Fishing, Friends and Sukiyaki

Last week, we had the pleasure of camping with our friends and partners at the picturesque River Test, in Hampshire.

The beautiful Ginger Beer Beat is a lovely fly-fishing site, lined with soft verges, where you can sit and watch the swans float lazily down the river. It’s perfect for inexperienced anglers (like most of us were) who want to learn how to catch trout. For some much-needed help, we invited the captivating James Doyle from Orvis, who taught us some of his techniques and talked us through his fishing expertise.

Our resident chefs Matthew, Robyn, and Hideko, rustled up an appetising lunch of what we call ‘Japanese Hotdogs’, complete with some mouth-watering miso onions. Throughout the day, our friends were able to enjoy the scenic views along the river and revel in their first catch. 

Brittany set up her anodising workshop next to the little hut on the river which was our home for the day. Anodising is one of our favourite workshops. It’s a finishing process whereby we submerge our Titanium Sporks in a solution and run an electric current through it, transforming them into a myriad of unique colours (and they are completely safe to use, as before). We had rainbow sporks, marbled sporks and even fully gold ones, the variations were endless!

Image credit: Christian Teal

Afterwards, we sheltered under a large tarp and enjoyed cups of Kubota and Shochikubai Mio sparkling sake, as our resident chefs prepped the evening meal.

Image credit: Ethan Buttress  

As the sun began to set, we gathered around the fire for an evening of stories and Sukiyaki. This traditional hot pot combines vegetables with tender beef or tofu, perfect for a cold winter’s day. We like to add in a variety of mushrooms and udon noodles to soak up the delicious flavours. 

Image credit: Christian Teal

We laughed, swapped anecdotes, and talked long into the evening, then, as midnight approached, moved on to some tasty Tremazzino Toasties, the perfect late-night snack after a hard day’s fishing!

We would like to thank everyone who joined us on our little adventure, we hope it’s the beginning of a new fishing tradition for us all.

Image credit above and featured: Ethan Buttress