Anime Food Fact or Fiction: Tempura + Snow Cone = Food Poisoning?

It’s time for round 2 of Anime Food Fact or Fiction!

Last time we dealt with the mysterious “poisonous potato”, and today, in honor of the increasing temperatures of the approaching summer in the northern hemisphere, we’ll be looking at something that frequently pops up in anime: food poisoning….

Let’s set the scene: In episode 13 of K-On (season 2), Azusa dreams of visiting the Hirasawa household with an ice cold watermelon as a house gift. Ui serves it up for her sister Yui, who is too busy studying and playing her guitar to come down and greet Azusa. After Ui brings the watermelon up to her sister, Azusa asks her what they had for lunch, to which Ui responds that they ate tempura! With a look of horrified realization on their faces, they race to the stairs to warn Yui not to eat the watermelon, lest she get food poisoning!

Feeling Under the Weather? It’s Time for a Bowl of Rice Porridge, or “Okayu”

Ah, the infamous “fever” episode, where a member of the cast is waylaid by a bad cold and must be taken care of by any number of the main characters… It’s a classic trope that’s found in a large number of anime series, and which is often used to display character development and relationships. I love the vulnerability of the interactions between characters…

And, if there’s sickness involved, that means that rice porridge, or okayu, is almost guaranteed to make an appearance.

Spring 2013 Anime Season: First Impressions (Part II)

     

In this second and final instalment of my first impressions of the Spring 2013 anime season, we continue with six more series that I may or may not end up following….

Of course, there are plenty of other shows are are airing this season, other than the 12 I’ve covered in parts I and II of my first impressions, but unfortunately you just can’t watch them all… at least not immediately! Depending on the reviews and impressions of the remaining shows, I may pick other series from this season up in the future – but probably only after they have finished airing.

Spring 2013 Anime Season: First Impressions (Part I)

     

It’s about 3 weeks into the new Spring 2013 anime season, and it’s about that time in the season when I pick and choose what anime I will be following until the bitter end, and which ones I’ll be dropping like a hot stone. I think that the three episode test is a generally good way of testing whether or not a show is worth sticking with.

I don’t think it’s fair to judge an anime on anything less than that since it usually takes two or so episodes to get character introductions, general plot, and setting established, and it’s hard to get a good sense for the series until after the third episode, when the real core of the story begins to emerge.  Sometimes it can take a little longer than three episodes, but it’s a good rule of thumb to follow – but certainly not ironclad.

Anyways, without further ado, here are my first impressions of a selection of shows that I’ve been catching so far this Spring season….

It’s No “BB Corn”, But I’m Sure Toriko Would Approve of Easy Stovetop Popcorn!

There is nothing like a big bag of popcorn smothered in butter to kick off a night at the movies. But, if you don’t own a popcorn machine, your options for truly delicious popcorn is sparse, with microwaveable bag popcorn being generally too salty (and, let’s face it, does anyone really know what’s in that stuff anyways?) and most other instant varieties being costly and/or wasteful for what you get.

But, not to fear! I have the perfect solution for your weekend movie nights: Stovetop popcorn made in a pot!

It’s Time to Party with Temaki Sushi!

In my previous post, I shared a recipe for the seasoned sushi rice that is found in maki, nigiri, and other sushi related dishes. So, now that you can make the rice, what do you do with it??

Of course, you could always spread the rice on nori (sheets of dried seaweed) to roll your own maki, or form your rice into oval mounds and drape them with fish to create nigiri… Maki is great to make yourself if you want a light meal or  would like to put it in a bento, but it’s not always the easiest thing to make if you want to make a dinner out of it!

Simply put, not everyone has the time or patience to roll their own maki or form their own nigiri, because doing so can be time consuming and difficult to accomplish, especially if you’re cooking for a larger amount of people. That’s why today I’ll be introducing an easier and more crowd-friendly alternative: temaki sushi!

Don’t Get Dizzy: Start at the Beginning of the “Sushi-Go-Round” with Sushi Rice!

When thinking of Japanese food, the first thing to come to many people’s minds has to be… sushi!

Pieces of colorful fish draped over small mounds of rice (nigiri) or wrapped up in seaweed with vegetables and rice (maki), sushi has to be the first thing I think about when someone says “Japanese food”. But, of course, while sushi is wildly popular in North America and other parts of the world, it isn’t exactly an everyday meal that would be eaten with any sort of regularity in Japan – mostly because it can be quite expensive to eat sushi in Japan.