My lunch today - 031711

It was the last day at our Udon school of March session.  That means a lot of eating of different udon menu items. 
Students from all over Japan and even from overseas throw everything they learned over the 4-day course to make their original menu items, using their creativity.
Today, I was caught up with work and couldn't participate in evaluation session.
Then, around 2pm when I almost gave up my lunch, there appeared this bowl on my desk.

What the...  My colleague, Matsumoto made this for me, using leftover-noodle, broth, and toppings from school.  It is this huge sweet bean curd covering the enitre bowl.  When I lifted it, there it is.  Sweet beef broth and udon.  What a volume.  But, I was starving and ate it all in minutes.  It was good too.
I call this Matsumoto-special from now on with thanks to her.

How can we help?

We've been discussing about how best we can help those in need in eastern Japan, especially, people affected in Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi prefecture.  Talking to our colleagues in Sendai city revealed electricity and water are coming back up in some areas, but they are in desperate need of food, gasoline, and other daily supplies.  We are trying to deliver what we can obtain, but major roads, highways, railways, even air routes are far from recovery and closed. 
We want to let people in need have hot noodle meals, and we are trying to do so through our clients (noodle restaurants in these areas).
Sending our prayers to those suffering now, we will do what we can do to help.
If you have some good idea on what we can do to effectively help them, please let us know.



Our lovely Sendai office branch manager Kiguchi, reporting from Sendai city, badly damaged from the tsunami



Our thoughts are with everyone who's been affected by the quake

Massive quakes devasted northern part of Japan on March 11th, and a lot of people in those areas are still affected by subsequent aftershocks every 10 minutes or so. 
Although our Sendai office was hit badly by the quake and may have to relocate, all of our associates are safe and sound.  Yet, ever since the quake yesterday, we've been working phones and other means to reach our clients (noodle shop owners) in the affected areas to ensure their safety and see what we can do to help.
We are still putting our heads together to come up with what would be the best thing we can do for those devasted by the quake.

We wish this will settle soon and move towards quick recovery.

with sincere condolences and prayers,

Yamato MFG team

We served 4,000 portions of udon, soba, and ramen in 4 days!

This was the biggest 4-day event of the year at Makuhari Messe, Chiba-pref., Japan.  We've been exhibiting here for 5 years in a row, but this was the biggest booth we've ever had.
And, with never ending lines of people waiting for our great noodles of special recipes (that we prepared for this event), we served over 4,000 people. 

It was great, but what we need now is a long and nice break...  (we are exhausted...)

Foodex 2011 from March 1st to 4th

I'll be working at a booth (7D23) at Makuhari Messe (Chiba pref.)

If interested in visiting us at the booth (where you can try great freshly made noodles), refer to the following page.
http://www3.jma.or.jp/foodex/en/travel/index.html

I'll be there by Friday.

categories of noodle getting blurred

Pasta?  Udon?  Yakisoba?
This is what my wife made for lunch one afternoon.
No doubt it was freshly made noodle and very good.  But, I'm still not sure what to call it.

Feb. 10th, last session at Yamato Udon School

We offer udon school every month.  Most participants at our school are planning startups, and many of them have had no experience in restaurant or food business.  And, many have never even touched knife in their lives before attending our school.  At our udon school, we try to help them become professional of udon noodle in 6 days at our school.   


And, the last day at our udon school is devoted to making of original menu item.  Every participant must make at least one dish, using their creativity.  And, they have to use all the skills they've learned through the course to make this dish, making of noodle, preparation of broth/sauce, toppings, and presetation of the dish.  And, they laid out their dishes for final evaluation by Yamato staff who have seen and tried maybe over a thousand of various udon noodle dishes.

So, today was the day.  They are evaluated for presentation, balance in taste, color, impact to eyes and tongue, and whether it sells.

If you've neve r even cooked before in your life, as long as you have strong passion for udon, I think it'd be worth a try at our school to see whether you have potential to become a great udon restaurant owner/chef.  And, to us, everyone has a potential to at least make a great bowl of udon that can make many smile.

Yamato Noodle School:
http://www.yamatonoodle.com/noodle_school/.