Fire-king craze

Recently many of my friends in Japan have been asking me about Fire-king glassware. Random, huh? That's what I thought at first, anyway. But over the past few months, more people have starting asking me what I know about Fire-king and what I think about it - why the interest?

I can honestly say I don't know very much about Fire-king. I think it was popular here in the United States during the Depression because it was a less expensive alternative to the fine china preferred during more properous times. However, I don't see Fire-king dishes around too much these days - other than a few original pieces in my grandmother's house.

Overall, Fire-king is a bit obscure - and so I wonder how in the world it became such a collectors craze all the way over in Japan. Can anyone explain?

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Coffee, please!

It's just been one of those weeks. I'm in need of some coffee to keep myself going - or maybe it's just enough to see some of my favorites.






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Udon, the amateur way

It's nearly impossible to find good udon in Chicago, let alone the Sanuki style udon that people from all over Japan travel to Kagawa Prefecture just to eat. We miss Sanuki udon like crazy - and so on Friday night we decided to try making it ourselves.

I think any udon shokunin would have been horrified to see us making udon - and would have been horrified to see the results. We tried hard to mix the flour and water just so, roll out the dough and "walk" on it enough times to achieve the perfect texture, and cut it to the appropriate thickness. But for amateurs, these steps aren't easy. I think it takes years of practice to perfect udon.

And believe me, our udon was far from perfect. Although we strived to create the long, slick noodles we had eaten dozens of times in Japan, our udon was more like a cross between Eastern European bread "dumplings" and chewy Italian gnocchi. And it was very heavy - I became full after only a few bites.

But even though it wasn't perfect, we had fun trying. And maybe next time it will be better! Practice makes perfect, right?

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