Hug Chai Works (ハグチャイワークス) Location: Sainen, Kanazawa (Kencho Road/60 near Kanazawa Station) Type: Lunch, café Dietary: Meals are not vegetarian-friendly, but bagels and baked goods are. Language: Japanese Part of the reason I learned how to make my own bagels was that in Japan, really good bagels are not easy to find, especially outside of major metropolitan…
Kabocha Soba Oyaki
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…
Kitchen Library 2013.04.30 [Coffee Time]
In this Kitchen Library: Coffee! (Non-coffee articles and recommended recipes next time!)
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…
Veg* Out in Kanazawa: Aashirwad
Aashirwad (アシワード) Location: Kohrinbo, Kanazawa Type: Indian/Nepalese; lunch, dinner Veg status: vegetarian friendly Languages: Japanese and English (menus, staff)
What I Ate in Nagano, Day 3: Matsumoto, Miasa (長野の名産を食べる旅の第三日：松本・美麻)
What I Ate in Nagano, Day 1: On the Road to Yudanaka Onsen (長野の名産を食べる旅：第一日） What I Ate in Nagano, Day 2: Yamanouchi (長野の名産を食べる旅の第二日：山の上) On our last day in Nagano, we went to see Matsumoto Castle and drove through Hakuba and Miasa on the way back to Kanazawa. 長野の旅の最後の日には、松本城に見に行くために松本市へ行って、白馬・美麻経由に金沢の方に戻りました。
New Resource: Guide to Japanese Kitchen Appliances
On reflecting on four years of cooking in Japan, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about which kitchen appliances were useful and how larger appliances differ from their North American counterparts. If you’ve just moved to Japan and aren’t sure if you’d rather have a food processor or a blender, or if you’re…
Sakura Matcha Muffins
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…
What I Ate in Nagano, Day 2: Yamanouchi (長野の名産を食べる旅の第二日：山の上)
Day 1: On the Road to Yudanaka Onsen (長野の名産を食べる旅：第一日) On our second day in Nagano, we headed to Yamanouchi to see the snow monkeys at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. We kind of took the long way around, but eventually we got on the right path. 長野の旅行の第２日には山の上の地獄谷野猿公苑へニホンザルを見に行きました。ちょっと道を迷ってしまいましたけど、やっと見つけて進みました。 The roads from Yudanaka Onsen to the park are…
Homemade Sakura “Latte” (Sakura Steamer)
Nothing heralds spring like seasonal menu changes! Starbucks’ sakura latte (henceforth not italicized) is much like the pumpkin spice latte in the US: people line up for it and it sells out long before sakura season is over. Or, in Kanazawa and the rest of northern Japan, before it even starts. This year,…
What I Ate in Nagano, Day 1: On the Road to Yudanaka Onsen (長野の名産を食べる旅：第一日）
Craft beer wasn’t the only delicious thing I had on my trip to Nagano. Let’s recap! 今回日本語でも書いてみようと思って、日本語で読む興味がある方がいらっしゃいますか？スノーモンキービアライブのんために長野へのROAD TRIP、行こう！
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…
I'll Make It Myself! 
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