Egraphsen
Stephanie Cullingford
Theatrical Design
Sakuraco
Box Nine - November 2021
Part One
December 12th 2021
Bit of a story behind this look - about six months ago, I was scrolling through Sou when I saw a kimono that made me laugh: it was quite clearly patterned with pizza slices. I sent the product pictures to my friend who is a fan of the 80's (probably because she missed the actual decade) as well as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which it reminded me of). She laughed too and expressed a desire for it. Her birthday party, being 80's themed (surprise, surprise), so I decided to do a trial run of my 80's make-up with her birthday/pizza komon kimono as inspiration - orange and lime green (the original version was lime green and coral and it was... no. So this is version 2.)
I am wearing:
– Deep green komon with geometric 'pizza' motifs
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- Gold and Orange brocade fukuro obi with Cart pattern
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– Quick Flicks 'Hot Summer' in To the Point
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– TFN Nail polish in 'Date with Debby'
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– TFN lipstick in 'Why so Orange'
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– Ochre, green, and coral eye shadow from ancient unbranded palette
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- Orange eyeshadow (as blush) from different ancient unbranded palette
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-Covergirl 'Clumpcrusher' mascara in brown
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seriously, they look like pizza slices!
Viva la 80's
I was trying for a bouffant do, and some how ended up sleek. My hair and I do not communicate well...
The Box:
I bought this fabric to make cushions for Tess Reuvers, my amazing Production manager during Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the set was less amazing, hence the fact I havn't got any photos up) and this off cut usually sits on top of my cricut to keep the dust off.
The cup is by Ecology in 'Speckle' - they call it a 'cuddle mug' but we know better - that is definitely a Yuniomi (tall tea-cup).
The Magazine and Postcard:
When one thinks of autumn, one thinks of red leaves - and maples in particular, especially with Japan. They're called momiji (kaede is the name for generic, or green, maple leaves), and these feature prominently on our postcard along with two birds, species unknown. The Snack Guide shows a view of Kumamoto Castle on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu (but you will have to google that to be sure - neither the postcard or the snack guide actually say that explicitly). Kumamoto Castle is yellowed with ginko leaves, a botanic that features in some of this box's sweeties.
The Spring Autumn Owan/Bowl
Look, it's cute. No doubts, dancing bunnies with sakura and kaede, are cute. The red outside is a nice touch, distinguishes it from the Four Seasons Owan in box 6. But... this is box 9. Four of those boxes have contained bowls. Only one of those boxes have contained something to eat out of a bowl - i.e. liquid, like porridge. We've had one cup, three plates, four bowls and one tray. When I was wondering whether or not to get a years' subscription, the clincher, for me was the promise of 'homewears', of which they specifically named "chopsticks and furoshiki" - not as items to be won, but included items. Everything else they have promised, they have delivered, but the homewears... I am disappointed.
So, here we go! Sakuraco Box Nine!
The Food:
Fukamushi Green Tea
According to the tasting guide "this green tea from Shizuoka is made using fukamushi leaves that are unique to the region ... steamed twice to create a beautifully rich, yet sweet flavour."
Hmm.
What's interesting is, I drank my tea, took my notes, and only now research what fukamushi actually is. For more information check out Fukamushi-Cha, which is the most comprehensive.
Firstly, pretty much everything the tasting guide says, is incorrect (or lost in translation).
1. fukamushi is not a leaf, it is a technique (and not unique to Shizuoka either).
2. Fukamushi means 'deep steamed' and the time is twice as long.
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The technique was developed in Shizuoka in the 1960's/70's to enable the flat land cultivation of tea (which resulted in more sunshine and more bitter tea/leaf) to be economicaly viable: the double-length steaming period removes a lot of the natural bitterness. This means it can be applied to any tea to reduce bitterness, not just a historically lower grade of tea.
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"The deep steaming process reduces any raw grassy taste or astringency in the finished tea, for a sweeter cup with greater body, robust taste, and smoother mouthfeel. Its aftertaste is also quite mild."
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And gosh-darn, if that isn't what I wrote in my notes! (I use the word 'soft' twice, and 'slight' to refer to to the bitterness, twice). I'm not saying I've found a green tea that I like, but perhaps I am now, cha-curious.
The packaging suits the taste well, a very pale, almost cream, green, with green minimalist writing (Makinohara, according to the sakura.co website, is the largest tea plantation in Asia, specialising in sencha)
Kumamoto Castle Gingko Pie
I love the packaging for the gingko pies. Bright and cheerful, with two gingko-leaf silhouttes, matching the pie on the inside.
Again, I think the tasting notes have this wrong - it's difficult to see how such a flat piece of pastry could be called a 'pie' - pies have fillings. It tastes like puff pastry with sugar: a light caramel and sugar, butter pastry taste. I'm not certain what the gingko powder that is mixed in is supposed to taste like, but I don't taste it. As a souvenir of Kumamoto Castle it's cool enough as a leaf shape, without the added emotional baggage (like sakura, 99 times out of 100, it's just not worth it).
What was eeire, is I just finished Blood Ties by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christiansen, where the introduction of ginkgo supplements can have disturbing consequences.
Someone deflated my pie
Kumamoto Castle Under the Moon Manju
The design of the package is very nice - it matches the previous one, and the careful drawing of the castle really gives it a souvenir feeling, but classy and retro/vintage, as though the design hasn't been changed since the 1960's when they were sold to raise money for the restoration (I'm making this up, but it's a good story). The smell on opening the packet is slightly cheesy or sweaty, just before your sandwiches become inedible. Fortunately, that quickly dissipates. Inside, the manju has that cute air-brushed bun look, and tastes just as good as you'd expect, the azuki/vanilla and roasted chestnut coming together just so. Mwah! The batter is a bit ticker than usual, but there is still lots of filling, (and I like the batter too, so that's a win-win).
Daimaru Senbei
First of all, I really love the design on the packaging, the chunky octagon and brushwork making it seem both traditional and fun, as well as mimicking the size and shape of the senbei inside.
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It isn't an octagon, of course, but a circle with rough chunky edges - large fat senbei. It's golden brown and - wait for it - chunky, like it's been made up of broken pieces of rice crackers, and glued together with honey and soy. Those flavours aren't very strong, not like what you would expect from, say, honey soy kebabs, but they are sweet and salty. The humpty-dumpty style allows these flavours to really absorb around the cracks, so they're more tasty than if it had jut been on top, each element surrounded by honey-soy and fluffy and crunchy.
Yawaraka Milk Cookie
In English, we have a word 'milk-sop', which basically means 'child who needs their food softened with milk', but no hint of cuteness, i.e. weakling. This cookie is the weakling of the biscuit world. Yawaraka means 'soft'. Everything about this biscuit is weak - the packaging appears to have been infected with apathy: "Milk's white, right?"
"Yeah, think so."
"Might as well make the packaging white."
"Might as well"
It's round, it's pale, it's soft, it's vanillary.
Quite frankly, if it came out of my oven I'd say it was under-baked and give it five more minutes. It's more like a brownie/blondie than a biscuit.
Ta-Blah
Black Bean Senbei
I don't think the senbei was served by having such neutral packaging. It's brown and dull, even the words are transparent, which I imagine make's them harder to read. It feels like a cheep product, not a fun one. The tasting guide say that black bean is 'fragrant', but for me, mostly, it's a change of texture, added crunchyness, smoothness and nuttynes. The senbei it's self is senbei-like: slightly salty, slightly sweet. A bit puffy, and, clearly, rather frangible.
Brown Sugar Doughnuts
The contents are what they say on the tin: three new style donut sticks [sic].
This was quite a fun surprise: starting with a box with a decided grown-up patisserie vibe, only to turn it over and find a bear going on holiday to Kumamoto Castle!
Although what makes them 'new style', I'm not sure.
Although they look brown they are actually pale inside, and like Sata Andagi (box 6) have been soaked in syrup - made from Okinawan brown sugar to make them dark. I suspect like the Sata Andagai they have been fried with a lower oil temperature to let them puff out to let the syrup percolate in, which is obviously delicious. Interesting to note that the sugar has not been completely dissolved which gives it a micro-cruncy sensation. While they look fluffy, they're actually quite tough, which takes away just a little, as is the fact that the three are individually wrapped - who eats just one doughnut stick?!
Not the prettiest item to finish on but one of the tastiest. Doing my best to smash out a bunch of boxes, but with Christmas and work, I'm running pretty behind times. (You hadn't noticed? What an adorable liar you are). See you soon (I hope!) for part 2!
