Soba maker toy lets kids make Japanese noodles
I've been travelling in Asia for a month now and I've grown absolutely addicted to soba noodles -- and now this word of a working soba-maker toy from Japan!
LinkCheck out this cool new toy from Takara Tomy, slated to arrive on the market in late October. It's a home soba maker. All you have to do is put soba powder and water inside the red bowl, and turn the crank on the right side. The crank then mixes the water and soba powder at just the right consistency to produce perfectly even, delicious-to-eat soba noodles.
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KIds? Hey, I want one for myself. Time to replace the clunky metal pasta machine.
Now that's the kind of "toy" I want to see more of Stateside. Coming soon...My First Fruit Drier!
I'll hang on to my Italian made Atlas pasta machine, thanks.
If you go anywhere near Kyoto, you must try "Soba Nishin", that is, soba noodles with smoked herring. It's sadly addicting. (sad because it's impossible to get outside Kyoto... I can't even find a recipe in English describing how they get the wonderful flavor into the herring.)
Where's the fun in turning a red handle? Soba pasta is traditionally rolled out and cut by hand using a long rolling pin and a very large square knife. Now that's fun!
The other thing is that depending on how long the soba dough is mixed, kneaded and cut, the taste & texture can turn out completely different, so umm...pass? Sorry to be a soba snob, but after living in Hokkaido for the last 7 years w/ some of the best soba in all of Japan and a boss who makes the stuff in his spare time, I've defo acquired a taste for the good stuff. ;)
Oh, and Cory...if you want a personal tour of Hokkaido while you're on this side o' the pond, just let me know!