With the excessive head pain last night, I forgot to mention that, while on Granville Island, we went to the market and happened across a stall that sold konnyaku. This, in itself, is not interesting. What was interesting was that they sold konnyaku from our prefecture (Gunma)! No one outside of Japan has heard of Gunma, and most people in Japan don't know it either. It's literally in the middle of Japan, the bellybutton, one of only 5 (out of 47) prefectures not bordered by water. It is odd to see anything made in Gunma in other prefectures in Japan, let alone in another country.
Konnyaku is a flavourless jelly-type glob made from the starches of a taro root-type plant that people call a potato, but it isn't, and has a dull grey colour and flecks of black in it. It looks like someone accidentally dropped it in the dustbin and then forgot to wash it before serving it. Ew.
There are flavoured snack konnyaku cups that are tasty (the heart shaped ones), but they discontinued the pommegranite (pomegranite?) flavour. And yearly people die from eating konnyaku snacks because they don't chew it (it is a jelly) and wind up choking on the glob. How embarassing would that be, to have cause of death listed as choking on jello?
If anyone can find chewy aloe vera candies can you let me know? They discontinued them and I never found an alternative.
Currently reading :
Overcoming Passive-Aggression : How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career and Happiness
By Tim Murphy
Release date: 09 November, 2005
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