Dango and the Art of Dish Selection
I tried making Mitarashi Dango for the first time yesterday. =_= Mine came out... wrong somehow. The sauce was good, but too salty and too viscous (not sure if that is the right word) and didnt taste quite right. The dango themselves were deformed and had a strange texture. I used the recipe from www.justhungry.com which many people have had success with but somehow XD I did not! I have yet to figure out where I messed up. Mmmm I did not use the full quantity of water, the dough was getting very soft and sticky so I stopped adding water. However, it should be noted that her suggestion to grill the dango before eating improves them dramaticly. I guess I'll just have to experiment. I found a recipe for matcha dango as well..... <3
Some years ago (XD like seven maybe?) my mother gave me these clear glass dishes. They are called "Quaker Crystal". Way back when my mother was a child Quaker oatmeal had this promotion where they put one piece of this dishware in their tins of oatmeal. Apparently my Nana collected them for my mom, but my mother was never one for the use of fancy looking dishes I suppose since I never saw them until she gave them to me.
But I digress. Look at the picture again... doesn't it look so cool and refreshing? At the point where I was taking the photo the tea (which happens to be Numi brand genmaicha) was still fairly hot, but doesn't the glass make it seem chilled and like it would immediately quench all thirst? I've always found the effect dishware has on the perception of the taste/quality of food to be very interesting. I never really thought about it before but perhaps it is for that reason that I (as a notoriously finiky eater) collect interesting dishware, tea sets and sake sets.
XD This is my new toy!! I found it at Daiso! Its called an "ice muddler", basicly it just makes ice balls on a stick. I love it. This will get much use in the months to come since Im one of those weird people to like to simply eat ice.
Close up. Ice is beautiful, I think.