![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Bunny cakes and Aibou swag
I thought I'd share some photos of some adorable bunny-shaped cakes that I recently bought, and some Aibou merchandise that a friend sent me.
As my Haru readers know, my fanon version of Onozuka comes from a family that runs a chain of wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) shops, and that his specialty is making bunny-shaped manju. Well, I found a local wagashi shop that had some adorable bunny cakes that made me think of Onozuka, so of course I had to buy them! For research, of course!
Aren't they adorable? They're filled with sweet white bean paste that's been flavored with yuzu juice and bits of yuzu rind. (Yuzu is a type of Japanese citrus fruit similar to a lemon.) I normally don't care that much for bean paste, but these were as delicious as they are cute! I posed the bunnies on a Japanese-style dragonfly-patterned plate that I have, in keeping with the Japanese theme. Incidentally, the manju bunnies that Onozuka makes in the story have the ears and eyes painted on with food coloring or seared onto the cakes with a special branding iron, but these were obviously baked in a bunny-shaped mold. But I can totally picture the Nakata shops carrying these!
Also, as you guys might remember, I'm often squeeing or rambling on about my favorite Japanese detective drama, Aibou (Partners). It's not widely known in Western fandom, but it's hugely popular in Japan. There is all kinds of merchandise for it: manga, novels, photo books, CD soundtracks, and apparently tea and mints. A friend who lives in Japan sent me Aibou brand mints:
They're kind of similar in size and taste to Altoid minis.
And also Aibou brand tea:
Or technically, Lupicia brand Earl Grey tea with an Aibou label on it. The main character featured on the tin, Sugishita Ukyo, spent some time at Scotland Yard during which he apparently picked up a taste for English tea. He's always drinking tea on the show, which is why it makes a great tie-in product. I actually don't really drink tea very much, but I will have to brew some to drink while I watch Aibou, just to say I did! And incidentally, the latest volume (#7) of the gay foodie manga What Did You Eat Yesterday? features a recipe for a sorbet made with Earl Grey tea, milk, and sugar, so if I don't like the plain tea, maybe I can use it to try the dessert!
I finally found someone over on Fail Fandom Anon who likes the show, and we were able to chat about the characters a bit, which was a lot of fun. I really want to write Aibou fic (even if only one or two people read it), and get back into writing Haru fic. RL has been a bit busy lately, but I'll try to buckle down and find some time to write--maybe my tea and cakes will help to inspire me!
As my Haru readers know, my fanon version of Onozuka comes from a family that runs a chain of wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) shops, and that his specialty is making bunny-shaped manju. Well, I found a local wagashi shop that had some adorable bunny cakes that made me think of Onozuka, so of course I had to buy them! For research, of course!
Aren't they adorable? They're filled with sweet white bean paste that's been flavored with yuzu juice and bits of yuzu rind. (Yuzu is a type of Japanese citrus fruit similar to a lemon.) I normally don't care that much for bean paste, but these were as delicious as they are cute! I posed the bunnies on a Japanese-style dragonfly-patterned plate that I have, in keeping with the Japanese theme. Incidentally, the manju bunnies that Onozuka makes in the story have the ears and eyes painted on with food coloring or seared onto the cakes with a special branding iron, but these were obviously baked in a bunny-shaped mold. But I can totally picture the Nakata shops carrying these!
Also, as you guys might remember, I'm often squeeing or rambling on about my favorite Japanese detective drama, Aibou (Partners). It's not widely known in Western fandom, but it's hugely popular in Japan. There is all kinds of merchandise for it: manga, novels, photo books, CD soundtracks, and apparently tea and mints. A friend who lives in Japan sent me Aibou brand mints:
They're kind of similar in size and taste to Altoid minis.
And also Aibou brand tea:
Or technically, Lupicia brand Earl Grey tea with an Aibou label on it. The main character featured on the tin, Sugishita Ukyo, spent some time at Scotland Yard during which he apparently picked up a taste for English tea. He's always drinking tea on the show, which is why it makes a great tie-in product. I actually don't really drink tea very much, but I will have to brew some to drink while I watch Aibou, just to say I did! And incidentally, the latest volume (#7) of the gay foodie manga What Did You Eat Yesterday? features a recipe for a sorbet made with Earl Grey tea, milk, and sugar, so if I don't like the plain tea, maybe I can use it to try the dessert!
I finally found someone over on Fail Fandom Anon who likes the show, and we were able to chat about the characters a bit, which was a lot of fun. I really want to write Aibou fic (even if only one or two people read it), and get back into writing Haru fic. RL has been a bit busy lately, but I'll try to buckle down and find some time to write--maybe my tea and cakes will help to inspire me!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject