Wow it makes me so happy that others recognize the value of two bookmark ribbons. You often want to make a side and a main, or the recipe needs points you to another page. Paper bookmarks just fall out.

How exotic are the ingredients? I imagine I might have trouble souring them.

How exotic are the ingredients?

I think it all comes down to… well, everything. My sailboat has been off the coast of a small city (~6000 people) on the Washington Olympic Peninsula for a few years now. I can go ashore any time, I have a cargo bike and a motor vehicle. Plus I can just pick up and sail to, say, Seattle. I can usually find what I need here in town. I don’t use Amazon, and I try to avoid delivery services when possible. In my experience, the hardest ingredients to find locally are almost always shelf-stable. So I will have a friend in Portland OR or Seattle WA pick up a bunch of things for me at one of the huge Asian groceries, package that up, and mail it to me. If it’s perishable, like fresh noodles, I’ll arrange all a long day of restocking, then go all over the place to get things I need.

On Omura’s website, he usually discusses reasonable substitutions and omissions in pretty good detail. This is an example of my comment about how the site and book are complementary. He even has a whole page on his site dedicated to alternatives and “don’t try to swap [Y] for [X].” sudachirecipes.com/japanese-ingredient-substitute…