@melissaabroad ooh that comparison would not have occurred to me! Interesting......
If sweet matcha tastes "green" (and I'm not sure it does, to me), it's a warm, yellowy green. It has a grassy flavor, kind of like timothy hay or hamster bedding or tatami. It can also have bitter or dry notes.
Zunda does taste "green," but it's a cool, pale green. Instead of grassiness, it has a vegetal or beany taste—I can't express it well, but you can recognize that you're eating something plant-based. There's no bitterness, and where matcha can be sharp or dry, zunda tastes round and moist (both texturally and in terms of tasting like it contains plant matter).
Hmm. Can you imagine a sweet oatmeal made of edamame (or maybe..... very bland snow peas?)? Except thicker, and not hot. Maybe not, actually. This is hard. Interesting question!
*For clarity: (1) I’m talking specifically about sweetened matcha products, not plain tea or savory matcha dishes, and (2) here, I mean "tastes green" in terms of whatever it means to taste like a color, and not the Japanese 青臭い [aokusai], which means grassy tasting.
Two thoughtful souvenirs from Sendai! Bite-sized zunda mochi and cream-filled chocolates with zunda goo. I love the vibrant green!
Either I've never zunda-posted before or tumblr's search function is extra broken today, but zunda is a traditional sweet made from mashed soybeans. It's fresh-tasting and sweet but not too sweet—very wholesome! Compared to adzuki, the taste is a bit more vegetal/greener, but after the shock of the first bite, I bet you'll love it!
Two thoughtful souvenirs from Sendai! Bite-sized zunda mochi and cream-filled chocolates with zunda goo. I love the vibrant green!
Either I've never zunda-posted before or tumblr's search function is extra broken today, but zunda is a traditional sweet made from mashed soybeans. It's fresh-tasting and sweet but not too sweet—very wholesome! Compared to adzuki, the taste is a bit more vegetal/greener, but after the shock of the first bite, I bet you'll love it!
From a while back, but this was a lovely last meal at a restaurant that has sadly moved away :( I'm glad we made it back before they left!
They gave us a little satsuma-age fish cake with ginger and green onion, and without even checking the menu, we ordered their addictive fried burdock root chips and cabbage with spicy miso. Also got a few sticks of yakitori, and cheesy stuffed green peppers.
We also got a horse mackerel namero (kind of like a sashimi tartare), and that came with an exciting surprise.......
The deep-fried skeleton of the fish it came from! Nothing goes to waste. This is called hone-senbei (骨せんべい / literally, 'bone cracker') and it fucking *rocks*. It's so CRUNCHY and salty and satisfying (and honestly not especially fishy). It's always a treat!
I happened to pass a Mr Donut, which never happens, and there was no line outside, which *never* happens, so I took it as a sign and went in. They were super picked over at the end of the day, but they had one of these: the bud/tsubomi, the one I was most interested in. Definitely a sign, right?
I wasn't super hungry, so I was just gonna eat half while it was fresh and save the rest for the morning, but not only did I inhale the whole thing, I am seriously considering doing the big hill again to go get another. It is so *GOOD*! Are all pon de ring doughnuts like this?
It has an incredible springy texture, like mochi, and the sakura flavor is complex and delicate and not too sweet, and it's complemented perfectly by the nutty roasted soybean flour and (maybe?) a tiny hint of cinnamon? It's incredible. I don't even like most doughnuts but now I'm fretting that I won't have enough time to try all four of these...
Hmm. I have never really been a doughnut person, but it seems like MisuDo is working to convert me specifically…...... Look at this!
I am not particularly knowledgeable about sakura, so I just now learned the four stages, which (from left to right) are:
Bud (蕾 tsubomi), represented by a pink sakura interior inside a brown kinako exterior.
Half-bloom (五分咲き gobuzaki), which is half strawberry dipped, with a cherry and red bean whipped cream filling.
Full bloom (満開 mankai), which has a sakura bean paste glaze with salted sakura petals and sakura chocolate flakes.
Dancing petals (舞桜 maizakura), which has red bean paste filling plus a half-sized decoration of sakura chocolate petals and a milk chocolate branch against a white chocolate background.
Wow. Actually, does anyone else find some of these........ kind of extra? Maybe it's my inner killjoy speaking, but there's just so much going on! I'm still trying to process the concept of a bean paste glaze, let alone a sakura bean paste glaze. Might still try it though.
Korean feast! I’m not sure I’d ever had mandu dumplings before—so delicious! And I got a makgeolli flight: okoge/scorched rice (toasty and yummy, like popcorn), black soybean (yogurty, not my favorite), and Asian pear (like a weird Chardonnay but I mean that as a huge compliment).
Also got some fried stuff to sop up the alcohol: a kimchi and cheese pajeon pancake, and gimmari, which are little rolls filled with glass noodle salad, wrapped in seaweed, and battered and fried. Super addictive texture.
OKAY YES this is absolutely asinine and I know it, but also it made me literally whoop out loud and scare my dog so here you go!
The fucking Toden, baby! Why yes, I AM an adorable tram(p) that roams suburban Arakawa, hurtling back and forth between Rocco's Pizza in Oji and my beloved dinky shitamachi neighborhood at mindbending speeds in excess of 13 km/h! I miss those days! I miss the incessant dinging noise. I miss the elderly passengers and their tiny overstimulated grandchildren and all the advertisements for enka singers and medical clinics. Constantly getting passed by mamacharis and loving every minute.
Last night, I got the next level of spice (5 on a scale of 7), and as of lunch today, I am still suffering. I knew I would probably pay in the end, but it was so good I could not quit. There were tears in my eyes but I actually ordered a side of rice so I could eat more of the soup. I regret it so much.
Back at the ramen so spicy it gave me heart palpitations! Turns out they have a mini size, which is just about perfect. Also, this time they allowed me to specify the spice level, which I don't remember doing before. I chose normal and it was delicious, but hot! Refilled my little cup of water several times. Can't wait to go back.
Finally screwed up the courage to check out this tiny hole-in-the-wall mostly-locals place I've been eyeing for months, and not only was the food WONDERFUL, they were super nonchalant about my foreign intrusion AND, when I left and had to squeeze past this very gruff very butch older lady at the end of the counter, and I was doing that apologetic little sorry-bout-these-close-quarters bow, she just looked into my eyes (and at my haircut and my flannel probably) and went:
Oh MAN! I could spend all night trying to express how often I am read as straight and how sad it makes me and how often I need delicious gyoza and could maybe even make some kinda graph about these factors but! Suffice to say.
Ma'am... Thank you! I think am gonna live at least three years longer than I otherwise would've. Thank you for seeing me!
These had a pretty classic soft Japanese grape gummy flavor, though not super sweet. The weird thing—besides the color—was that they had kind of a cooling sensation, like mint or Sichuan pepper! I liked it.
The *extra* weird thing is that it does not say anything about this anywhere on the package or the website, and also my husband didn't notice it. So there's a non-zero chance that I am allergic to these or possibly hallucinating. Okay!