Stopped by Akimune-an in Shirokiya last Tuesday. The “buy two, get one free” campaign is over, but I got two an and two satsuma-imo filled taiyaki anyway. There was also cream filled, but that intuitively offends me, so I didn’t get any of those. The girl working was different than last time. It sort-of seemed like she really didn’t like her job, unlike the girl last time. The final product was just as good, but the foil wrapping was done randomly and haphazardly. This was primarily an experiment to see how the purple sweet potato filling was. Verdict – not as good as the traditional adzuki filling. Continue reading ‘Akimune-an Taiyaki – Revisited’
Archive for the 'Review' Category
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Nothing is as American as bacon… okay, the word “bacon” is etymologically German, and the consumptiom of belly pork goes back to Europe, but smoked, cured bacon is very American… anyway, check out this velcro-backed bacon patch! These popped up at last year’s SHOT Show, but Dave from Mojo Tactical on Sand Island just got these in. Ckucke was down there and gave me a call and asked if I wanted him to pick me up one (sorry I couldn’t make it down in person, Dave!). Of course I was in! There are two variations, “raw” with more natural, pinky and off-white (fat) colors, and “cooked” with higher contrast red and browns. I opted for the “raw”. Embroidery quality is nice. The patch measures 5″ x 1″ (12.5cm x 2.5cm), so it fits perfectly on a standard nametape of service branch velcro field. From what I can gather online, these source from edcknives-dot-com. Like bacon? Get this patch! Continue reading ‘Tactical Bacon Patch, Raw’
I’d seen it once at Don Quixote, never since. Seen the paper sign at Nijiya with nary a sign of the real thing. It was this kinda goofy fish, nabeta. It a wrasse and rumoured to be good eating. On my way home tonight I stopped in to find something to make for dinner. After looking at the sanma and opelu, what to my surprise was that the paper sign was not below an empty space, there they were, a trio of nabeta! I had to buy it, damn expensive as this sub half pounder was $9, Nijiya can be expensive. But I had to do it.
Oops sorry, no pics. I finally got around to trying from the locally aqua farmed Kona kanpachi as sashimi. I’d earlier picked up a smaller whole one and did the black bean steamed bit and it was not bad, but not as good as Uhu for that preparation. I can hapily report that as sashimi it is wonderful. It helps that being locally sourced it is as fresh as you could get from a retailer. It is white tinged with pink flesh, a nice firmness, but smooth. Flavor is a lot like hamachi, but not as fatty. Highly recommended, 4 out of 4 sushi ninja monkeys.
If you’ve never had taiyaki before, you probably don’t know what you’re missing out on. It’s somewhere along the lines of dorayaki, manjyu, or mochi with red (adzuki) bean filling, so if you’ve experienced any of those, you sort-of get the idea. Typically, taiyaki are made with a pancake-like batter – very similar to the batter the dorayaki pancakes are made from – with a dollop of red bean filling inside of fish (tai snapper) shaped iron molds. The molds are placed over gas burners, and that cooks the batter to a crispy golden brown. Continue reading ‘Akimune-an Taiyaki’
Over the holiday season in Sapporo, I really didn’t have a whole lot of time to browse for manga and related goods. I made by with a quick stop at Toranoana and Animate on the way to the airport, and even found something interesting at the bookstore at the airport. I was in a rush, so aside from the latest volumes of things I am already reading that I managed to find in a quick eyeball of the shelves, I grabbed a couple of new titles that seemed interesting from a cursory flip-through. I still haven’t gotten a chance to fully read through these yet, but here are some quick descriptions: Continue reading ‘Manga Briefs – Winter 2011/2012 Impulse Buys!’
So the new season is starting up, and with the growth of Crunchyroll, a lot of it is legitimately available to us at the same time! So then I’ll give my views on these shows based on the one or two episodes I have seen so far (Risu also).
Another – Middle school aged boy, due to father’s work overseas, arrives from Tokyo to a rural town that he had connection to in the past. He ends up in hospital before he has a chance to go to the school he is newly transfered to, and get a visit from his future classmates. They’re behaviour is a bit odd, but they seem nice enough. When he finally does get to school, he meets a loner of a girl with, yes, an eyepatch. Arr. Streaming on CR. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – 2011/2012 Winter Season’
Hey, it’s that time of year again. Wonder how things will be this time. I imagine the earthquake and tsunami will be an underlying theme this year. I’m doing this live again, so this post will be continually updated over the next several hours as the program progresses… Continue reading ’62nd Annual NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen’
OK, we finally caved in and visited To Thai For restaurant in Kaimuki. It is in the space along Wailae Ave where Verbano used to be. We had reservations with the name & the prices seemed a bit on the higher side. The Scatman insisted however that his Thai friend picks it as one of his select few that he will eat at. The interior has been lightened up from what it used to be so feels much more casual. It was pretty busy, service pretty good.
Instead of going full family style, we ordered a pork Larb to share and then we each got individual entrees.
Of course, having the word “desert” in the name is a dead giveaway that the Danner Desert Acadia GTX boots were not originally designed for snow use, but the Gore-Tex liner kept my feet dry and warm with just regular mid-weight wool hiking socks in -10C weather. My feet were warm even standing for extended peroids of time in deep snow. The Vibram Sierra sole worked fine in loose snow and on packed snow, but on freshly snowplowed roads where the black ice had been exposed, they were crazy slippery. Granted it’s ice, but my Danner 453 hikers actually had more traction on the same surface. I’m not going to even get into whether siping the sole blocks like snow tires or using a harder/softer compound would make them work better in a winter environment. I’ll be looking into whether Lowa or someone else makes a snow/ice Gore-Tex boot. Continue reading ‘Slippery Boots of Death’