Reflecting on the Past and Future with Bamboo Shoot Soup | Sake and Appetizers Part 1

When I encounter beer, I drink beer;
when I encounter sake, I drink sake;
and when I encounter awamori, these days I mix it with soda.

I had reached a respectable age when I realized that if I continued living like this every day, I would never arrive anywhere.

No matter how old I get, spring makes me want to start something new, and on a hungover morning, I realized that it might be healthier to have a dedicated drinking session on the weekend rather than drinking aimlessly every night.

What I decided to start was "themed drinking," where I decide on a theme (appetizer) for my weekend drinks and look forward to it, while spending my weeknights as quietly as possible.

It would be ideal to prepare seasonal ingredients for appetizers, but since it's more fitting to prepare for the atonement of the day after drinking, I don't worry about it too much. There are many nights where, as long as I can drink, a suspicious jar sleeping in the back of the refrigerator is more than enough.

With that said, the theme (appetizer) this time is "bamboo shoot soup."

It is a local dish from the Hokushin region of Nagano Prefecture to the Joetsu region of Niigata Prefecture, made with bamboo shoots called "nemagaridake" (dwarf bamboo), which sounds like it has a twisted personality, and canned mackerel. Even though I said a jar is enough, I still want to eat seasonal things.

So, this is what I made.

Since all the ingredients were from Nagano Prefecture, I chose a Nagano sake to pair with it, which I heard is made by a local winery during the winter when they cannot work in the vineyards.

I do this on a lazy weekend afternoon, and I even add butterbur miso to a salt rice ball made by the local rice ball shop.

I put the parboiled dwarf bamboo, kogomi (fiddlehead ferns), and asparagus in my mouth, take a sip of sake, eat the rice ball with butterbur miso, and then take another sip.

I wonder if the faint bitterness I feel is the guilt of having plucked the vitality of spring, and as I sip the bamboo shoot soup and feel at ease, I look up to see the blue sky of May spreading outside the window.

Drinking aimlessly every night is a bit spoiled and not bad, but this was the moment I was convinced that this way of drinking is also valid.

I intend to record the changes of the days, focusing on topics of sake and appetizers like this, to increase the comforts of the nights I don't drink.

Menu and Ingredients
・Bamboo shoot soup (dwarf bamboo, canned mackerel, onion, egg, miso)
・Mackerel dip (canned mackerel, onion, mayonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice, salt, pepper)

Sake and Appetizers | Part 2: Wishing for Summer Days with Chili Beans