One of our favorite sights in Kyoto was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Its maze of bright orange torii were donated to the Shinto deity Inari to give thanks for success in business, industry or other endeavors. Inari is also the god of rice and agriculture, and, while we didn't have any on this visit, it is interesting to note that a traditional offering is the familiar inarizushi, or rice wrapped in fried tofu, which is the savior of many a mediocre supermarket sushi tray.

The culinary highlight of our time in Kyoto had to be the Nishiki Market. This long covered arcade features a variety of food, fresh and prepared, but seems to be dominated by tsukemono (pickle) and fish stalls.

Japan is home to the widest variety of pickles that I can think of, but I have often been underwhelmed by them. They can be limp and anemic, especially when they come from one of those little vacuum-packed baggies. Not so with these! Barrel after barrel of vegetables were being pickled before the eyes - some in brine, some in miso paste, some in less easily identified pastes or solutions, and every one I tried was vivid and crisp. As a devoted pickler, I can't wait to try some of these preparations at home.

We also sampled some oden, a cousin of the odeng (boiled fishcake) we had earlier in Korea. Oden is really a type of winter hotpot, with a variety of ingredients like egg, radish, yamcake, and fishcake added to a dashi (or other) stock, but when it is served as street food, it often is presented with the ingredients on skewers stewing in a giant tray. We had a fish cake layered with tender potato slices and infused with butter. It was hot, savory, and (there is no other word for it) squoosy. Greg found it a little disconcerting, but I loved it - it was almost a Willy Wonka creation, like a whole fish and potato dinner rolled together with the texture of a marshmallow frog.

The one other thing we tried at the Nishiki market were these beautiful candies. Unfortunately, they were more charming in appearance than flavor. They taste simply of sugar, and although one of them had an intriguing chalk-like crumbly texture, I don't think I would go out of my way to buy them again. (Unless I had a last-minute cake-decoration crisis, because they certainly are pretty!)