Wandering around the food court. Where is that bagel place I keep wanting to try? And where’s the T2 cafe? Darn it, I must be on the wrong level.
Not even hungry. Late breakfast and now an early lunch. But if I don’t eat I’ll spend the whole wedding mentally hurrying the service along and that’s not pleasant.
Hey, this place has onigiri! And apart from the meat and fish varieties they have both seaweed and mushroom. I could eat one now and the other one closer to the ceremony.
I hand over $6 and take hold of the onigiri. Oh, they’re quite solid and heavy! Hmm, maybe I only needed one… They’re bigger than my hand, a triangular rice sandwich with filling in between the rice and a sheet of nori wrapped around like a paper holder. The rice really does act like bread rather than encasing the filling on all sides.
Sitting at the table. The Husband watches people on the ice skating rink over my shoulder. Can’t watch the skating, too busy trying to follow the Korean opening instructions written on the plastic packaging my onigiri came in.
I’ll eat seaweed now and mushroom later.
Well, the little pictures say to pull a strip down the middle off and then slide the halves off. Pretty funny that they included directions, I’m sure I can manage this!
Yup, here’s a tab marked one. Pull it. It twists around the package. Slide one side off… oh, huh? The nori is encased in plastic rather than touching the rice. To keep it crunchy I guess? Tugging the plastic off. Leave the other side on so I can hold it without getting ocean smell on my fingers.
The middle layer of seaweed filling is the typical seaweed salad. Long green chewy strands with specks of red chilli and sesame.
Bite. Yup, the nori is crunchy… and really good! Toasted, not fishy, with a vague sesame sense. Normally I dislike dry nori but this is nice. It crackles and is easy to bite through, no chew.
The rice is bland. Not like sushi rice at all. I like sushi rice better; what isn’t improved by vinegar? Also the grains are at least medium grain, if not long, rather than the fat stubby balls of short-grain sushi rice.
And the seaweed salad is seaweed salad. Why do I keep buying this stuff? I never really like it. I don’t trust food that refuses to be bitten or chewed. The chilli is a good temperature, warm without burning, and there is the occasional seed.
So half gone. Now to get the wrapped off the other half.
Uh-oh. I think I was supposed to pull this off while the onigiri was whole. Now I’ve got no other end to hold while I tug, so I’m always holding the plastic I’m trying to remove.
Doh! Try and inch it out. Ooops, now half the nori is free but the other half is stuck and my sandwich is coming apart. Fine, okay, I’ll do a reconstruction job when it’s gone.
Eeek… hmm… there! Okay, wrap the green crunchy sheet back around my rice slabs… Not too bad, didn’t fall apart much.
Eat. Seaweed is not great but it’s fine.
Pretty full… but the other one is looking at me…
Back in the car and I give in! I will eat you mushroom onigiri! I’m sure time won’t make you better anyway.
This time I free all the onigiri at once. Bounce goes the car. But my onigiri technique is clearly improving.
Ooo, they put two little soy sauce fish in the bag! Darn it, I bet that would have improved the first one.
Trying to hold the onigiri and hold the fish and unscrew the little red mouth-lid at the same time. This always happens when I eat sushi too, it’s so awkward! Another bounce, and now the lid is gone somewhere beneath my seat. Gotta use all the sauce then, or I’ll get brown on my wedding clothes.
The mushrooms seem to be thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms. Nothing really with them, just scattered by themselves. But soy sauce will cheer them up!
Crunch goes the nori. Soy soaks into my tongue. Man, this is like a million times better! No can’t-chew seaweed, just salty rice and mushrooms and crunch!
Hoeing in even though I’m full. Bounce. See, got to eat it quick before all this bumping results in mess.
And it’s gone…and I’m really full. That was a lot of rice! No hungry stomachs distracting me from the ‘I do’!
So the lessons of today: always follow instructions – even when written in another language – and use soy sauce liberally.
Rating: 
Specifics: Seaweed onigiri and mushroom onigiri bought from Totoro, in the Macquarie Centre
Vanilla Crème Brulée
It’s better to watch Masterchef with other people. Particularly if those people bring withe them pots of crème brulée and a tiny butane torch.
Ad break! Crafty Kay sets the three ramekins out on the bench. She sprinkles raw sugar evenly across the tops of each creamy-yellow custard. Then… blue fire!
Wow, it happens so quickly! The second the flame touches the dessert the sugar dissolves into bronze liquid. On one the sugar is piled too high and suddenly blisters black.
“I’ll eat that one,” Crafty Kay says, handing me a perfectly crisped brulée.
This is my first time trying crème brulée so I’m not going to argue.
Back in front of the television. I tap delicately on the caramelised top. It’s very thin, and crinkles apart. Tasting the shards.
Um… I don’t know… tastes like burnt sugar. Which makes sense, considering its origin, but is that how it’s supposed to taste?
Beneath shell the butter-coloured custard is smooth and well-set. My spoon goes in easily, softer than jelly but firmer than pannacotta.
Oh! Oh! Delicious! It’s creamy and gentle and tastes so much like beautiful vanilla ice-cream. No egg-ness at all.
Huh, Jimmy is cooking chai crème brulée on TV! I’m sure that would be good too… but the brulée in the hand is worth three on the screen.
Eating it slowly… slowly… it’s so good I’m scared of finishing it.
…but it’s gone.
I want more!
The Masterchef judges drink Jimmy’s runny brulée up as I mournfully hunt the corners of the ramekins for any lost custard.
Forget the caramel on top, just give me the custard!
Rating:
Specifics: Vanilla crème brulée cooked by my lovely talented friend