Bones of the dead(ly tasty)

The benefits of Akiya life. M's parents had come down to spend some time at the house for the last time before it gets leveled, and since they live in the mountains we decided to go with the sea for meals. On Friday night, we ate at a local restaurant in the next town of Sajima run by one of the fishing unions. We all went with the sashimi teishoku set for ¥1500, with all the rice you can eat. We stuffed ourselves on maguro, hamachi, squid, tai, etc., etc., etc. (It's quite a deal, though you can get the same set for only ¥1000 at lunchtime.) On Saturday we made the rounds of the various markets. Got plenty of fresh spring cabbage and broccoli at a stall next to a local farmer's field before going to the fish market, where we picked up some large, freshly caught hotate scallops and sanma, Pacific saury for ¥80 each (above). That choice forced us to go back to the farmers' market to get some daikon to grate for the sanma. The scallops we barbecued in their shells with butter and shoyu. The saury we just grilled with salt and dipped in the grated daikon and ponzu, the shoyu and vinegar sauce. We talked about what a feast Mario would have with the left-overs, but unfortunately for him, we did a good enough job on the fish bones to turn them into cartoon-level leftovers and he was left with canned cat food.