Moms' Morning Out!

Yesterday 2 other FIK moms and I dropped the kids off at school and then jumped in the car for a ladies morning out! Tomiko wanted to make sure that I got a solid introduction to Morioka with local crafts and food, so we started off at Morioka Handiworks Square. We watched people making pottery, straw horses, bamboo baskets, iron kettles, wooden toys, beaded jewelry, furniture, Morioka sembei (flat cookies cooked in an iron press), and indigo dyeing. In classic Japanese fashion, the best thing about the Handiworks Square is that you can try any of the crafts yourself. Of course, I wanted to try shibori dyeing. 

We each picked out an item- a bandana or little bag, and then were given a short lesson on the different dyeing techniques. We each tried our hand at folding, gathering the fabric in rubber bands, and clamping plastic shapes or chopsticks over the fabric to make different patterns. After manipulating the fabric to our satisfaction, we dyed it in indigo. I knew that indigo dye starts green and then oxidizes to blue, but it was really interesting to watch it happen! Here are some photos of the process...

When our indigo pieces were finished, we headed across the square and tried our hands at making peanut sembei as a treat for the kids after school. We rolled out the dough, then placed it over a handful of peanuts in an iron mold. We closed and clamped the molds, then placed them over a gas flame, flipping them every 30 seconds for 3 minutes. The result is a round cookie-like treat with a slightly soft center.  

After playing for a few hours at the Handiworks Square, we went out for Morioka reiman, a cold noodle soup that for reasons beyond my comprehension, always has some piece of fruit in it- usually watermelon (I don’t get it either). In spite of the weird fruit presence, it’s pretty tasty stuff.

We all had a good time and are already planning our next ladies morning out!