Sunday of this past weekend, we went to Nakashige-san’s house for an udon party. I was told that Nakashige-san is an expert udon maker and although I am not an udon connaisseur, I can judge from his ease with the dough, and from the tastiness of the end product, that this is true.


We got to see most of the noodle making process - all but making the dough which is a tricky part. The noodles consist of a ratio of flour, water, and salt and the ratio needs to be adjusted slightly depending on the season of the year (and maybe location?)…I think it has to do with the humidity. Anyway, the dough was there when we arrived and it needed to be stepped on. I was unfortunately initially lazy with my camera so I don’t have a picture, but basically, you put the dough in a plastic bag, put it on the floor, and step on it. Feet kneading(?) When that is done, the dough is further manipulated by rolling it around a thin rolling pin and across a table repeatedly. Eventually you get a thinner sheet of dough that should have a certain type of elasticity. I am doing a horrible job of explaning this…really should have taken more pictures. Anyway, once the elasticity is right, you can cut the noodles. You can see the professional noodle cutter in the pictures I did take. It automatically shifts along its track as you cut up and down so you get very precise noodle sizes. Absolutely amazing.


We all got to take some uncooked noodles home with us. I had udon again for supper, and then for breakfast the next day, AND I have more noodles in my freezer for another time. Entertainment during noodle eating was provided by Nakashige-san’s four-year-old daughter who is the cutest thing. She’s quite the energetic one! I could not understand most of the things she said, but after some repetition I could catch on. I think she knew I was a foreigner as occasionally she would break out into the ABC song. Already taking English lessons! Ahh it was a lot of fun : )