Nori Quotes

“Mergeam incet, pe cerul compact si sticlos alergau niste nori destul de urati. Orasul zacea in covorul lui de praf. Ma simteam in afara oricarei legaturi favorabile cu norii aceia adunati sub ochii mei intr-o harababura menita parca sa-mi demonstreze cat de iluzorii ne pot fi uneori disponibilitatile..”
― Gellu Naum, Zenobia

“They pop in the mouth, just like salmon roe! But inside...
... is the savory saltiness of seaweed!"
"Those pearls are seaweed?!"
But how?!"
"Delicious! Not only is the pop of the pearl a fun texture, the salty, savory flavor of the seaweed melts seamlessly with the rice! I can barely stop myself! It's an addicting combination!"
"Wait... how do you know that technique? Those pearls are seaweed extract gelled into a spherical shape. The only way to do that is by using a calcium-chloride bath and an alginic-acid gelling agent!"
"What the heck?!"
"That's food science!"
"Yukihira pulled a page from Alice Nakiri's own book!"
"I've experimented with this stuff before, y'know. When I was a little kid, anyway."
"Wha-?! But that's-"
"Convenience store Dagashi Candy?!"
"Dagashi?! What's that?"
Both chemicals are on the ingredients list!
"It's what's called an educational candy. Kids play with that to learn how to make their own jelly pearls. I had a blast with it when I was little. I made lots of different stuff."
"Dad, look! I made miso pearls!"
"Aha ha ha! That's great! Now don't let any of the customers see that."
"You can get both alginic acid and calcium chloride at any pharmacy. I used those, along with some seasoned seaweed extract and a little bit of ingenuity...
... to make these savory seaweed bombs- my own spin on the traditional seaweed bento!"
"That's right! There were some educational candies in that pile of sweets he got from the kids yesterday!"
"The transfer student used a food-science trick?"
"And it was one he got off of a package of children's dagashi candy?!"
"Hmm? What's this? I see something that looks like okaka minced tuna hiding inside the rice..."
Mmmm! It's dried tunatsukudani!
This, too, earns full marks for flavor! And its smooth, juicy texture is a wonderful contrast to the pop of the seaweed pearls!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 9 [Shokugeki no Souma 9]

“Pe cerul toamnei, norii nu dau prioritate soarelui. Ar trebui amendați pentru încălcarea regulilor timpului frumos.”
― Lavinia Elena Niculicea

“Meanwhile, at a Tokyo 7-Eleven, someone right now is choosing from a variety of bento boxes and rice bowls, delivered that morning and featuring grilled fish, sushi, mapo tofu, tonkatsu, and a dozen other choices. The lunch philosophy at Japanese 7-Eleven? Actual food.
On the day we missed out on fresh soba, Iris had a tonkatsu bento, and I chose a couple
of rice balls (onigiri), one filled with pickled plum and the other with spicy fish roe. For $1.50, convenience store onigiri encapsulate everything that is great about Japanese food and packaging. Let's start in the middle and work outward, like were building an onion. The core of an onigiri features a flavorful and usually salty filling. This could be an umeboshi (pickled apricot, but usually translated as pickled plum), as sour as a Sour Patch Kid; flaked salmon; or cod or mullet roe.
Next is the rice, packed lightly by machine into a perfect triangle. Japanese rice is unusual among staple rices in Asia because it's good at room temperature or a little colder. Sushi or onigiri made with long-grain rice would be a chalky, crumbly disaster. Oishinbo argues that Japan is the only country in Asia that makes rice balls because of the unique properties of Japanese rice. I doubt this. Medium- and short-grain rices are also popular in parts of southern China, and presumably wherever those rices exist, people squish them into a ball to eat later, kind of like I used to do with a fistful of crustless white bread. (Come on, I can't be the only one.)
Next comes a layer of cellophane, followed by a layer of nori and another layer of cellophane. The nori is preserved in a transparent shell for the same reason Han Solo was encased in carbonite: to ensure that he would remain crispy until just before eating. (At least, I assume that's what Jabba the Hutt had in mind.) You pull a red strip on the onigiri packaging, both layers of cellophane part, and a ready-to-eat rice ball tumbles into your hand, encased in crispy seaweed.
Not everybody finds the convenience store onigiri packaging to be a triumph. "The seaweed isn't just supposed to be crunchy," says Futaki in Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice. "It tastes best when the seaweed gets moist and comes together as one with the rice." Yamaoka agrees. Jerk. Luckily, you'll find a few moist-nori rice balls right next to the crispy ones.”
― Matthew Amster-Burton, Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo

“I busied myself with the seaweed, while Stephen pulled out flexible opaque salmon bones. After skinning the fish, he sliced it down the center seam, creating two pieces, which he cut into quarter-inch-thick slices. Then, like magic, he transformed a knob of ginger into a miniature golden haystack.
I handed him the slippery piece of kelp, which he squared off and placed on a bamboo sushi roller. Next, he laid several slices of salmon across the shiny middle, sprinkled it with a few threads of ginger, and rolled it up like a nori roll. After sealing the cylinder in plastic wraps, he handed it to me.
"Cut this into bite-size pieces." The sweet and tangy kelp yielded like a cooked lasagna noodle under the sharp knife, creating exotic coral-and-sienna pinwheels.
Next, we made delicate egg crepes to wrap around thick oily slices of mackerel that we soaked in a bracing mix of dashi, sugar, and soy. This was followed by a small "salad" of lightly salted white fish "noodles" tossed with salmon roe and lemony yuzu.”
― Victoria Abbott Riccardi, Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto

“Pe acești îngeri i-am chemat. Și tuturor, făpturi mari și frumoase, le-am vorbit blând, în șoaptă, ca să nu-i sperii și am vrut să le povestesc mari întâmplări , dar ochii lor erau goi și nu înțelegeau ce le spuneam și nici nu păreau să audă și tăceau. Și atunci, văzându-i așa, le-am dat semne de bunăvoință și de dragoste și, mâhnit, am înhămat caii negri la carul de umbră și i-am îmbiat, prin semne, să urce, și m-am uitat după ei cum plecau.”
― Petru Creţia, Norii