#shoku-and-awe

[aers-radio]

Sanuki udon was THE local dish I was told to try if I went to Takamatsu, Shikoku (which I did, and I did try). Great texture and thickness!

Udon was the first Japanese food I got really, really into. In the last few years, I've become kind of a ramen person and kind of forgotten how wonderful and satisfying udon can be!

Finally ventured into this Sanuki udon place, which I'd wanted to try for ages, and it was wonderful. The vibes were impeccable, the texture and flavor were perfect, and it was so cheap (just ¥630, with TWO big pieces of maitake mushroom tempura), and—unlike ramen—you don't walk away uncomfortably full and sleepy. Also, look how THICK!

[todayintokyo]

Taishidō Hachiman Jinja in Setagaya has several rabbits on its premises. The shrine is tranquil thanks to its trees, but also irresistibly cute. Evidence supplied above, including the rabbits Chamu and Bubu.

[orange-artblog]

old friend!!! there you are my girl :)

[deerydear]

Inspired by @vriskakinnieaynrand ...

Shuffling my library of digital music tracks and listing the first 20 songs:

I believe there is an algorithm that sorts songs to be shuffled, in my music player.

It doesn't seem to be true randomness. It may be choosing songs that "link" together by some metric, end-to-beginning. I notice how much they carry a certain tune, though I have a lot of different music. Whenever I start on a certain note, it carries the note. It matters what the starting seed is.

....C'est la vie?

I could be a Stickler: when each song ends, I could pause afterwards, go to the head of my library and press this button:

...but I didn't feel like it, this time.

I felt like letting the music play.

I tag @peppert @deadfaeries @lutefisk-market @sweagen @multipletrees @heycornbread @weepingwidar @shoku-and-awe @goliatheshead @icecreamwithjackdaniels and ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO IT!!!

YES!!!

You!

[shoku-and-awe]

Chocolate Cherry Babka, In Progress, 2022

Recipe © Hannah Dela Cruz, pictures Shoku And Awe

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1963

© Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Donate / Join mailing list by writing to dailyrothko@gmail.com and keep up on new exhibits

[mawaroon]

Jinrui-shoku: Blight of Man

completed [45/45]

Japan deals with bizarre cases of "mummified" humans. Elementary students Seita, Hayato, Kaori, and Tsukiko get caught in the web of conspiracies behind this phenomenon.

--

insights and spoilers after the cut but tl;dr

give it a try for the beautifully horrific art, don't expect much from the storytelling after the halfway point

got hooked by this manga from ch1 since the mummification premise was interesting and the horror portrayed nicely through gorgeous art. it was bold of the author to start with an incident involving a dependent relationship, but honestly the writing was bizarre from the get-go.

supernatural powers play a big part in this series but the introduction of such powers was neither subtle nor cohesive with the story... i guess this pair of 11-year-old twins are just magically gifted with telekenises and shit?? not to mention the introduction of Too Many Characters even as far as chapter 30+ into a 45 chapter manga. you can imagine the amount of climax and resolution absolutely stuffed into a short width.

POV shift is a crux to this manga. almost every side character got a POV and eventually one of them, Inukai, even took the helm and drove major parts of the story forward, leaving the supposed main characters behind. it's so... weird. as if Inukai was supposed to be the lead character? or the writers started with the kids but thought otherwise halfway?? i am eternally confused by this decision o|<

the ending. AWFUL. supposedly it's the culminating effort of mankind against an invasive unconscious, but the ingredients gathered for this point did NOT make sense. i don't think 7 minor urban legends, one false god, and a powerful medium's powers tantamount to "humanity's counterattack". the ending felt uninspired, and lasted for just about 3 chapters.

i blame the writers for introducing aliens too

[dekitateyo]

ninjakittycomics replied to your photoset “Saw the ad and felt like trying BOSS’ new cappuccino drink. Hmm, it’s...”

Never seen the blue can before though �� neat!

This new blue can was released only a while ago here in Japan - just in the beginning of this month/very end of August, if I'm not wrong. Maybe you will be able to find it later there in US!

shoku-and-awe reblogged your photoset and added:

Ooh, is it foamy?

If shake the can, the coffee will be a bit foamy - not too much, but it's noticeable! 

Without shaking, the drink looks like this:

[destinationtoast]

This is the envelope that the $100 came in, for anyone who doesn't know what these look like.

@shoku-and-awe @todayintokyo (or anyone else!) -- is there a specific term for these in Japanese?

My grandmother is Japanese and really likes to give gifts. Often those gifts are Japanese desserts or other food, but sometimes she just slips me cash, folded up inside a tiny, beautiful envelope. But she likes to pretend she's not giving me money, so when possible, she'll hide it somewhere that I will find later.

Today I spent the afternoon with her doing chores and tech support, and she clearly felt this warranted a significant gift in return (no matter that I enjoyed myself). But she forgot to slip something into my pocket or bag before I left, so instead she rushed outside as I was starting my car, making the old-school "roll down the window" gesture. Once I complied, she was forced to acknowledge she was handing me money, but she also tried to minimize the gesture.

The result was that she said, "Thank you, dear! I just wanted you to be able to... to buy yourself a hamburger," and then handed me a darling little envelope that turned out to contain $100. And all I could think was:

[todayintokyo]

We are now entering a very depressing period of 8 weeks or so, when the rest of the northern hemisphere will start posting autumn photos, autumn food, autumn festivals, autumn celebrations, autumn cats, autumn fashion, odes of joy gamboling down my dash...but here in Tokyo we'll be sweating and suffering and typhooning and suffering and airconning and did I mention suffering?

Autumn in its full red splendour usually doesn't arrive in Tokyo until November, but this year we'll be enduring the agony of a quote unquote particularly warm season. @shoku-and-awe and I will start kvetching about conbini oden, and she'll review autumn food, but it will be sweltering and we will be suffering.

Sulk.

[iwillbemother]

亀田の柿の種 明太子×マヨピー味

@shoku-and-awe さん曰く

I like the idea of mentaiko flavor, but the mayo peanuts… hmm…

☆★☆ @shoku-and-awe さんへ ☆★☆

😋it’s yummy. Try them. (…Actually I’m not a faddy eater. In other words, 味音痴かもね〜 ha ha ha 😁)

[redsixwing]

Here's the tofu nuggets I mentioned! These were mixed miso, tofu, and edamame, with a bunch of veggies, a rice ball, and some pickles on the side.

[hug-your-face]

The overwhelming amount!

[ask-my-sheepkids]

"awe- shoku whats wrong? Cant you recognize me? Can i come in..?"

“Kalmia..?”

“Of course I recognize you dummie..”

“Yes you can come in..”

[redowlkitchen]

@shoku-and-awe- I made these today and they came out really well! The sourdough flavor came out really strongly--definitely not a traditional pretzel flavor, but still good!

I have another soft pretzel recipe I really like that calls for the pretzels to be boiled with baking soda before baking instead of just having the water/malt powder brushed over them. I don’t have any malt powder, so I tried that with these. It worked nicely!

[melissaabroad]

@shoku-and-awe Regular ramen, instant soup base! I handed them my chosen packet, they rang me up, and then the cashier handed it to the cook as I picked a seat at the counter. I suspect if you wanted to you could just buy packets and leave to go home and make food with your soup bases but I assume what drew most people there (like me) was the ¥500 lunch special of a bowl of ramen or pasta.

My friend asked me to post what I'd been eating while in Japan - while it admittedly has mostly been quick on the go stuff in between activities, here are a handful of meals from various restaurants I've been to.

The left photo was in the basement of Nakano Broadway. It was a little interesting - I had to choose my soup base from over 50 types of base soup packets and then they went to make the ramen based on which packet I picked. I hadn't experienced that yet.

The right photo was from a place that advertised itself as Pan-Asian (it seemed to mostly be southeast Asian and Indian based on the menu and decor). The dish was advertised as grilled chicken and jasmine rice, and the vegetables were pickled. It was in Jimbocho (the "bookstore town").

The bottom one was from an all you can eat Korean buffet in Shin-Okubo, including a lot of pork that we grilled ourselves.

[todayintokyo]

I went early. The baker apologized: he would not be able to slice the bread for me, because it was so freshly baked that it was still warm. I bought three loaves:  Roggebrot, Vollkornbrot, Siebenkornbrot. Rye, whole wheat, seven-grain bread.

I waited at the bus stop with the warm bread cradled in my arms. You know it's real German bread when it's so heavy that it's easier to cradle it than to carry it in one hand. Brot, I thought. BRRROOOTTT. (I always imagine that in the voice of Captain Holt.) I'll let it cool off, slice it, freeze it…and then enjoy one precious slice a day. OK maybe two.

PS: Real German bread is rare in Tokyo. Baguettes everywhere, but bread that breaks your teeth? ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Not so much. Worth an excursion. Tagging @shoku-and-awe.