Things in my homeland grew so bad over the last 8 years that we had to reject a real patriot who we could have chosen for president 8 years ago and bet on this newcomer with precious little experience and no resumé to be president. Well, Barack Obama delivered on his soaring rhetoric, won big and took the reigns of government with confidence and distinction. Here in Kyoto we tuned-in late night to the inaugural live stream and toasted him in and his post-partisan, post-cultural war vision with the equivalent of Japanese moonshine – doburoku!

KyotoFoodie Toasts President Obama
I was not a believer during most of the campaign, but Barack Obama really grew through out the campaign and by the time of the economic crash and first presidential debate, he looked and acted presidential. Watching him take the oath, I felt grateful to him, for at the very least, inspiring hope in people when the situation looks pretty grim.

The little foodie party that we had planned got even littler when everyone realized that the inauguration was going to be in the middle of the night in Japan. We watched the swearing in and inaugural address and toasted with bubbly ‘home-brewed’ doburoku sake. After the speech we retired to the parlor for more doburoku and some awesome roll cake that Miwa scored. And finally, incense and prayers before bed.

Omaba Inaugural Address Live Stream

Toasting Hope and Post-partisanship

(While humming, ‘Then I’ll get on my knees and pray, We don’t get fooled again.’)

Toasting Hope and Post-partisanship

Toasting Hope and Post-partisanship

The Beagle Drinks to President Obama

KyotoFoodie ‘Mini’ Inaugural Gala

Doburoku Sake and Sake Kasu Roll Cake

Doburoku ‘Home Brewed’ Sake

About the Sake: Doburoku
I had wanted to get champagne but decided on a bubbly and rather chunky doburoku that we first introduced on KyotoFoodie in this Mackerel Yuzu Pepper Nabe article last winter. This sake comes from Nagano Prefecture in north-central Japan and is called Domuroku (Domuroku is the product name).

Traditionally doburoku is home-brewed sake, in centuries past this is the sake that people drank at home, they made it themselves, the same as their tsukemono, miso and so on. Now home-brewing of sake is illegal, but in the last few years doburoku style sake is being made and sold by quality sake producers and consumers are literally drinking it up!

Doburoku ‘Home Brewed’ Sake – Bubbles

Sake Kasu Roll Cake

In the very center the sake kasu can be seen. It is flavored delicately with honey.

About the Cake: Sake Kasu Roll Cake
Roll cake is big in Japan, there are countless variations. My favs in Kyoto are maccha roll cake and Tamba black bean roll cake. This was a new one though. One of Kyoto’s big sake breweries, Kizakura got together with a pâtisserie in Kobe. Kobe is known for it’s good and very Western oriented style. This roll cake is flavored with sake kasu, or the lees that are left after pressing sake. Sake kasu is used in many popular winter dishes in Japan, this was my first experience with it in Western sweets. It was flavored with honey and the combination was just perfect. The pungent, fermented kasu contrasts so nicely with the mellow sweetness of the honey, all wrapped up in cream and sponge cake.

Sake Kasu Roll Cake – detail

The outside of the roll cake reminded me of frost or fresh-fallen snow, on cake!

The Gourmet Beagle Samples Sake Kasu Roll Cake

(and approves!)

Links

Doburoku Sake (Japanese language)
Endo Sake Brewery 遠藤酒造場
‘Domuroku’ Sake どむろく

Sake Kasu Roll Cake
Kizakura Sake Brewery (English website)
Limited Edition Sake Kasu Roll Cake 酒かすろーる