JDrama review: FAKE Kyoto Bijutsu Jiken Emaki

The drama I´ll be reviewing today is titled  "FAKE Kyoto Bijutsu Jiken Emaki". It´s a Japanese drama series that is set in Kyoto.

If you´re looking for a mystery series that focuses on fast-paced action and chasing after the criminal, this isn´t for you. It isn´t for you either if you want to see a series like CSI, which uses a lot of technology in their investigations.

This series is a very calm an slowpaced mystery drama that focuses on the artistic aspects of the crimes (which are always related to some sort of form of artistic expression….from paintings to pottery to Noh masks). I began watching this drama aiming for the mystery element; I stayed because of the lovely settings, the interesting look into different aspects of Japanese culture and art, and, I´ll admit it, the clothes. You get to see quite a few people wearing traditional clothes alognside people who "dress modern", which I found particularly interesting.

The two main characters are female—the police officer and Urasawa Yu—and it´s enjoyable to see how their relationship develops from an initial "can´t stand her" to an "I´m actually quite fond of her; she´s not a bad person at all for all her excentricities".

It would have been interesting if there had been slightly more focus on one of the "side investigations" (the person who´s painting fakes) and why Yu left Paris; it´s mostly just barely hinted at, though I expect that it´ll be revealed in the last episode. Five episodes have already been released, and the sixth and last one will probably be available soon on Dramacrazy.

I´d classify this Jdrama as "short and sweet", a must-see for any person interested in seeing and learning a bit about traditional cultural aspects of Japan, especially art. Hard-core-mystery seekers beware, you´ll find only average "investigation" cases here. Though some of the endings do have a bit of a twist, which is a very nice surprise. 

Japanese croquettes:korokke

I´ve always been curious about how the Japanese have taken recipes from the rest of the world---and adapted them.

Being a huge lover of croquettes, I wanted to try this Japanese recipe out. Speaking of adaptations, why doesn´t english have an English word for "croquette"? I´ll admit that in all my years living in the US I didn´t see any at supermarkets, so I guess that that must be it. Here in Spain, you can´t leave a frozen foods section without seeing at least 5 different kinds of croquettes, of different brands. I wish we imported American "tater tots" and "hash browns"..... Spaniards should learn the addtional wonders of new potato fried/oven baked wonders.

Anyhow, the first thing that I noticed from this recipe is that it doesn´t use bechamel filling. It uses potato filling--which really brings to mind my grandma´s home-made cod croquettes. For cod croquettes, a potato base is used instead of bechamel; making them denser than regular ones.

The second thing I noticed was the size and shape--they´re a lot larger than regular croquettes, and they´re flattened out into patties instead of left oval-shaped.

Spanish version "croquetas"

Japanese version "Korokke"

I used this recipe: Japanese Korokke. It´s actually pretty simple and basic, you don´t need a lot of ingredients.....it´s just time-consuming. More time-consuming than I´d thought, actually (I have no idea why I was surprised, regular croquettes are even more time consuming since you need to freeze the bechamel before you can even roll it in beten egg, flour and breadcrumbs...). We ended up eating at 15.15 or so instead of the 14.30-14.45 I´d planned. But it was absolutely worth it.....to counter the fried korokke, we ate them with a side of salad. Yum. They were delicious.

Here´s the initial meat-and-onion mix, which was yummy in itself.

I boiled the potatoes in a regular pot. Next time, for speed, I´ll use out other one.

No pics of the in-between steps (my hands were too sticky), but here they are right out of the fryer.

Last picture of them, draining excess oil. I made, oh....about three times this amount. We´re a hungry family (and I´m bad at calculating amounts)

I would really recommend trying to make them, the patties are very fun to try.....the only problem is that, being made out of potato, the base can´t be frozen (unlike bechamel), but it can still be refrigerated to use another day if you have any left over (as I´ve done). 

Have you ever tried korokke? Or croquettes? What do you think?

Weird movie.....

I´m a fan of "Steampunk" on Facebook, and they just had to share this strange thing today, which piqued my interest:

 

Yes, you´ve read it correctly. It does say "Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter". With a premise like "President Lincoln's mother is killed by a supernatural creature, which fuels his passion to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers.", it can only be one of two things:

1) Spectacularly awesome
2) Pathetically horrible

Either way, I can´t wait to check it out and determine which one of those two things it is (I´m hoping for the first, I really truly predict LMAO while watching the movie)--sadly, its release is scheduled for late June. Gah. I´m definitely going to keep a watch on it on IMDB.

So I´m a bit of a geek....

....or so I´ve discovered. Either that, or I´m a "G.E.M. Series figure"-whore. Because I swear, I want at least three figures from that series; and they´re all as expensive as buying a used lolita JSK/OP on EGL_sales.....

Why is this happening now? Why did I have to discover figures when I´ve only had one before, Sesshoumaru? It´s not like I watch much anime anymore (I´m now more into Jdramas and Kdramas, whough I still like to read the occasional manga). They´re so pretty, though. I think it´s more my fondmess for the character designs manifesting itself here.

G.E.M. Series Rurouni Kenshin

 .....I like the limited "Battosai" Edition to boot. I´ve actually seen the regular-colored one once at a con, but I´ve never seen this one. Gah.

G.E.M. Series Naruto Hatake Kakashi

 ....where have you been all of my life? I´ve never been much of a Naruto fan (though I did buy the manga and watch the anime at some point), but I have always fangirled Kakashi. Why have I never seen this at a con before? It´s been out for more than a year and a half, supposedly! It´s on sale on a Spanish site as well.....so tempting......

G.E.M. Series Rurouni Kenshin Hajime Saito

....I´m masochistic. This figure is coming out like....in DAYS. He is so seriously cool...... I want him....his pose is so absolutely characteristic.....Aku soku zan!

And lastly, a figure that I will probably never ever have.....that I yearn for with the fiercest aching of my heart.....

I am in love....

I think I could possibly sell my soul for this figure, LoL. It´s 17 inches tall!! The rearing Epona....I´ve always loved her!! >.< It costs 424.99USD.......That´s like two month´s....well, OK, a month and a half´s salary right there....... it´s my ideal Link and pose though..... *sigh* why must you be so expensive?

If I find Kenshin, I´m definitely going to buy him. I know that he´ll be really hard to find (he´s sold out in three sites that I know of.... gr...and his release was in late june 2011!). Kakashi is already hard to find, because the only place I´ve found him is on that Spanish site; he´s unavailable on the Japanese ones I like looking at figures on..... Saito will definitely have to wait. I really get these silly buying impulses all at once, I think. Greediness? Probably the feeling that if I´m not quick, they´ll disappear, as happened with my Sesshoumaru. I had such a hard time hunting him down later......

Speaking of which, I also found this really nice figure of Kagome from the same series as my Sesshoumaru.
I really like her; being a SessoumaruxKagome fan, I figure I´ll eventually buy it.....if I can find it.....since it´s 2 years old. Kotobukiya figures (Kagome and Sesshoumaru) are so much more affordable than Megahouse ones (the GEM series), I´ve noticed.....

I need to go through my wardrobe to take some pictures; I´ve been saying I would since the beginning of the month but haven´t yet.....I really need to get rid of the sweeter pieces that I don´t wear at all.....Is February a good month to sell lolita stuff, I wonder? I want some spending money that´ll keep me from eating away at my savings...