Robot Claw – Page 180 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

Let’s Cook Desserts!

October 3, 2021

Yesterday we made these:

It was fairly easy says KLS, who did most of the work. The box contained only three things: the meringue powder, an icing pen and a bag for piping. The power was mixed with egg white and whipped until fluffy:

Then the meringues were piped onto oven paper:

Here they are before cooking:

We then baked them on lowish heat (200F) for 75 minutes, then iced them before eating:

And they were – in a word – terrible! They tasted like the glue I used to eat as a child, and the aftertaste was even worse. My happy memories of melt-in-your-mouth meringues from my youth have now been corrupted by these sticky, inedible travesties!

But there was a secret! We chose the alternate cooking method which involved the addition of tonic water. This is basically sparkling water that contained quinine, which phosphors under UV light:

Apparently adding a tiny bit to the mix makes the meringues ‘glow in the dark’! Did it work? Judge for yourself:

Yamagata Gotochi

September 17, 2021

Recently a secret source in Japan – let’s call her AC – sent me a wonderful set of four postcards. Not just any postcards; she sent me Gotochi, which are special regional postcards made by the Japanese postal service and only sold in the region depicted on the card.

AC lives in Yamagata prefecture (or county), about 350 km north of Tokyo, so these cards all feature things that Yamagata is known for. I know absolutely nothing at all about Yamagata, and can’t read the Japanese on the back of the postcards, so let’s see if we can learn something together based on the card images!

This one is easy: apparently Yamagata is known for cherries! In fact a quick search online reveals that about 70% of all cherries consumed in Japan are grown in Yamagata. The cherry crops include some very high end ones that sell for over US$30 per pound (that’s about $65/kilo) and apparently some farms hire security to stop the cherries from being stolen by thieves! I’m not a big cherry fan, but if I visited Yamagata I’m sure I’d try some.

This is a shogi piece, which is from a Japanese game often called ‘Japanese Chess’ (although the two are only slightly related). Traditionally made of wood, the best shogi boards and pieces are made in a city in Yamagata called Tendo, which is famous throughout Japan for its rich shogi history. I’ve never played shogi but I’m probably at the sub-grandmaster level at chess so one of this days I should visit Tendo and impress the locals…

This depicts the Hanagasa Matsuri, which is a traditional festival held in the city of Yamagata. Over ten thousand brightly dressed dancers participate and it’s a major event and tourist attraction. It looks beautiful too; here’s a photo:

Apparently it celebrates flowers and anyone can join. I wonder if AC has ever danced in it?

I love festivals in Japan, although we’ve seen a few small ones we’ve never been lucky enough to witness anything like this. It would be wonderful to visit a big festival one day 🙂

This one took a bit of research. I first assumed it was some sort of meatball-on-a-stick, but eventually (after searching for traditional foods) discovered this shows tama konyakku which are balls of steamed konjac often served with soy sauce or mustard. It seems this is a popular ‘fast food’ of the area; basically a hot dog equivalent, and one (translated) source I found says they are ‘great for female’! Gourmet as I am, I’d keep a wide berth from these, but I like the card anyway!

Incidentally konjac is not considered a food in some countries, including Australia, because it can be difficult to digest. If you visit Yamagata, you probably should try tama konyakku in moderation 🙂

Aren’t these Gotochi great?!? There big and bold and colorful and there’s hundreds of them since each prefecture has (or has had) many different ones. In fact I found no less than 10 different ones from Yamagata alone, and mysteriously some of the ones AC sent me are apparently no longer available. I hope she didn’t send me her own prized copies!

I can’t wait to return to Japan and buy Gotochi myself from all the places I visit. In the meantime a big thanks to AC for these examples. I love them!

Ramen 10: I’m Not Stopping!

September 12, 2021

I’m not reviewing ramen today, just showing off a recent purchase. Specifically this:

It’s a noodle stopper, which is a figurine designed to help keep the top on cup noodles while they steep. Most of us probably use a fork or plate or some other device, but now you can use a cute figurine:

Yes this is a real figure designed for this use. They are made by the Japanese company Furyu mostly as UFO Catcher prizes, although the days you can just buy them on amazon. Mine is Hatsune Miku in a cherry blossom outfit, and I’m astonished at the sculpting and paint job considering how inexpensive she was ($20)! She also sits on the noodles very well and keeps the top nice and sealed while the hot water does its job.

Of course since I don’t want to damage her I won’t actually be using her for this purpose, and instead she’ll sit happily on a ledge in my office to remind that a piping hot cup of noodles is only a few steps away:

Noodle stoppers: an essential tool for the cupnoodologist! 🙂