Postcards from MIRUKASHI

Mid-afternoon I drove down the mountain, my mind turned in on itself, fully absorbed in anticipation of the meeting I was rushing towards. I came around the familiar bend at the end of the bamboo grove and drove straight into the blustering burn. It delivered me from my distraction right into the moment, what might […]

This morning I woke to the gentle patter of a steady rainfall. The sun struggled to impel its light through a sky quilted in dark clouds. The air is slowly but steadily warming and what once fell as snow now turns to rain. It saturates the earth. As the thawing soil drinks it in, moisture […]

Outside my kitchen window a party of small, cold-hardy songbirds splash about in a flooded pot of dormant water lilies. Their giddy chatter and cheerful presence never fails to brighten my day. But today is already a bright day. The sun beams from a clear sky as if to celebrate this first day of a […]

The season of Daikan (greater cold) lived up to its name this year unlike any other. It was the coldest stretch on record in my time in Mirukashi. Last week temperatures were below zero nightly and rarely peaked above 2 or 3 degrees during the day. Flurries of snow were constant though not accumulative. I’m […]

Happy New Year, friends! In Japan we enjoy a nice long holiday during the first several days of the new year and it affords ample time for introspection, gaining clarity, and setting intentions for the year. For me, this always includes some consideration of what area of cooking I want to dive deeper into. I’ve […]

December blew in on an icy north wind. We brought the first load of wood up to the house and built a fire in the wood stove. I pulled sheepskins out of storage, one at each bedside to caress bare feet on cold mornings. Outside, branches are laid bare and the steps leading up the […]

“Making good dashi is the first secret of the simple art of Japanese cooking.” Shizuo Tsuji Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art As the sun rises I wake, make a cup of coffee, and prepare to draw the day’s dashi. I place a large square of konbu, dried giant kelp, in fresh water and let it […]

Whether one truly understands how or why such a simple dish takes so much time, the body and soul clearly take great pleasure in such a labor of love. I think time just might just be the most essential ingredient in good cooking. Because cooking with care takes time. And care — for your ingredients, […]

I’m building a menu of seasonal cocktails to weave into the fabric of the MIRUKASHI salon sessions. I can’t wait to shake and stir and slip one (sprited or zero-proof) across the bar to you. Just about a year ago I decided to stop drinking alcohol on the daily. The transition was far easier than […]

It was an odd year for ume in Mirukashi. A few weeks back I had stood on the narrow balcony outside Kuniko’s house looking out over the ume trees puzzled by the yellowed canopy of my three most prolific trees. Their color stood out, unusual against the more familiar, verdant green of the other trees […]