Shōchū

While I do not wish to step on my colleague AmoresQuesos’s toes, I have a blog-worthy food happening to address. Biwa is an incredibly tasty Japanese restaurant off of Sandly Blvd in SE Portland. Ramen, kimchi and hot pots aside, Biwa has an extensive selection of shōchū. Always up for a new and exciting fermented beverage, we ordered the shōchū tasting tray. Served on a beautiful wooden tablet, we receive three crystal clear shots of this drink native to southern Japan. Each was distilled from a different substance: sugar cane, barley and sweet potato. The sugar cane shōchū was most familiar, having the taste and bite of rum. The sweet potato had a distinct and pleasant earthy nose and a pleasant warming sensation that seemingly traced the the journey of the liquid from mouth through gullet. Barley was top notch, with a flavor vaguely reminiscent of bourbon with strong hints of vanilla. All three were suited for sipping after an ice cube had been dissolved.

According to the Japan Times, shōchū is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in it’s home country, among an entirely new crowd: twenty-something women.  The drink has historically been known as a dram for graying men.  Also noted is the rumor that shōchū does not cause a hangover.  I cannot attest here or there to this statement personally, although it does stand to reason as the neat beverage contains hardly any calories, it must by necessity be low in sugar content and sugary beverages lead to notoriously terribly hangovers.

Gujo Hachiman

For most, Gujo Hachiman, a small town in the Gifu prefecture of central Japan is most commonly known for the late summer Gujo Odori Dance Festival, which features all-night street dancing and the Gujo Hachiman castle, built atop Hachiman mountain in 1559.  The tour does not stop there, though, for Gujo is also home to the first Japanese plastic food factory.  In the early 20th century, the success of the first replica food item, a rice omelet, led to the creation of  Iwasaki Company.  Iwasaki Co. is still thriving today.  In conjunction with the factory, there is the Iwasaki Sample Village, where tourists can go shopping for plastic recreations of their favorite foods and even take classes to learn how to make pieces of tempura and lettuce out of plastic!

THE SEAFERRET [cont]

Returning from outside
SEAFERRET
What have you done with my brother?
SINGING GULL
What have I done?  Oh, Ferret.  I have done nothing but daily visits for care, top off his Jameson and wait for your return.
SEAFERRET
Are you saying this is my fault?
 SINGING GULL
What use is it placing fault? This is the way things are now.
SEAFERRET
Pause
I hope you like haddock filets.
SINGING GULL
Haddock?  Oh, well - my - that’s rather hoity-toity.
SEAFERRET
It’s Christmas, Gull.
SINGING GULL
True enough.  Which is why I invited The Devil over for dinner.
SEAFERRET
Did you now?  Did you really?
Gull nods, Ferret punches wall.
You know how I feel about The Devil.
SINGING GULL
Ah, yah.  But it’s Christmas Eve, how could I say no?
Door bell rings.
That must be him now.
SEAFERRET
I’m not getting it.
SINGING GULL
You’re going to have to see him sooner or later.
SEAFERRET
Later then.
SINGING GULL
At least go pull your brother out of that snow bank.
Gull exits to answer the door.  SeaFerret pulls some paint chips off the edge of
the hole in the wall, circles twice and exits to get his brother.
SINGING GULL
On entering, with Devil
Here now, I’ll take your cape, go ahead and sit yourself down.  Can I get you anything to make you more comfortable then?
THE DEVIL
Upon sitting in the biggest, plushest chair
Jåger, neat.  If you have it.
SINGING GULL
I’ll check.
Gull exits towards kitchen as SeaFerret and Stoat enter.
STOAT
Aye ba dye ba Devil aye!
THE DEVIL
Stoat, SeaFerret it has been too long.  Too long.  I haven’t seen you since when?  The winter of ‘96?
STOAT
Aye ba dye ba dye.
 SEAFERRET
You’ve got a lot of gall calling round these parts.
THE DEVIL
Oh.  Well, we could argue you’ve got a lot of gall carrying on with your life.
SEAFERRET
I don’t know what you mean.  And I have no intention on finding out.
Gull re-enters with Jåger in tumbler, crosses and hands to Devil.
SINGING GULL
Ah good - everyone’s here. I thought it would be nice to have a bit of a go at a cheerful and fun Christmas Eve, whattdaya say?
STOAT
Aye ba dye.
SEAFERRET
Cheerful?  Ha!  Fun?  Ha!
SINGING GULL
What about a nice game?
THE DEVIL
Excellent idea, how about a rousing game of five card?
SEAFERRET
Motioning to Stoat
We don’t have any money.

SINGING GULL
Just for chips, then.
THE DEVIL
I’ve an idea.  Let’s play for your life.  As you owe to it me anyway.

THE SEAFERRET

SETTING: A CONTEMPORARY DOSSHOUSE IN A RURAL SEABOARD VILLAGE.  SEAFERRET RESTS UNCOMFORTABLY IN A TATTERED ARMCHAIR. HIS OLD FRIEND, SINGING GULL ENTERS.

SINGING GULL
Age is upon you, dear Ferret.  Your coat is weathered and grey.
SEAFERRET
Aye.
SINGING GULL
What has brought you back to the land, this sandy shore?
SEAFERRET
(Turns away)
SINGING GULL
Surely not the drafts of this old dosshouse, nor the company.
SEAFERRET
You underestimate your charm, Gull.

SEAFERRET
I need to see my brother.

SINGING GULL
You haven’t seen him yet?

SEAFERRET
No – Gull, I’ve been back nary a night.

SINGING GULL
Oh.  You know at least?

SEAFERRET
Know what?

SINGING GULL
Uh – well – he isn’t quite the same as before you left on the last voyage.

SEAFERRET
If you have something to say Gull, just say it.

SINGING GULL
Oh well, Seaferret.  He’s been hitting the bottle, dawn til dusk.

SEAFERRET
Where is he?

SINGING GULL
He’s out back, taking a turn about the garden.

THE CAMERA CUTS TO THE SEAFERRET’S BROTHER OUTSIDE:

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to be continued..?

Flophouse

A headline from today’s Oregonian newspaper: “16 pounds of pot found in Portland flop house“.  Flophouse.  Now – intuitively – I understand what this means, as this word conjures up some useful and vivid imagery.   But flophouse, really, where did you come from?  A Flop house or flophouse, is a sort of short term, inexpensive lodging place.  Wikipedia notes that they are often used by transients and Jack Kerouac.

The internet is lacking in explanations of the word origin, it appears to be an Americanism as the English equivilant is a ‘dosshouse’.   The word ‘flop,’ meaning “to fail” has a Dutch origin, the verb floppen.  What about doss, of the English dosshouse?  To doss means to avoid one’s work, so presumably, if you doss long enough and do not come from the upper crust of society you would end up in a dosshouse.

Bonus word: cow flop (and no, this isn’t the end result of a cow tippin’ venture).

Search Battle

Cheese versus Ferret.

What is searched for more often? Alas, you ferret searchers of the world, you are in the gross minority. For every one person who googles “ferret” there are 11 people who google “cheese”. This relationship has remained more or less constant from 2004 through the present day, save for the spikes in cheese traffic seen every holiday season. Ferret searches do not see this seasonal variability. In the history of google searching, the most cheese searching has originated in Denver, Colorado and ferret searching is based out of Bordeaux, France. While Denver is closely trailed by Minneapolis and St. Louis, Bordeaux is far and away the leading ferret search city. Why?

Ferret in French is furet, so what then is a French ferret? To find out, I French googled ferret+Bordeaux. Mystery solved! At the tip end of the penninsula there, notice the “Cap Ferret” or, one could also say Cape Ferret or the commune Lège-Cap-Ferret.

These were not misplaced furet searches at all, but hunts for a prime vacation.