WELCOME to the JOURNAL

Here you'll find my collection of essays called 72 Seasons of Eating, a gastronomic journey through the seasonal rhythms of the kitchen and the table in the heart of rural Japan. The Mirukashi Collective series of essays introduces our collaborators.
Take a seat and read along.

THE LATEST POST

June is an odd month in Mirukashi. It runs hot then cold, bright then gloomy, and my mood swings with the weather. One day I think summer is here! only to wonder a few rainy days later, will summer ever come? That’s the nature of June in Mirukashi. It’s a joyful month because it’s plum […]

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72 Seasons of Eating

Where it grows

June is an odd month in Mirukashi. It runs hot then cold, bright then gloomy, and my mood swings with the weather. One day I think summer is here! only to wonder a few rainy days later, will summer ever come? That’s the nature of June in Mirukashi. It’s a joyful month because it’s plum […]

72 Seasons of Eating

Grounding into summer

Bountiful sun and rain has sent the flora into overdrive. Grain Full is the name of this season when all things flourish, including the weeds that turn my tidy hillside into a jungle. It’s all I can do to keep everything just under control. But like a diamond in the rough, plump, dense, fruity, and […]

72 Seasons of Eating

Purple days of May

We can feel a shift out of spring and into early summer. In t-shirts and bare feet, with our lunches out on a sunny deck, we utter words not spoken for so many months, it’s hot! The cat takes refuge in the garden, a shady patch of grass cooler than the baking wooden planks.  There […]

72 Seasons of Eating

The mountains are laughing

The hillsides are a melange of every shade of green. Purple wisteria drapes from the canopy, a pastel shawl thrown around verdant shoulders. I’m just home from 10 days on the road. While I revel in tracking the minute shifts from micro-season to micro-season, a stretch of time away reveals the speed with which the […]

72 Seasons of Eating

A season of abundance

Years ago I stumbled upon a box of embroidered orbs in Kuniko’s attic. They were temari, I was told, vintage playthings from a time before children had rubber balls to bounce and leather balls to bat. I found them so intriguing that I did what I always do when fascinated by a new object or […]

Our Building

A new view

The salon began as a concept, an idea for an uncommon and intimate experience I could offer here in the countryside of Japan to connect guests to the landscape in which Japan’s flavors and food culture originate. Once the concept was fully realized, I myself realized that such an experience deserves a dedicated space, a […]

72 Seasons of Eating

Drawing dashi

“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 […]

72 Seasons of Eating

Spring burn

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 […]

72 Seasons of Eating

An uncommon flavor

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 […]

72 Seasons of Eating

The first day

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 […]

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STEP INTO these seasonal stories at the MIRUKASHI SALON

Join an intimate gathering of extraordinary guests and together we'll explore the flavors of the season in the context of one of the world’s greatest culinary traditions. I can’t wait to welcome you.

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