春を食べたかな

鯛の桜饅頭

イシガレイ釣り＋料理

友だちが車をだしてくれたので鹿島イシガレイ釣りに行ってきました。

鹿島イシガレイ釣り行ってきました

鹿島港不動丸さんお世話になりました。

Oysters

They had some nice, reasonably priced fresh oysters – or as Mortdecai would say, those wonderful public-spirited creatures - for sale at the fish market Yoshiike today, so I bought a half-dozen.  They were quite excellent, the only problem being that I didn’t purchase another dozen or so for later.

 

I am off fishing to Kashima tomorrow, the tides aren’t so good but the forecast for the weather is excellent.  With a 2.30am start, I am making packed lunches for both my companion (who will be driving) and myself, and will have an early night.

寿司

を食べにいってきました。実はこのすし屋さんの五代目店長が江戸前釣りが大好きで秋、冬にお店に行くと釣りものハゼ・そして春だとシロギスの天ぷらがでてきます。僕が利用している釣り船の上で時々店長をみかけます。

森下散歩

今週末は釣りに行かなかったけど天気がよかったのでうちのまわりを散歩していました。

　深川神明宮へ参拝。だれもいなかった。

　芭蕉苑から隅田川を見下ろしているところ。大潮の上げ潮時で川が逆に流れていました。

　芭蕉稲荷大明神の様子

　近くの「おできの神」神社の梅。いい香りしていました。

No dabba

wallahs here in Tokyo, so I carry my lunchtime tiffin – sorry, bento – to work myself.  The zip-up bag is waterproof and insulating, and contains three microwaveable little pots for main dishes and a large thermos-type jar containing little waterproof pots for both rice and soup.  In this case, I had basmati rice (filled out with a little chana dahl), tarka dahl, chana dahl (again) gosht and raw tomato/onion salad with plenty of pickled green chillies on the side.  I must confess to buying the mutton dish ready-made, but everything else is home-cooked.

 

Felt like spring

this morning as I went to work; very low clouds and high humidity from the start, a welcome change to the freezing dryness of winter (this winter has been unusually cold). It actually spotted with rain during the day too. The raised air temperature – not warm, but noticeably higher than the average 8°C it has been for the last few weeks – and the general “smell” as I left my house reminded me pleasantly of spring. Spring time in Tokyo means mebaru and shirogisu fishing. One thing I like about fishing here is that with each season there are different fish to catch (Japanese flounder being my current winter target). The weather today reminded me most of the peculiar fog that often appears on Tokyo Bay during spring time referred to by local fishermen as oh-moya. It is not at all like the hellish pea-soupers like I’ve seen in Nova Scotia or Wales and I have many fond memories of heading out to sea to go fishing for shirogisu (Japanese whiting) cutting through the early morning fog on my local and favourite fishing boat. Of course it takes an experienced old hand to guide a 12-ton fishing boat through the Bay in such conditions, staying close to shore with a lookout on her prow and the surrounding sea eerily silent, almost like a lake. However, the fog usually burns off after a few hours to reveal stunning weather and the prospect of a great day’s fishing ahead. We shall see.