June 21: Fukuoka

At 7 am we went down to the hotel restaurant where we had the ramen last night and met everyone for breakfast. The breakfast buffet had more than enough choices and I think I was only able to try about half to ¾ of what they offered, but what I did have was excellent. Of all the items they had I was able to try the charbroiled squid, fish and onion stems, cold sautéed greens with mushrooms, okra w squid strips and bonito flakes, poached eggs with dashi, raw shrimp with fresh seaweed, mentaiko (which is spicy cured cod roe), sautéed minced beef, squid & daikon “nimono” (brothy stew) with green beans, konyaku noodles with vinegar, potato croquettes, and panko chicken.

After breakfast Auntie Masumi/Mom (I’m still getting used to saying that), Christal and I went to Hakata, which was one subway stop away from Gion, for a photo session at Studio An. Auntie Masumi and Christal had arranged with the studio to take photos with traditional kimonos.

Christal’s hair and make-up took about an hour and a half and then putting on the kimonos took about another half hour and then we were finally able to start taking pictures. After about an hour of taking pictures Christal went and changed into another kimono and took more pictures for another 45 minutes.

After the photo session we went to a supermarket and picked up some bentos for lunch. I ended up getting chicken and green onion yakitori, teriyaki chicken butt yakitori, squid and cabbage croquette, and tempura sardine with teriyaki sauce & carrots. Christal and I also shared a onigiri (stuffed rice ball) that was filled with mentaiko and mayonnaise. 

 Then the three of us went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the group so that we could head out and catch a bus to go to the Genkai Royal Hotel. Most of Uncle Koji’s family were traveling to the hotel to meet us, have dinner and celebrate the wedding. When we caught the bus we met up with Uncle Koji’s cousin, Kanako, and made our way out to the hotel.

Christal had requested that we get a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats and futons for beds, so that was a bit of a new experience, but the room was actually really spacious and comfortable. After checking in and dropping our luggage off, my Dad, Uncle Vic, Uncle Jim and I went to the onsen, or hot springs, for a soak. Supposedly the onsen at the Genkai Royal Hotel is a natural hot spring and it was really nice and relaxing.

 After the onsen we got ready for dinner with Uncle Koji’s family. Uncle Koji had several relatives that came for the dinner including his parents, his brother Hiro who also came to the wedding, his Aunt Junko, his Uncle Kunizo and Aunt Kiniko, his cousin Kanako who I mentioned above, and his other cousin Mikako and her husband ….. and 19 year old daughter Chikako  Most of the relatives came from Oita prefecture, which is south of Fukuoka. It was a very fun evening getting to meet Uncle Koji’s family and it must have been tiring for Uncle Koji because he was the interpreter for both sides of the conversations.

Amuse Bouche

 As far as the food from the dinner goes, it was impressive to say the least. We started off with a kind of amuse bouche that included a green tofu that was made with some kind of edible weed and topped with fresh wasabi and edamame, eggplant agar and kazunoko (seaweed with fish eggs on it). After the appetizer we had a chicken, tofu and vegetable soup.

Next we had sashimi. It was kanpachi (yellowtail), maguro (tuna) and red snapper. They accompanied the sushi with freshly grated wasabi, shiso and sliced water lily stems. The water lily stems were really interesting, they didn't have much flavor but they were really crunchy and they had a kind of honeycomb inner structure.

Our fourth course was a boiled imitation shrimp ball with a small taro tofu on top. The shrimp ball had a chewier texture than I was expecting but the broth it came in was really good.

Our fifth course was miso broiled kin-me-tai (fish) with a candied miso eggplant and pickled water lilly stems. The eggplant was really interesting. It was like the miso eggplants I've had in the past, but kicked up about 100 notches on the flavor scale.

Our sixth course was a fig filled dumpling that had a really unusual texture. The dough was a sesame tofu dough and it was really elastic and sticky and the sauce it was in was a little bit slimy, but all together it was a very good dish and something completely new.

Our seventh course was broiled beef that was cooked at the table and came with some vegetables.

Our eighth course was mozuku (seaweed) marinated with a sweet vinegar and grated mountain potato.

Our ninth course was tsukemono (vegetable pickles) with rice and red miso soup.

Our last course of the night was a strawberry pudding. I personally thought this was the most disappointing course of the night, but it definitely didn't put a damper on the rest of the meal.

We had a lot of fun meeting Uncle Koji's family, even though we couldn't converse with them very well.