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sochani
Sayuri’s note for 5/6/23 dinner menu
Walking around the mountains, you can see a lot of beautiful wild flowers and plants in early May. Another pleasure in May is eating wild plants. In my home state of Yamanashi, Japan, my father loved to gather wild food in the mountains; and we ate taranome (Fatsia sprouts / Aralia elata) as tempura; warabi (bracken) as boiled, chilled salad / simmered boiled bracken with egg; udo (Aralia cordata) as boiled, chilled sesame miso salad; takenoko (bamboo shoots) boiled with soy sauce, or thinly sliced and mixed with rice. When l moved to Georgia, we found poke salad and a green the Cherokee called “sochani” (green-headed, or cut-leaf coneflower / Rudbeckia laciniata) around this time every year, too. You can find young sochani leaves by the riverside, usually on a south-facing bank. It has a similar flavor to shungiku greens in Japan when l boil them for cold salad with soy sauce dressing. Joe loves to find small young Poke Salad. After he boils them, he makes it into a cold salad with soy sauce and mayo – kind of Japanese style. He even found them growing in Japan and prepared them there. It is delicious!
Amaryllis which is shared by neighbor spread and bloom every year in the garden.
Birds are migrating through and singing a lot these days; and we've been hearing a lot of Barred Owls calling at night as “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” (The answer is “Sayuri” tonight. Haha!) The scarlet tanager is back too. His red color is the same as the Amaryllis in the garden. Sweet William and daisies are already blooming this year too! Seeding, planting, and weeding – the busy season has started! I transplanted tomatoes that I have raised from seed since late February, and Joe set up the drip irrigation lines for them. The strawberries in the garden have started turning red! While we were working hard in the garden recently, Gertrude, the “bearded lady” turkey, likes to stay close to us and sit down and then we pet her. We think that she’s hoping we’ll introduce her to a male turkey.
I like the color of young leaves in early May and seeing koi streamers in the blue sky in Japan. We have Children’s Day on May 5th during which many homes fly the streamers to celebrate children. It used to be Boy’s Day. If you had boys in your house, you displayed a kabuto (Japanese warrior helmet) in the house and the carp streamers, called koinobori, outside. We prayed that the boys would grow strong like carp, and able to climb upstream. The koinobori has to fly higher than the house roof. The black koi streamer on top represents the father, the red koi, the mother, and the pink and blue, the children. I have a sister, not a brother, so we didn’t have koinobori, but I enjoyed seeing it at other houses. When Etowah was born in Japan, my mother bought koinobori for him. The spectacular sight of carp streamers fluttering in the wind against a blue sky makes me want to sing the koinobori song (https://youtu.be/4vlSlSZagVc and https://youtu.be/uHZZiaNt55s ). Hopefully everyone will enjoy seeing it and not forget our child spirits as we each go forward, strong and happy, like carp swimming!
Soup
Soup
Garden tomato and white bean cream soup with parsley and mushroom (tomato, white beans, onion, garlic, cream) and sourdough bread (bread flour, whole wheat flour, walnut, pepitas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seed meal, buckwheat flour)
Main
Main
Chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi) Sushi rice mixed with bamboo shoots, burdock roots, carrots, fried soybean curd; topped with eggs, avocado, rapini, and boiled sochani, and sesame seeds with sriracha mayo; placed on fresh garden lettuce, arugula, and kale with miso-Caesar dressing
Dessert
Dessert
Basque cheesecake with strawberry-raspberry sauce
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