K 

So lately I’ve been thinking about holiday foods and realize that I don’t like any of them. Like I don’t like American holiday foods, and I don’t like Japanese holiday foods. So I’m going to talk about like, for me, I don’t know in Japan I feel like food is more regional and seasonal.

C 

Definitely seasonal. On November 1, I saw a new sign up saying make your Christmas cake reservation now.

K 

Oh, I forgot about Christmas keiki.

C 

Yeah.

K 

Okay, so see, y’all know I don’t fuck with Japanese cake. Y’all know that already.

C 

Despite being delicious.

K 

It is not. It – Japan, Japan. You need to get your cake game together. Okay, moist. That’s the word that the Japanese need to learn in association with cake.

C 

Japanese cakes are moist on average.

K 

No, they are not. They’re like eating a desert covered in whipped cream.

C 

No, that’s why I say on average. So an American cake like Betty Crocker, a moist cake will have pudding mixed into it.

K 

That is a pudding cake. See.

C 

We have them on the counter.

K 

Musicl notes, get my back on this. Chad is not a cake either. And I’m going to out you right now. And I know it’s not called out people. But… Chad needs to – like he’s at a 10 and he needs to go all the way down to zero when it comes to cake. He’s afraid of cake. There. I’ve said it. You heard it here first. Chad has been outed as being afraid of cake.

C 

You donut know what you’re talking about.

K 

I hope everybody at home was giving Chad sympathy laughter because he’s just been outed as a person who’s afraid of cake. The reason we have – so why do we have four boxes of cake mix on our counter?

C 

Being afraid of making cake and not doing it right. Not making it moist enough for certain people is not the same thing as being afraid of cake.

K 

Okay, name one moist cake in Japan. That without frosting, without all that cream and stuff they put on top of it, that would be moist.

C 

Well now you’re no longer taking the average of the cake.

K 

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Musick Notes get my back on this one. Like if cake is not moist without a bunch of stuff on it, it’s not a moist cake. And star muffins are not cake.

C 

Okay. Wait.

K 

So star

C 

Hear that silence? That’s nobody agreeing with you.

K 

No, that’s everybody agreeing with me. And not wanting to hurt you. Because the Musick Notes are very protective of you.

C 

Okay.

K 

Yeah. And they don’t want to be hurt and they understand that you’re full of shame, right now because you’re afraid of making cake.

C 

Shame and pudding. That’s what I’m full of: shame and pudding.

K 

Actually like, why are you lying to our fans right now? Why are you lying to our Musick note family?

C 

I’m just saying Japanese cake

K 

You are full of yogurt. Yogurt and a strange yogurty beverage.

C 

It is called Calpis. It’s not yogurt. It is similar to yogurt. But it’s not in the yogurt family.

K 

Interesting fact. About Calpis. It was supposed to be cal-piss. Cow piss.

C 

That is not true.

K 

Yeah. And they had to rename it.

C 

That is not true.

K 

Yeah, they changed the name of it. No, I saw it on YouTube. So it must be true.

C 

Oh, wow. things on YouTube must be true?

K 

Yeah. Hello.

C 

So the same people who fake the moon landing decided on the marketing for Calpis.

K 

Exactly.

C 

Despite Calpis having been around since before World War One.

K 

Exactly. Thank you. Now you’re just triggering my Bay of Pigs trauma.

C 

Okay, yeah.

K 

Yeah. Y’all know, the Musick Notes know, that I was around during Bay of Pigs. And they know it’s very traumatizing for me, because the Musick Notes totally loved me and agree with everything I say.

C 

See, you started off telling me that you were around during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And then we looked up the date of that. You were like, oh, no, it must have been Bay of Pigs which happened even earlier.

K 

Hello. I’m eternal.

C 

Okay.

K 

Why are you always trying to make me younger than I am?

C 

No, I remember.

K 

Are you ashamed of our age difference?

C 

No, cuz I remember talking to your grandpa and your grandpa’s like I was born during World War One. And I remember growing up that Kisstopher who was already in her 50s.

K 

Thank you. Thank you.

C 

My granddaughter was already in their 50s

K 

Thank you. Thank you. I feel so validated that you’re finally admitting it to the world that I predate my ancestors. Thank you. It’s about time I get the recognition. So back to holiday foods. You like every holiday food in the world with the exception of one thing, and that is pecan pie, which you think is disgusting, which I only know that you think is disgusting because it’s my father’s favorite. And I know how to make my father’s pecan pie. But this is I’m petty and spiteful. I never made it for my father not once. I made pecan – I learned how to make my father’s favorite pecan pie from my grandmother. And it was also my grandfather’s favorite pecan pie. This is a story that you don’t know. And when we were having a big celebration of Thanksgiving before I was in touch with my indigenous roots, and stopped celebrating Thanksgiving. I made – I cook – I went over to my grandma’s house because she wasn’t able to cook. And I cooked for everybody, and I made the most delicious pecan pie. That was like better than her pecan pie. Even she said that, like everyone in the family said it. And my dad every year after that would ask me to make him a pecan pie. And I’d say no. Every year because I didn’t feel like he was deserving of me making pecan pie. It is not easy to make a good pecan pie. It is a lot of work.

C 

I can believe it because all of the ones I’ve tasted have been like, okay, this is really sweet. Okay, wait, here’s just raw wood? Am I eating bark?

K 

Yeah, no, mine was smooth and creamy and consistent. And my pecan glaze topping, and my crust and everything like everything from scratch. 100% from scratch. And so it was a recipe that my grandmother invented during the Great Depression. And I didn’t make it like I was in the Great Depression. I didn’t act like I was on ration, I wasn’t rationing things. And so for many, many years, I would go over to my grandparents house, and I would make the pecan pie and not tell anybody. And everybody was like, your pecan pie is so good that everybody was wondering why I wasn’t coming for Thanksgiving anymore. Because my grandmother had gotten too old to cook. And I was a really great cook and as you know, my cousin the one that lived with them with the two boys.

C 

Yeah, I know who you mean.

K 

Yeah. Could not cook y’all know we don’t name and shame anyone but Chad on this podcast. So I didn’t like any of the food I was cooking. I don’t like Turkey.

C 

Right.

K 

I don’t like ham. I don’t like pie. Unless it’s cheese pie formation, which other people called cheesecake. Which, I’m like for the culture I’m going to represent and call it cheese pie.

C 

Yes.

K 

So why do you like seasonal foods? Are you excited to get your Christmas keiki?

C 

I have not actually ever ordered a Christmas keiki here.

K 

Thank you. Why?

C 

Because that is just angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.

K 

Thank you. So you’re admitting Japan can’t do cake?

C 

No, I’m admitting that a Christmas cake here doesn’t really mean anything that I couldn’t get.

K 

I’m gonna wear him down. I will get a confession if not on this podcast. With God as my witness, I will get a confession that Japan can’t do cake. Like why won’t you just own that Japan can’t do cake and that you’d like the dry cinnamon cake that they make? Because you love whipped cream.

C 

Wait, did you just call it cake?

K 

I did. I didn’t call it delicious cake. I call it a dry ass cake. A dry ass cake.

C 

Okay, I think that I like seasonal foods because I like what’s in seasonal foods.

K 

Like, what the heck does that mean? Are you an enigma wrapped in a riddle?

C 

No.

K 

What’s the whole whole quote of that? Is that the whole thing?

C 

No is reportedly Churchill about Elizabeth Taylor and I don’t know the whole thing.

K 

Tim Burton said

C 

Tim Burton. Okay, yeah, that makes more sense than Churchill

K 

Riddle wrapped in an enigma.

K 

There’s enigma question and a riddle. I don’t know the order they go in.

K 

Yes. But to be fair, he said it when he was drunk.

C 

Yeah.

K 

And then everybody wanted to be that but that was the reason that he married and divorced her twice, so I wouldn’t want to be that. I don’t think their love story was positive. I think it sounds painful as hell. So what is in holiday food that you like?

C 

Seasonal fruits. You know, I’m a big fan of fruit in sweets.

K 

What fruit’s in season right now? Cranberries?

C 

Cranberries probably.

K 

Sorry, I have the hiccups.

C 

I like cranberries as an accent but not as the main thing. Like cranberry sauce is just a big no for me. Just ew. Even If it still has the ripples from a can on it, it is no good.

K 

So I made my cranberry sauce from scratch. Yes, I can cook everything from scratch. So every time Chad says the boxing, I’m gonna say, I can do it from scratch. These are things Chad would not eat. I wanted to do one Thanksgiving dinner in ode to my grandmother. But you were like, no.

C 

Because we could just go to your grandmother’s. I mean, she’s dead now. She died before.

K 

We never went to my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving. And I told

C 

You said you didn’t want to go

K 

Because I would have to cook everything. But in amounts that are not natural to cook. Because if the family finds out that I’m coming to Thanksgiving, everybody would come

C 

You would be like on the on the poster for it.

K 

No, you see that anytime we visited and the family knew about it beforehand, everybody would come.

C 

All your uncles would show up with their wives.

K 

Yes. And their kids, and it was just like, and their grandkids. And I’m like, Why are all of you here? Because you’re here, it must be special.

C 

Okay, I’m here. I flew here from Germany to eat your cooking even though there were celebrities looking at my military housing.

K 

No, one of my cousin seriously came from Germany, just because I was going to be there that year,

C 

Even though there was a celebrity looking at her military housing to buy overseas.

K 

Yes. So and that was like the story they told the whole time that I’m deco posh. But I left before the holiday.

C 

Yes.

K 

And everybody felt punked everybody was like super mad. How dare we leave?

C 

And we only lived like four or five hour drive from your grandparents, so we’d go down there occasionally without telling anybody.

K 

Yeah. And nobody ever came to visit us because I always told them, I would gladly put them up in the nearest hotel.

C  

Yes.

K 

I wouldn’t let anyone stay in our house. Because your brother ruined that for us letting his kid cry.

C 

Yes.

K 

For three hours straight.

C 

Like, I’m a guest. You take care of my baby. Yeah, not how it works.

K 

No. I’ve been trying to settle this child down for an hour. And just no. So that was a no. Do you like American seasonal food?

C 

Not really.

K 

That’s my memory because you didn’t like turkey. Because I made turkey soup one year out of the leftover turkey. And you did not like it at all. But it’s a delicacy in my family. So

C 

I like turkey sandwiches like I go to Boston Market and get a turkey sandwich rather than a chicken sandwich.

K 

Yeah, so there wasn’t any leftover breast.

C 

Right.

K 

Um, but the dark meat I would make a soup out of and I don’t eat the dark meat.

C 

Right.

K 

You do eat the dark meat. But you didn’t like the soup. So I took it to my dad’s. And they were just like, oh my gosh, this is so good.

C 

Is there any pecan pie to go with it?

K 

And I was like, no, I made him bring his own pecan pie. And he asked me to teach Dawn how to make it. And it was like, just like, what are you doing?

C 

Yeah.

K 

Oh I said her name. But she doesn’t listen to this. She could. She called me

C 

And she – her last name is not Musick, and it’s not your maiden name. So

K 

No yeah, she’s, she’s impossible to find.

C 

The only people who would be able to track her down from that are people who already know you and would already know that

K 

And already know her. Or know of her.

C 

Right.

K 

So yeah, we’re not trying to say anybody’s names. So I don’t like seasonal food. But I did have like things that I miss from America. And one of the things that I miss from America that so here’s the thing, y’all know, Japan gets down on the bread. Like they can’t do cake, but they get down on bread. Like Japan has the most amazing bread selections ever. Like heart attack mixed into bread. They have that bread.

C 

See, I think what it is, is that I think that both the bread and the cake, they get the European versions and that you don’t like the European version of bread. You like the European version of

K 

The Japanese do not do that. The Japanese do not take anything as it is. It’s always fusion. I it’s served in Japan, it’s always fusion.

C 

Yeah.

K 

So you’re thinking that there’s places other than Japan that sell hot dog imitation cheese bread?

C 

Yeah, that one I don’t know. Cuz that’s a good one.

K 

Yes. So Japan loves imitation cheese. Everywhere you go

C 

It’s not imitation Cheese. It’s “natural cheese”.

K 

And that’s how you know it’s imitation. Which confuse the heck out of me because so like,

C 

Wait, wait, this is just the, you know, Japanese pronunciation of natural. This is natural cheese.

K 

There’s nothing natural about it, it comes melted and stays melted. But it’ll do dry out and get hard, which gives it the appearance and semblance of natural cheese.

C 

Yeah, it’s really oily, which makes it good for cooking.

K 

Yeah, so I don’t know what it’s made out of because I’ve never investigated I’d suggest like, you know those slices that come in from the United States for American listeners, they’ll know like the American cheese slices for sandwiches? They’re so proud of themselves that they’re 1% melt.

C 

I think this is different. I think the American cheese is like emulsified from vegetable oil. I think the natural cheese technically is a cheese.

K 

Technically

C 

Right. It’s just it’s not focused on flavor. It’s focused entirely on texture.

K 

Yeah, a lot of things in Japan are focused on texture, not flavor.

C 

Yeah.

K 

And that’s why I don’t like a lot of Japanese foods. Because I’m really really picky about my texture. I – the only thing I like moist, ice cream, beverages and cake. Everything else better be dry. Like beef jerky dry.

K 

Yes.

K 

I don’t like any kind of wetness on my meat. That just, eugh. It’s just eugh. And I get that from my mom because she’s the horrible cook with burn everything. So I grew up thinking thinking that’s the way things should taste.

C 

See and I grew up thinking everything should be slightly undercooked and only 10% likely make you ill.

K 

And I’m super picky as an eater. I don’t like most flavors, so I don’t want things to have flavor.

C 

Like so. Surprise me. Like a mystery flavor in here – you’re like uh-uh. If there’s a mystery flavor, I’m not eating it until you reveal the mystery.

K 

Yes. Because there are certain flavors that I like and certain flavors that I don’t. And certain textures I like and certain textures that I don’t. But there is something about Japan. They absolutely love. Regional candy. Oh, my word. Japan and hard candy. Y’all, I’m telling you. This is what we send for gifts. The Hakone lemon or orange candy? Hard Candies come in in a tin. Oh my goodness to die for they are so good. We sent them to a friend and they were like, This is the best candy I’ve ever eaten. And I was like, right. It is. So whenever we go someplace new I always eat the hard candy of that region.

C 

Yeah, so these are called the Kataura lemon drops from Hakone.

K 

Yeah. And we still order them and have them delivered to us. And I know we’re supposed to be locavotes. But forgive me this candy is just

C 

It gets shipped from an hour and a half away on a train. It’s not from our backyard, but it is not being flown from anywhere and it is not being put on a big boat. It’s just going on a train.

K 

So why haven’t you – I cut you off with the whole Christmas cake. Why haven’t you ever ordered a Christmas cake? I can’t. I think you answered and I forgot. I’m spacing today.

C 

I think they get the mixture wrong. I think they focus too much on the whipped cream and the strawberries and not enough on the angel food cake. And that they do have a poor angel food cake base.

K 

So but they have a lover’s cake. That is a single slice of the Christmas cake with different proportions that you love.

C 

Yeah.

K 

Because I went to the store and I read lovers cake in katakana. And I was like, aww, I have to buy it because I love my husband. And I bought you cake and you’re like why are you bringing me cake? I said it’s lovers cake.

C 

Right? It’s “labas cake”, it could be either lovers or rubbers and I’m gonna assume it’s lovers.

K 

Yeah, and you’re like, don’t buy stuff just because there was like a year – because Japan’s really good at marketing things to suck me in. Y’all know I have an infomercial thing. And basically when you walk to the grocery store, it’s one big infomercial. This is for lovers and at random times of the year. It’s not like during it’s not just February,

C 

So I’ve got to correct you hear because most of the grocery store is just regular commercials.

K 

I think you don’t go down the lane that has individual speakers.

C 

That’s what I was gonna say. There’s only like a dozen people there selling individual things. So sometimes they have the speakers on and sometimes they have people they’re like cooking it right there. So we bought a whole bag of this mix that was supposed to make our rice just amazing.

K 

In the store, it was the bomb. What they served us was the bomb. And we could not figure that out.

C 

No, we couldn’t. And I’m a person who will put chicken bouillon and rice and be like here’s some chicken rice. It’s delicious.

K 

I invented that recipe.

C 

I didn’t say I invented it. I said I will make it.

K 

Oh my goodness. And steal the credit for it.

C 

Thank you for claiming your rightful place as the inventor of bouillon and rice. I’m sure everyone

K 

Oh my goodness. Bouillon and rice in a rice cooker for this family. Yes, I invented it. Because I was so – how that came about was I wanted Rasta to be able to woo dates by cooking them different things. Because Rasta has hereditary corporate periferia. And lupus like I do, and going out to eat on dates is really tricky. And I really didn’t like that most of women, after dated would comment on how unhealthy his diet is based solely on the fact that he didn’t eat salad, because he eats vegetables. And so what I would do is teach them how to cook a meal and teach him how to present the meal and talk about the various nutritionist values in each meal. Because most of the Japanese girls would agree that it was healthier if rice was included in the meal, which is just a bizarre thing to me because rice is healthy, but it also has a lot of carbohydrates in it. And it also has a high. I have to watch out for foods that cause inflammation. And rice causes high inflammation in the body. So it’s not as healthy as it seems. But anywho I don’t have a campaign against rice. I don’t hate rice. I’m just saying for me, I can’t eat it. And when I do it has to be like planned. I’m going to eat rice, because then I’m going to be sick

C 

Because you enjoy the taste. Sometimes it’s worth it. But

K 

Curry man – curry rice. Curry rice is so good. It’s so so good. If y’all come to Japan, you have to eat curry rice. You have to it’s a must

C 

Or if you’re in Southern California, you can find the same restaurants. Coco Ichiban.

K 

Really?

C 

Yeah, there’s like five of them in South California.

K 

I don’t believe anything Chad just said. Research it for yourself. You know, we are spotty at best when it comes to making factual statements. So besides Christmas cake, what other seasonal food do you even know about in Japan? That’s like holiday related.

C 

Okay, I like covered bananas.

K 

That’s not a holiday food.

C 

That’s a festival food. I feel like that should count. Because

K 

There’s festivals all around.

C 

Okay, but there’s holidays all year round too.

K 

Yeah, there. Okay. Fair point. Yeah. So you like festival food?

C 

Yeah, like Mountain Day cake.

K 

I don’t like festival food. I didn’t go to any of the food festivals. Because like, we’ve talked about it before. It really literally is just a ring of food stalls.

C 

Yeah. With some exhibits.

K 

Yeah, yeah. No, not into that. And then any festival we go to. I think you’re thinking of the paper mache? Not paper mache? The

C 

Paper lantern festival?

K 

Yes. So there’s a special folding paper. That’s not origami?

C 

Yeah, is the paper lantern festival in English.

K 

And I couldn’t think of the English name of it.

C 

The washi.

K 

You know, I don’t like

C 

A particular Japanese style of papermaking and akari means lit up. Japanese paper lit up.

K 

And so we used to go to that festival. We’ve told them about it before. So you’re counting the food at that festival? The cover bananas at that festival as holiday food.

C 

Yeah. And then there’s the different things that come out with fruit syrups.

K 

What?

C 

Fruit syrups

K 

What are you talking about? sweet syrup?

C 

Not sweet fruit.

K 

What?

C 

Fruit.

K 

Fruit Syrup? What are you talking about?

C 

It’ll get to the point where they can’t ship a certain kind of berry to Japan without going bad. But they can make syrup out of those berries and then ship that to Japan.

K 

What are you I’ve never seen you eat this fruit syrup. What are you talking about?

C 

Because it gets put an ice cream and things.

K 

Oh, gross. Okay. Do you want to talk about the disgusting things Japan does with ice cream? That’s so blasphemous.

C 

Yeah.

K 

It’s so gross. So gross. Okay, go ahead and talk about it.

C 

So it’ll be like ice cream with fruits. Fruit ribbons.

K 

Oh, gross. As soon as they say it’s a ribbon of something in Japanese ice cream. I’m like, no, thank you.

C 

It’s nothing like a ribbon in the sky for our love.

K 

Now, and that’s a sad, sad song. Don’t play it at your wedding. We were forced into playing it at our wedding because the person who was supposed to get the CD with our song on it didn’t. And I was like, this is a horrible first song.

C 

We had already banned too many songs. According to them.

K 

Yeah, so I was like,

C 

We had no Macarena. No Chicken Dance, no song in which you make yourself foolish.

K 

Yeah. We also didn’t have any booze. We had wine and champagne, but nobody got drunk on our dime, everybody was mad about that. I didn’t care. The cake was the bomb. The menu was the bomb. Everybody had a bomb time.

C 

Yeah. And I like the roasted chestnuts but not enough to seek them out.

K 

Roasted chestnuts?

C 

Yeah.

K 

So here’s the thing that I’ve seen that I’m like, wow, what? They have roasted pickled chestnuts. And I’m like, why are you doing all of this? It’s just so bizarre to me. And so, when you’re learning Japanese, and you live in Japan, there’s mystery stuff that’s all around you until you get that level of reading. But when you’re at that level of reading it, what you’re reading is so confusing, that it feels like you’re not reading it correctly. Because the first time I was able to read the phrase, roasted pickled chestnuts, I was like, what is this? This is what I think it says. And you’re like, This is what I said. And I was like, it cannot say this. This cannot exist. My brain was like, I can handle consomme flavored potato chip chips. Yeah, yeah. I don’t like them. I tasted them once. I want to see and it’s beef consomme and tastes dead on beef consomme. But pickled. roasted chestnuts. Why? Japan?

C 

Yeah. Why are you doing that? I’m not a fan of the pickles like a few pickles on the side.

K 

And they cause cancer. That’s why there is a high incidence of stomach cancer and

C 

One of the highest per capita rates of stomach cancer due to

K 

Because of all the pickles. So in the United States, there’s nothing that I like that. Seasonal.

C 

Yeah, everything is available year round for you. Yeah.

K 

So there’s nothing that I like that’s holiday food, except candy canes. I love candy canes.

C 

I think this is just a different manufacturing… [roduction

K 

Because I do get candy canes all year round in Japan. And I love that. Thank you, Japan. Thank you for knowing candy canes need to exist 12 months out of the year in the United States, it is really difficult to find candy canes before Halloween.

C 

Yeah. And so I think this is America is becoming more uniform. And what’s available. This is one of my favorite foods are the chocolate oranges.

K 

Now we can get those all the time. And you can

C 

Yeah. And now they’re available year round in the US too. But yeah, but it used to be that they were only available at the holidays.

K 

Yeah, after Halloween, right. Like almost the date. I would say I want to say November 1 They were available. Because I would get you chocolate oranges randomly until Christmas. And then you would have your final chocolate orange on Christmas. And

C 

everyone’s mother’s raspberry oranges available, which are Yeah, chocolate raspberry.

K 

Yeah, and if an orange if they were chocolate raspberry, I would put that one in your stocking. Because to see Chad’s face when there’s a chocolate raspberry orange, it is like it’s Christmas. And so I would put that one in and I would just get you the chocolate oranges. And you’re like no raspberry and it always baffles my mind because you would go to the store that I bought them from with me and deliberately not walk down that aisle so you could be surprised with what kind of orange you were going to get. Thank you. Yes, because that’s one surprise you love you’d like food surprises like you used to, but not anymore.

C 

Yeah, I think I’ve run out. I think I’ve eaten all the foods. Yeah.

K 

Cuz you’d love new get. Yeah, I do love new kit, which I think is blasphemous. And

C 

there’s one seasonal food from the US that I love that you have never ever liked. Eggnog. Oh, oh, my goodness.

K 

Watching you chug is just like, What are you doing?

C 

Having all of my calories for the day in one time? That’s what I’m doing.

K 

But here’s the bizarre thing is I love Tom and Jerry’s. The alcoholic drink and it’s you put a dog in a pan. You boil it, you throw in a bunch of alcohol and some pepper and drink it and I think it’s the bomb. I think it’s a bomb as string. But you would not let that be done to eggnog.

C 

No, it deserves more respect than that. Yeah,

K 

I was like, Can I make a Tom and Jerry’s with this and you’re like, Now what if I buy my own eggnog and you were like, No, this is my this is my time of year. This is my beverage like and you’re seriously like you will not do anything to that eggnog even like third at the prospect of a carton of eggnog being wasted like that. Like it won’t be wasted. I will be hammered.

C 

Oh, it won’t be wasted just you won’t be i either have you wasted?

K 

Yes. And you’re like, how does that benefit me? I do not like you when you drink whiskey. And I was like, rude. Rude. I am fun. When I drank whiskey and you’re like, No, you get super hyper. And I do I get loud and I want to dance. When I drink whiskey.

C 

You don’t get sour, even if that’s what you’re drinking.

K 

Yeah. I don’t like whiskey sours. Yeah. So what other sort of seasonal so the reason we’re talking about seasonal thing is one if you’re indigenous, you may or may not celebrate Thanksgiving. I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving anymore, because when, after my grandmother passed, I really wanted to know more about the indigenous side of my family. And with having access to just my grandfather without my grandmother in the room, which was impossible to do when she was living. Unless I was driving him somewhere, my grandfather was able to share like, the true history of things with me. And when I found out the truth behind the first Thanksgiving, I was so appalled and disgusted that I wouldn’t celebrate it. And the same with Indigenous person day. I celebrate that as Indigenous person day. And I was so surprised at how many lies I have been fed growing up, and how many of the holiday stories just weren’t true. And my grandfather took great delight in telling me the truth, and undoing all of my grandmother’s lies after she died that he had tolerated for the entirety of their marriage. Which isn’t much if y’all Listen, the podcast No, it was a terrible human being. But that really made me not want to celebrate the holidays anymore. And not liking any of the traditions or foods. And my mother loved Thanksgiving as y’all know. And I didn’t love anything. She cooked. I think she was super spiteful to not cook anything I liked. But in Japan, I don’t get like the holiday foods here. I don’t actually know what they are. I know the the food for us. She got to but people don’t eat that

C 

anymore. Yeah, that’s very, very traditional.

K 

Yeah, very, very rare. Well, I can’t think of the name of the boxed station. Yeah. And very few people, but I studied it. And I learned what I told you about this before. But there are foods in Japan that I love. And y’all know I love my fast food tempura. And y’all know I love cambogia Japanese cambogia Japanese pumpkin. Yeah, it’s convergence redundant. It is yeah. It gives you no information whatsoever. But something that Japan turned me on to that I would not eat in the United States is Okra. Okra is the bomb. It is so good. It is one of my favorite vegetables now. The way you prepare it. Yeah, the way I prepare it, and it’s so for me okra that my issue with okra is that the inside of the okra is very slim, very slammy very slimy. And if you put it in black eyed peas and ham hawks that slime Enos stays inside didn’t like the slimy quote, the slimy texture of it. And the first time I had it was on a Tim Porter play and only anything to import you all know that like batter and deep fry it yes, please has an American Hello. Lana the fried food. So I was like oh, this is good. So let me try it in other recipes as well. It’s good and soup. It’s good cooked on its own as good as a side vegetable. I don’t like it boiled as much as I like it stir fry. Yeah, it’s a really tasty tasty festival. Yeah, so

C 

we have that available most of the year frozen. And then some of the are fresh.

K 

Almost all of the are fresh. Yeah, it’s really rare. Like, y’all know that sometimes it’s too hot and we can’t get milk in the summer. And so okra is kind of like milk like it’ll randomly not be available. And then a vegetable I used to love that I don’t love as I do not like Japanese cucumber. It just makes me so gassy. And in the United States with the US cucumber. I don’t know if y’all do this, but I would Bert mine. And Chad thought that was so weird. The first time you saw me burping it it’s where you cut off the ends and you rub the cucumber with it and it takes the gas out of it. Yeah. And you thought that was really weird.

C 

And I think that the reversal on the eggplant to like you like Japanese eggplant sometimes.

K 

I love Japanese eggplant a lot. I like us a plant that you think a plant is disgusting. You don’t even like to sit across the table from it. Yeah. So it’s like me and tabasco sauce. Like if you put Tabasco in something, I prefer to eat it in a room different than the one I’m in. And if I’m going to make eggplant, you prefer that I cook it at a time. That’s totally away from you eating.

C 

I feel like you’re a little more sensitive with your sense of smell. Yeah. Because I think when you were in the hospital, you came home and you’re like, Did you cook Tabasco? A week ago?

K 

No, I said, Did you eat Tabasco right before I came home? And you’re like, No, that was a week ago, like the day you entered the hospital. It was it felt like there was a Tabasco orgy. Like you had just been spring Tabasco everywhere. It was just so pungent in the air. My eyes was

C 

Binion’s I had put it in Baba food was still hot. So yeah, and I can’t do office and I occasionally shut the door and then act like I’m gonna get caught smoking pot.

K 

Like smoking out the window or smoking up event or something. Yeah, cuz I am super, super sensitive. So. And I think they knew that but I skipped over the bread. I was digressed away from Brian. We’re digressing. Yeah. So a type of bread that the Japanese did not make is Dutch crunch rolls. And so the Dutch Dutch crunch and bread I’ve only ever seen it in one place. And that’s at that deli across the street or in the same parking lot as nations and Fremont.

C 

They had it in Sausalito too, because I hadn’t ever encountered Dutch crunch brand until I started working in a in the San Francisco Bay Area. Worked in Sausalito and there was a deli that had Dutch crunch as one of the options for your sandwich bread is so that is very good.

K 

It is the most delicious bread I’ve ever had for

C 

sandwiches I would agree. I think if you’re going pure deliciousness without introducing specialties like hot dog bread, Hokkaido, milk bread.

K 

I think I think Hawaiian bread beats out Hokkaido milk bread.

C 

Fine Hawaiian bread a little bit thirsty making

K 

You find the Hawaiian bread to be what?

C 

A little bit dry. Makes me a bit thirsty.

K 

Really? Yeah. I don’t find it to be dry at all.

C 

Which is strange because you’re very sensitive to dryness.

K 

I am. But not in bread. Bread, it’s texture. Red is a text of thing for me. Okay.

C 

Yeah, cuz you’re a sweet corn bread is pretty dry. Yeah, but dry.

K 

Yeah. But it’s supposed to be because you put better on time as

C 

I know it’s supposed to be – you’ve done it correctly. I put honey on top of it rather than butter.

K 

Well, I asked you how you – what would you do to it after I made it? And so honey on top of Sweet Cornbread. I’m like you’re trying to get diabetes. Like you’re actively chasing diabetes.

C 

I tried for years and diabetes like nope, not for you.

K 

We’re not making fun of anybody who’s diabetic. We know diabetes is very serious. And with all of my conditions, I have to monitor my blood sugar every day. Like several times a day to make sure I’m okay. So why Hokkaido milk bread over Hawaiian bread? The moistness  because Hokkaido, not bread is as moist of a bread you can get without it being wet. Or undercooked. It’s fully cooked.

C 

Yeah. It’s not like a bread pudding because bread pudding is just much much moister. But it is fully cooked. But

K 

it’s like loaf. It’s a it’s a bread loaf that you can slice.

C 

Yeah, like the round ones. But yeah, you can get it in low form. Yeah.

K 

So it comes like in loaf, it comes round. And it comes just as a flat square.

C 

Yeah, it comes small round. So yeah, big rounds are a big.

K 

Yeah. It kind of milk bread is really good. Yeah. So I find that Japan has a lot of good regional specialties that I really enjoy more so than seasonal specialties that I enjoy.

C 

Okay, so this is where I want to talk about it because I have a lot of knowledge. Okay. But the legal system in Japan recognizes the existence of regional specialties much more readily than in the US. And so like how Champagne is only if it’s from the Champagne region of France, that’s because it’s a protected it’s a protected word. Yeah. and Japan will hand that out for basically any originality and they Japanese government has encouraged regions to get this protection, and then they seek this protection worldwide. So if you’re eating Kobe beef, you’re probably not actually eating called AP if you’re probably just eating some kind of beef. But Kobe beef is a protected phrase. So if a restaurant is selling something as Kobe beef that does not come from Kobe. Technically they are breaking the intellectual property rights of the city of Kobe.

K 

Yeah. And so you’ll know if you’re eating Kobe beef or not, there’s several different types of kinds of Kobe beef. But it has to be cooked well done. Yeah. So if there’s any pink in the beef, and their thing is Kobe beef, and you can determine how it’s prepared, then you’re not eating Kobe beef because Kobe beef is not just the beef itself. It’s also the preparation of it.

C 

Right? So wagyu is the general term for Japanese beef. But yeah, within Japan, we get several different kinds. We can get Kobe beef, we can get heat up beef, which we got when we went on vacation a few years ago. Yeah, heated beef is sort of rare, and as kind of a much richer flavor than

K 

the richest beef you’ll ever taste in your life.

C 

And so a lot of places like the lemon drops that we started off mentioning, you can’t call your things kata or lemon drops, unless they come from Hokkaido, and they’re certified as coming from there. How corny? How corny. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, from Connie, and they’re certified is coming from that area.

K 

Yeah. And for Japanese gift giving culture, that’s really nice and really good, because then you can give people things from the region you went to visit. And so it’s the most popular form of Amiata, which we’ve talked about before. But the other thing that I like about it is that for me, it’s like how every place has a mascot. I like that, but every city has the it has a flower. It has an insect, it has a bird, it has Ryan like delicacy.  mascot,

C 

One of the delicacies for Nagoya is purin, which is kind of custard. And so,

K 

Which you really enjoy, which I don’t get. Yeah, I don’t get custard.

C 

But you have to call it something else. If you’re elsewhere in Japan. Yeah. And then each region beyond food is allowed to have a few things that you can actually get tax cuts for buying. Yeah, we live close to second. We don’t live in the same state. But we live geographically close to Seki, which is famous for knives and pottery. Yeah. And if you spend, like $1,000 on this particular set of stacking knives, then you can take that off of your tax bill, because it’s recognized as a revenue raising measure for the city of second.

K 

Yeah. And the same thing, if you go to sechi. Do the tourist thing where you can make stuff and take the class the class is the same. And so as the title classroom in Nagoya.

C 

Yep, so a lot of it has to do with government sponsorship. Yeah, different things, because

K 

each region has their own specific tie dye pattern, right. And so that’s one of the reasons why I think we’re talking about last episode, that you make those specific patterns because those are the Nagoya patterns.

C 

Yeah, it’s like the Scottish tartans. The colors. Yeah.

K 

So yeah, tie dye is like, like pardon here, because the families do have a specific tie dye pattern and used to be that the last layer of the Milky mono for marriage was in that pie pattern. And then afterwards, they would be hung on the wall, the clothes, not the people. So we had a nice meandering talk about food and I just want to reiterate that I’m still missing Slurpees come on Japan. You do slushies. You’re so close. You’re so so close. And I do really miss watermelon juice. I miss watermelon juice. I don’t miss cranberry juice. I do miss pomegranate juice.

C 

Pomegranate juice is available here. It’s like $12 A bottle but it is available

K 

and that’s just too much too expensive. Yeah, and that’s too rich for my blood. Pomegranate juice. That’s just palm Yeah, and so it’s not really pomegranate juice. Yeah,

C 

pomegranate juice is like when we went to Paris and they had pomegranates and a juicer

and I love that and they were like Oh man, I’m Are you sure you

C 

want to do this? It is so expensive. Is $12 for a bottle? This is what we pay home. Like yeah, I don’t think you understand how expensive juice is where we come from.

K 

And they didn’t think I understood that I will be getting the juice from the pomegranate. Right and then like but I’m putting pomegranate into a juicer

C 

and that filling up the bottle that we pay three times listed price because it helps three servings like we get all that yeah speak French very well, but we get

K 

We know how to do math. So yeah, that’s my hit us up in the comments and tell us like do you have regional food specialties that you like from where you live? And do you like holiday foods? And do you particularly like or dislike any of the foods that we mentioned, you can put a comment down in the comment section, you can add us on Twitter or you can follow us on over to Patreon and keep the conversation going there. We appreciate all of our music nerds. Thank you for listening. And this week we are going to I know we’re going to talk about we’re going to talk about the difference between an anthology and a novel because we have an anthology coming out in a couple weeks and the process of making how it different learn how the process differs for each one. I’m trying to say that thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week. Bye