日報

This past weekend, I went to a river for a barbecue.
We set up charcoal, grilled meat and vegetables, and made yakisoba on a hot plate – a pretty standard barbecue, all in all.

It’s strange how the meat and yakisoba always seem to taste a little better at a barbecue than they do normally.

I wonder why. Is it because of the charcoal fire? Charcoal grilling is said to make things taste better, so maybe that’s it. But then again, cooking meat in an unfamiliar environment, with different heat, and unfamiliar tools, all of which are irregular situations, is certainly difficult. So, I wonder if it really tastes better than usual.

Especially for dishes made on a hot plate, like yakisoba, it’s not cooked over direct charcoal flame, and yet controlling the heat is tricky. I’m sure I could consistently make higher quality yakisoba in a frying pan at home.

Still, it feels like barbecue tastes better.
I wonder why. It must be the atmosphere.

After traveling quite a distance from home to a barbecue site where the sound of the river could be heard, and then starting from lighting the charcoal, it takes about an hour until the meat is finally ready to grill. By the time the salt-grilled beef tongue is finally finished and eaten, of course it’s going to taste delicious.

I realized again that "delicious" isn't just about taste. It's the result of various situations: the plate, how hungry you are, the people you’re eating with, your physical condition, the effort put into preparation, the memories made, and so on.

I feel like the concept of "delicious" includes happiness and enjoyment.

No one asked, but I'm going to share Jiro's fruit rankings anyway.
Since I'm doing it, I'll divide it into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Childhood Fruit Rankings
1st Place: Pear
2nd Place: Peach
3rd Place: Strawberry

During childhood, pear was overwhelmingly number one.
My autumn delight wasn't the sports festival or my birthday; it was when pears came into season.

Adolescence Fruit Rankings
1st Place: Pear
2nd Place: Mango
3rd Place: Peach

Even in adolescence, pear remained the undisputed number one, but a new star,
mango, suddenly entered the rankings.
I didn't even know it existed in childhood, but then it suddenly appeared before my eyes,
and there was a time when I was captivated by how surprisingly delicious mangoes were.

Adulthood Fruit Rankings
1st Place: Strawberry
2nd Place: Peach
3rd Place: Mandarin Orange

In adulthood, which is my current ranking,
strawberry has become number one.
As I've gotten older, my interest in pears has faded,
and strawberries, being easy to eat, easy to buy, and delicious,
have become my favorite fruit.

As I was writing this, I felt like I had written about this before,
so I looked back at my past daily entries
and found that I had written about a similar fruit ranking!
How much do I love fruit?!

My former senior colleague used to say, "Natto tastes better if you mix it before adding the sauce." I didn't believe him at all. I thought whether you mix it first and then add the sauce, or add the sauce first and then mix, the result would be the same, so there wouldn't be any difference in taste.

Later, watching TV, I heard on an information program, "Natto tastes better if you mix it before adding the sauce, as it makes the umami more noticeable." I'm sorry for not believing you, Senior. Since I didn't believe it, I never even tried it.

In hindsight, it makes sense. The order of cooking steps can't just be random; it's quite normal for the order of adding ingredients to change the outcome.

Order. It's important.

Suddenly it's summer, isn't it? I feel like there used to be a little more of something between spring and summer. I wonder if it just disappeared.

There are two signs for me that tell me, "Ah, it's summer." One is when I no longer feel like taking a bath. Suddenly, the thought comes, "Oh, I don't need to take a bath today." When that happens, it's summer.

The other sign is when I pick up Ibonoito somen noodles at the supermarket. In summer, Ibonoito appears at the end of the supermarket shelf, and I can't help but pick it up. If I pick it up, that means it's summer.

The end of the supermarket shelf, if illustrated, is here:

|--------------------| ← Here

Another hot summer has arrived, hasn't it? Let's be careful not to catch a cold!

Yesterday, my YouTube channel reached 10,000 subscribers.

When I imagine that 10,000 people have pressed the subscribe button, it really makes me realize what an amazing and trulyありがたいこと (thankful/grateful thing) it is.

It was a number I had set as a goal, so I'm very happy to have achieved it, and the fact that it's the result of building things up one step at a time has also given me confidence.

Considering that I started YouTube last November with just two subscribers—my own personal account and my videographer/editor Konegi's—it's quite moving to realize that I've come quite a long way without even noticing, just by walking one step at a time.

Once again, thank you very much to everyone who watches my YouTube videos, visits the kikkake website, and places orders. I will continue to create content that you can enjoy, so I hope you will keep watching.

When I started YouTube, I said, "If I'm going to start, I want a Silver Play Button!" (a commemorative award given when a channel reaches 100,000 subscribers). Since I've come this far, I think I'll aim for that next, moving forward one step at a time.

For now, yay!!!!!

The other day, I made green sangria. It was a luxurious sangria made with three shades of green: Shine Muscat grapes, melon, and kiwi.

These were all fruits I wanted to eat as they were. I thought a sangria unified by the color green would be cute, so I tried it, and it turned out just as cute as I imagined. The visual impact was amazing.

When I first tasted it right after making it, the white wine flavor was still quite vibrant, and it felt like I was eating fruit coated in wine. Each of the three fruits had a different sweetness, and it was enjoyable to eat each one while slowly sipping the wine.

A few days later, I tried the mellowed sangria again, and I was surprised by how different the atmosphere was.

The alcohol aroma had mellowed considerably, and the fruit flavors had spread throughout the wine. It had transformed into something like a luxurious adult fruit bonbon, and since I'm not a big drinker, I preferred the sangria after a few days.

There's no definitive "which is better" answer; it's just nice to enjoy the gradual changes in flavor as you slowly drink it.