最近のかき氷はデカすぎる

Gift snack: 12-Fun Bakery's marron France and Paris memories

This week's shared snack is the seasonal "marron France" from 12-Fun Bakery Shinjuku, a sister shop of 365 Nichi, the popular bakery in the fiercely competitive Yoyogi-Hachiman bread scene. The chewy texture, the toasty aroma of sliced almonds, and the rich chestnut cream have made it a hit. While eating it, the two drift into memories of their first Paris location shoot. In the very back seats of the location van, only Anri, Tanabe, Haru-chan, and their French driver were left. With the door left open, a large-built French man came striding toward them, and they braced themselves in fear — only to realize the two things he was carrying in his hands were just baguettes. The punchline had them both cracking up all over again.

Chestnut festival and the sweet-chestnut disaster before the Golden Rabbit debut

Anri eats sweet chestnuts year-round and is partial to the large bulk packs from My Basket, part of the Aeon group. But before the first-ever live broadcast after her regular radio show got promoted to a golden-time slot, she ate 4-5 bags of sweet chestnuts and ended up with a bloated, aching stomach right before airtime. Worse, when asked the opening question, "So how's Boru-Juku doing today?", she blurted out, "My stomach's not doing great from the chestnuts." Tanabe grew worried, Anri fumbled her words, and Haru-chan froze — the two laughed hard recalling what they called the worst possible start to a broadcast.

Autumn food "hit or miss" stories

A memory of Anri's family home, where boxes of astringent persimmons arrived every year, leads into a discussion of how autumn foods are often hit or miss. At Tanabe's house, he was served blueberries alongside tea that were supposedly "fine to eat even while dieting," but they turned out intensely sour, leaving him wondering if it was some kind of prank. After failing to find a monjya restaurant, they stubbornly ducked into a sukiyaki place instead, where the edamame they ordered turned out to be spoiled — only Anri's mouth went numb from eating it. There was also a story about getting hungry backstage and opening a red bean sweet, given to him by Tanabe as emergency food and kept in his bag, only to find it had gone sour.

Anger at the shaved-ice boom and sympathy for the listener letter

A letter from a listener called "Spicy Ramen-san" reads: "Shaved ice these days is way too huge." It's delicious at the start, they write, but by the middle it melts into plain sweet syrup, and they end up frustrated at not being able to finish it. Anri pounds the table in agreement. She's such a fan of shaved ice that she visits specialty shops regularly, and she explains that shops tend to make servings large because some customers eat three portions' worth; she also notes that the gesture of gently stroking the ice at the end is filled with affection. She cites a shaved ice she had at a tea shop in Fukuoka, made with a tea base so that it stays delicious even after melting, and talks about demand for half-size portions. On the topic of parfaits using empty "space" as a visual device, she's positive, noting it can hold down portion size while keeping the presentation appealing.

Predicting the next food trend: far breton and egg tarts

Frustrated that someone else already published a shaved-ice book early, the two get fired up about wanting to start their own food trend. Tanabe says he learned about far breton from his friend at Chibaya and enthusiastically promoted it on social media, which he claims pushed far breton to the No. 1 spot in search rankings at the confectionery ingredients shop Tomizawa Shoten — proudly declaring, "I'm the one who made it trend." Pointing to past revivals of melon bread and financiers, he further predicts that 2027 will bring a fierce competition around egg tarts ("eggu tarto"). Just as they get excited imagining a future where conveyor-belt sushi chains serve egg tarts for dessert, the recording moves on to introducing a letter from a listener called "Irikon-san" about discomfort with ramen being described as a "guilt-inducing food" — and that's where this recording session ends.