the index

winter

autumn

summer

spring

CATEGORIES

Join me on a pastoral, a gastronomic journey through the seasonal rhythms of the kitchen and the table in the heart of rural Japan. Take a seat and read along.

72 Seasons of eating

contact

mirukashi

long form

cultivated
days

ABOUT

travel

HOME

72
Seasons of eating

Connect

Reportage

essays

Experiences

published

about

stories below

back to top

Mirukashi is a pastoral, a gastronomic journey through the seasonal rhythms of the kitchen and the table in the heart of rural Japan. Take a seat and read along.

mirukashi

spring

summer

autumn

winter

categories

+

-

open post

The days are growing longer and two doves coo in the evening air as I make my way down to gather a few fragrant fronds from our sansho tree. I fell in love with sansho on my first day in Japan, long before I knew I would come to call this place home. For years I have been dreaming of a little sansho orchard. Back in the kitchen I slap them between two palms to release the fragrance before laying them atop a steamed chawanmushi egg custard alongside preserved sakura buds.

on summer's eve

featured:

+

-

open post

I’m inclined towards a devotion to beauty and it’s encouraged in Japan. I’m granted permission to consider it essential. If elegance is the only beauty that never fades, as Audrey Hepburn said, then the fine crafts of Japan are elegance defined. Their beauty grows. 

small acts

featured:

+

-

open post

Working by Kuniko's side I scribbled notes on a piece of paper recording amounts, ratios, timing, and sequence. What spurred me to finally document the details of making umeboshi just months before a stroke would render those very details inaccessible in her mind?

a day's work

featured:

+

-

open post

There is perhaps nothing more simple and divine at the Japanese table than a pristine bowl of snow white shinmai, new rice, to close an autumn meal. Like the wafer at mass, newly harvested rice speaks to the Japanese soul of the divine, of things both eternal and ephemeral. 

what has been sown

featured:

+

-

open post

During a midsummer run of high heat in late July known as the doyo, the sun blazes and the cicadas roar. It’s a hot, dry (if you don’t count the humidity) interval between the tsuyu rainy season and stormy August skies seen when turbulent typhoons threaten to roll in. We rely on this clear stretch to set the salted ume out to dry, a process that tenderizes the flesh and softens the outer skins, improving the texture. 

the plum moon

featured:

+

-

open post

The fierce winds of a typhoon brought down a bounty of chestnuts and we gathered baskets full. Most were still green so we let them ripen for several days on the deck. As I waited for the urchin-like casings to crack I researched the many ways I could use such a large harvest and made a list of chestnut focused foods to try. We feasted on chestnuts for well over a week but one dish wowed more than all of the others, kuri no shibukawani, a very Japanese take on marron glacé.

a cultured confection

featured:

+

-

open post

Each day throughout the month of December, these citrus shells stuffed with miso and nuts have bathed in the winter sunlight, curing in the cold air until leather hard, ready to slice and eat. Yubeshi are prepared at the peak of the yuzu season, as November becomes December, to be ready in time for New Years. These savory citrus slices accompanied by celebratory sips of sake open the first meals of the New Year in the most fragrant, flavorful, and festive way. 

ON THE SAVORY SIDE

featured:

+

-

open post

As long as we’ve kept track of time, the day on which we reset the calendar has been celebrated as an occasion for reflection, for mental, physical, and spiritual renewal. Hemp fibers twisted into rope figures adorn the entryways to purify and protect the home. Inside decorations made of rice and boughs and bamboo, each with a meaning tied to agricultural rituals that pray for providence and abundance, are set out for display.

grtitude and devotion

featured:

+

-

open post

If Kuniko, my mother-in-law, were to write the story of her life it might read more as a menu than a memoir. 

if you ask her

featured:

+

-

open post

Drawing back a clump of desiccated fronds, I find an emerald trumpet of delicate leaves cradling a cluster of quilted button like buds. I raise the dirty, wet stem to my nose and drink in the earthy, pungent aroma of spring breaking from winter. This is fukinoto. 

An auspicious day

featured:

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

Cold Watermelon by the Edge of a Salty Sea In Japan Autumn begins in August with a hot, slow slide away from summer. The heat no longer builds but lingers like an oven that’s just been turned off. The cacophonous cry of cicadas crescendoes to a peak. The constant drone of their frenzied roar is […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

The body is soothed and the soul is stirred Ten months ago, after years of wise guidance by my mother-in-law, a devoted practitioner of elegant and pragmatic home cooking, I took a leap and began studying Japanese cuisine at the next level in earnest with Tsuchiya san, a family friend and former chef at Robata […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

Making onigiri is an intimate act I stood in Kuniko’s pantry and pulled a jar of umeboshi from the shelf. I removed a dozen or so from the jar and began prying the soft flesh away from the pits. I popped one in my mouth. It was mouth-puckering sour though pleasant, the saltiness pronounced but […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

I too would be more tempted by a sultry fig On the Autumnal equinox a full harvest moon rose due east outside our window. It was a welcome reunion after endless cloudy, starless nights. She cast her wise and benevolent light far and wide, wrapping everything in a warm, shadow filled glow. She brought with […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

Shinshoga new ginger The road out of summer took a clear turn towards fall this past week. An afternoon rain left not cool but cold air in its wake. As we rise we sleepily murmur of bringing warmer bedding out of storage. Days are quieter as the steady vibrato of crickets replaces the shrill whir […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

A shapeless season It was a restless night, storms rolling through one after another, lightning flashing bright enough to penetrate closed eyelids and wake me. Rain poured down, its low roar on the roof perforated by the slap of water pelting pebbles outside the bedroom window. It finally calmed just before dawn and I slipped […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

A harmonious table setting An August storm charges in with a battle cry. Lightening fractures a thick sky and thunder roars. I hear the sirens on the hilltop golf course behind the house shrieking for all to take cover. The wind whips the trees as a downpour begins. I stand at the door as heavy […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

It’s a fine time to make home your haven Soft clouds float by like a flock of sheep grazing in the wild blue yonder. I spot a small bamboo tray on Kuniko’s balcony that holds a few carrot peels drying in the sun. This is her admirable thrift, her equal regard for elegance and economy […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

A very Japanese take on marron glacé The fierce winds of a typhoon brought down a bounty of chestnuts and we gathered baskets full. Most were still green so we let them ripen for several days on the deck. As I waited for the urchin-like casings to crack I researched the many ways I could use […]

Filed in: autumn

OPEN POST

Cooking with chrysanthemum petals Chrysanthemums symbolize the month of September, the season, and the imperial family in Japan. But mums remind me most of autumn in New England where avid gardeners bring them home to enliven a fading landscape. Here too, we’ve crossed the autumnal equinox and gradually the light and the brilliant hues of summer […]

PRAIRIE’S POETIC AND PEACEFUL VOICE NEVER FAILS TO TRANSPORT ME TO THE MAGICAL FARAWAY PLACES I HAVE ONLY EVER DREAMT ABOUT

kind words

Her calm and vivid visions of the world around her and descriptions of Japanese foods and traditions are an absolute joy to follow, and even more pleasurable alongside her stunning and crisp photography. I continually enjoy living vicariously though Prairie’s luscious storytelling and am always left craving the dishes and more of her thoughtful, soothing and honest words.