I'd heard of this mythical condiment a few years ago and presumed that it was something confined to the more hipstery neighbourhoods of New York. So when I came across it recently, costing more in weight than the price of gold (or Vegemite at any rate), I had to buy a jar. Jam may be a slight misnomer though, as there's thankfully nothing jelly like here at all - more of a marmalade, and something close to caramelised onions, maybe even a little too close to caramelised onions. But damn does it nice on some crusty toast. Anybody wanting to go to the trouble of making it from scratch can find a pretty tasty looking recipe here.

The latest meat-related scandal news is that meat pies in Iceland don't contain horse meat, or any other kind of meat at all. This link from CBC news however looks a little familiar. Pretty sure the meat pies in their photo below are actually from the Pie Face chain in Australia. Which I very much hope DID have meat in them at the time I was eating them

I found out pretty quickly after going to lunch a few times that when places where asking me was I eating in or taking out, it wasn't just so they could offer me a paper cup or a tray. There's 20% VAT on any food just to sit down and have it there! Whether the shop wants to charge you or not - I'm used to the idea of having to pay more to sit in and drink you're coffee, but this is a little ridiculous. Obviously the places selling the food agree. How many times have said I was getting take away and then changed my mind and sat down..

Ah, Japan in winter - that heady aroma of a million bakeries and udon noodles on the air. This time I'm here slightly earlier in the year, early enough to see the maple leaves change colour and early enough not toast my legs under a kotatsu while the rest of my body freezes. Of course I've also arrived months after one of the strongest earthquakes in Japanese history, and with the nuclear situation in Fukushima, posters are everywhere encouraging people to save electricity. But despite huge natural disasters and next to no economic growth, there's still stuff going on. Since being here last time the huge train station complex of JR Osaka in Umeda has had what looks like an airline terminal built on top of it. I went out to to Den-den down to see all second had video games and music shops and still busy game arcades with huge Gundam pods to step into and strange multi player online games with cards. There was even Christmas Gundam.. I went out to my old neighbourhood in Kobe of course to see what else had changed - plenty of places closed down, new towers in their place, and Harbourland looking pretty empty. Just as in Sydney at this time of year, Christmas lights were up everywhere but the background music featured many more explicitly Christian Christmas songs, presumably because no one listening can understand the lyrics. I've made sure to enjoy some proper ramen and also tried some cheap (but by far the highest quality I've had in ages) conveyor belt sushi, ordered from touch screen tv's at our table. The coffee is crap, but you can sit down in a big comfy chair in a chain cafe and fall asleep for a few hours without looking out of place!

I was originally going to write that I'll miss having food courts everywhere. They serve huge portions, are found in most major buildings in the city, usually underground, providing a million different places to eat. Having been here three and a half years now though, the novelty has worn off (especially for the $5 boxed lunches that consist of fried rice cooked that morning and are barely edible). When I go to the one in the shopping centre next to my office for lunch its hard not to think they all share a huge kitchen out the back from which every similar-tasting meal is served.' But what I will miss is the easy access to Asian food many of these places provide. I can pretty much walk in to any food court or down a restaurant-line street in Sydney and be guaranteed the availability of a bowl of Laksa, Bibimbap, Pho, Ramen, Gyudon or a million other dishes I haven't had the guts to try to pronounce yet alone order. The quality will vary a lot but it's easy to find a place serving the best of it.

The post title is pretty accurate. I've made my own butter! By hand! In a Jar. Before: (5 minutes shaking later) After: I can report that it's quite tasty. That is all

Wandering into a Chinese supermarket here recently (and there are loads of 'em) it's nice to see that you can find the sort of strange food that I used to find all the time in Japan. Stuff like drinks that look like they consist of frogs eggs: Or even drinks that can't decide if they're cans or bottles:

"Just flipping the patty was the main challenge for us, but it all went well," Iman El-Ajouz said. link

Am I imagining things or has there, since sometime last year, been a cupcake fad of sorts? No less than three chains have opened in Sydney selling overpriced and oversweet and overdesigned cupcakes, some of which I'm forced to eat because some one else likes one occasionally. These new cupcake places don't just sell little things with pink icing and sparkly bits on the top designed for little princesses - the new ones look like they could be worn on women's hats at Royal Ascot.. In addition unlike their ugly big cousin, the stoic muffin, which generally gets thrown in a paper bag without much care and attention, these new creations are gently wrapped in an origami like paper box with cellophane window to show off your faffy purchase to the world. So is this just a Sydney or Australia thing? Answers on a postcard to.. Update 23/10: Well I got an answer faster than I thought. It's all to do with Sex and the City is it?

So I was in Tesco tonight at about 11pm; one of the only 24 hour supermarkets in Ireland I think. The place was by no means deserted but the shelves were. So i discovered that you can buy 2 litres of tesco "cola" for 30cents. That must be cheaper than tap water. You can also buy a separate brand of tesco cola for 45 cents, the only difference being that the label resembled coke slightly more and had a "produced in ireland" slapped on the front. Just what the presice difference between "made in ireland" and "produced in ireland" i don't quite know. Regular 2 litre coke was 1.29 i think. Of course it goes without saying that nobody was buying tesco cola.. How can they make it that cheap? i mean, what must they be putting in it (or not putting in it that makes it so cheap). Likewise with actual coke, what do they have thay makes it 100 times as expensice. Could it be down to the amount of ink on the label? I doubt it.. This is kind of a roundabout way of complaing about food prices here. In the past few years or so, the price of food has gone up loads and is now waay to much (how's that for vagueness). There are less and less traditional newsagents, and more and more so called convenience shops like Centra and Spar. Now having come back from Japan not so very long ago, I know good convenience stores, like Lawson or Family Mart - these places stay open all night, have hot food round the clock, ATM's, friendly teenage staff and stuff. But here the price we pay for brightly lit interiors and clean sandwich deli's is sky high cots and crappy choice. But the good news is I've found an apartment!!..whohoo.. will be moving out next week. Its all happening pretty fast since I went to view the place. But its new, bang in the middle of town and the rent is pretty ok. And I've finally switched over to flickr for all my photo's..no more stealing hosted space from my uncle :) Its just a question of uploading everything now.

Finally found out what these little snacks are called today. Had to resort to asking one of teachers in the school what they're called. Theres a small Chinatown in Kobe where they sell these yokes from stalls among other really delicious weird foods that I've no idea how to ask for.