i generally don’t like spinach unless it’s sauteed and mixed with butter and garlic. i generally don’t order spinach salads. so i was hesitant to order the komatsuna (spinach) salad with anchovies at yabu, and, trust me when i say, it wasn’t the anchovies that gave me pause. ultimately, i loved the salad. i chased after all the little anchovies with furious chopsticks and even tried to get the ones off m’s plate. she shooed me away claiming that the fish on her plate had previously fallen onto the tabletop and were therefore inedible. i didn’t care – i wanted those fish. the komatsuna has a stiff rib that crunches when you chew it. the leaves don’t leave a furry feeling on my teeth like the spinach that i am used to. of course, the japanese yuzu/soy dressing also made the salad complete.

we went in search of mochi after lunch to take to baby g’s and baby c’s mom. this brought us to nijiya where we not only picked up mochi but also komatsuna and nira (chives) and soba and somen.

i used to say that if i could only have one cuisine in the world, it would be japanese. i can eat both rice and noodles. i can have it cold or hot. there’s lots of fish and they eat all kinds of meat. there is a freshness and lightness to the cuisine, or, at least, the dishes i order (and don’t forget sushi!).

as i was making breakfast today (poached eggs on komatsuna sprinkled with nira), i was thinking that if i became a chef, i wouldn’t train in french cooking (although that might be a requirement in some schools). i would perhaps train in french cooking and then add other cuisines to my repertoire. i can understand now how fusion food came about. and i live in an area where i can use nira instead of regular chives and komatsuna instead of regular spinach. i can pair my locally sourced meat with beech or maitake or enoki mushrooms. i can pursue particular textures or flavors and acquire them within a few hours. this is globalization’s finest result.