I have wanted to go to Japan ever since reading novels by Haruki Murakami; the characters always seem to be meeting in cafes for miso soup and pickles, which sounds so exotic. After getting back to London full of lovely roast dinners, Marc and I decided to make a Japanese style meal. This was one of the courses - miso soup powder and dried seaweed bought from a Chinese supermarket and stirred into boiling water (after hydrating the seaweed in cold water). Marc made a delicious cucumber salad - shaving the cucumber into thin slices and dressing with pickled ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar and salt - which we ate on the side as a substitute for pickles.
