One hell of a storm blew through Saturday night and Sunday, ruining the weekend for hanami. Luckily, we’d had decent weather all week, including Friday night, when I went to Rojô Park in Komatsu for nighttime cherry-blossom viewing. Of course, hanami wouldn’t be hanami without food and drink, and what better to bring than two Japanese classics together…
Category: Dessert
The Triskelion Cake (MTV’s Teen Wolf)
Remember how I needed a fix? This was a really, really good fix. This cake is a gift! (Spoiler-free!) I am new to Teen Wolf and its fandom, so, having only seen a couple episodes for reference before I started, I lacked a mind palace1 full of semi-obscure references to incorporate. Thank goodness for my friend…
The Blanton’s Cake (Apple Bourbon Bundt Cake)
If you haven’t noticed yet, I like mental gymnastics. You’ve seen my critical analyses and a handful of translations here on the blog, but I also really enjoy sudoku, detectives/detective stories, and, apparently, creating nerdy/geeky/fandom birthday cakes that require research and some level of technical difficulty. After “The Great Game” cake, I needed a fix. Badly. How…
The Great Game Cake (BBC Sherlock)
Congratulations to M on the occasion of her birthday. This is a cinnamon-applesauce cake with a basic buttercream frosting. The design is based on the 221B damask wallpaper and is stenciled in cocoa powder mixed with cinnamon with the smiley face from “The Great Game” piped on top. To make the stencil, we printed the…
The Minecraft Cake
This year, my spouse and I came up with an extra special birthday cake for our friend’s birthday: a Minecraft cake. If you aren’t familiar with Minecraft, I’ll let the website speak for itself: “Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the…
Teaser Photo
Coming soon…
Avocado Almond Cookies
Downtown Kanazawa is experiencing its seemingly annual winter butter shortage. The grocery stores I frequent have signs that read “one package per customer” and explain that the shortage is due to conditions in Tohoku, where much of the nation’s dairy is produced. My friends in other cities report that they’re having no issues finding or…
How to Bake Cookies in the Oven Range and Mini Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies Recipe
Food homesickness is the plague of not just expats but those who move from region to region– for example, Homesick Texan is a food blog about recreating Texan/TexMex cuisine in New York. The way the author writes about food memories and the problems recreating beloved foods when you can’t always find ingredients really resonates with…
Spiced Persimmon Cake
桃栗三年柿八年 (momo kuri sannen kaki hachinen): it takes time to reap the fruit of one’s actions (lit. [It takes] three years for [planted] peach and chestnut trees, eight for persimmons [to bear fruit]) (ことわざ学習室） In late autumn and early winter (mid-Nov. to New Year), Omicho Market is awash in reds and oranges: strawberries, crabs, mikan,…
Recipes Revisited
What’s nice about making some recipes over and over is that, not only can I make it myself, but I can make it better. I’m updating some of the articles on this blog, so I thought it might be helpful for readers if I noted these changes. Read more for updates on homemade yogurt, chocolate…
Mini Okara Gateaux Chocolat
デコレーションケーキ (dekorêshon kêki): a decorated cake; a fancy cake. Gateau is one of those non-Japanese foods that I never had till I came here, but defining what gateaux are is a bit hard. To me, a gateau is a dense flourless chocolate cake made with cream and almond flour. To other Americans, gateaux seem to…
やっぱりアメリカ人: Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Chip Brownies
「アメリカの料理は？」<What about American food?> 「やっぱりピーナッツ・バター！ピーナッツバターが懐かしい。」 <Definitely peanut butter! I miss peanut butter. > 「甘い。。。」<But it’s sweet…> It’s the nature of an expat to be perpetually food-frustrated–if I’m in Japan, I want turkey and fancy cheese; if I’m in America, I want bamboo shoots and yuba. The ultimate American comfort food for me is peanut butter….
I'll Make It Myself! 
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