The more I learn about cooking and food culture, the more I’ve become fascinated with cultural concepts of portable foods. As I’ve written before, Japan’s main example is onigiri, rice balls, but in the Shinshû/Nagano region, it’s oyaki, the steamed buns often made with savory fillings and soba-flour dough. Combine oyaki with another one of my…
Category: Vegan
Mameshiba Cupcakes
ね、知っている？(Hey, did you know?) These cupcakes may be the simplest of the geeky/nerdy (it varies…) birthday cakes I made this spring. My spouse loves Mameshiba, which is… well, as the song goes, they aren’t quite beans and they aren’t quite dogs; and everyday they bring you a bit of trivia– You know what? This is…
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…
Vegetarian Curry Nabe
Curry nabe is combination of two of Japan’s great comfort foods: curry-rice (karê raisu, カレーライス) and nabe (鍋). Curry-rice is a Japanized version of Indian curries via Britain: served with rice, this dish is a thick, brown sauce, more sweet than spicy, combined with onions, carrots, potatoes, and chicken or beef, which are sauteed before…
Kabocha Hummus
On the themes of both autumn and non-chickpea hummus-adjacent spreads, I present kabocha hummus, one of the many fine uses for kabocha purée. As I stated in my baba ghanoush recipe, chickpeas/garbanzo beans (Japanese: hiyokomame, ひよこ豆) are relatively expensive in Japan, so I’ve been trying to less expensive chickpea alternatives. If chickpeas are cheap where…
Kitchen Library– 10.29.2012
Thanks to Jessica Goodfellow of Axis of Abraxis and Ashley of Surviving in Japan for featuring my kabocha purée recipe on their sites!
Pumpkin Spice Latte with Kabocha Purée (Bonus: Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe)
If every Japan food blogger is required by law to cover okonomiyaki (twice), then every food blogger in the US and Canada is required to offer a homemade version of Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. The most popular variety has pumpkin purée rather than syrup mixed into it. Whether you live in Japan or the US,…
Kabocha Squash Purée (Pumpkin Purée Substitute)
Have your pie and eat it, too
Baba Ghanoush (Roasted Eggplant and Sesame Spread)
All systems are go on the new hosting! Or they seem to be–let me know if there are any links or pages that don’t load properly. I’ve covered bread here, so let’s move on to sandwich fillings, specifically pita. Hummus or falafel seem like obvious choices and are very easy to make at home if…
Earth Café (Veg* Out in Kanazawa Series)
Earth Café (アースカフェ) Location: Kanazawa City, Ishikawa pref. Type: Café, Lunch Veg Status: Completely vegan Languages: Japanese, English (bilingual menus and staff) To put it simply, Earth Café gets vegan food right. Despite enjoying cooking vegan food at home, I am often wary of it in restaurants. Just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy–…
Roasted Autumn Salad with Quinoa (or Rice)
Typhoon season has brought the temperature down from the endless blazing days of August, one of the few times of year when Ishikawa isn’t rainy. Because of Mt. Hakusan, the typhoons that slam into west of Japan dissipate into thundershowers over Kanazawa, a sign that fall is near. With all the squash at the market…
Oatmeal Sandwich Bread (Bread Revolution Series)
Can we just take a minute to fist-pump here? I’ve made sandwiches on bagels and sandwiches in pitas, but how about sandwiches on bread?
I'll Make It Myself! 
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