Fukuoka (pronounced Fookoka) is renowned for the quality of its food, which is saying something in Japan. Particularly its Ramen. Ramen is a broth, made from pork bones, to which noodles are added together with vegetables and meat or seafood. It is a dish whish has been popularised in England by the Wagamama chain, whose product, unfortunately, is nothing like the real thing.
Tonight I’m treated to the Fukuoka ramen speciality. Its a shared dish which is served in a cauldron which is placed on a burner in the centre of the table. There is some debate as to the nature of the meat in the dish, which is described variously as “hormones” “intestines” and “stomach lining”. The meat is white and looks suspiciously like tripe. The vegetables are cabbage and spring onion (the green part, which we would throw away). The dish is eaten in two stages- at first with just the vegetables and meat, plus some tofu. Once the meat has been eaten, more broth is added to the cauldron and when this has come to the boil, noodles are added, which are eaten separately, with the customary Japanese slurping.
Archive for June, 2010
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Matsu Ramen in Fukuoka
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
A Japanese explains the meaning of Wabi-Sabi
Wabi-sabi is one of those Japanese phrases whose meaning is elusive in English. On a website devoted to wabi-sabi its meaning is said to have been originally associated with sadness and loneliness, but that it now means living a simple and modest lifestyle- one that is peaceful, balanced and in tune with nature. In other words more or less the Slow Life. Another definition is that wabi-sabi recognises three simple realities- that nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. Is wabi-sabi one of those indefinable foreign phrases which comes to mean more or less what the westerner wants it to mean? I put the question to a Japanese friend and his reply is that wabi-sabi means “less is more” and that the concept is best illustrated by a Japanese garden. The concept is explained in this video, ably translated by Phil Jacobson.
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
The Zen Garden at Komyozen-Ji
“Is there a name in English for this kind of rain?” asked my Japanese host. “Torrential” I replied. “Good, torrential is perfect for visiting the Komyozen-Ji Zen garden. He was right. The garden, which is viewed from a terrace behind the Komyozen-Ji temple is best seen when the rain is dripping from the trees onto the mossy banks. It is without a doubt the most perfect, peaceful Japanese garden I’ve ever seen.
Although the garden is only yards away from the crowds of the temples of Dazaifu it is perfectly peaceful. And although the setting is a Budhist temple in my eyes this is a shrine to the Slow Life. This video captures a little of the atmosphere which we encountered on this rainy day. In the background is the occasional sound of a bell and the rhythmic beating of a drum, which puzzled me until I came across a Budhist service being held in the temple, a little of which is shown at the end of the video.
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Max, aged 5, catches a fish and eats it raw
The Japanese like their fish fresh. They eat live octopus, which is served with a pair of scissors which are used to cut off the tentacles. The disadvantage of this is that the suckers still operate and they can stick to your tongue, which makes swallowing difficult.
Tonight I’m at a fish restaurant which has a stream running through it, which is teeming with sea bream. If you want, you can catch your own fish, which the restaurant will prepare the way you want it. I’m given a simple rod and line and some shrimp bait. Within a minute I’ve got a fish on the line. Its a good size and I ask the waitress to have half of it boiled and the other half served raw.
We are joined at dinner by Philip, his wife Yoko and their two young children. The eldest, Max, aged 5, has a go with the rod and proudly lands a fish. His father asks him how he would like to eat the fish. “Raw”, replies Max. Good chap. When the fish arrives at the table there are still signs of life in the head and fins, even though the flesh has been removed (as this video shows) The same applies with a lobster, which is brought to the table with its tentacles twitching, even though all the white flesh has been removed.
By the way, it’s absolutely delicious. Slow food at its finest.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Albizia Julibrissin
The Albizia Julibrissin (also known as the Persian Silk tree) is one of the most admired plants in my garden. It is a perfect tree for a small garden, with an “umbrella” look, never growing to more than ten feet tall, with mimosa-like leaves which have the charming characteristic of closing up at night. The delicate pink flowers appear at the top of the tree, so it is best positioned where it can be viewed from above, which is why I have three examples on the lowest terrace of my Italian garden. Here in Japan I’ve been delighted to see the Albizia growing in its natural habitat, almost like a weed, at the sides of roads and in natural woodland. In the warm, wet, climate of southern Japan it grows into a full sized tree, 25 ft or more and tends to lose its characteristic umbrella shape. It made me think how lucky we are to garden in England, where our temperate climate allows us to grow a far wider range of plants than in most countries of the world. The hedgerows in Nagasaki are full of my favourite plants, such as Cannas and Tradescantia Purpurea which, together with the Alizia, all do well in Grange- but very few of the plants which thrive naturally in Grange would survive the hot and humid conditions of Nagasaki.
The photo is of an Albizia Julibrissin in the gardens of Huistenbosch, Nagasaki.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
The Nagasaki Peace Park Monument
When I was asked to design a garden in Nagasaki on the subject of “World Peace”, the organisors asked me to contribute a single sentence which summed up my thoughts on the subject of peace. At the time we were filming for “How The Other Half Live” and the producer Daniel kept Sara amused in the long gaps between takes by encouraging her to write Haiku poems- the Japanese form of poetry where there is strict scansion of 5,7 and 5 per line in three lines. This inspired me to make my contribution on ‘Peace’ in the form of a Haiku. I had no idea at the time
that two months later my words would be inscribed on a monument at the Nagasaki Peace Park.
In this video I am with Mr Ishihara and a local business man at the unveiling of the monument, in front of the TV cameras. The background is that of a successful local businessman, who has decided to knock down his office headquarters, which adjoin the Peace Park and build a garden in their place, designed by Mr Ishihara. The monument will form part of the garden. The video ends with a clip of us planting an olive tree, as the olive branch is a symbol for a peace offering.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Gardening World Cup- Press Day
6 TV cameras and 65 pressmen have come to the Queen’s Palace in Huistenbosch, Nagasaki, for the launch of the gardening World Cup. I’m there as one of the competitors, representing the UK. There are two other contestants from the UK, Andy Sturgeon and James Towillis, whose show gardens were close to mine at the Chelsea Flower Show in May (Andy won “Best in Show” for his garden). The gardening world cup is being organised by Ishihara Kazuyuki, Japan’s leading garden designer, who also had a garden at Chelsea this year (see my posting of May 8th, 2010). The event is a competition, to be held in October this year, where 12 gardeners will each build a garden on the subject of “World Peace”. The other competitors are from the USA, Canada, Holland, France, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Morecambe Bay
No matter what I say
All that I really love
Is the rain that flattens on the bay
And the eel grass in the cove
E. St Vincent Millais
To me Morecambe Bay is a view. To Tony it’s his tea. I thought I loved and appreciated the Bay as much as anyone until I met Tony. Tony understands the Bay and he’s the only person I’ve met who doesn’t fear it.
The Bay has a fearsome reputation. Its quicksands claim lives every year. These aren’t the quicksands of the movies, which suck the victim under. The sands of Morecambe Bay are much crueller- they suck you up to the knees and hold you there until the tide comes in and drowns you. My youngest daughter, when only four, got stuck in the sands off the beach at Arnside and when I pulled her out of her wellington boots the suction of the sand was so strong that I couldn’t pull her boots out of the sand.
Tony lives in a cottage right on the beach and has grown to know the Bay so well that he thinks nothing of venturing out on his own to cross it. He described to me the enormous beds of mussels which lie in the Bay, acres of them, a natural harvest which is there for the plucking. Which is about as close to Thoreau’s idea of the Slow Life as you can get, I reckon.
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
Bunny Guinness and Prince Charles
Of all the well known names we came across at the Chelsea Flower Show, I was particularly pleased to meet Bunny Guinness. We are on the same wavelength as far as gardening is concerned, not least on the subject of Slow Food. In today’s Telegraph Bunny Guinness manages to devote three whole pages in praise of Slow Food. She quotes a speech made by Prince Charles at a Slow Food event at Highgove in which the Prince says:
“The point about the Slow Food movement is reminding people about the enjoyment of proper food and how it is all linked to the management of the landscape and the countryside with all the intimate connections between food production and culture. So, I wanted to say that it’s not just Slow Food but Slow Agriculture, Slow Healthcare and a few other things beside. All these things are linked.”
Which is about as good a definition of Slow Life as we are going to find.