Gohan, Sushi, Mochi

There is one small well-stocked Japanese grocery store in our neighborhood, an island in a sea of Chinese and Vietnamese shops. When you walk in, a little bell rings and a voice greets you automatically in Japanese, saying hello. Our first time in there long ago is still vivid: so many unfamiliar-looking packages of unfamiliar foods. Where to begin? But it was really just like traveling—the more time we spent looking, the more things came into focus and began to make sense. That first time we bought a few basics: rice, soy sauce, vinegar, nori, pickled ginger. On return trips we branched out, buying bonito flakes, a few small jars of condiments, an assortment of dried seaweeds, some flavored crackers, and a wider range of pickles. We came to value the ease with which we could make a quick stock (dashi) to add depth to simmered dishes. Later we learned a recipe for what has become one of our prized kitchen staples, a rich long-keeping stock concentrate (see Mariko’s Must-Have Concentrated Stock).