JUst read the bon Appetit article about tofu, with a very nice mention of you and the blog. Good on you – really validates what you are doing when they notice you at that level!

Can’t wait to get back and have you show me around some of those Tofu shops.

Salt water taffy is named for it’s having been sold near the ocean, not ingredient salt. I’ve noticed professional chefs often recommending that a pinch of salt be added to pastries and such, almost everything with sugar. They say it enhances the sweetness. Crackers Jacks, kettle corn, and peanut brittle combine sweetness with notable saltiness.

Ah, yes. I have had salted caramel, but had forgotten about that one.

Chibeto is on the busy Senbon Street and though it is Nishijin it is not a very traditional Kyoto street. So it doesn’t really stick out right there. If you go up the quite little street either direction away from Senbon Street the neighborhoods and the streetscapes are still fairly traditional.

Where Chibeta is located, during the Heian era, this was in about the exact center of the Imperial Palace! Senbon Street was the main street of Kyoto, the most important street in the whole country really. Now it isn’t much to write home about.