Day 19-20 Food & Scenery So Rich in Nakijinson, Okinawa

Apr 22 • Blog, Okinawa • 829 Views • 1 Comment

The kind and generous Oshiro Family treated me with amazing breakfasts and dinners during my stay. Okinawan food was so good I think I may have gained weight while I was there.

This is a well known Okinawan sweets called, Sataa Andagi. Oshiro-san sent 200 of these to the victims of tsunami in north eastern Japan. These are like round donuts, but they’re harder and more solid. When they are well made like this one, they last for a month to two.

Quite a few families have goats in northern Okinawa. This, you don’t see in the other parts of Japan. They eat goat soup called, yagi-jiru, for festive and celebratory occasions. Apparently that soup can be quite gamey and you either like it a lot or don’t. I didn’t get to try this one, but maybe someday.

I got to have these amaaazing pickles at Oshiro-san’s breakfast. As I kept praising about it, Mrs Oshiro took me to her neighbor, Mrs Ganaha’s house. She’d made the pickles, and she served us lunch though it was a surprise visit.

Those pickles were made with daikon radish with sugar, konbu seaweed, bonito flakes and salt. Crunchy and sweet, with the flavors from the konbu and bonito, oh my goodness, I probably ate way too much for my own good.

This was also delicious and so sparkling pretty! Mrs Ganaha’s kumquat jam.

Mrs Oshiro’s beautiful garden is full of spring flowers. I cycled with her 6 year old grandson around the garden.

A little tea break was accompanied with homemade muuchi, it’s Okinawan mochi with various flavors. This one was kokutou (black sugar) flavor. Sticky and yummy.

That afternoon, I cycled to a huge aquarium called, Chura Umi Aquarium. Yuki, the husband of the diving instructors who let me stay in Ginowan Okinawa, just started working here. He cleans the huge fish tanks and gets to swim with these creatures. Wow!

Mrs Oshiro made me a traditional Okinawan takeout lunch called, Kaasaa Bento. It’s rice and abura miso (miso with pork), wrapped in a banana leaf. Such a cute and heart-warming lunch!

She had added my favorite pickles too. If this isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

I also cycled to Nakijin Castle’s ruin. I saw this sign when I was coming back from the aquarium, and thought that’d be nice to see. I didn’t realize that castles were often high up on a hill. Slightly out of my plan, but I was half way up there by the time I noticed. Well, I got to work the calories off of all the eating.

Drive with love, it says:

Delicious dinner was somen chanpuru, miso soup, tofu chanpuru, and milk pickles. Somen is Japanese noodles like angel hair pasta. Chanpuru is Okinawan stir-fry. Oishii!!! (=Delicious) These milk pickles were sooo good too. Daikon radish pickled with milk and sugar. Oh my goodness, crunch, crunch, crunch. I’m hooked on pickles.

The next day, I cycled to a hospital as I had discomfort in my throat and ear. This beautiful bruised leg was begging for a photo shoot when I was in the waiting room. My very first dog bite. My second doctor’s visit in three days, for completely different symptoms.

My cold or whatever I had was instantly cured by Mrs Oshiro’s Sokijiru (pork soup) that evening.

Delicious quick stir-fry of shima rakkyo. Shima rakkyo is like a hybrid of shallot and spring onion. Okinawan food often have the word “shima” before the product. Shima means, island. It means it’s Okinawan stuff.

I couldn’t help going for okawari, another serving. Thank you Mrs Oshiro, for feeding me so much delicious food! I am the luckiest cyclist in Okinawa.

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