#beni imo

2019.11 おきなわ

Il y a trois célébrités culinaires à Okinawa. La première est la bière Orion. La deuxième est la tartelette recouverte d'une crème de patate douce violette et locale (la beni imo tart).

Ce gâteau est assez bon et, pour une fois, pas trop sucré.

Bien sûr, comme d'habitude, les japonais ont tendance à se laisser emporter par leur enthousiasme.

Nota Bene :

Mt. Fuji – Strawberry Cheese Cake

Husband says smells like strawberry cheese cake. I say smell like strawberry with something? Does cheese cake have a smell? Idk.

We can’t figure out why Mt. Fuji would be represented in a strawberry cheese cake flavor.

Honestly I just think it tastes like a regular strawberry flavor. Which ain’t bad.

This box can be found in major gift shops around Japan, so it’s not exactly regional. But we bought ours at the base of Mt. Fuji so that has to count for something.

Yamanashi – Shingen Kikyo Mochi

This flavor was developed in honor of Yamanashi’s famous Shingen Kikyo mochi, and their factory. The pattern on the wrapper is the bellflower, or kikyo, that’s the symbol of the company. The flavor is kinako and kuromitsu, distinctive parts of the mochi packages made at the factory.

Husband says smells like butterscotch? Or a Christmas candle? Or hot coffee? He’s coming up with a bunch of random things here. Idfk what he’s talking about it smells like kinako. Because the mochi is coated in kinako. Ya know.

Husband says it has a coffee flavor, but I, with my refined palate have identified the flavor as the kuromitsu that comes with Shingen Kikyo mochi packs.

Okinawa – Beni imo

Beni imo is a purple sweet potato, also known as the Okinawan yam.

No smell at all

Very solid beni imo flavor. Nicely sweet but not insanely so.

Husband says: “yep, that’s beni imo”

Shizuoka – Wasabi

Husband says the smell of wasabi is strong enough to “clear out the sinuses.” I smell nothing and think he’s making this up.

I don’t like. No thank you.

You can certainly taste the wasabi flavor. It’s still a bit sweet, but the wasabi is definitely present.

Even More Japanese KitKat Flavors

The sheer number of flavors seems to be never-ending. Just when I think I’ve figured out most of the flavors, I find something new and interesting to try. My quest to catalogue as many flavors as I can may have been a foolhardy one, but I must press on. I present to you the next batch of Japanese KitKat flavors!

(more…)

He sent me a box of goodies. They only had three flavors of Kit Kats I could try. But he sent me a box of Beni Imo Tarts. 

OMFG...I need these in my life on a regular basis. PURPLE SWEET POTATO PASTRIES! 

Not only that, but the green tea Kit Kats were amazing. I want to try ALL the flavors now.

I hate American candy now. Just saying, I've had German and Japanese chocolate. I feel like a traitor since I grew up outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

I have just returned from a most glorious morning sail. My boss at OIST has a small sailboat and he asked for our help moving it pre-typhoon. So we showed up this morning to help move it back and then we went for a sail afterwards. Which was awesome! Except it was a little windy, and my boss decided it would be a good idea to tie the lower half of the sail. Which we didn't do quite properly, and the main luffed for most of the morning, making it very difficult to steer. When we realized we could use the outhaul to secure the leech of the sail better, everything worked more effectively. But by then we had circled the channel through the coral beds to his house about three times. Ah well, better prepared for next time! And it was a marvelous morning to be out, regardless of sailing struggles!

And then he took us out for lunch at the seafood market near his house! Fresh from the ocean that morning fish on top of rice with soup. and seaweed tempura, which was awesome. so delicious and such a gorgeous morning in okinawa!

this week has been good. I definitely feel way more settled than last week. I interviewed a couple of scientists this week and last night I went grocery shopping, which was a cultural adventure. I will have to take more photos the next time I go. The grocery stores are kind of in a grungy part of town on the other side of the island, so you don't necessarily want to run around. But at least now I have plenty of noodles/barley/etc and some more shampoo to use. Yay important items! I also picked up a friend on the shuttle to the grocery land. She's a summer intern but she just finished college, while most of the other interns are still in college. So we shopped together and she pointed out the importance of ice cream -- they make it from the local sweet potato on the island and wow is it good. Beni Imo is the name of the potato. YUM.

Anyway I came back from sailing and needed a sunshine break but I think I might walk over to the farmers' market for dinner and a little afternoon produce shopping. I'm not sure how much produce they will actually have left but I could always go again after work one evening this week.