I’m spending my morning catching up with online news and trying to write down a few things that came to me during my eight hour transport epic yesterday. These include recipes using Vegemite, a less-flawed, systematic way of learning 漢字, and this quote from Spaced about toasted-cheese sandwiches
Daisy: In the end, our relationship was just like a sandwich toaster. You know, you just forget you’ve got one. And it just sits there on the top of the cupboard collecting a layer of greasy fudge. And even if you do see it you just assume it’s broken, you think if it’s working I’d be using it all the time, but you don’t and it just sits there. Then one day, you get an overwhelming desire for toasted sandwiches, you know? And you get it down and it works, and you can’t believe it, you know? And then you make every kind of toasted sandwich there is, you have toasted sandwich parties. You make Marmite and cheese, chocolate and…
Tim: Pilchards.
Daisy: Banana and…
Bilbo: Acorns.
Daisy: Acorns. And then as quickly as the desire comes, it just goes. And then you put the toaster sandwich maker away. And, you know what?
Tim: What?
Daisy: You don’t miss it.
Bilbo: So what you’re saying is ‘Don’t hide the toasted sandwich maker away, use him regularly and you’ll get the most out of him’.
Tim: No, she’s saying ‘Chuck your boyfriend, have a sandwich’.
(and the Google search keywords I went through to find that! Oh, auto-complete will be full of the most interesting nonsense)
It occured to me that the toasted cheese sandwich maker, which sits in somewhere deep in the cupboard of western-houses (like a more prevalent version of the waffle-iron), with a crusty layer of melted cheese from its last use, months before, doesn’t really exist in Japan- and the alternatives are things like rice cookers (although rice cookers here get used- a lot) and Takoyaki thingies. Cooking impliments with a very specific use. Any recipe I offered for toasted cheese and vegemite sandwiches would have to take into account that a Japanese household does not contain this indispensible, yet rarely used, kitchen tool. Bread here, too, is different (far too thick) and the cheese is not really Cheddary enough, and doesn’t have the fantastic meltiness of Coon, or the sharpness of a good Mt Barker or Watsonia block of Cheddar. Vegemite isn’t too hard to find, but it does present a bit of a challenge for anyone living outside of a big city, although I think there are a few stores in Kochi city that sell it.
So, here’s a recipe for Cheesymite Scrolls instead (ignoring the fact that most Japanese households lack an oven)
2 cups self raising flour
30gr butter, chilled, chopped
3/4 cup milkpreheat oven to 200c. line a large baking tray with baking paper.
sift flour into a large bowl.
add butter. using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until combined. make a well in the centre and add milk. using a flat bladed knife, stir until mixture is almost combined. using your hands kneed out on a floured surface. use a rolling pin to roll out dough and top with cheese and vegemite roll up dough firmly ike a swiss roll. cut into 12 slices and arrange scrolls close together
bake for 18 to 20 minutes
And the 漢字, I worked this out
子 means ‘Child’, easy enough
学 means ‘learn’, a child with some kind of learning hat on
見 means ’see’
覚 means ‘remember’, seeing and learning!
The trouble is I knew those four already. Aside from remembering that 複雑 is complicated (that’s what it means. Also it is complicated) I need a better way to learn this. I think that better way is by reading lots and lots.
But, if you’re ever in Australia, get yourself a loaf of white bread, a tub of margarine, a jar of vegemite, a 1kg block of any semi-matured or matured cheddar cheese, and a sandwich toaster. Ingredients and impliments are both available from all big supermarkets. Spread the bread thick with the margarine, and put it margarine-side down on the sandwich toaster (to stop it sticking), spread a thin layer of vegemite over the side facing up (the spread should be TRANSLUCENT- not opaque. The bread should be entirely visible) and place half-centimetre slices of cheese over the vegemite. Finally, place another slice of margarine-spread bread on top to complete the sandwich, with the margarine side facing up. Close the sandwich toaster and turn the power on. It might take a little effort to close. Wait five to ten minutes, when you come back the sandwiches should be toasted to a golden colour. Turn the power off and remove the sandwiches using a butter knife, and consume while hot and delicious.
(These sandwiches, eaten cold the morning after a drunken sandwich-making party, are a good remedy for a hangover. Seriously! And almost anything you can think of can be put in them)
Lastly, I bought a new ten megapixel Olympus camera, with a ridiculous amount of zoom and manual focus. The focus is great, the super macro shots I took of the Cherry Blossoms in Fukuoka look great on my desktop, a 22″ screen, meaning a single blossom takes up about 14 inches! I didn’t buy it from Yodobashi Camera, for two reasons, one is that they didn’t have an affordable digital camera with manual focus, and the second is that I can’t stand the voice of the girl who does the English ‘Welcome to Yodobashi Camera’ recording, especially the way she says ‘Canon’
Although the French one is super-sexy. ‘Bonjour et bienvenue a Yodobashi Camera…’
Fantastic!
Edit: I was in the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum on Thursday, and a cameraman from NHK interviewed me! He said I’d be on TV on Saturday morning, and if there was a report I missed it. I doubt I would’ve made it anyway, when I have a camera pointed at me I tend to forget any language.
So If anyone was watching NHK in Fukuoka on Saturday morning, the bumbling gaijin was me!
