More things at home...
Another "limited edition" sake	A c/u shot of one of the carrot slices that were in the osechi box. The stuffing in the middle was yam or some other kind of root veg, I think.
We had some crabs again, and this is what we couldn't manage in one go and had to leave for the next day...	A bath salt (yet to be tested)
And then another meal out**: This time we went to my favourite local, Nomura, which is the chef's surname - and Kousa's too! We always sit at the counter and order what we fancy from the menu (no prices written on it ;-) Below is a small selection from about 15+ things we tried. **In case you are wondering - yes, I did put on weight in Japan but have lost most of it as soon as I got back (I think...)
Grilled bamboo shoots	Fried balls made of mashed arrowhead, with oysters in the middle. The fried star-shaped thing in front of them was... er, some kind of veg too.
A cake made of yam & fish, with black beans, in a clear soup. Absolutely wonderful combination of textures and flavours! (Oh, and both the blue glass on the right and the clear glass in the background were for my sake. I tried a couple of different sorts, and they bring it to you in different containers each time.)	And this is a c/u shot of the vegetable bits that were sitting on top - red carrot sliced in a flower shape, strips of carrot & daikon tied together (in the shape of the traditional ceremonial cord), even the greens are tied at the bottom, with real gold flakes sprinkled on top.
The northern part of Gifu prefecture is a mountainous region, and there are many local specialities using mushrooms and other mountain vegetables. This is one of them, miso mixed with spring onions and spices, baked slowly on a leaf (magnolia obovata Thunb., God knows what it is in plain English!) on a little grill at your table - here with some oysters (not a local speciality, obviously) mixed in it.	And I'd completely forgotten about this when I went there... the mini Donburi (bowl of rice) with uni (sea urchin) & ikura (salmon roe) on top, to finish it all off with! Hitomi, my father's secretary, remembered to order it at the end of the meal, but I didn't have any room left in my stomach :-(((( It reminded me of the sushi meal with Fast and Ikue in East Village, where we had all planned to have uni at the end but I simply couldn't eat any more and had to give it a miss...
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