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June 23, 2003
Buy Japanese Goods
If you’re lucky, you have someone in Japan to send you goodie packages. If you’re really lucky, you have a Karla in Japan to send you packages. Today when I was working in the yard, my favorite postal carrier (we have at least three different ones, possibly more) drove up in her big USPS truck and came bounding out with a giant package. I hurried inside to open it up.
Oh my God! So much craziness to enjoy for a box of its size! Inside I found Virtua Fighter washcloths (Karla and I used to sneak off to the arcade and play that game a whole lot. It’s very healthy for a friendship, I think)! An Animal Crossing model house, complete with two gyroids (Karla, don’t worry, I’m keeping your house as cockroach-free as I can. And now you have a second floor!)! A letter on goofy, goofy stationery. Two pairs of chopsticks, one with ninjas and the other with spaceships. We ate our dinner with them tonight. But, the real treat was discovering all the wacky candy. A package purporting to be “great tasting crispy twigs of chocolate for everyone who wants a quick & light treat,” when I opened it up turned out to be some green tea flavored something. There are “coffee beans” that turn out to be chocolate when you bite them. She sent the most sour grape candy I’ve ever endured in my life. There are tiny strawberry bubble gums in a package with an adorable cartoon Shinkansen on the package. But the best so far has been a mystery package that I predicted would hold some gummy treat. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I opened it up and said, “Oh, this looks like cotton candy. Mixed with insulation. Blue insulation.” Yum. I bit. “Tropical punch flavored cotton candy… It’s full of Pop Rocks! Pop Rocks, Jacob!” I shouted across the room.
Oh, sweet Karla. Such a good friend, and much missed. Now, I have a terrible tummy ache, but a huge grin and a warm feeling in my heart cockles.
Posted by pogo at June 23, 2003 10:52 PM
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Comments
Hee hee.
Glad you liked the box, darlin. I do hope you shared some of that with Jacob.
There’s as much a hard and fast rule regarding Japanese candy as you are likely to get:
If it says “chocolate,” it aint chocolate. If it doesn’t mention chocolate at all, and definitely looks like something other than chocolate, it’s probably chocolate.
And if it’s filled with pop rocks, then by god, who needs chocolate!?
I have Astroboy washcloths, my own self. Is it weird to be collecting washcloths?
Thanks for housesitting my animal home. Feel free to eat whatever’s in the fridge, and play with my giant teddy bear any time.
love,
Karla
Posted by: Gaijin on June 24, 2003 9:06 AM
The green tea flavored something was fantastic, and I devoured it all in about 30 seconds. And I LOVE our Animal Crossing house! Thank you, Karla!
Posted by: jacob on June 24, 2003 11:40 AM
worth noting: japanese pop rocks are way more violently active than those i am accustomed to.
also, i forgot the best part of the package — a small powder mix to make “green tea ice” with. hmm. i couldn’t read the directions, but i can read numbers and deduced that i should mix an egg and 3/4 c of milk to said powder. i was wary about eating a raw egg, so i put the egg and milk on the stove and whisked away until it simmered and then added the mix and put it in the freezer. i obviously did something terribly wrong. what resulted was a very firm, sort of icy, thick, thick, bright green pudding.
we ate it anyway.
Posted by: tam on June 24, 2003 12:26 PM
The Japanese are NEVER wary about eating a raw egg. NEVER. Or a raw ANYTHING for that matter.
I haven’t tried that green tea ice stuff, although I can tell you that you shouldn’t necessarily expect a familiar texture from Japanese food. Maybe you made it perfectly right!
Posted by: Gaijin on June 24, 2003 5:47 PM
“Nama mugi
Nama kome
Nama tamago.”
(“Raw barley
Raw rice
Raw egg.”)
—from a popular Japanese rap song of the ’80s
Posted by: Gaijin on June 24, 2003 5:52 PM