I was very lucky and was gifted these. The small fish is called Chi-Ayu, which is a baby sweet fish with egg inside. Ayu or sweet fish are fished in the river high up in the mountain where the water is clean and fresh is a must. Fishing Ayu are allowed only during summer so they are very precious for people like me living in the city. The baby version is even more precious and with the eggs in it’s stomach, you will never find them in the markets around here.

I was told to deep fry it with little flour. I did it and it was amazing. The fish itself was sweet and soft, it just melted in your mouth. You didn’t need to bite at all and the bones was so soft that I forgot the existence of it. I purposely left the guts in its stomach and deep fried them as a whole, and the bitterness of the gut enhance the taste (sweetness) of the Ayu.

Along with the Chi-Ayu, I got a bag of Mizu no Mi, and a Tohoku (Northern Japan) wild plant which represent Autumn. Picture above is the plant before it is boiled, I didn’t know what it was, thought it was some kind of a decoration so decided to take a picture with Chi-Ayu. Nobody around me new about this plant, we had no idea what this was so my mission was to take it home and figure it out.

I googled it and found out what it was and went on my mission to cook it. I made a salad with burdock root, and chicken. The round buds of this plant is crunchy which gives an interesting texture, the plant itself is sticky like a okra plant, it have a earthy aftertaste to it so adding white balsamic was a good choice!

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先日稚鮎とミズの玉と言う珍しい食材をいただきました。稚鮎は子持ちで、片栗粉でまぶしサッと揚げました。揚げたてを口に入れた瞬間、溶けた！ワタの苦味も鮎の甘さを引き立てて、子持ちと言う事で卵の存在すら感じる、口に入れた瞬間全てが消えた。なんて繊細な食べ物なんだろうと感動した。翌日数匹残ったのを冷たいまま食べてみたが、冷めるとよりお魚の味をしっかり味わえて、これも又美味。

稚鮎と一緒にミズの実（ミズの玉）もいただく。東北の山菜で今が旬。こちらもまた凄く珍しい食材で誰もこの正体が分からず、私が料理する事を任命される（汗）山菜の名前を突き止め、一般的な調理法を見て、私らしい和物に。ゴボウと蒸し鳥とミズの玉（ゴボウとミズの玉はそれぞれ下茹でして）、オリーブオイル、塩（イギリスの塩の花）、イタリアの白バルサミコ、隠し味に醤油を少し。ミズの玉は粘り気の有る食材で（オクラ風）玉の部分はコリコリしてて、とても面白い食感だった。粘り気のある野菜特有の土臭さとでも言うのかなぁ、それも繊細なレベルで、白バルサミコの甘みとよくマッチしていました。

なんだか、たまたま偶然珍しい食材をいただけて、感謝です。ごちそうさまでした。美味しいくいただきました。