It's the season of watermelon! A local supermarket is offering free sample of watermelon juice for customers to taste. A mid sized watermelon is $4-10, not too bad. BUT... that juice is just like cucumber to me... slightly sweetened cucumber perhaps, but I don't think I'll enjoy eating it because I'm used to very sweet watermelons available in Japan. Probably it's because the watermelons here are seedless, not pollinated, and so not fully developed as a fruit (flavour compounds are developed throughout the course of fruit maturation after pollination at least in the case of tomatoes). But is it the only reason? Maybe watermelon breeders did not breed for excessive sweetness? Kind of bland, weaker flavour may be preferred like many other commodities. Its interesting to see the tendency of Americans preferring weaker flavours of anything. Hmm, not buying the watermelons here but it's ok. I don't miss it so much probably because it's not as hot here as in Kyushu. The steamy hot and humid weather is what calls for juicy, sweet watermelons.
Parchment paper vs wax paper. From time to time you will find a fake or a lower-grade version of something here. I've got another example: parchment paper vs wax paper. Both are used for baking, looking very similar to each other, but parchment paper is the one that you should use in the oven, not wax paper because the wax coating will melt under high heat while the silicon coating of parchment paper withstand heat. I mistakenly baked pastry under wax paper because I thought they were the same!! The wax melted and apparently my pastry absorbed some of the liquid wax while baking. It was sad to throw the bake away. The wax paper is for lining the kitchen board and handling cold dough. It's a cheap alternative of parchment paper you can use while preparing your dough. It's my fault I didn't read the description of wax paper, but it's certainly confusing. I never imagined there would be paper very similar to parchment paper that yet can't be used in the oven. It's even dangerous as wax paper can catch fire under high temperature. I'm really glad it did t in my oven. If you're used to using both wax paper and parchment paper appropriately there should be no problems, but for me, it was another surprising lesson to learn here.
Inflation seems taking place because the student fee and parking permit price went up ~4%. The economy is pretty good here. New cars are selling, and the stock market is erratic but active. I'm glad the apartment rent didn't go up, but it seems prices have increased in general. I wonder if salary increased too. It'll be hard if not. Which happens first, pay increase or price increase?
西瓜の季節。スイカは割とお手頃価格で売っているのだが、種無しスイカのせいかあまり甘くない…きゅうり以上スイカ未満な感じ？
ワックスペーパーとパーチモントペーパーを間違えて餡子パイ第一作目が失敗に終わる。ワックスペーパーは、蝋が塗ってあり、常温以下のもののみに使える。その上で生地を練ったりするのが主な用途だと思われるが、これがパーチモントペーパー（耐熱のクッキングシート）によく似ている。ワックスペーパーって、高温になると溶けて食べ物に移るだけでなく、発火する可能性もあるんだとか！そんな危ないものを、間違うような環境で売っていいのかしら？？
この国ではインフレが起こっているらしく、大学に納める諸経費、駐車許可証の値段が4%くらい上がっていた。家賃は据え置きのようで本当に助かったが…、給料が上がらないと物価だけ上がっても困るよね。景気は良いようだ。物質社会だし。スーパーなどに行っても、「このグッズ、必要？」と思うようなものがシーズン、イベントごとに並んでいて、大量消費社会だなあと思う。そして、家に物がたくさんになれば、ガレージセールで家の庭にあふれんばかりに並べ叩き売る。お金とものの回転が非常に激しいようだ。
https://pixabay.com/en/melon-fresh-juice-watermelon-juice-2438503/
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