Thursday, November 25, 2004
Back at Kamakura...
Went to Kamakura with my eldest sis a few weeks back.
Finally got down to tidying up the numerous pict that we took. I`ve got to mention, my eldest sis is a crazier food fanatic than I am.
Nearly died of indigestion whenever I`m with her.
We ate so much snacks that I`m at a total loss as to which to introduce first. But just to start at the easiest, some of the food that we sampled at Kamakura.
Chili-spiced and Natto (Fermented bean) Senbei
Natto. The bane of all Japanese food.
We`ve heard of it. Foreigners who ate it have nightmares of it. Some hate it but most Japanese love it.
It smells like vomit. Has a very strong, unusual taste (hint: taste=smell).
Usually, it comes in a little container where the natto is flavoured with a dash of soysauce and occasionally, a raw egg. It is then mixed with a pair of chopsticks till it becomes extremely sticky, with web-like lines decorating the brown, beany substance. After which, it is used as a side-dish for rice.
For this version, natto is mixed with cheddar cheese and put on top of a senbei (rice cracker).
The vomit taste of the natto blends with the strong taste of the cheddar cheese such that the two distinctive flavors neutralised each other.
It`s like two opposing enemies co-operating to assasinate our taste buds.
I have to admit that I was pretty impressed with this daring fusion of flavors.
It`s an acquired taste but great nevertheless.
Kamakura Green Tea with Red Bean Ice-cream.
Green tea. We`re so familiar with it that it`s almost torturous for you to read this entry.
BUT, I really liked this one. Highly recommended.
It`s not diluted with milk like the ones in the supermarket. Instead, it`s actually green tea-flavored ice.
Confused?
There is a difference. Green tea ice cream is green tea mixed with milk such that it acquires a creamy taste which tends to hide the authentic flavor of green tea.
Kamakura Green Tea Ice, on the other hand, retains the refreshing taste of green tea without the overt creaminess of other ice-cream. It`s really light and delicate.
I was initially quite disappointed with the small size of the ice-cream. But I soon realized that it`s in a very nice portion, as with all other Japanese food.
Not too much. Just enough to whet the appetite and leave a good taste and memory in the stomach.
Kamakura Chestnut Ice-Cream
Avoid this if you happened to be in the area. Waste of money.
It tasted exactly like vanilla ice-cream.
Bummer.
2 Comments:
somehow i'm finding it hard to accept the fact that something you'd describe as having a "vomit" taste or smell could be delicious...but then again, we eat all sorts of weird foods...Jau
You know, it was actually quite good.
The taste of natto can really grow on you..once you get pass the smell and the association of that smell with `something`.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Ode to the Super-Market
I love the supermarket.
They`re a wonderful therapeutic treatment for all situations. It`s always mentally comforting to see such a huge assortment of food, waiting patiently in their niche for you to pick them.
You can stay in the supermarket for as long as you like to absorb all the wondrous sights without fear of being bothered by the nosy salesgirl.
Furthermore, there`s always new flavours for you to try, which I personally find is a huge stimulant to my curious belly. I love to try different food, the stranger, the better and I`m open to eating ANYTHING (except for live creatures).
Of course I don`t go ballistic and buy every new or unusual food that I set my eyes upon. I have high integrity, great discipline and self -restraint.
I choose things very selectively.
I choose only the cheap items.
Haha, got ya!
Duh. Whatever.
Anyway, I decided to venture into new frontiers and supplement my occasional atrocious diet of instant noodles with exotic side dishes other than canned food, fish sticks, ham or snacks.
So I bought a set of vinegar-seasoned...erm...seaweed?
Whatever it is, I have absolutely no idea whether it`s meant to be eaten directly or cooked. But since it`s already pickled with vinegar, it should be safe to eat it straight from the packet. And as it`s sitting merrily in the seaweed section, I shall assumed that it`s a type of seaweed. The Japanese called it mozuku.
I opened a packet, took a whiff.
Smells vinegarish.
Gingerly picked some shreds up and slurped it down.
It tastes...nice!!
It`s a bit slimy. I dislike soft, slimy food but I like seaweed. What a dilemma. Although the vinegar was a little too much for my liking, I still enjoyed the little treat.
I was contemplating on how to finish the final strands swimming in the vinegar and figured that my loaf of multi-grained bread would go very nicely with the vinegar.
Unfortunately, as I got up to get my bread, I accidentally spilled the container.
Darn...
3 Comments:
argh!! what a waste!! there goes food...hmph
btw, vinegar was recommended by a TV show as good for health, especially for women on a diet.
Im a producer and Im doing a program on unusual food. I understand that you have been to kagoshima. Would be okay for me to contact you to ask you about any unusual food you have seen in Kagoshima? Something that typical rice eating only Singaporeans will throw up at? Contact me at 98297168 Adrian
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Combini Food: The Piggy Strikes Back
The hilarious piggy bun at the Sunkus combini.
I was feeling sorry for the little guy when its insides started flowing out after I took a chomp out of its belly.
That is, until the little dweeb splattered its oily innards all over my hair and jacket. Every ounce of sympathy was immediately quenched by this defiant gesture.
I decided to condemn it to the deepest depths of my stomach.
Evil should be imprisoned where evil should. In this case, in my digestive tract.
0 Comments:
Monday, November 01, 2004
Combini Food: Episode 1
Japanese convenience stores are wonderful places.
They`re like a Roald Dahl`s creation, a Willy-Wonkaish factory full of mysterious treats sitting neatly in their compartments, waiting to jump out at you and persuade you to eat them.
I encountered some of my most interesting meals in the combini (Japanese for convenience stores)
The utterly tempting Buta-man, aka meat bun. (Actually, the counter staff passed the wrong bun to me. Wanted to try another variety but what the heck, food is food, especially when you`re famish, then food becomes good food.)
I was pleasantly surprised by the filling inside it. Chunky meat cubes and bamboo shoot pieces, slices of mushroom and cabbage encased in a snowy-white, fluffy blanket.
It`s like a miniature meal in itself.
On a cold morning, you prepare to eat it by putting it in your palms to absorb the heat. Somehow it increases the comforting taste of the bun.
It simply warms you on the outside and inside.
There`s another wonderful invention that`s a clear representation of the Japanese innovativeness: Pizza-man or pizza filling in a bun (not the brown Western type but the soft, white Chinese concoction).
When you peel the bun apart, the cheese just strings across it, desperately dangling in mid-air. It`s really fun.
Like watching food gymnastics.
As for the taste...hmmm...interesting. Melting cheese, infused with the sweet taste of tomato sauce and delicately supported by the gentle white bun, brings to mind a fusion of the flavours of the East and West.
Interesting.
0 Comments:
About Carolyn
Female
Dog year
Pisces
Now in:
X America
X Australia
X Japan
0 Singapore
X Taiwan
X other parts of the world
X bed
Fav:
Travel, photography, eat strange food, getting lost, jogging, staring at the sky,
reading, real-life ghost acounts, spacing out, zzZ!
Warning: Never disturb her just before and after sleep, NEVER.
About life... :
Live without any regrets.
My rules:
LIVE hard, appreciate little things and be contented with what you receive.
Food that I`ve tried so far:
abalone, ants, bird's nest, caterpillar, century egg, chicken, clam, crab, crocodile, duck, eel, emu, fermented tofu, frog, fugu (puffer fish), ginseng, goose, grass,
horse, jellyfish, kangeroo, limpets, lobster, mussel, natto, octopus, ostrich, ox tongue, oyster, pig, prawn,
salmon, salted duck egg, scorpion, sea cucumber, seaweed, shark, shrimp, snails, sparrow, squid, stingray, tuna, turtle, venison, whale
apple, aronia berry, artichoke, avocado, banana, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, coconut, cranberry, dates, dragonfruit, durian, fig, gooseberry, grape, grapefruit, guava, honeydew, jackfruit, kiwi, lemon, lime,
mango, mangosteen, nectarine, olive, orange, passionfruit, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, prune, rambutan, raspberry, sago, soursop, starfruit, strawberry, watermelon, wintermelon, wolfberry
almond, broadbean, caraway seed, cashew nut, chick peas, flax seed, green bean, lotus seed, macademia nuts, peanut, pecan, peppercorn, pine nuts, pistachio,
poppy seed, pumpkin seed, red bean, sesame seed, soyabean, sunflower seeds, walnut, watermelon seed
chamomile, cherry blossom, chrysanthemum, echinacea, elderberry flower, hibiscus, lavender, lily, lotus, rose
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