September 28, 2019

Another Soba no Kai day.  And this time the weather is relatively cool, so no worry about sweating.  Once again we used soba from Horokanai, Hokaido, the number one soba producing region in Japan.  But this time we had shin soba, soba flour freshly milled from freshly harvested soba.  The aroma that was released kneading and rolling the dough was wonderful.  I did okay.   Not great, but not bad.  No major problems like last time when my hands were too sweaty to roll the menbō (noodle rolling pin).

I think making your own soba for Japanese people is akin to American’s making homemade bread.  There is no need to do so these days, and good, even very food bread, can be found in most cities.  But doing it yourself makes it special.  Whether it be catching our own salmon (for me) or growing your own vegetables (even if it is only a tomato), home grown, or home made, means love.  It means the maker has taken the time to not just make something, but also the time to learn to make the product.  And with soba, that mean a lot of rime, a lot of experiences, and a lot of maybe not so delicious soba to eat.  But then again, eating your own handmade soba will always be delicious to the maker.  And really, at the worst, it can’t be all that bad.