Kurashiki Roji Ichiba

Well, clearly I still have some figuring out to do before I get this whole posting-from-my-iPod thing down. I was hoping to put all the photos scattered below into one post, and to tell you about the Kurashiki Roji Ichiba, a market we have just joined. We made a family outing to the market at the end of last month and had a great time. Lots of folks we have met at events in the past - sometimes standing out in the crowd is painful, but on this occasion I had a great time being called out as "pan ya no onesan" and just generally feeling like one of the coolest kids at the party. Plus I bought lots of yummy veggies we don't grow here - a head of cauliflower came home to become alu gobi curry, as did potatoes (which we do grow but which are not yet harvested), and a nice cabbage went to make inoshishi yakiniku don/grilled wild boar meat with shredded cabbage over rice. Good stuff!

The Kurashiki Roji Ichiba is a fairly new market, and it was set up with a strong spirit of cooperation. When we visited, they were selling curry and topping it with eggs (onsen tamago, I think) from a separate vendor. Shuzo went by himself last week (I was busy at our store getting ready for the once a month Kyobashi Asaichi Sunday market) and he and the sellers of fried stuffs featured below got together to make grilled cheese and croquette sandwiches. It looks like he had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the week after next when Ai and I can accompany him (she and I are busy again this weekend with her preschool summer festival). It's a fun little market, and if you happen to find yourself in downtownKurasiki on a Saturday, I recommend checking it out!