SWEET GLOBS ON A STICK

At this time of year it is customary to put on gay spring robes to admire the cherry blossoms. Somewhere else. The only blossoms I've been in a position to admire are the acacia trees down the block, which have informed me that allergy season is starting.
Which is far less enjoyable.

And rather than wearing my prettiest yukata, it would be far more appropriate to wear my dreary seal-hunter garb, because it's cold, pilgrim. SF feels like Ohio. Winterish.

My finger tips were a lovely shade of blue-grey-green most of yesterday.

And it snowed in various parts of the country.

My joints hurt.

花見摶子

One item which is appropriate to the season elsewhere is sweet rice paste balls on a stick (hanami dango), also called 三色摶 (three colour dumplings; sanshuko dango) or 串摶子 (generically: skewered dumplings; kushi dango). Precisely the thing fair goers would snack on since over a millenium ago. Some recipes add silken tofu to the dough for a smoother texture. The balls are boiled till they float, placed in icewater to stop the cooking, skewered, and may be glazed. The appropriate hues are achieved either by using cherry blossoms and green tea powder, or simply by using food colour.

Hanami dango (花見摶子): "flower viewing dumplings".

Dango are suitable to any time of year, so pleasant weather and abundant cherry blossoms aren't strictly necessary. And though pink-white-green are traditional for admiring the flowers, the dumplings do not need to be coloured.


They are not to be confused with fishballs or corndogs.



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