The fine Japanese tradition of making mochi is not in my less than capable repertoire. I began by soaking brown sweet rice overnight. Then I guessed on the amount of water to steam it properly. After about 30 minutes of steam time, the pounding stage had arrived. I poured my mass of ouch-hot soft mochi-rice onto a new melamine plate from Target. As soon as the first few mallet blows had flown, the melamine emphasized its desire to deal with the impact by shattering. Better hide that in the trash quick and hope no one can count past seven.
Fine. No worries. I will attempt to string and slime the sticky ball onto a thicker, softer plastic plate. The blue plastic plate held up to the abuse for about ten minutes, then gave in and cracked. By this point my dough was impossible to move or pound. I would call it the consistency of silly putty. It must be about done?
The pinching into a ball procedure went pretty well. Plenty of rice starch everywhere and on every counter surface and appliance. No Worries, it was about spring cleaning time anyways.
My final product is less than tasty, less than desirable looking, and has too much air and water kneaded in.
Just because of this, we will have to get a job, then budget to go back to Mikawaya in Little Tokyo for Ice Cream Mochi. Mochi-maker I am not.
p.s. Trader Joes carry Ice Cream Mochi!
This mochi guy knows what I am going through.
More information on the Mochi meal. If you are looking for a mochi machine, Zojirushi does make one: BS-DAC55. It has a mochi impeller. Also Tiger and Panasonic/National (SD-MA18N) have one.
Popsy Restaurant
You may remember my review of the Italian Gelato shop dessert. There is another local favorite that is worth a one hour journey. We cross the Mexican border almost weekly to eat… Ice Cream? I know it sounds insane. This is not Ice Cream exactly. The correct name is “Paleta” or “Paletas Helados”. Do yourself a favor and go straight to coconut.
The example below is completely melted just so you understand how much real coconut is in this awesome treat…
POPSY FIX THIS ALSO Full Story missing 298 views
Popsy Restaurant
Debbie’s Deli decided to make sandwiches using only the best possible ingredients. They chose wisely.
The location is obscure, sandwiched between Shell and Midas on Fry Blvd. Not sure why decent signs and advertising were not put in the budget. It is always amazing when people think they can’t afford to advertise. They can’t afford NOT to. The sandwiches are a bit pricey for this reason: The bread comes from Tucson, as none of our bakeries were deemed worthy. (People – Safeway can hardly count as a bakery; it is a grocery store.) The meat and cheese products are Boar’s Head brand. (A website can be cheesy and high quality at the same time?) While the bust of a pig might detract from your mental impression of tasty I can vouch for every sample and flavor as second to none.
They also have the best Hotdog in town hands down. The huge chunk of meat in that bun is high enough quality that it does not get overpowering.
Notice the officer in the picture? If you follow my other reviews you will understand the significance of this: Enforcement personnel typically and regularly visit trusted locations.
The Janette Turkey is wonderful. Most expensive sandwich on the menu, but wait till you taste what the bacon and avocado do to the Mesquite Turkey!
I noticed Boar’s Head people invaded Fry’s Grocery. Hope that does not take away any business. Debbies is cheaper on prices so they should stand a fair chance. The only menu item that was not impressive to me was the meatball. Yes, it is big enough to choke a camel, but elsewhere I have had open-faced piping-hot mozzarella-dripping heaven. I would change the formula for the balls, make them smaller and give it more oomph. Recently Debbies have done better at being Smoke free (outside counts too). The city has started giving awards for it.
I love how they posted kid’s report cards to prove this is a family operated business. I can just picture the scene at home: “Young man, if that grade doesn’t pick up any I am going to post your grades right out in public.”
Popsy Restaurant
Now I can drink D’Peach Mode while listening to Depeche Mode. Steve found this awesome drink at Trader Joes:
Target carries Jones brand drinks, which have natural ingredients and a tiny bit of real juice. If i am going to drink a peach flavored beverage, it will be Two Percent water. Asian flavors are not so tongue blasting overwhelming. Subtle still counts for something somewhere. This is exactly the flavor of those incredible konjac gelatin Slurp peaches that
americans proved themselves too dumb to eat.
Popsy Restaurant, Synthpop Music
