The only way I can tolerate eating breakfast is to switch things around regularly. A 4 or 5 day stretch of cereal and milk can put me off the stuff for months. Even peanut butter on oatcakes is not immune to this quirk¹ of mine. And toast is particularly susceptible to this immense hatred of routine. Even marmite can’t save the day everyday.

So it’s up to a very wide range of spreads to save the day. And here I present my latest spread of choice: black sesame spread/cream.  黒 kuro) ゴマ (goma) クリーム (kurimu) as diligently copied from the packet (should I ever crave it and need to get it from rakuten or some such internet heaven).

I must say I wasn’t terribly heartened when I first opened the pot. Greeted by an oily black paste, most people may have instantly dumped it in the bin. We², on the other hand, seek out the most disgusting looking things to eat, for we know that the worse it looks, the more heavenly the taste³. This particular black sesame spread was no exception. The name is no misnomer. It really is a cream; smooth and with a luscious lingering creamy sensation on the tongue. It’s similar to, but a lot smoother and richer, than the chinese black sesame cream dessert (the name of which has momentarily escaped me). And at 140g, we’ll finish the pot before I get sick of it!

¹ Quirk, fussiness, no need to quibble over words, is there?

² Not the royal; including the P in this one. As he hands me some yoghurt that’s gone out of date… And he complains that his stomach’s been dicky.

³ The converse is sometimes true. The number of times I’ve biten into some absolutely gorgeous wagashi and started choking from the dryness or blandness is … umm… now up to two.