> > On the first one is written, "I am but dust and ashes," and the second one says, "The world was created for our sake."
>
> I couldn't read the second one without thinking of rice wine.
>
> Brunnen-"the world was created to make us happy some of the time, but leave a nasty taste in our mouths and make us act weird when we get too much of it?"G

Heh. Saké leaves a bitter aftertaste if it's drunk cold. It's supposed to be served hot; the 'cooking' makes it more mellow and releases its sweetness. Not that this makes any difference to me. It still tastes like drinking hot alcoholic hay or rice straw. What's the ethanol content like, something around 13-16%?

I've only found saké useful as a cooking wine solvent to dissolve the black crunchy stuff baked on the bottom of a roasting pan. The baked-on stuff is pure gold -- it's where all the concentrated flavour is. The drippings turn into a nice stock, and the saké seems to add a complexity that plain cooking sherry can't approach.

Wolf "That's just more gravy, eh" spirit