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72 Seasons of Eating

Sweetness Before the Dark: the Siren Song of Figs

They say figs are the sweetest fruit, and perhaps it was the fig, not the apple, that tempted Eve. It was fig leaves, after all, she chose to cover herself. I too would be more tempted by a sultry fig.

A Flavor that Anchors Memory and Place

June arrives soft and swollen with rain. Tsuyu season — plum rains — breaks open with claps of thunder and settles into a steady thrum. The air hangs heavy with the scent of something ancient.

Stillness and shadows

After a warm spell that left me wondering where winter was hiding, it 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 […]

The taste of fire

October, a golden season of ripe rice and goldenrod, turns to orange and red in November as the colors of autumn thicken. But we are still reveling in the season of shinmai, dining on the new crop of rice. The plump, chewy grains pair so well with other autumnal flavors like Ginko nuts, mukago, and […]

Honeyed and sweet

The taxi turned right onto the lane that leads up to our home. Towering goldenrod pressed in from the left while light-seeking branches reached in from the right funneling the car into the center of an already narrow pass. The driver wound cautiously up, passing a thicket of bamboo, then a grove of cedar, and […]

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, for your kitchen and utensils, for your guests or family — shouldn’t be rushed. Washoku, Japan’s culinary tradition, asks the cook to preserve and present the purest interpretation of […]

Enchanted evenings

Summer evenings stretch long and languorous. As the blue sky fades dusty and pink, songbirds chatter, cicadas whir, frogs chirp, and crickets chant. The air is balmy, On nights like these, summer begs us to sip something sultry. With so many herbs to muddle and flowers to garnish with, summer cocktails are the most delightful medley […]

Wild craft

On a clear April day, Miho Sasaki and I meandered around Mirukashi to see what wild plants we could find to brew into a hyper-local blend of tea. It was a highly anticipated excursion, three years in the waiting. We had started chatting on Instagram in the early months of 2020 and had only just […]

On the wilder side

I absolutely love the season of ume shigoto, plum work. It grounds me at a time when I start to feel untethered. You see, I’m a homebody with a serious case of wanderlust. So living in two places suits me. I get to take a long trip, wake up in a completely different environment, speak […]

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 […]

In the Mood

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ABOUT The Author

I’m Prairie — I write for those who crave more than content. Come hungry and leave moved.

Welcome to Mirukashi Ink, the literary heart of Mirukashi —
where thought becomes texture,
and language lingers like flavor. I write for those who crave more than content.
This is a place to tether yourself —
to taste, to season, to meaning, to the poetry of living.
Pull up a chair and dive in.

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