Yamatologic

Volcano BBQ

【ニコニコ動画】マグマでバーベキューをしてみた

This uploader of this video went to Antigua, Guatemala and made a video of magma BBQ. Yes, he used a volcano to cook some meat. The real action starts at 2:21.

The verdict? The meat was pretty good, but had a grainy texture from magma getting on it. The vegetables didn’t cook very well and were still sort of raw. Seemed like it was too hot to stick around to wait for them to cook. However, it was so hot, that some of the other meat in his bag got cooked right there in the bag as he was hiking around on the volcano.

I think this could be the start of a whole new tradition of BBQ.

Technorati Tags: @BGM, Antigua, barbeque, BBQ, Guatemala, mario world, volcano, yakiniku

He sells Warabi-mochi like his life depends on it!

【ニコニコ動画】【ぷるぷる】わらびもちに命をかける業者【ぷる～ん】
This is brilliant. The guy is selling わらび餅 (warabi mochi) and saying ぷるぷる (purupuru) while he does it. You can’t ignore it, for better or for worse.

We had a guy who used to sell 焼き芋 (yaki imo) around my house. Would he have to yell ほかほか (hokahoka)??? Should I start an ice cream truck and yell “Ice Cream! BurrBurr!!!”

Extra MADness after the jump.
Read more »

Technorati Tags: ぷりぷり, ぷるぷる, ぷる～ん, わらびもち, わらび餅, ice cream man, puripuri, purupuru, rice cakes, selling, sweet potato, vendor, warabimochi, yaki imo, yakiima, yakiimo

Latte Art on NicoDou

【ニコニコ動画】まさに神業！美麗ラテアートができるまで

Who knew coffee could 萌える (moeru)?

Technorati Tags: art, エンターテイメント, カフェラテの無駄使い, スイーツ（驚）, テラアート, ニコニコ美術館, バリスタ, barista, Caffellatte, coffee, entertainment, 芸術, 飲みたいけど飲めない, latte, NicoArtMuseum, starbucks

Zoni Soup on New Years

Happy New Year everyone! While you are enjoying 紅白 (Kouhaku), I hope you are also eating お雑煮 (ozouni)! In fact, I bet I can predict the shape of the mochi and the broth of the soup you are eating… if you are in Japan that is.

What in the Sam Hill am I talking about? Well, depending on what part of Japan you are in, there is a statistical probability as to how your mochi is cut and what soup broth you have in your お雑煮. Yessir, there is even a line where people have round mochi on the one side and cut square mochi on the other.

関ヶ原 (Sekigahara) is the location of the decisive battle between East and West Japan that lead to the 250+ year 江戸時代 (Edo Jidai). This lies on the line! Also, people in East Japan and West Japan stand on different sides of escalators. There’s a lot of differences between east and west Japan that seem to lie on this line. I’ll leave a more complete list for another entry.

If you want to make お雑煮 for yourself, you still have some time! Go check out Cookpad and get cooking!

Technorati Tags: お雑煮, お正月, cookpad, edo jidai, Edo Period, escalators, 関西, 関東, 雑煮, food, kansai, kanto, New Year's, ozoni, shogatsu, soup, zoni, 正月, 江戸時代

Christmas Cake

Traditional Japanese Christmas Cake (and yeah, I’m using the word “traditional” is the lightest sense possible) is generally what they call a strawberry shortcake. American’s sometimes get confused that Japanese shortcake is nothing like the biscuit-like shortcake in America, it is more of a sponge cake in the usual English sense.

I went to Mousse Fantasy on Sawtelle yesterday to go get a slice of JP cake. I saw this cake in the case for $40! But, it is totally what I imagine a Japanese Christmas Cake to be like.

Technorati Tags: ケーキ, baking, cake, dessert, 苺, food, Los Angeles, Mousse Fantasy, Nichibei, shortcake, strawberry, yelp link, 日米

loltastic Fanta commercials

This video has been very popular on my facebook, so I may as well post it to the ol’ blog. I saw it on a random blog a million years ago, so I’m very sorry I can’t credit it. ><;

I think my favorite is ツッパリ先生 (Tsuppari-sensei) because he puts 「吐露非狩古鬱」 (toropikarufurutsuu, “Tropical Fruits”) on the board. I’m a big fan of crazy 当て字 (ateji) like that.

BTW, the poor kids! And watch for the “orz” in the Chinese subs. XD

Technorati Tags: Ateji, ツッパリ, ツッパリ先生, commercials, fanta, food, japanese commercials, lol, school, soda, teacher, teachers, Tropical Fruits, tsuppari, video, 吐露非狩古鬱, 当て字

Monkey Izakaya

宇都宮 (Utsunomiya) is all over the blogs recently! First for destroying art, and this time, for monkeys working at an 居酒屋 (izakaya). Well, I wouldn’t really call it working, unless you call it work when your dog fetches your slippers (our dog does water bottles actually). But everyone seems to be getting something out of this: customers get a cute server, monkey gets 枝豆 (edamame), and the internet community gets a chance to make some awesome puns.

[Thanks TokyoMango and co.]

Technorati Tags: alcohol, animals, bars, beer, edamame, izakaya, lol, monkey, puns, Utsunomiya, video, 宇都宮, 居酒屋, 枝豆

Oh no! The Gyoza Statue!

It is a sad, sad time for 餃子 (gyoza) lovers everywhere. The statue of liberty of the 餃子 world was destroyed today when workers were trying to move it for some construction work.

The 餃子像 (gyozazou) as is like the ハチ公 (Hachikou) of 宇都宮 (Utsunomiya) station. 宇都宮 is the big town in 栃木県 (Tochigi-ken), the next door neighbors to my ふるさと (furusato), 群馬県 (Gunma-ken). The gyoza there is excellent, and as an honor to the excellent gyoza there, this statue was erected sometime in the mid-nineties.

And now it is gone. I doubt they will repair it since it isn’t even noteworthy enough to have its own Wikipedia entry. Oh well, at least there still will be good 餃子 there.

The image here is of my pilgrimage to the statue. Maybe we can all do the Care Bear stare and repair it with love.

If you can stand the sight of the broken statue, go read the Yomiuri Online article. I can hardly bear to watch…

Technorati Tags: art, care bear, Chinese food, 田舎, destroyed, 餃子, food, gyoza, inaka, sad, statue

Awesome Japanese Packaging

I love Japan (not that you doubted that). Like any love, sometimes they do things that you wouldn’t normally like (packaging, bad for the environment) but they do it so cutely that you can’t help but love them.

Japanese packaging is awesome sometimes. PingMag did a review of their favorites. There are special packages for easy refills, squeezable condiments (they show maple syrup, but my favorite was the combo ketchup/mustard ones), and single coffee serving, complete with filter! I remember a lot of these from living in Japan and I never realized how much I loved them until they were gone.

My favorite? The yakisoba and spaghetti that have a draining mechanism built in (pictured). It’s simple and brilliant.

Read the full article over here: Cleverly Convenient Packaging Design

Technorati Tags: clever, coffee, condiments, cool, design, food, japan, packaging, spaghetti, yakisoba

Sushi Sabre you seek, yes…

OMG, everything has come full circle. George Lucas was inspired by the 侍 (samurai) and 刀 (katana) for jedi and light sabres, and now there is a light saber looking thing that shoots not but a glowing blade of Justice or Rancor, but a glowing column of 巻き寿司 (makizushi)!

I wonder what the light and dark sides of sushi are… 巻き vs. にぎり?

(via Random Good Stuff)

Technorati Tags: food, gadgets, lol, sci-fi, sushi