burendasan4 | More adventures in Japanese cuisine...

So yesterday I had the biggest hankerin' for soba noodles with natto, which is something I've never tried before. In fact, I don't know if it's something that's usually done in Japan. So I got myself to ye olde Japanese store and got a 4-pack of natto and when I got home, I took my last bundle of uncooked soba noodles (which had been stored for quite some time--but don't worry, they were ok to eat!) and cooked them:

These are soba, or buckwheat noodles and this is what they look like when they're cooked. In Japan, they're placed on a wooden board and eaten with a special kind of soy sauce and usually eaten with "side dishes" like tempura.

So anyway, I excitedly open the packet of natto and what do you know...it's frozen solid! But fear not, my friends, because I realized that the only alternative to waiting an hour for it to unfreeze was to put it in the microwave. Sure enough, thirty seconds did the trick! Then, I did the usual natto preparation. I have no pictures of that because you all already know what it looks like! ;-) Anyway, I mixed the natto with the soba noodles, which was no easy task:

Overall, the dish itself wasn't too bad, but I should have added a little more soy sauce. One thing I will say though, and that is that it was quite healthy! Anyway, stay tuned for the next installment: "Melon Pan", which as of now is yet to be eaten! ;-)