It was no ordinary day.

Andy’s colleague, Reggie, was kind enough to make arrangements for us to tour a very special confectionary, Suetomi.  We weren’t sure what to expect so we didn’t tell Rose (our little baker and candy maker) until one day prior when we needed to be sure her attire was appropriate.  We did a little research, prepared for a possible tea ceremony, and as Reggie recommended, we hired a translator.  But none of that prepared us for today.

Our translator, Tomoko, arrived at our machiya for introductions and a cup of tea at 9am.  By 9:30am we were off for the Suetomi confectionary, established in 1893, and located coincidentally only a short walk from our home.  On arrival, we exchanged business cards with the grandson of the founder, Tomizo Yamaguchi, his wife, also Tomoko, son Shoji and daughter-in-law Tomiko.  When the translator explained that we came from New York, his son, Shoji inquired whether we knew Bouley restaurant.  There’s nothing like hearing the name of friend in the middle of a string of words, at first utterly incomprehensible, to set the spirit soaring!

And from there on, it was magic.  I had seen David just before leaving for California and told him of our upcoming adventure. It was a chance encounter on a Saturday morning and though he offered to put me in touch his friend Mr (insert two two-syllable words here, for that is all I heard), I didn’t have time to follow up and honestly, with his kitchen renovation underway I likely would not have bothered him about it.  As luck would have it, I met his dear friend anyway!

Tomizo-san and Shoji-san gave us a tour of the confectionery, the beautiful sweets, the tools used to create them, and demonstrated for us how these seasonal sweets are made.  As we are in the month of September, sweets feature the chrysanthemum, pampass grasses or the moon.  We each made our own chrysanthemum and grass with morning dew and enjoyed them over tea together.  These were the wet confections.  We were then served the dry confections, and samples of a chocolate wafer being made for MarieBelle in Soho NYC. While we enjoyed our sweets and matcha tea, Shoji-san shared photos of our mutual friend and we posed for several photos together.   We were presented with a most important gift:  the book written by Mr. Yamaguchi that shows a full year’s worth of confectionary.  Each confection is delicious certainly; each too is a work of art, an abstract depiction of nature.

After tea, it was decided that we should continue on to see the Nijo Castle (castle of the first Shogun, Tokogawa) with our translator and then Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi would have us to lunch and that Shoji-san and Tomiko would pick us up for dinner at 7pm.

And just like that, we were blessed with the hospitality Kyoto is known for.

I don’t mean to ignore the importance of the Nijo Castle with its nightingale floors, its Kano school paintings, its newly restored gates of gold and lacquer, and its important history, but our kyo-keiseki lunch was a most memorable and exquisite culinary experience.  Every serving utensil, every bowl, glass, and tray was exquisite and every bite a sublime metaphor for the moon, the pampass grass or the chrysanthemum.  I took only one photograph because I didn’t want to be rude and my small point and shoot doesn’t capture the sublime manner in which food is art. We leave shortly for dinner and I look forward to spending time with our new friends.