World 