Tororo

On Sunday 1st October, as part of the local townspeople festival, there was a tororo eating competition. This competition has taken place every year in Ouchi for the last 26 years.

第26回 元祖とろろめし大喰い大会
Dai 26 kai Ganso Tororo meshi Oogui Taikai


Each bowl is carefully measured out to have 120g of white rice with 90cc of tororo on top. We were given a set of chopsticks, two umeboshi and a napkin. And we had 15 minutes to eat as many bowls as we could. Drinking was not allowed.

I was informed many times that participants got to keep the bowls that they eat from. And that each bowl is worth 300 yen, so I should at least eat 4 bowls to come out on top after paying the 1,000 yen entry fee!

The night before had been the Halloween party in the city, so I wasn't feeling my best for the competition. And unfortunately for me both the presenter of the competition and the local TV camera guy decided to try talk to me. I was struggling a lot with forming English sentences that morning, never mind Japanese sentences!


There were 29 participants in the competition. I managed to eat a mouthful short of 6 bowls when the final whistle blew. I tried really hard to finish the last bowl, but I physically couldn't.

The winner of the competition ate 15 bowls! One bowl every minute! When he was walking up to get presented he was walking with an understandable discomfort. The female winner ate 12 bowls. And as you can see she not exactly the biggest of women either.


This last photo appeared in a local Yurihonjo magazine called Shiseidayori　(市政便り) or Koho Yurihonjo (広報ゆりほんじょう).

Kiritampo Party

The nurse at one of my schools is a member of LABO and every year they have a kiritampo party at Sanbouen (三望苑) in Honjo. I went last year for the first time, and she invited me again this year.

This year 6 of the local ALTs joined the party; Paul, Austin, Abby, Todd, Jimmy and myself. When we arrived the barbeques were were already cooking sweet potatoes. We were all handed beers and told to enjoy ourselves!

Kiritampo is mashed up rice that is moulded onto sticks and then cooked over a BBQ. We helped out mashing the rice and forming it onto the sticks.


We didn't get to help out with the cooking of them, but did get given more beer and various salads. And when the kiritampo was cooked we were served kiritampo nabe; a soup with various vegetables and of course the kiritampo.

After eating we went to the park area and set up two slacklines, a kind-of not-so-tight tightrope. Most of us are still learning how to balance/walk on the line. I can balance pretty well, until I try to take a step forward. Its a whole lot of fun though, and easier than you might imagine.


We got to see an amazing sunset just before we left too!

Soba

During school summer holidays, on 18th August, one of the teachers from Iwaya elementary school, Kishi sensei, decided to have a Soba workshop. He often makes soba at home and really enjoys it. So he wanted to teach his co workers how to make them!

We started out by mixing 400g of buckwheat flour (そば粉) with 100g of all-purpose flour (つなぎ or 中力粉), and measuring 4 cups of water with precise amounts of 168ml, 21ml, 15ml and 6ml. We also used uchiko flour (打ち粉) for dusting, though buckwheat flour can also be used. This makes enough for 5 people.


First we gradually added the water to the flour. The flour first became clumpy, then it formed ball. These were rolled over the smaller pieces to blend them together. And for the bits that wouldn't stick the remaining water was added. When one large ball was formed it was kneaded 100 times; turning slightly and pushing into the centre of the ball. Then to close the hole we rolled it into a snout, and then rolled that snout back into the ball, to form an almost perfect ball!


This ball was then flattened onto a floured board to a thickness of 8 CDs. Using a rolling pin we rolled it, then rotated it 45 deg, then rolled it again, until we got it to a thickness of 4 CDs. We then put flour on top of the dough with extra flour on the vertical axis of the circle. Then the dough was wrapped around the rolling pin (or pipe in this case!), and rolled 4 times. Next it was unwrapped, flour was put on the other axis and the procedure was repeated again. This process happened twice. After which we just used the rolling pin to roll the dough into a squarish shape, with a thickness of about 1 CD.

When the thickness of just 1 CD was reached, half the dough was covered in flour, and the dough was folder over itself. Then half of that was floured and again folded over itself. Then one last time!


It was now ready to be cut! So with a menkiri bocho (麺切り包丁）or soba knife we cut the noodles into strips about 1～2mm thick. Some people found this to be very difficult. Personally I though it was quite easy, it just took a bit of time.


This was my end product. It was really tasty!


Kishi sensei had made sauce beforehand which he gave to all of us. After you cook the soba in boiling water, you save the water. And after eating the noodles you take the remaining sauce and add it to the soba water and drink it. It's so good!

Kishi sensei get all his ingredients online from Takayama Seihun.

Sushi

This is a rather funny guide to correct Japanese etiquette in a Sushi restaurant. It’s a bit long, but it’s definitely worth watching!