field trip!!

friday july 22 was our end of the semester school trip. i opted to forego my friday afternoon off and join the 3 huge busloads of kids heading to nagano prefecture. our first stop was daiou wasabi farm, the world’s largest. it has miles of rocky beds in which the roots are growing. apparently they need really clean cold water to thrive and not too much sun which explains the tarps covering the beds.

there were all sorts of wasabi products to sample and buy. the fresh roots were a bit expensive but after tasting them i understood why.

she put a pinch of sugar on the grater and went to town with the root, producing a frothy paste that was creamy, sweet and breathtakingly hot.

the wasabi ice cream had a slight greenish tint but lacked the kick i was hoping for. a teacher so graciously plopped a dollop of the fresh paste on my cone. the cream cut the heat perfectly. with the school nurse.


some quick facts:
-wasabi is a member of the cabbage family.
-unlike chili, it doesn’t burn the tongue. it produces vapors which affect the sinus cavity.
-the japanese view wasabi as anti-bacterial which is why it was first used on raw fish [i was told by 2 independent sources].
-the two kanji characters used to write wasabi mean “mountain” “hollyhock”.
-it’s rumored to prevent cavities.
-although many claim it’s a decongestant, the heat associated with wasabi causes blood to rush to your nasal cavities, the blood vessels become enlarged, actually reducing the size of those passageways.

then it was on to matsumoto jo. the castle was built around 1504, subsequently attacked, and refurbished in 1592 and still it is the oldest original castle with the 5-tier donjon style in the country.

it’s rather unique because the structure is built on a plain rather than a hill. back in the day it was highly fortified and protected by this moat.

it’s also called karasu jo, or crow castle because of its coloring. it has 6 floors which you reach on steep stairs, bordering on being a ladder, made of thick, well-worn boards. it was really interesting to examine all the wood and its markings on the inside of the castle, all the while imagining the warriors that had made them. the place is full of relics, from samurai regalia to weapons.

afterwards, kodama sensei, ishida sensei and i lunched on some famous nagano-ken soba. i chose cold buckwheat noodles that you dredge in a semi-sweet brown sauce laced with fresh ginger, scallions and wasabi. after finishing, water is poured into the dipping sauce and you drink it. to be quite honest, the soba tasted very similar to all the other soba i’ve eaten in japan.

ishida sensei and i goofing. nope, it didn’t turn into a prince. i’ll keep trying…