Japanese Blog

I started Japanese blog here. http://hunwaritime.blog119.fc2.com/
Visit here, too! (If you can read Japanese...)
I'm looking forward to your visit!

Today's Sweets

I made the "Shiratama-Mochi with Sesame Sauce" for today's snack.


***Recipe***********
25g Sesame
1/4 cup Milk
1 tablespoon Honey
1 tablespoon Sugar
50g Shiratama powder
50cc Water
*******************


Since we were out of black sesame, I substituted white one as it. Though using black one could make a better contrast with the white shiratama, it's okey this time because it's trial.

First, I started on sesame sauce. I ground sesame with the pestle. It was pretty hard to keep grinding, and I gave up doing that in 10 minutes! ( Do you think I am lazy?) Then I added milk, honey and ... salt instead of sugar! I noticed my mistake when I tasted it to see if it's sweet enough. Yes, it was salty enough! Therefore I should have started all over again. I could succeed in making sauce this time.

Second, during refrigerating the sesame sauce, I set about making the shiratama- mochi. How to make it is as usual.

Finally, I put the cooled shiratama into a dish and poured the sesame sauce on it!

The impression of tasting... it was quite nice! I felt the aromatic sesame smell and fine sweetness. I thought, however, it would be much better to grind sesame more and to strain the sauce once. I will try again with black sesame next time.

Flower Brooch

Can you guess what these brooches are made from?
Origami? Japan paper? ・・・The answer is newspaper!

I didn't color those at all. I made full use of the original color of newspaper.
I didn't notice there are such a lot of colors on newspaper until I know about this brooch.
What a waste we've thrown away those before!

We can, depending on the combination of colors, how to shape the petals and so on, enjoy the several variation.
Why don't you try to make Newspaper Flower Brooch, too?

Homemade Buns

I tried to bake homemade buns !
It's first time to make buns that I chose to try the basic buns.

***Recipe*****************
300g flour
1 tablespoon dry yeast
2/3 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
150cc milk
*************************

The dough was very sticky on the beginning of mixing materials. But keeping kneading it, it was getting soft and smooth. After the kneading, setting the dough about 1 hour, it become bigger and softer like the skin of a baby! The dough becomes hard a little when I cut it with a knife and returns soft when I set it a while. I got interest because I felt the dough is alive.

And the taste was ... good! Though it was first time to bake buns, they're baked tasty and soft.
I already tried to arrange to add walnut or chocolate chip.
I want to try other kinds of bread!


Dear Karube- san
Thank you for telling me the recipes of breads and your advice! Tell me your favorite one or new one you tried!!

Maison Kayser

Today I and my mother went out to have lunch with my sister, who works in Ikebukuro.
The restaurant we enjoyed is "Maison Kayser."
They are the bakery from Paris and have two cafes in Tokyo.

We all had Salad Lunch; plenty of fresh salad with spicy grilled chiken and cold pumpkin soup are served in one plate. Of course, we can taste many kinds of delicioius breads and can eat as much as we want! We arranged some like sundwich, dipped some in the soup and savored some themselves. We really enjoyed the different flavor of bread.

My mother and I also had Berry Tarte for dessert!
We had nice lunch time with happy chat.

Maison Kayser HP : http://www.maisonkayser.co.jp/index.html

OIRASE Keiryu

OIRASE Keiryu is the mountain stream originated from the Towada Lake. It's 14km long, and the esplanade lais along the flow. Many waterfalls and other beauty sopts dot along the stream .

On the first day, we went up to the Towada Lake by bus and went downstream on foot. It took about two hours to walk down 5km. We got to a cataract called "Choshi Ohtaki," which is 7m in hight and 20m in width. Approaching it, we could hear the clamor of a waterfall and feel the smoke of it. We're really refleshed by shower of minus ion!

On the second day, we joined the early-morning walk tour. The tour started at 5:50am and took us to highlight spot in Oirase. We strolled about 1hour and had a breakfast by the river. It was kind of cold, so I appreciated the hot miso-soup! In the breakfast box, there were lots of local foods. However, what we enjoyed the most is the situation that we had meal. We were surrounded by the trees, heard the song of the stream and the humming of the birds, were bathed in morning sunlight and breathed fresh air. We all really enjoyed those and nice chat.

After we got back to the hotel, we took the hot spring and warmed our chilled bodies. It was short stay, though, we were satisfied with Oirase very much. I thanked there's such a beautiful nature in Japan and I could visit there.

Flower Carpet

Shiba- Zakura no Oka ( The hill of Moss Phlox)

About 1.6 ha ground is covered with over 350,000 roots and 8 kinds of Moss Phlox.
That sublime scenery is as if a huge carpet of patchwork.

Bright blue sky... spring winds... and soft color of flower.
No one doubts it's a spring magic.

The language of Shiba- zakura is " perseverance."

http://www.hanasanpo.jp/index.html