Hopefully Wayland will enjoy these, since he’ll be inflicted with them. I guess we will all end up being victims though, unless Fabio goes incommunicado and avoids the meetup in anticipation of this. I’ve eaten shako (Oratosquilla oratoria) once. It was flavorless and didn’t break apart when chewed. It wasn’t rubbery like squid, it was more crunchy like gristle. Great. Garlicy gristle! Maybe everyone will be lucky and Ag or Customs will seize them.
Archive for the 'Culture' Category
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Seriously, how do these guys do it? The hourly forecast called for rain last night with a clear, partially cloudy morning, followed by increased cloudiness at noon, with clearing again in the afternoon and evening. It indeed went from blue skies with scattered clouds this morning to a full overcast at lunchtime. I’ll expect blue as I head to the airport this afternoon. They must have some serious supercomputing power!
(0)In retrospect I should have bought some of these for wayland.
>such amusement about town today. Also put my name in for Servco to call me when they get shipment of FR-S’ through customs, apparently it’s on the docks. Only the “tame” colors in this batch, white, black, or dark grey. I think it’s going to be white. Yes, maybe boring but I like it, I think the white looks good. It’s actually a bit pearl and seems to cost a little more. The black is nice, but I don’t want the maintenance.
What should I find at the supermarket than two new-ish dark offerings from mainstream breweries. Decades ago, it was “Dunk” (heck, that’s so old, it exists only in my memory and I can’t find anything about it online… did it even exist? It had Arnold the Governator in their advertising and was product-placed on some stewardess drama) which faded from popularity, but now darks are back, albeit still on the tamer end of the flavor scale. From Yebisu comes the Creamy Top Stout aimed to compete with the widgeted Guinness, and Asahi Dry Black, a dark lager offering. I actually had the Yebisu Creamy Top Stout on draught at a restaurant in Okayama last year, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Asahi Dry Black. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Battle of the Black Cans’
I can just hear Fabio fighting the power! This mild, clear weissbier is produced by the Moortgat Brouwerij (brewery) that brings us Duvel and the various “Chouffe” beers and ales from the Brasserie d’Achouffe brewery. The Vedett name was originally used to market a lager in the 1940’s, but in the 2000’s, the brand was realigned toward a younger, upscale market with the introduction of a pilsener and the weiss I will review here. The flavor is not as heavily citrussy out of the bottle as some other weissbiers are. There is a hint of bitter over the moderate wheat flavor. The carbonation is low: You can feel a hint of bubbles on the tongue, but there is no head. It is cloudy, as a weiss should be, but has the least amount of accumulated sediments of all the bottled weissbiers I have observed. This weiss is the lightest in flavor that I’ve had so far. That’s not specifically a bad thing, as I’ve had a couple of microbrew or craft weissbiers where they smack you on the head with a hand drilling hammer with the amount of sediment and taste overburden they have. The Vedett Extra White Weiss has a good balance of flavor and body, but is on the crisper, refreshing side of the scale instead of the fuller, “meatier” (meal in a glass) side. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Vedett Extra White Weiss’
Just spotted this, wonder who’s deal this is? Sorry bout pic quality, was breakin the law shooting off this pic real quick while stopped at light. It’s Mobile Maid Cafe.
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’
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’