Nagashi Sōmen

One of the nice things about summer is festival season. It usually is a lot of good food, and a few games for kids(but not many). We really nagashi somen(food category), but it is usually only offered at the Church festivals. What is it you ask? Someone sets up a half pipe of bamboo that starts six or more feet in the air and goes down until about a foot above the ground. Then you put a hose at the top and start sending noodles down. Everyone gathers around with a bowl of noodle sauce and chop sticks, and then we go to town trying to grab noodles. It's a lot of fun, and I was surprised how well Edamame did catching noodles this year.

I was thinking of doing a list of all the different kinds of noodles there are to choose from. It deserves it's own post, but I'm afraid of forgetting.

Ramen = Chinese origin, but with a very Japanese flare. You won't find shrimp and lime here. The flavors are soy sauce, salt, miso, and pork bone. They typically add a lot of different stuff into it like hard boiled eggs, stir fried veggies, pork cuttlets, bamboo shoots, and any variety of things. Edamame likes fish paste rolls called naruto. If it's served cold you add julienned veggies and eggs or ham.

Somen = skinny, capellini like noodles. You eat hot or cold. Add a bunch of different stuff to the dipping soup like ginger, or wasabi, green onions. When it's warm you make a soup with onions, pork, and I add mushrooms

Udon = thick noodles, and usually served warm in soup. You add anything from tempura, fried eggs, pumpkin and veggies to left over curry(my favorite). The wikipedia article gives a bunch of regional variations

Soba = made from buckwheat, served warm or cold. My favorite is mountain veggies on top, Ed likes fish eggs, daddy likes tempura, and BK just likes food. There are way too many ways to eat it to try to list.

Shirataki or Tokoroten = clear noodles made from konjaku plant. It's trumped for having 0 calories. I've only had it in sukiyaki(which is pure deliciousness).

Champon = It's big in Nagasaki where 007 served his mission. I'm not too clear on it, but that's because the few times I've had it, I haven't liked it.

There are some variations, like yakisoba, which is ramen noodles with fried veggies, not served in soup, but with a yummy sauce. Hotto is udon like but specific to Yamanashi prefecture, and it is delicious. One of the schools I worked at went on a field trip to Yamanashi and we HAND MADE it. I've seen and eaten hand made soba.

All I can say is noodles are awesome, and it's how we are surviving this summer. Thank goodness for noodles.