singing house of the rising sun at the pub last night and when the song ended the musicians just kept playing while people ad-libbed more verses about various pubs they knew
(with ominous hurdy-gurdy accompaniment): "there is a pub in walthamstow, it's called the fox and mole, but we don't go there (long pause) any more. Because the manager is an arsehole."
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP RSTUVWXY
24/26
More sakura sweets! Cream puff with whipped cream and sakura filling. I love sakura flavor so much!
Grocery store yakitori bento plus ajitama (marinated egg; recipe here). It’s unbelievable that I rely on the convenience stores so much when grocery store deli food is so much better? This cost about ¥350 (~$2.32), way cheaper and more filling than the conbini is these days, plus better quality ingredients. Less variety, sure, but how much does that really matter considering everything else……
A colorful bento for takeout! The strawberries were a great surprise. The big compartment contains marinated hijiki seaweed (the black stuff), a miso egg, and some seasonal simmered veggies etc.: taro, carrot, daikon, young bamboo, kabocha squash, soft tofu, and a ganmodoki tofu fritter. The noodly stuff is sweet & sour shirataki konnyaku with cabbage, onion, and pineapple, which is kind of unusual (but not bad). Finally, a crab cream croquette with cabbage, steamed broccoli, and tomato. Nice variety and color!
I don’t like it when a bento has too much rice, but I LOVE IT when a bento has so too-much rice that you get a whole bonus onigiri for breakfast :)
A colorful bento for takeout! The strawberries were a great surprise. The big compartment contains marinated hijiki seaweed (the black stuff), a miso egg, and some seasonal simmered veggies etc.: taro, carrot, daikon, young bamboo, kabocha squash, soft tofu, and a ganmodoki tofu fritter. The noodly stuff is sweet & sour shirataki konnyaku with cabbage, onion, and pineapple, which is kind of unusual (but not bad). Finally, a crab cream croquette with cabbage, steamed broccoli, and tomato. Nice variety and color!
From a while back, but look at this sakura flavored steamed bread! No azuki or sakura-an filling, just bread all the way through, which was surprising, but it was sweet and fluffy and dense and tasty! And frankly unparalleled in terms of ability to satisfy the childhood desire to nibble on that fiberglass insulation in your parents’ attic. Yum.
The limited-time Sakura Mochitto donuts that changed my view of donuts are back! I don’t live very close to a Mr Donut and they always seem to be sold out when I do go, so it seemed like I might not get to try them before they disappear on Thursday, BUT I managed to snag two different flavors! And they only got a little squished in my bag!
Okay, maybe more than a little squished. But it’s okay! They’re good squished! I love the subtle sakura flavor and the chewy, mochi-inspired dough.
The frosted one, Strawberry Daifuku, was my favorite! It has strawberry icing, chewy sakura dough, and strawberry-infused azuki bean paste filling. The strawberry element is key; bean paste can be kind of a one-dimensional sweetness, but the tartness of strawberry makes it complex and tasty.
The other, Salted Azuki, was also very good! It has a restrained sweetness and seemed a bit more sophisticated/adult, without all that frosting. It also looked like it would have a cakey texture, but it still had that mochi springiness!
They were sold out of Kurosu Kinako (roasted soybean powder), which looks like a variation on the one I loved last year, and the Strawberry Custard, which has a sandwich-style filling like the Salted Azuki. It seems unlikely that I’ll get to try those too, but who knows! If I got one flavor last year and two this year, then maybe next year is the year I get to try all four……?