May 26, 2012

Some Photos to Share/写真を何枚か

The day before yesterday, I got nemagari take from a neighbor!
昨日は、近所の人から根曲り竹をもらいました! 


A friend of mine recently took a trip to Tokyo, and I got this souvenir from her.
最近、お友達が東京に旅行に行って、このお土産をもらいました。


The 634-meter Tokyo Sky Tree opened on May 22.
The Crispy Chocolat is about 96 mm (in height) per piece, and if you multiply the height by 6600, you will get the height of Tokyo Sky Tree.  Thus, the number 6600 on the package.
634 mの東京スカイツリーは5月22日にオープンしました。
クリスピーショコラは一つ96 mm(高さ)で、この高さを6600倍すると東京スカイツリーの高さになるそうです。というわけで、パッケージに6600という数が書かれています。

The seller is Morozoff.
販売者はモロゾフ。


Sounds like good stuff!
良さそうな品です!





And, it was good!  I had two pieces right away.
美味しかったです。すぐに二つ食べました。

I recently bought this special miso.
最近、この特別な味噌を買いました。




This miso contains lactic acid bacteria derived from rice that have been developed by Kameda Seika (a large confectionery maker).  The label says that the miso is not sour although it contains 10 billion or more lactic acid bacteria per 12.5 g.
この味噌には、亀田製菓(大手お菓子メーカー)が開発した、お米由来の乳酸菌が入っています。味噌には12.5 g当たり乳酸菌が100億個以上も入っているのにすっぱくないそうです。








9 comments:

Sissi said...

A very interesting vegetable!
My friend and teacher who sadly went back to Tokyo told me about the tower. I hope I can visit it with her this year. I will certainly bring some chocolate souvenir, thank you for the idea.
Talking about miso, I have recently got as a surprise gift this huge box of miso: http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/jmame/hm01.html
I haven't used it yet but the taste is very good and different from what anything I have bought here.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: I previously posted about nemagari take here:
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.jp/2010/05/nemagari-take.html

Thanks for the link. What a miso!!! I envy you! The site says the best before date is 3 months after manufacture, so I recommend using it up as soon as possible. If you can't, store it in the freezer.

Sissi said...

Thank you so much for this precious advice! I didn't realise it was so special and so fragile. Do you have any suggestions how to use it? (Apart from miso soup of course). I have a very very kind friend then... Such a pity she is so far away.
Thank you for the reminder. You write about so many extraordinary plants, I don't remember even 10% of them probably ;-)

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with this type of miso. The site says it's less sweet awase miso, using 80% barley malt and 20% rice malt.
I did a quick google search, and found some people recommend miso ni (dish simmered with miso), yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls), dengaku 田楽, and miso zuke (pickles). One person suggests straining the miso if you don't like the barley malt in your miso soup.

Sissi said...

Thank you so much for your help, Hiroyuki! I will make yaki onigiri! I have always wanted to make them so now there is a perfect occasion. And miso zuke!! (I even have no idea what are the small dark "threads" in this miso, seaweed?)

Hiroyuki said...

Many people make yaki onigiri with soy sauce, but for me, yaki onigiri has to be made with miso!
"Threads"? They are part of barley!

Sissi said...

Thank you... I feel a bit stupid... I have never seen anything similar in any miso (even the organic one with grainy texture I like a lot has a rather homogenous colour). Maybe I have never had one with barley? I must check on other boxes. Miso is a huge mystery to me even though I have been using it for quite a long time.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: You don't have to feel stupid. I'm not familiar with mugi (barley) miso, either.

The miso I currently use is made with salt, soybeans, and rice only, as I described here:
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.jp/2010/02/miso.html

Your miso is an awase miso, but it's more like mugi miso because it contains 80% barley malt.
Your miso is really a good one because it's made from domestic whole soybeans, domestic rice, domestic barley, and domestic natural sea salt. Very impressive indeed!

Miso may be a mystery to you now, but that's only because there are different types of miso in different regions, but once you find your favorite type of miso, you won't find miso so mysterious, don't you think?

Sissi said...

Thank you, Hiroyuki, for such kind words.
Actually I have come here to thank you for the dengaku suggestion once more. I have just had it as my 5pm snack (I often get hungry at 5, like children...). I made tofu dengaku first time in my life (Shizuo Tsuji's recipe) and it was extraordinary! (Only not very presentable so I have to make it once more to post it: it looked disgusting but was excellent). I used my new miso of course :-) I think it has a very delicate taste and is not very salty.
What you say about it is really impressive. My friend was extremely kind.
I must say my miso has a slightly fermented taste (but not unpleasant!) I have never felt before (but it is made by fermentation so I suppose it's natural). I hope it's normal and not spoilt in the transportation (it was an express delivery).
Thank you once more for the dengaku idea! It was a very healthy and filling snack.