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Sayuri’s note
We are finally able to celebrate the green corn harvest. Normally, we celebrate it in late July or August, based on the first ripening of the corn. This year’s harvest is just in time for the harvest moon on September 17th, and the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd. Some of you might know our field corn comes from a neighborhood “dent” variety we call Willy’s corn. It grows very tall–about 10 feet–in the garden. Willy Dowdy, an old-timer in our neighborhood, gave some seeds to Joe more than forty years ago. This is not sweet corn, rather it’s a multi-purpose corn for cornmeal and animals. Joe told us that he ate old-timey creamed corn fritters at his grandma Mom-Mom's house when he was a little boy, and he ate old-timey creamed-corn on a visit to Willy and Thelma’s house once. Some of our other friends, like Era Jarrard and our neighbor Carol, told us that they love to eat creamed-corn like that, and recalled eating it often when they were kids.
Today, there are many people who love making creamed corn from sweet corn, so this old-timey creamed corn is rarely served at restaurants. You only eat this field corn while it is "green" for roasting ears or creamed corn for about ten days, while kernels are still tender and milky. The taste is very savory, not sweet like sweet corn, but has a natural sweetness and flavor. You husk the corn and barely cut off the tops of the kernels with a potato peeler and then scrape out the inside corn "cream" with a knife. You’d be surprised at how many layers of husk and beautiful shiny light green and brown silk there are. When you scrape the corn, it makes a mess everywhere. My glasses, arms, t-shirt, pants, shoes, and floor get covered with tiny white dots of corn. I spread newspapers on the floor and wear a newspaper apron, but it’s still a mess.
In Japan, on September 17 this year (which appears on August 15 on the old lunar calendar), we have a moon viewing (Tsukimi) called Jūgoya (十五夜 the night of fifteenth) to appreciate the harvest and enjoy the beautiful full moon. There is a story about a rabbit living on the moon who pounds rice cake. Other areas of the world see moon craters as a frog, a roaring lion, a girl, a woman's face, and even a big crab’s claw. On the moon-viewing nights, we decorate Japanese pampas grass which represents rice stalks, Tsukimi dango (15 round rice dumplings stacked like pyramids), and crops that we harvested this year, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, chestnuts, beans, apples, pear, etc. All of these decorations are considered offerings to the gods in prayer as well as appreciation. During moon viewing when I was a kid, I loved to listen to singing bell crickets and eat steamed sweet potatoes, chestnuts, boiled peanuts, Kyoho grapes and Asian pears . On the second moon viewing on the 13th on the following month, Jūsanya (十三夜 the night of thirteenth, on October 15th this year), we celebrate the not quite full moon, in its imperfection. It’s interesting that we celebrate both viewing the perfect and the imperfect shape of the moon. We hope that you can enjoy your evening here this way too.
menu
salad
salad
Spinach, arugula, lettuce, apple, lentil, baby potato, and dill with tahini lemon miso dressing
main
main
Shrimp (or vegan chorizo) and old-timey creamed Willy’s field corn
(pepper, red onion, green onion, mushroom, garlic, cheddar cheese/ or vegan cheese, and basil)
dessert
dessert
Almond Milk chocolate pudding with whipped cream (or oat milk ice cream) and dango (shiratama-mochi flour and tofu) coated with kinako (roasted soy bean powder) and chestnut
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