日報

Yesterday, I went to a general store I’d been meaning to visit to look for a good steamer. I spotted the store in the distance, and as I got closer, I felt something was off. The store was dark, no, too dark. Ah, it was their regular day off. It’s Monday, after all… I should have known. Why didn’t I check before I left?

The address included a building name, so I assumed it was a multi-tenant building, which meant I thought it wouldn’t have a regular closing day. That’s my excuse. I pressed my face against the glass like a boy looking at a trumpet, peered into the dark store at the steamer in the back, and then went home.

Today, I thought I could finally go to a confectionery shop opened by an acquaintance that I’d been meaning to visit. So I decided to go out for lunch.

I thought, "I won’t make the same mistake as yesterday," and about halfway there, I searched online and... Yep, it was their regular day off.

Ugh. Why can’t I check before I leave?! It’s Tuesday. Food-related businesses often have Tuesdays off.

I had lunch, visited a shrine, and went home. From now on, I vow to check if a place is open before I leave.

The most popular item in the kikkake online store is the original oil bottle.

Rather than just an oil bottle, oil is used so frequently during cooking that we always want to keep it on the counter. We also want to be able to use it quickly with one hand, so we want to avoid caps that require two hands to open and close. Oil drips can be a sad sight, so we want a tip that drips as little as possible. After much thought and consideration, we arrived at the current design.

Initially, we only had bottles for three types of oil: olive oil, light sesame oil, and dark sesame oil. However, as we started using more varieties like rice oil and scallion oil, the number of bottles gradually increased.

Considering the different frequencies of use, we thought it might be good to have several bottle heights. We are currently prototyping and considering various options, such as slightly shorter ones or half-sized ones.

Once we are confident in the new designs, we plan to sell bottles in different sizes. If you have any requests regarding the shape or size of the oil bottles, please feel free to <u><a href="https://kikkake-store.com/pages/contact">email</a></u> us. We would be happy to take your feedback into consideration.

　

It often happens that a dish I made on a whim turns out to be incredibly delicious.

Then, when I try to recreate it based on that memory, it often feels like the previous one was better.

In my experience, there's quite a difference in the quality of the food between the first and second times, and I believe the second time should be more delicious. The first time is always a first, so you stumble in various places and make it through trial and error, leading to many failures and points for reflection. In that respect, the second time is made with those lessons in mind, so the second time is bound to be more delicious.

However, when it comes to those times I was truly moved by the first attempt, I feel like the second attempt rarely surpasses it.

It might be a little different, but it's like when you come home tired and happen to watch a movie on TV, and it resonates with your current situation, making you cry with emotion. I think something like that, a confluence of coincidences that really struck me, happened with the first meal.

Similarly, I feel that a strong sense of emotion often arises when "something discovered by chance" like a meal eaten at a restaurant you stumbled upon while out, or a seasoning bought at a souvenir shop you randomly entered while traveling, combines with "your current circumstances."

"Discovered by chance" seems to be quite important. I want to make a dish the second time that surpasses the first!

I think I'm quite conscious of time.
When I was a salaryman, I'd play a game with myself:
"I bet I can finish this amount of work in X hours."
If I was spot on, I won; if I missed it, I lost.
If I was about to finish early, I sometimes felt tempted to slow down
to match my initial estimate, which I always told myself was bad.

I think I'm quite conscious of efficiency.
No matter what I'm doing,
before I start, I think about how to make it easier,
and how to finish it in a short amount of time.
Sometimes I'd get to a point where I'd think, "Who cares about quality if it means being efficient!"
so I always had to be careful not to let that happen.

When I'm cooking,
neither time nor efficiency ever go as planned.

I'll be making three dishes at once, so
I want to chop all the vegetables first, but then I think, "Where am I going to put all these chopped vegetables?"
or "Oh! I forgot to chop that one!"
Or a timer will mercilessly go off while I'm in the middle of chopping something,
and I'll overthink which task to do first,
and end up neglecting both.
Or I'll realize, "Ah, no mirin! What do I do? Can I substitute it with sugar and sake? Hmm."
Or the recipe screen on my phone will close,
and I want to open it, but my hands are covered in ground meat from mixing,
so I try to open my phone with my elbow and it falls over—darn it!

When I'm cooking, wrestling with all these things,
two hours can pass in a flash, and I make no progress on efficiency.
It rarely goes as I expect, but I find myself concentrating on cooking without even realizing it,
and that feeling of time flying by quickly is what I love about cooking.

Since we went by car for the outdoor shoot, I couldn't drink alcohol. That's why I looked for non-alcoholic sparkling wine.

I was surprised to find a non-alcoholic version of my favorite sparkling wine, and I realized then that non-alcoholic sparkling wine actually exists.

I figured other types of non-alcoholic drinks must exist too, so I did some research and it turns out there really is everything.

I know non-alcoholic plum wine and non-alcoholic cocktails are common in supermarkets, and I guess non-alcoholic shochu probably exists. There's non-alcoholic whisky and non-alcoholic highballs too. Non-alcoholic sake! What even is non-alcoholic sake?

As for non-alcoholic wine, surely that's just grape juice! But when I looked it up, non-alcoholic wine is made by suppressing or removing alcohol during the fermentation of grapes, whereas grape juice is just squeezed grapes. I really want to do a taste test of these.

It seems there's also non-alcoholic tequila. I'm not that familiar with tequila itself, so it gets a bit confusing at this point.

Wow, the efforts of alcohol manufacturers are amazing. The non-alcoholic sparkling wine I had this time was delicious, and I've become a bit interested in non-alcoholic beverages. But still, when it comes to alcohol, I prefer the alcoholic kind!

For a YouTube shoot, I tried filming on location for the first time.
I decided to try something different, so I ventured outside and cooked outdoors, and it was incredibly fun.

First, it felt amazing. Excuse me for stating the obvious, but I was so comfortable being blown by the refreshing autumn breeze that I felt like I could stay there forever. Early spring and early autumn are the best.

I cooked on a small table with a portable gas stove, sitting on a small chair. I've never cooked in such a low position before. The light was so dazzling that I couldn't see the flame at all, and when the wind blew, the flame would turn sideways and not hit the pot, making it hard to adjust the heat. This was a new experience for me, and it was challenging and so much fun.

And since I only brought salt, pepper, and olive oil, the limited range of seasonings actually worked out well. It's a secret that I forgot to bring soy sauce.

Cooking in a situation where the seasonings, cooking utensils, and environment are not ideal, and having to be resourceful, really gets your brain working at full capacity, and it can be tiring. But it was very fulfilling and enjoyable, and it looks like I'll be able to create a video with a different atmosphere than before.

My cameraman, Konegi, also seemed to have a tough time, but he seemed to enjoy the new angles and the green-filled atmosphere.

The location video will be released soon, so I hope you'll look forward to it.