But who cares when it tastes really great, right?

Now matter how you look at it, you just can’t figure out what it is. Sure, the carrots are obvious, but to have the courage to eat those black stringy things is admirable. Heck, if it doesn’t smell funny and other people were eating it, just eat it. And so I did.

When I went to my Japanese friend’s place for a Friday night dinner, her mom, knowing my knack for eating anything (lol) served me this braised side dish. I may have seen different colors for food, but seeing something black that isn’t from squid ink totally made me curious. All the more when I asked what it was. Her mom answered that it was simply a seaweed that’s not nori. Just a seaweed. And so I ate it without thinking and found it to be quite delicious. Later on in the conversation, I discovered that it was this seaweed called Hijiki. It’s a food item quite native to the Japanese and can be bought at our local Japanese grocer. It’s usually consumed braised with some shouyu and sugar, maybe mirin and sake, if it’s to your taste. I loved it so much that I brought like a tub worth home and ate it the next day on hot rice and some riceballs.

What is interesting though was my discovery the other day when I thought of writing this very blog entry about Hijiki. As it turns out, this tasty hijiki, has traces of arsenic. Yup, that very poison we always see in medical dramas like House or Grey’s Anatomy. lol. The Wiki entry gave me quite a scare, but since there hasn’t been any reported Hijiki poisoning cases, it can’t be that bad. According to Wikipedia, Hijiki’s poisonous only if you consumed 4.7g per day. The regular japanese consumes around .9g.

Did I say that I ate the whole tub (like a large tupperware) the next day on hot rice and some riceballs? XDDD Yeah. I’m so happy nothing happened to me, then again, if ever I go poisoned eating hijiki, that would have been the happiest last moments of my life because it really tasted good!

Yup. That’s my Kimchi a-brewing. I’m having a fermented item fit since last year and was inspired by David Lebovitz’s shot at Kimchi making. I’m not really a heavy Kimchi eater. Not a big fan of those bottled varieties available in the supermarket. However, a Singaporean family friend, Uncle Raymond, has proven to me the lengths of making ‘aptly’ spiced Kimchi.

Years ago, he gave us bottles upon bottles of Kimchi to eat at home. He made it with his wife, Auntie Potin, and it was awesome! It didn’t stink like the others. It had that nice clean smell that you can taste in the Singaporean Sweet Chilli Crab. I assume that he used the locally ground chili to make it. More so, his veggies were really crisp! So I took a shot at it. Varying the Lebovitz recipe for a bit adding sugar in the process. And for lack of chili, I also used shichimi (a Japanese 7-spice chili of sorts) and Malaysian dried chilis. I also dripped my cabbage and didn’t let it soak in brine. Now, it’s in day 2 of fermenting and by the weekend, it should be fine.

I realized that fermenting locally is a lot faster than in France. lol. That was stupid, it just made me more aware of the difference in temperatures around the world. Like, according to Lebovitz, it took him 3 days for his kimchi to bubble, while mine took overnight for it to bubble. It’s been cold here, but yeah, I guess a few degrees hotter makes the difference. From the preliminary taste of things, it tastes awesome. I hope it still does after fermentation. Kimchi bacterias, I hope you’re doing the right job!!

P.S. Just what is the bacteria involved in fermenting Kimchi!?
P.P.S. Not posting the recipe yet. lol. I don’t know if it actually turned out well. ^^;;

I finally managed to eat the highly mysterious natto. I’ve been curious about natto because weird foods always interest me. It’s like blue cheese. or durian. It’s pungent, stringy, and sticky. I have people who hate it. At the same time, I have friends who love it. So for the curious me, I struggled to wanting to live life not tasting, or tasting it as well.

In the end, it was an episode of Iron Chef (the Natto Battle) that convinced me to try this darn thing. Curse you Rokusaburo Michiba for making those yummy treats! I stopped by our usual Japanese grocer and finally bought myself a pack that had a happy family eating Natto. If they looked happy, then I might be happy when I start eating it… maybe. probably.

When I got home, I excitingly opened a pack to eat with my rice. It didn’t smell so bad. I think I’ve smelled far worse things. The pack had two packets in it. One is mustard (karashi) and the other is some shouyu-like broth. According to Iron Chef, the trick is stirring it round for 15 times. the thing is, I stirred it too fast and counted too slow that I overstirred my first natto. I placed some shouyu and and karashi after stirring and plopped it on top of my rice. The taste was… weird. At first it was okay. I kept on adding shouyu and it didn’t have any taste to begin with. It was sticky and gooey and weird in texture. In terms of texture, it was like eating with sticky phlegm in your mouth. It did partially have that cheesy flavor. If you don’t stir it well with the rice, you get to eat the natto itself. The natto itself tastes… fermented. I don’t know if you know what that tastes like, but yeah, it has that weird woody taste, as though it’s been grown in the ground. After that, I swore that natto may not be for me. But I have three packs to go… so I had to eat it. ><;;

The next day, I ate natto again for breakfast. This time, I did the Iron Chef advise, stir the thing 15 times. I also tried another website’s advise of placing shouyu and mayonnaise after stirring it. The texture was leaps different from my experience the night before. Wow. Now, this is the natto that people loved. The texture was more creamy and it slides down your mouth. It still has that fermented taste, but it’s strangely softer. Even when you eat the natto alone, it tastes great. Like seasoned cheese with that aged taste. It was elegant to the tongue, and if I didn’t have to go to work the next day, I’d eat it again.

So, natto is not so bad at all. You just have to know how to prepare it so that you can maximize the taste. I’ll try more natto combinations later. I love the shouyu mayonnaise combo best. Maybe I’ll spring onions this weekend. <3 Oh luffles to this lovely natto!