What a trip! Today I got my first paycheck for taking care of kitty cats and it paid off. (60 bucks, wow!) We went to two different shopping centers in our area. We went to Daiso Japan in Sermonte Daily City and I got Chocolate Pocky, Ramune, and Orange Bubble Gum. But we didn’t find what we were looking for. As of recently my interest for a sweet star shaped candy has been provoked. We ended up going down in San Jose to Saratoga to the Kinokuniya bookstore and the shopping market nearby it to find what I was looking for: Kasugai Konpeito. (Star Candy!)
Lets Wikiattack!
Kompeito, also spelled as konpeito (Japanese: 金平糖, 金米糖, or 金餅糖 in Kanji, or こんぺいとう, コンペイトー in kana, konpeitō) is a Japanese candy originally made in Portugal. The word "konpeito" comes from the Portuguese word confeito, which means a sugar candy. It was introduced to Japan somewhere around the 16th century by Portuguese traders. The infrastructure and refining technology of sugar had not yet been established in Japan in those days. As konpeito uses a lot of sugar, it was very rare and expensive as a result. In 1569, Luís Fróis, a Portuguese missionary, presented a flask of konpeito to Oda Nobunaga in order to obtain the permit for mission work of Christianity. In Meiji period, konpeito had already been culturally-prescribed as one of the standards of Japanese sweets - the character Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker was translated into konpeito no sei (Japanese: 金平糖の精, Fairy of konpeito). Konpeito is also the standard of the thank-you-for-coming gift which is given by the Imperial House of Japan. The gift is not called konpeito but pomponiere (Japanese: ポンポニエール, pomponieru) including the top case. Konpeito is usually 5 to 10 mm (0.20 to 0.39 in) in diameter. Each piece is covered with tiny bulges, which occur in the cooking process. It usually takes 7-10 days to make konpeito and they are handmade even today. Konpeito is made by showering sugar water in a giant spinning tub called dora. This forming process is a topic in molecular engineering, as these bulges would not form if the tub spun faster. Konpeito was featured in the movies Spirited Away (The Soot Sprites eat the konpeito.) and Sailor Moon: Hearts In Ice (Luna is offered konpeito in the shape of stars to eat and at the end two lovers reunite with the star candy. In the English version of the film it was called cereal instead of candy. I wonder why. -.- It is in Sailor Moon where I got a yearning for this candy. And I’m still in love with it.) After we got what I wanted, we went to Kinokuniya and I got HOW TO TAKE OVER THE WURLD (Sequel to I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER?) We went home and I put away my goodies and opened up a bag of these Star Candies and tried them for myself… They’re supposed to be different flavors but they’re not. But I don’t care. They taste heavenly sweet to me.
I'll probably post pictures of this wonderful treat on my Deviantart.
www.vincentsonlylover.deviantart.com (Don't laugh. I made it when I was an FFFreak.)
-Sera
P.S. Not to mention a few days ago on the 7th was the Tanabata Festival (Star Festival) in Japan. So these goodies are especially good. (Heh, I'll always remember Tanabata 2010 as the day I got my Gaia-sama and the day I got interested in Star Candy.) It celebrates the joining of the lover stars Vegas (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi).
Wikiattack!
The Princess and the Cowherd
Orihime (織姫, Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川, Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river" wink . Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星, Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
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