先日、中華街に行った時に念願だった
照宝の蒸籠をとうとう手に入れました。購入したのは21センチを2段＋フタ。サイズも値段もイロイロで決めるのにかなり時間がかかりました。輸入材を使った機械作りの蒸籠は2,400円、フタの竹部分の質がアップし機械での作りもしっかりすると3,900円、日本で育ったヒノキで手作りしたモノが9,000円と3段階の値段設定。照宝といえば上級品のヒノキの
セイロに押してある焼き印がとてもチャーミングで、ひそかにこの焼き印に憧れていました（上級品じゃないモノには赤か黒のハンコです）。が、なんと！焼き印のデザインが変わっていて、あの憧れの焼き印入り21センチの蒸篭は店頭にはもうありませんでした。焼き印ナシでは一番高い蒸籠の魅力は半減です。さらに留め具は高いのに付いている金具のではなく
木の皮の方がカワイイと思ったので真ん中レベルの3,900円のモノを選びました。せっかく旦那が一番高いのを買えば？って言ってくれたんですけどね・・・。
When we were in China Town the other day, I went to
Shou Hou (in Japanese) and finally bought a bamboo steamer that I always wanted. Shou Hou, a famous Chinese kitchen gadget shop, sells many bamboo steamers, so it took me a long time to decide which one to buy. Finally I got a 21cm two tier bamboo steamer with a lid. The shop has three different price ranges: the cheapest one, made by a machine and using imported wood, is ¥2,400. The middle range uses a better quality of wood and a better structure - it costs ¥3,900. The hand made one using Japanese cypress wood is ¥9,000. Shou Hou's
hot iron branded logo on the side of the steamers is quite well-known. I really like the logo and I realised that it is available only on the most expensive one, other steamers have red or black ink stamps. But they've changed the design of the beautiful branding iron! At the shop there were still some steamers with the old brand, but not in the size I wanted. Without the old brand logo, I lost the half of my interest in the most expensive steamer! Anyway, the
bark latch on the cheaper ranges looks cuter than the metal brackets on the most expensive one. I chose the middle range, even though C told me that I could get the most expensive one...
