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Three Summer Recipes ３つの夏レシピー

30 Aug

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第一　Japanese Peach-Sake Jam

First, a word about Japanese peaches 白桃 (hakutō): amazing. They are typically about the size of my fist, with pure wine-white flesh and bright pink skin. They are sweeter and juicier than any other peach you may ever taste; eating one usually results in pure ecstasy, accompanied by a vast pool of peach water at your feet. They are well worth the $3 apiece (minimum!) price tag, always a very special summer treat. So what to use as a substitute? Ordinary white peaches will do, but you may want to add more sugar (or maybe honey?) to the recipe. And don’t you dare use yellow peaches or I will hunt you down and kill you.

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SOY BOMB 大豆爆弾

8 Jul

Soy, if you haven’t heard, is amazing. And few cultures appreciate this fact as fully as Japan, where the unassuming legume has been widely cultivated, processed, cooked, fermented, stewed, steamed, curdled, baked, boiled, and ultimately consumed in myriad forms for hundreds (probably thousands?) of years. In America, I think soy is generally misunderstood. People tend to think of soy products as very good-for-you stuff, yes, but also vaguely artificial and blander than Wonder bread; the bean’s bounties are often relegated to that ill-lit corner of the gastro-hegemony labeled “health food,” where only the most dreary-eyed nerds, hippies, and uncool moms loiter awkwardly about.

But in Japan, as in many other east and southeast Asian nations, soy gets the respect it deserves: as a popular happy hour snack (edamame), an umami-rich condiment (soy sauce), an ingredient in sweet and nutty desserts (kinako), a sticky and pungent breakfast item (nattō), and so much more!

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Miracle Fruit ミラクルフルーツ

26 Apr

Note: If you don’t know what miracle fruit is, read this first. And this. And maybe this.

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I had originally intended to chronicle my highly anticipated miracle fruit party with a video blog, but unfortunately, I absentmindedly left my camera in my girlfriend’s closet the day before the party… so that’s kind of a bummer, but oh well. The main reason I wanted to do a video blog (or “vlog” as the kids call it these days… ugh) was to capture the sort of gluttonous, unrestrained feeding frenzy and giddy, wide-eyed excitement that ensued after popping the unassuming little red fruits. The bewildered double takes, the grabby hands, the exclamations of “Oh my god!” and the looks on our faces… ah, no words can really do the experience justice. But looking back, I don’t think I could have been bothered to film anything anyway. I was too busy stuffing my face with all sorts of things I would ordinarily never think to nominate as face-stuffing material.

But then, that’s the miracle of miracle fruit…

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The Nagasaki Lantern Festival 長崎ランタンフェスティバル

5 Mar

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Last weekend, a couple of friends and I took a day trip down to Nagasaki for the annual Lantern Festival, a veritable mosh pit of glowing paper sculptures and steaming Chinese street food. It was a lovely excursion, as Nagasaki turned out to be much more charming and fun than you might expect from a city that boasts a slope as one of its prime tourist destinations. Getting there and back took almost eight hours total due to a series of unforeseen delays, but it was worth it. Besides, getting there is half the fun, right?

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Making Mochi 餅搗き

18 Dec

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Humans are curious, inquisitive animals. Even before we developed the linguistic capabilities required to form actual questions, we investigated our surroundings and ourselves with a creative, experimental spirit afforded to us by our large, complex brains and opposable thumbs. And perhaps no question has led to such meaningful answers, such fruitful results, and such educational errors as this:

What happens when I smash it repeatedly with a heavy, blunt object?

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