Dodgy design update

Fuzzy, yellowy colours and text? Apparently it could be a browser (+Windows 7 compatability) issue. Oh the excitement. So, hopefully, you can see still this blog in clear, glorious technicolour. I can't. Need to experiment!

Nosh of the day: ZENZAI !!!

Yes it’s bloomin freezing in London; time to break into the zenzai gift! For those who don’t remember, zenzai is a sweet, red-bean soup from Japan. It can be served hot, and sometimes with mochi .*  I was kindly given two zenzai from Tokyo to try: cook-in-pan; and posh-with-mochi.

PAN

Add packet contents to 150ml water, 50g sugar and simmer for around 6 minutes.

Verdict: Yes, good old red-bean soup! Yum. It is very similar to the delicious Chinese one I used to eat. The flavour strongly reminds me of chestnut – sweet and nutty. Very nice! If you’re eating it ‘neat’ as I did, I would actually recommend using 25g of sugar, then adding small amounts to preferred taste.

 

POSH

Heat the soup packet in boiling water for 5 minutes. The raw mochi looks like a bar of hotel soap; you need to heat it until it fluffs up (I used the grill). I am told that if you overcook the mochi it can explode, and I think I over-cautiously under-cooked mine – extra chewy! ^^

Verdict:  超おいしい! (extremely yum). The soup is good anyway, but the gooey, neutral mochi adds very nice contrasting texture and flavour.

 *Mochi are Japanese rice cakes. Hard to describe in English, but the texture is a bit like uncooked dough of varying gooeyness. Often they’re shaped like little patties, with a filling (for example, sweet red-bean paste). There may be many variations I don’t know of! The mochi for this zenzai was the plain ‘dough’.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

I wandered into Winter Wonderland with friends this week. Actually it was pretty impressive - a huge Christmas-Market-with-Funfair / Circus Attractions / Ice Rink etc etc with lots of noise, warm waffle smells, even fake snow. Entry is free but everything else was a bit pricey for our unprepared budgets sadly (and you need tokens we hadn't sorted out). But I might go back to do a couple of rides when more flushed! On until 3rd January.
 http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

 

Dastardly design disaster

I am now viewing this blog on a different PC and find that the design and colours look terrible! (Yellowy, glaring, fuzzy- it should have rich contrast colours, and be very clear to read!)  Possibly it's just this machine, or it could be a more general techy design issue. I will investigate. But in the interim, apologies if you have the same view! :(

Koto concert

Last night as SOAS's Brunei Gallery: famous musician Kameyama Kono playing the traditional Japanese stringed instrument 'Koto'. She was accompanied by her daughter on Shamisen (or Sangen) which is a little bit like a three-stringed Western banjo, played using a large comb-shaped tool; and a gentleman on a type of flute called a Shakuhachi.

Koto resembles a long, flat, 13-stringed 'harp'. Strings are plucked and manipulated to make sound. Little bridges are used to tune the strings, and the whole instrument can be retuned to suit a different piece (or, it seems, during a piece to suit different parts!) Apparently, very similar instruments exist in China and Korea.

I admit I am no fan of classical Western music, but quite enjoyed the Japanese version. It was very light and quite calming, though to a lay-person did not have anything like the shape of the music we expect in Europe. (Experts might know better!)

The concert was free. And the trio will also be performing in Bath and Oxford later this week. Plus back at London's St Dunstan-in-the-West on Fleet Street this Friday lunchtime.


Pic courtesy SOAS



Nosh of the Day - Sukiyaki: first contact

I am lucky! Yesterday a Japanese friend kindly gave me some 'boil in the bag' Sukiyaki to try. She knew I had been searching for Sukiyaki in London restaurants, but with a price tag of £30 upwards per person, it is probably more likely I'll eat it in Japan. Anyway, the 'instant' Sukiyaki took five minutes to cook, and it was delicious!

It is a sort of slightly sweet casserole, with very finely sliced beef, different kinds of mushroom, tofu, onion and other Japanese ingredients. If the instant one is this good, perhaps the chef-prepared version really is worth £30?

 

London at Christmas: festive arcades

Check out London's pretty, old-fashioned arcades this Christmas. You can find quite a few off Piccadilly, and other parts of Mayfair. Precursors to today's covered malls, these upmarket little shopping rows look properly Dickensian during the festive season. One of the oldest is the Burlington Arcade (opened 1819), but there's also the Prince's Arcade, Piccadilly Arcade (both early 20th century I believe) and nearby Royal Arcade to visit. (The Royal Arcade - off Albemarle St - houses the fabulous Charbonnel et Walker chocolatier too!)

Burlington Arcade

Prince's Arcade

Piccadilly Arcade