Lady Kaga: The Beauty of Ishikawa, Kanazawa Japan!

Yeah...I've become a bit of a foodie over the years.    Kanazawa Prefecture is more refined than Tokyo, and it's not because people do things better up in Kanazawa, but because this is the 'Little Kyoto' of the North.  

Names and associations have more meaning than authenticity.    This part of Japan prides itself on NOT being Tokyo and its cuisine reflects it.    

I love me some deep purple soy sauce, a regional feature of this area.   It's sweet and murky and adds the perfect nuance to sushi.

Sushi up here rocks.  Chefs add a healthy pinch of sushi rice and the rest is all meaty goodness.    In Tokyo, they add too much rice to everything including other food items.    And up here, they either serve sushi on a beautiful wooden table or a decorative tray.   Who needs plates?  Wood is god here in Japan, never forget that.

Who needs a private bath at home when you have this communal bath.   This is a spiritual power station and one could easily be energized and relieved of stress.   Look at those stained glass windows.   The concrete and ceramics were made from an old kiln that's still burning with an ancient fire.   Everything in this bathhouse is made in old artisan fashion replete with the history of this whole region.  

500 yen to baptize in  Kosoyu Onsen, Kaga Prefecture, the southern beauty of Ishikawa.    

After every hot spa, you need an ice-cold beer, preferably a local one that's probably made from grains of rice.   It's so clean and refreshing because the water is so clean.   These lighter flavored pale ales go down drink so well and smoothly.  

Another thing I would like to bring up is the miso, rice, and eggs.    I and a buddy in New York always look for the orange colors in the yoke.   Here, the yolks are deep orange and exquisitely delicious.   Japanese chickens eat a lot of carrot powder and kale which lend to the textures in the egg's yolk.   

Now, there is no way this food replaces good old home favorites.   I still to this day swear the sandwich was/is still the created food creation in the world.   There must be a god, somewhere, look at that tomato!   This part of Japan grows the biggest and juiciest tomatoes I have ever seen in Japan.