The Best Meal Ever?

Saturday night's dinner at Ryokan Fujioto was certainly the best meal of this trip and is a candidate for the best meal I have ever had. Each of 11 courses was personally served and carefully explained by our host, Fujihara-san.

The entire meal was fantastic. Some of the highlights:

'Invisible rock' trout, served whole and meant to be eaten with the skin on.

Baby wasps, hand-plucked from their nest buried in the ground (pictured above with the chopsticks - the kids and I ate every one of the little guys).

Sashimi made from a fish whose father was a salmon and mother was a trout, to give it the texture of salmon and the sweetness of trout.

Beef, which was fed apples and beer and given massages throughout its life to increase tenderness. We each cooked our own in small individual pots.

The best tempura we've ever tasted (Fujuhara-san's wife is a tempura instuctor), topped with a small 'flower' made of died, fried pasta.

A small salad of local vegetables, which included a cherry blossom, preserved in salt since April.

Miso soup that, upon close inspection, included vegetables individually cut into shapes and/or tied into decorative knots.

Finally, rice, formed into a popsicle on a large stick and sautéed in a delicious peanut sauce.