Search for McHotDog, Foot Onsen, Siphon Coffee.

This weekend we went searching for the elusive McHotDog.  Of course it made sense to search at a McDonalds so we headed to Utsunomiya.  As we walked toward the McDonalds we got excited because there was a McHotDog sign out front.  Flat Stanley was ready for his first McHotDog.  We were all pretty stoked as well...

Unfortunately in the bottom corner of the sign it says 10:30まで which means until 10:30.  If you double click the picture it gets larger and you can read it.  I confirmed inside that the sign in fact did say until 10:30.  Apparently the McHotDog is a breakfast sandwich, who knew....  The search will live on for another day.  I opted for the ebi burger (shrimp burger) instead.  The shrimp burger is a little like a Fillet-O-Fish.  It is battered and fried.  The difference is that it is packed full of shrimp in place of fish.  You can see on the wrapper it says "Fillet-O-EBI" and you can see the piece of shrimp sticking out of the bite.

My comment about the Ebi burger is the same as the one found on some cakes we bought at Nikko.

Colleen's birthday is next week, but she had some friends over this weekend for a little celebration.  They decided to make their own Sushi restaurant for fun.  Kate and I were invited to be their first customers.  What looks like popcorn in front of us is actually popped tako (octopus) so I was told.

Here is Liam pondering over the menu options.

Colleen showing displaying her offerings.  You can see the tako, and other Sushi options.  They had quite an offering, but they all tasted a little like plastic or paper, depending on your selection.

All this Sushi talk reminds me.  Last week we took Stanley to Genki sushi (the conveyor Sushi) for a bite.  This is Stanley snagging some very tasty Maguro (Tuna).  I know it was tasty because he doesn't have much of an appetite so we had to help him eat it.

On one of our driving trips in the mountains we stumbled across a foot Onsen.  Onsen are natural hot springs.  There are many varieties of them in Japan.  Men and Women separate, together, with/without swimsuit, manmade pools fed by the springs, all natural, etc.... This style you keep your clothing on, but remove your shoes, socks, and roll your pant legs up.  It was inexpensive, about 300 yen per adult to go in and sit.  The water was very warm and it was nice to relax in the steamy room.  We stayed until everyones feet were red from the heat.

In the US I have tried a number of ways to brew coffee but I had never seen a coffee siphon.  This method is an old way of brewing that fell out of favor in the US by the 60s (I found this out from http://coffeegeek.com/guides/siphoncoffee)  Japan is oned of the few countries that this method has retained some sort of following.  I have thought about buying one for a little while, but they are a little pricey so I had not.  This week while shopping at Hard Off (like a second hand store) I stumbled on a brand new siphon in the box, never used, for half price.  I figured this was the time to try it.  Below are all the parts...it kind of looks like a science experiment.

After assembly it looks like this.  Water is poured into the bottom container to be heated by the flame.  The coffee is in the upper container.  Connecting the two is a glass tube and between those two is a cloth filter to keep the grounds from getting into the stuff you drink.  When you first start it up the grounds are dry on the top and the liquid is only in the bottom.

Once the water boils pressure builds in the lower pot, that pressure forces the water up the tube and into the upper pot (the one with the coffee grounds).  This probably took about 8-10 minutes.  Once all the water is forced into the upper pot you start the timer.  Time depends on the amount of coffee you are making.  This pot was about 1 min 20 sec.

After the brewing time is up the heat source must be removed.  As the water vapor in the lower pot cools it takes up less volume.  As a result the liquid in the upper container is pulled back down through the tube.  The filter between the two keeps the coffee grounds in the upper pot and the drinkable coffee all ends up in the lower pot.  when it is finished the two containers are separated and the coffee is poured into mugs to drink.  I will have to experiment a little tweak the coffee to our liking, but I thought it was very tasty.

Oh.. remember the picture of Dundon with the transformer phone on his shoulder..

Apparently there is a cartoon featuring that phone same phone.....Awesome.

Have a good week.