The teriyaki heritage of this seasonal burger is more pronounced in the cheeseburger version than the bacon version. The mild cheese doesn’t have the saltiness of the bacon or the tang of the mustard to offset the onion ragout and sauce, so the overall flavor is sweeter. Like its other tobikiri bretheren, it shares the same aibiki domestic beef and pork patty. It is good, just not my favorite MOS offering. Continue reading ‘MOS Tobikiri Cheese Hamburger Sandwich’
Author Archive for risu
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Shopping days will do that. Caught the subway out to Shiroishi and went to Shuugakusou Shiroishi to turn about $270 USD into things made out of titanium. Their Snow*Peak signature store is pretty awesome. They also have various other domestic titanium backpacking cookware and tableware manufacturers that don’t carry as heavy a price tag, but the stuff is still not cheap. Nice thing though the mystery Japan ti brands are not much more than mystery China ti stuff like GSI Outdoors. Continue reading ‘Ouch! My Wallet’
I picked up some dehydrated apple rings for a snack and not really to bring back, since fruit in any form would probably freak out the Department of Agriculture guys. I got these over some apple chips I saw because there was only apples and salt listed as ingredients, so I figured sulfites wouldn’t be an issue. As-is out of the nearly-impossible-to-open package, they are sweet and firm and have the unmistakable apple flavor. Just for S&G, I tried rehydrating one in hot water, and it nearly returned to its original form – I “S” you not! The skin ends up being a little tough, but once rehydrated, the flesh even begins to brown like a fresh apple slice! Weird! Guess there really aren’t any sulfites to preserve the color. Continue reading ‘Astronaut Apples’
This ji-biiru from the small Oirase microbrewery and restaurant in central Aomori prefecture is somewhat widely distributed in central and East Aomori – I’ve seen it in Towada, Hirosaki, and Aomori city. Oirase is so close to Hachinohe, I’d really be surprised if you couldn’t find it there. Oirase brewery makes a pilsener, a weissen, a dark lager, and a “half and half”, which is just a mixture of the pils and lager. All of them are 5% ABV, and other than as draughts at the restaurant, they are sold in 300ml screw-top aluminum bottle-cans identical to those Coke and many other soft drink makers use on the JDM. I didn’t really have the fortitude to try all four, and being unpasteurized, they had to be kept under refrigeration which is difficult on a bus and train trip, so I opted for the pilsener. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Oirase Beer-kan Pilsner’
This is Kirin’s Pilsener offering. I’ve had it in a bottle before, but didn’t realize it was a mass-market product. It was better on draught, but still on the unremarkable side. It leaned toward the dry/highly attenuated side, but the decoction was weak to the point that it almost tasted like it wasn’t 100% barley malt, but had rice as an adjunct. The hopping was adequate to let you know that it was a pils, but it definitely wasn’t the rich offering that the competing Suntory Malts Premium Pilsener is. Flavor is clean and without any really bad traits, but really is somewhat plain. Whee. Continue reading ‘Heartland Beer’
MOS crafts some really good Japanese-style hamburgers. They aren’t modified from a Western recipie to conform to Japanese tastes: They are built from the ground up for domestic consumption – that’s probably why they bombed when they opened two stores in Honolulu decades ago. The Tobikiri hamburger is no exception to the domestic tastes rule. That’s not to say that if you aren’t Japanese, you won’t like this burger – it just isn’t the plain salty charred meat slab hidden beneath ketchup and mustard that you are used to. The patty is made from a mix of beef and pork (aibiki) and is topped with a thick slice of Hokkaido-produced bacon and sauteed onions with a bacon-shoyu sauce. They pride themselves on domestic sourcing, so the beef, pork, bacon, and onions are all domestic. This is reflected in the price, since the burger alone is 420-yen (around $5.38 USD). If you go to their website, they have a breakdown for the sourcing of ingredients on the product page. Continue reading ‘MOS Tobikiri Hamburger Sandwich “Atsugiri Bacon”’
Just like they said, it rained. Not too bad though. Hope it clears up and doesn’t go off again at dinnertime – I don’t want to walk around in the rain again.
(0)The JMA forecast calls for a clear morning followed by rain this afternoon. It’s about time for stores to open, so I’ll head out soon, but it’s clear blue out, so I feel a little incredulous about the prediction of rain. This is the JMA though, so I do believe it. Their forecasts run accurate to almost the hour. I’ll take my eVent jacket…
(0)Apples are pretty synonymous with Aomori-ken, and the souveneir hawkers are almost completely invested in apples being the singular omiyage item. Surprisingly, I didn’t find the specific apple item I was looking for – an old-fashioned steel can of apple jam. The apples are generally good, but not all of them are great. Most are grow around the city of Hirosaki, although the first experiments with growing apples were done on the slopes of Hakkoda-san to the South of Aomori City. The apple trees are fairly small and loaded with fruit, like one every 15-20cm. Reflective mylar sheets are placed under the trees to reflect the sunlight and make the undersides of the fruits change color to match the tops. Continue reading ‘Apples and Autumn’
Man, my sleep cycle is going to be all messed up. Need some ToughMan! Rode the most painful train seat from Sapporo to Aomori on the overnight train through the Seikan Tunnel. After pounding a between-the-rib-bones-of-a-maguro meat donburi, it was off on a great circuit of the West part of Aomori to Akita and back again. Except for the parts where the satellite reception was lost due to tunnels, I’ve got like 800km on the GPS today! Didn’t get many good pictures because of the speeding train and front lighting, but got to see a nice SL.
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