525,600 minutes

A year ago today, we lost our beloved asshole Kuma.  He should have had a few more years on this earth, but it wasn't meant to be... and he crossed the rainbow bridge to join other beloved members of our family.  We were devastated, and on the night after he left, we chose to have a simple dinner at Nikushou, and toasted him with a relatively simple bottle of red Bordeaux.  It was a depressing evening.

We still miss asshole a lot.  What I wouldn't give to have him back on the bed, sticking his asshole in my face to wake me up in the morning.  But we now have our dogcow CC, who is not quite Asshole 2.0.  She is the sweetest girl, and doing a good job of having us focus on love and attention upon her.

I figured we should remember Bro Bro by going back to Nikushou, so I brought a bottle to go with our simple dinner on a Sunday night.

Purple sea urchin (紫雲丹) - I guess we could have a little something before hitting the beef.  This had a tiny hint of bitterness without the salt, which brought out the richness and depth on the palate.  A little more sophisticated than the usual "ice cream"...

Seasonal vegetables tempura (野菜天ぷら盛合せ) 

Thick cut Australian wagyu tongue (オーストラリア 和牛タン) - this is always good.

And you can see why that is...

Local beef chateaubriand - Sankala loves this, as she finds the flavors of the leaner beef more interesting.

Hida A5 uwasuji (A5飛騨牛 ウワスジ) - thicker cut delivers firmer texture, but still plenty of marbling here.  Nice and smoky flavors with that melted beef fat...

Hida A5 chuck (A5飛騨牛 鞍下) - thicker cut with even more resistance as one bites down, but with a springy reaction.  Very satisfying.

Hida A5 chuck flap (A5飛騨牛 ザブトン) - another thick cut with more marbling, but also more tender.

Nikushouyaki sirloin (肉匠焼き サーロイン) - what else is to be said about this?  A big slice of beef, served together with a mix of egg sauce and yakiniku sauce.  Over a small ball of rice.  Slurp.

Sea salt milk ice cream with matcha jelly and azuki beans - always happy to have this at the end of the meal.

2002 Arietta Variation One - initially a little lean on the palate, 30 minutes later there was a little more body, got better and more smoky, but still not as rich and lush as expected, just lacking the sweet vanilla. After 75 minutes some ripeness showed up.

It was the quiet evening that we wanted, and we reminisced about some of our memories with Bro Bro. He will always be in our hearts, but we look forward to some new memories with our dogcow CCzilla.