Recently I’ve all about the stepz. 10,000 per day is supposed to be the way to continued health, if not weight loss, and while in Japan it was pretty easy to ‘meet or exceed expectations’ on that, as we say in this crazy world of ‘business’. There’s not a lot near the house, but what there is by god I’ll sniff out, and some mad genius recently opened a really nice little Japanese sweets shop. With a great name!
Only recently have I learned what an uguisu is. This after years of riding or running through Uguisudani (some of this post is near there if not right there) and knowing it was bird-related from the kanji but being too lazy to look it up. I’m not that interested in the natural world, I suppose.
I like the unnatural world. So when I see a little steamed bread treat called ‘uguisu’, I have to get it. I asked first, and it turns out to be filled with green paste instead of red or white like you’d expect. If you hear ‘green paste’ in a steamed bread, I bet you’re think it’s edamame and wondering why it’s not called zunda. It’s not, it’s green beans, and we had a good laugh because I couldn’t remember ‘zunda’ to save my life and just asked the master about the green stuff from Sendai. He’s the expert in the field, so of course he knew.
I got the wagashis because I fel bad for him and because I kinda like them now. The green thing was nondescript, but the pink thing had a lovely texture with the smooth, smooth rice on the outside, and I think some nikki in the dough or filling.
An acquired taste, these. But it’s a nice shop if you live within 5 minutes walk.