「ジュー、プシーッ」 (Juu, Pushii)
“Oozy, Poof.”

I love seafood – all types of seafood. From all types of fish to shellfish to seaweed and prepared in all ways; whether that’s steamed, fried, boiled or just plain raw. I sound like a carnivore. I would love an episode where Koufuku Graffiti focuses on sushi or sashimi, but I guess that’s not considered everyday Japanese dining. I’ve never been to Japan, but I hear that great sushi there can be expensive and more “luxury”. Where I live, sushi/sashimi places are everywhere and if I wanted to, I could eat it every day for a fairly reasonable price. All-you-can-eat restaurants price you around $20 USD for dinner and it comes with a large menu size, dessert, drinks and it’s worth it if you eat a lot. A-la-carte will probably charge you between $10-20 USD depending on what you order, but definitely affordable for a meal out and personally, I probably go once a week. Anyway! I mention this because “grilled fish” is not as common here compared to sushi, sashimi and terikyaki-style foods. There are restaurants that serve it, but I don’t think people appreciate it because they’re giving you a WHOLE fish! Head, tail and all and it’s staring – just right at you. Compared to how Americans eat fish that’s just a fillet cut up and cooked, it’s quite a different experience. If I wanted to get grilled saba or sanma here, I’d have to go out of my way to find it. Not to mention that a well-prepared sanma is hard to find. Saba (mackerel in English) is definitely more common, but even so, it has delicate bones and can be quite fishy in taste. Sanma (mackerel pike) is worse – it’s thinner, with smaller bones and you have to be careful not to swallow them. If you haven’t had either of them before, I definitely recommend the saba first; which is also common to eat as sashimi. Sanma is exactly what they’re serving on Koufuku Graffiti and usually seasoned lightly with salt and lemon… I love the crispiness of the skin and the texture works well with rice. Served with some salad or pickled cucumbers, and I think it’s a well-balanced light meal.

Away from the food itself, I was pleased to see an episode that didn’t feature Ryou cooking, but Kirin instead. Way to go Shiina for encouraging Kirin to stop relying on Ryou and actually do something for herself! I’m not a huge fan of Kirin’s character because I find her lacking in maturity… compared to Ryou and Shiina at least (even though they’re the same age) so I’d like to see her grow up a bit being away from home every weekend. Then again, at her age, I don’t know if I’ve ever prepared raw fish before either so I can imagine why she’s nervous cutting it up for the first time. I think the simple notion of wanting to learn is already a huge step forward and she has some of the best teachers surrounding her. Unfortunately, Kirin is a still quite obnoxious to me in certain scenes, like her inability to clean up and breaking plates?! One of my biggest peeves is when people are bad house guests; I do not like people coming over and making a mess in my kitchen (or anywhere in my house). I rather cook for them, and that way, any mess that I make is my own and my guests can just chat and relax. Kirin still has a long way to go to be a great wife one day, but at her age, at least she’s trying.

With Ryou taking the backseat this week, I actually learned more about cooking from Tsuyuko than I have in previous episodes from Ryou. Although it’s still not a “teaching” anime, I think the show would gain more audience members if they explained the techniques used or what they’re actually preparing. Preparing fish is indeed difficult and if anyone’s tried it at home, depending on the fish you’re cooking, it can be easily overdone, not seasoned enough or not thoroughly cooked. I know Koufuku Graffiti is an anime more about the eating and enjoyment of food rather than the cooking process, but I think it’s an important step too if you’re homecooking. Getting to eat food that you’ve created is part of the experience of “homecooking” and you get a satisfying feeling knowing that what you made is tastes good.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: It’s great to see Kirin doing the cooking this time. She needs to learn to be more independent & cook for herself #koufukug #KoufukuGraffiti

 

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16 Comments

  1. “I find her lacking in maturity…” Befitting of her size I guess and the sort of running gag of people mistaking her for a kindergartener.

    Anyway, while I think it would be very nice if they also teach the cooking methods, this show from the very beginning was clearly more of a slice of life so I’m not surprised about that. Upcoming Shokugeki no Soma would be the type of show that also tells you the methods that are used so look forward to that if you want more food and how to make them!

    Anyway moar SHIINA!!

    Also I’m not a full fan of fish because of how we cook fish and the type of fish we cook, it’s always a lot of work to eat it due to all those tiny bones. Also because I’m lazy and like to eat meat without doing any work hahaha. But yes cooking fish can be quite difficult at times due to the scaling and gutting it is not always as nice as gutting other meat. Oh, and the smell that permeates into clothing sometimes.

    Silver
  2. Sorry for the OT, but is the disappearance of the dislike counts next to the buttons a change that you’ve made to the site or is there something funky with my browser? I don’t have a problem with the change if there is one, this just caught my eye because somehow the red button sticks out more now that it’s the right-most element on its line.

    Q
    1. It’s a change that we implemented just… yesterday lol =P
      We’re not making a public announcement about it or anything but yes, it’s here to stay. You won’t see the number of downvotes anymore but the same rules still apply – if you have more than 20 downvotes, your comment will still get hidden. And if you have 20+ upvotes, your comment gets highlighted in green.

      1. Thanks, this happened around the time there was a “scheduled maintenance” message, but since I got that one after the neg votes disappeared I wasn’t sure if everything was working OK or not.

        Hey when you say 20+ votes, do you mean absolute or relative numbers? I’m asking because I think I’ve seen comments on sensitive topics like shipping related stuff get strong reactions in both directions. So it would be odd if someone had like +20/-20 and then depending on what the next vote is, they’d either get greened or disappeared. Of course it would hardly ever be split exactly like that but you know what I mean.

        Q
      2. @Q:
        The 20+ votes up or down is relative. You have to be +20 or -20 either way to receive a green or hidden comment. However, once the votes get into the really high ranges (like 50+ votes), I think the thresholds change. I’d have to ask Div to confirm the exact number but I rarely see votes go that high anyway.

  3. As much as I love seafood, I always get annoyed eating whole fish because of those bones. Salmon is okay since the bones are large and easy to take out. But for others its just annoying. The worst part is when you think you have gotten all the bones out and start chewing only to find that there is still another bone left. Sometimes get stuck in your gums as well if it has a very sharp end. Then it becomes a dilemma of how to spit it out without looking too primitive. My relatives often wonder why I don’t like ordering steamed whole fishes at Chinese restaurants because of it.

    One thing which I tend not to like about the western way of cooking fish is that it is often well over-cooked up until the point that the flesh becomes flakey. I love sashimi the most as the texture is amazing, but fish is good regardless.

    What type of seafood do people like most around here? I’m probably more for prawns and lobster/crayfish, but mussels and oysters are great too.

    Taiakun
    1. I’m in favor of fish, though that’s because in here the bones are usually already removed when you buy or have it served to you. If I had to struggle with the bones, I wouldn’t like it as much. The bones are the main reason why there are some fish I like less than others. Herring, for example, can be really annoying to eat. My favorite fish are salmon, whitefish and perch.

      As for how to cook them, I love sushi and sashimi above all else. For more local ways, cured fish is pretty good. For more cooked variations, I like smoked, fried and grilled. Salmon medallions and my dad’s smoked perch (more on that in my post below) are really good.
      I do agree that the western way tends to cook the fish too much. I especially don’t like how soft it can get when prepared in oven. Unfortunately oven is one of the primary ways of cooking fish where I’m from…

      As for other seafood, I don’t really hate any of them (though octopus I couldn’t eat for a long time as a kid after a case of especially bad one). I just don’t get to eat them very often. I don’t think I’ve ever had lobster or any kind of crab for example. Except for prawns, of course. Prawns are okay, but usually I get to eat them in ways I don’t enjoy too much.

      Erimaki
    2. I do find the bones annoying as well, but since I was young, I always had steamed fish (either at home or at a restaurant) so I’m pretty much used to it now. I’m generally pretty good at picking out bones (or spitting them out like a rude person o_o) when I eat. On the contrary, I don’t like eating chicken wings because even though those bones are huge, I don’t like getting my fingers dirty -__-‘ And eating lobster or crab at Chinese restaurants require hands too which I think is messy.

      My favorite type of seafood depends on how it’s prepared. Sushi/sashimi tops my list any day but that’s because I like Japanese cuisine in general. I love seaweed… in a salad or just dried and seasoned; it’s a good snack. I like eating crab (lobster is meh) but I hate using my hands to open everything so I rarely eat it =X Shrimp is good if it’s peeled for you as well (LOL! Notice a trend of my laziness to open stuff myself =S) and I like shrimp deep-fried, not so much steamed or boiled. You’re right that a lot of restaurants that serve “fillets” of fish tend to be over-cooked but I think people like it that way. I’ve been to many restaurants where they crisp up the skin and then just cook the other side a bit so you get different textures when you eat so that’s interesting. Overall though, fish at restaurants never blow me away unless it’s black cod… oh my, I love that stuff =3

      1. Yeah I hate getting my hands greasy especially when at a restaurant. I don’t mind it too much at home but I always have a box of tissues to wipe my fingers XD

        Most of the time when I have lobster they had already chopped it in half lengthwise which makes it much easier to take the flesh. When I’m from however there isn’t much meat anywhere else so there really isn’t much point in trying to break the legs and claws. Same with crabs here really. I did have a snowcrab leg when I went to the Sapporo Snow Festival a few years back. They give you some scissors to break the leg with. Did get quite messy to eat >_< It was funny seeing a can of broken scissors though since that shell is so hard to break.

        Someone dragged me around Lisbon in Portugal for over an hour to find a restaurant with "amazing" fish dishes, which ended up being well overcooked. Was so disappointing D:

        Taiakun
  4. On cooking whole fish, it’s something I’m not unfamiliar with, but not something I get to enjoy too often. Namely, my dad does fishing in Summer and smokes his catch whole. Without entrails though, Tsuyuko’s comment on those being tasty was harder to swallow than anything about fishbones or them starting at you.
    That’s the only instance I get whole cooked fish though, where I’m from it’s cooked and sold mostly in fillets.

    Kirin and Shiina wanting to cook for Ryou was really nice to see, but the chaos they caused while doing the dishes wasn’t very fun. I guess I’ve never been a fan of that type of humor.

    I rather cook for them, and that way, any mess that I make is my own and my guests can just chat and relax.

    This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from my mom: “I’ll rather do it myself so all the blame lies with me”

    Also, this episode just made Tsuyuko one of my favorite characters (tied with Ryou and Ryou’s grandma, closely followed by Shiina) in this show. She’s awesome and so motherly. Her previous appearance in the kitchen already put her guite high though.

    Erimaki
    1. Eating an entire fish is definitely something I realized isn’t very common in a lot of cuisines – especially where I live, a lot of people don’t LIKE to see the entire animal on a plate (not just fish, pig or duck or chicken too). Asides from sardines, smelts or other small fish, I think it’s hard to find “whole cooked” fish available a lot. If you ever find the chance to try it, I encourage it =) I’ve never had the chance to go fishing and actually eat what I catch so that’s probably a privilege you shouldn’t take for granted ^^ Sounds so fresh and yum.

      The ignorance and clumsy-ness is definitely not my type of humor either. I don’t really like Kirin’s character too much =X but I guess it shows that she’s growing. I hate other people cooking in my home for that exact reason of your mom’s… and also because a lot of guests either don’t clean up after themselves or don’t clean up properly =S They’re probably trying to help so I can do less, but honestly, it gives me anxiety just watching them drop a few crumbs on the floor… and then walk all over it… and then walk all over my home orz.

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