St. Pattie's Day in Japan?

Japanese people, for the most part, don't have a clue about St. Patrick's Day. Even though it's a hugely popular day in America about the holy man St. Patrick, when I try to explain it to a Japanese person, I get a confused reaction accompanied by an, "eh?"

日本人は殆ど、「St. Patrick's Day」っていう日のことが知りません。アメリカでチョウ有名なアイルランドからの「St. Patrick」っていう聖人のことについての日なのに、私が日本人に紹介してあげようとすると、「えっ？」って顔をしながら、面喰らいそうです。

Long ago, in Ireland, there were a lot of snakes. They caused people much grief. After all, snakes are followers of the devil, and so were natural enemies of the Catholic Irish people. But, St. Patrick drove all those snakes out of the country, and in doing so helped many people. Because of that story, on March 17th we celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

昔々、アイルランドで、蛇が何匹もいて、酷い目にあった人が多くいたということです。所詮、蛇が悪魔の信徒で、カトリック教会に入っているアイルランド人には、自然な敵だったんです。でもある日、St. Patrickがその蛇を、国から追い出して、人々を救ってあげました。そういう物語で、現在では、３月１７日に、St. Patrickのことを思い出して祝うことになっている。


But I'm pretty sure most Americans don't really care much about the back story, and just think of the day as an excuse to eat and drink a lot. When we think of Ireland we think of green stuff. So, to celebrate, we wear green clothes and eat and drink green foodstuffs.

でもね、アメリカ人には、きっとそんな話がどうでもいいから、この日がいっぱい飲んだり食べたりする言い訳だと思う。そして、アイルランドとなると、何もかもが緑色と思われている。だから、祝いに人が緑色の服を着たり、緑色の飲食したりするんだ。

As for me, I tried to participate just a little and have some green options of my own. In Japan, typically green things aren't so much mint and pistachio, as matcha and vegetables. So...

私も、ちょっとだけでも、緑色の食べ物を食べることにした。日本では、緑色に関係している食べ物は、ミントやピスタチオではなくて、抹茶や野菜です。だから。。。

...I ate this matcha cake! But before that...  

。。。この抹茶ケーキを食べた！でも、その前に。。。

I had these green nori senbei, with some homemade guacamole!
緑色の海苔せんべいと、手作りのグワカモレを食べた！

It was fun thinking of "green" things I could take advantage of here in Japan for St. Patrick's Day. And also tasty.

日本でSt. Patrick's Dayのために、生かせる緑色の食べ物を考えて楽しかったよ！しかも、美味しかった。

 

De wa, mata ne.

 

では、またね。

Rolling, rolling, rolling....

This is going to be a picture-heavy post.

Recently the lovely and culinarily-talented Katie posted a recipe for making a single or two-serving roll cake. I got so inspired by that post that I've made it at least half a dozen times now. Here, let me show you.

このポストは、写真いっぱいになりますよ。

最近、料理が上手ですてきなKatieさんが、一二個のロールケーキのレシピーを出しになった。そのポストの影響で、少なくても五六回やってみてきたんだ。見せてあげようか？

First up, a lemon, strawberry and white chocolate roll cake.

まずは、レモン、ストローベリー、ホワイトチョコのロールケーキ。

Despite that this was one of my first attempts at the cake, it was the one that ended up rolling the best. A friend told me that the colors reminded him of a breakfast burrito, which made me want to try again just so I could make a properly "desserty"-looking dessert, haha.

初めて作ってみた時だったのに、一番うまく巻くことが出来たやつだよね。ある友達が、この写真を見て、ブレークファストブリーとを思い出したって言ってて、ちゃんとデザートっぽいのを作ってみたいと思っていた、笑。

Next is a chocolate and matcha one. This one broke a lot more, because I waited too long to try rolling it! It was still scrumptious though.

次は、チョコレートと抹茶。これは、冷やすように待った時間が長すぎて、一回目より、巻いてから亀裂が生じってしまったんだ。ま、どう見ても、美味しかったよ。
 

I ate it with peanut butter, and used some strawberry jam as a palate cleanser.

ピーナツバターと食べて、口をすっきりとするためにイチゴジャムもたべた。

Try number three was a pancake-themed roll cake. It was filled with a maple cream and butter. I made the cake portion with chocolate, because chocolate chip pancakes are a favorite of mine ^_^.

三番目は、パンケーキのテーマのロールケーキ。中がメープルクリームとバター。私がチョコレートチップパンケーキが大好きだから、生地にココアも加えた。

Number four is a peanut butter and jelly roll cake! I used matcha and red food coloring to make the cake more festive-looking. It just seemed like a fun idea, and didn't really affect the flavor too much.

四番目は、ピーナツバターとジャムロールケーキ！祝い的に、生地に抹茶と食紅を入れてみた。なんか、面白そうと思ってやっちまったからね。味には、何も影響が分からなかった。

And most recent is this one. I bought some purple potato powder at a store and wanted to use it in something. So, I made purple potato roll cake with pumpkin mousse! I also put chunks of roasted, sugared purple sweet potato in the roll. It was so full that it'd didn't really roll "up", per se. Here you can see it along with some cookies from a cookie recipe I was trying out.

最も最近のは、これです。べに芋パウダー買ったから、使ってみたかったんだ。その結果が、パンプキンムース入りのべに芋ロールケーキ！焼いてて砂糖をかけてた乱きりの紫芋も巻き込んだ。中身がいっぱいで、ケーキの端も合わせてなかった！となりで見える物は、新しいクッキーのレシピの二個です。

 Making these is so much fun. You're limited only by your imagination with this kind of recipe. And I make all the stuff from scratch, so it's way healthier than roll cakes you buy at the store! Thanks again to Katie for the initial idea!

ロールケーキを作るのが、すごく楽しい！創造だけでの限定があるレシピだよね。私は、何もかもを手で作って、スーパーで買えるお菓子より、かなり健康的にもなるし。Katieさんにまた、最初のアイデアを与えてくれて、ありがとうね！

Ja, mata ne!
じゃ、またね！

The Frozen Waterfall

 This past Saturday, me and my friend Anna Peat went to see the "frozen waterfall", Jintsuu no Taki, in Tokushima prefecture. I wanted to be back around 1 p.m. at the latest, so we started out really early, around 7:30.
 この間の土曜日は、私とアンナピートっていう友達が徳島県での神通の滝を見に行きました。午後一時までに帰りたかったから、めっちゃ早く、朝の７：３０に出発した。

Anna figured out the route ahead of time.

アンナが道を調べておいてくれた！

But just driving there straight would be really boring, no? So from time to time we stopped to get out and stretch our legs, and take some pictures.

 でも、止まらずに行くとは、つまらないでしょう？だから、足を伸ばしたり写真を撮ったりするために、たまに止まって降りたんだ。

These trashcans do not approve.

このゴミ箱は、なんとなく、起こっているみたいと思う。

We just thought this manhole was pretty.

このマンホールがきれいだと思ったから。

 I actually took this shot through the windshield. Because it was hella cold outside.

この景色がフロントグラスの後ろから撮った。こっぱさぶかったんだよ。

And we thought this frozen tree was funny!

 この氷りついた木が面白かった！

 We got a bit lost for a while, but eventually we found the waterfall! It was snowing and so gorgeous it was hard to believe. 

しばらく道に迷ってしまったけど、結局、滝を見つけた！雪も降っていて信じられないほど美しかった。

 Anna took a picture of me too, heheh.

アンナに私の写真を撮ってもらった（^.^）

 It was a great time!

本当に楽しかった！

Ja, mata ne!

じゃ、またね！

C'est Parfait!

I freaking LOVE parfaits!

They're fun to make, taste amazing, there are endless possible combinations... The reasons to love them never stop!

Since February 14th was Valentine's Day, I was inspired to make a pink dessert. Normally, you think of strawberry-flavored things when you think of pink. But for me, the combination of chocolate and strawberry is just so-so. Therefore, I needed to think of a different "pink" flavor.

What occurred to me was a candy you very rarely find in Japan.  That is, candy canes! From that idea, the following dessert was born!

パーフェが大好きだよ！

パーフェは、作って楽しいし、美味しいし、無限な種類が出来るし。好きである理由も無限のかもしれないね。

二月十四日がバレンタインデーという祭日なので、ピンク色のデザートを作ろうと思ってたんだ。普通は、ピンク色だったら、ストローベリーの味がするだろうね。でも、ストローベリーとチョコレートの組み合わせがあっまり好きじゃないから、他のピンク色に繋がっている味を思いついてみた。

頭に浮かんできたアイディアは、日本によく見つからないキャンディです。それが、キャンディケインだよ！ そのアイディアから、以下のデザートが生まれてきた！

Peppermint-flavored tofu mousse alternated with dark chocolate mousse, and I put crushed oreo cookies and candy canes between the layers as well. It was incredible!

Next time, maybe I'll do dark chocolate and matcha... But, lemon and white chocolate sounds really good too... Argh! So many options!

Ah well.

Ja, mata kondo ne!

ペッパーミント味の豆腐で作られたムースと、ビターチョコ味のと挟まれて、その間に潰したオレオのクッキーとキャンディケインも入れた（^.^）ほっまに美味しかったんだ！

今度、ビターチョコと抹茶にしようかなぁ。。。でも、レモンとホワイトチョコも美味しそうねぇ。。。きゃあ、迷っているよ！

まいっか。

じゃ、また今度ね！

Why haven't WE thought of this?!

 日本人の読者さまへ：このポストは、普通のより長くて、今のところが日本語に書いておりません。ご迷惑かけてすみませんが、英語を頑張っていただけたらと思います。よろしくお願いします！


A while back, I was trying to find ingredients for a recipe I wanted to test out. One of those ingredients was apple sauce. I went to my local Marunaka, Seven, and both the larger shopping centers near my house. I looked and looked and found nothing. My Japanese reading/decoding skillz got me nowhere.

Finally, exasperated, I asked an employee. She lit up and answered, "Hai, kochira de gozaimasu!" (Of course, right over here!) I was surprised, and somewhat dubious, by how familiar she seemed with it. We approached the dairy section, and my doubts weren't assuaged in the least.

Suddenly she gestured upward towards the top shelf, above the selection of yogurt. There I saw strawberry, blueberry, and other fruit-based, syrupy sauces. Meant for putting on top of yogurt or pancakes or the like. Certainly not the apple sauce I was looking for.

That's but one anecdote illustrating a fundamental truth of Living in Japan versus Living at Home. The fact is, there are some things you won't find, anywhere, short of making them yourself. But I imagine most people (hopefully) have some expectations of that prior to moving here. What continually surprises me, even after over a year and a half, are the little gadgets and things that make me think, "Why don't WE have this in the states?!" Usually they are little items created for convenience's sake, and they're striking in that they display a level of consideration for customers' needs that I'm unaccustomed to. Or, they're innovative in a way that makes them useful specifically for the Japanese lifestyle.

An example of the former is, oddly enough, chewing gum. There are two basic kinds you can buy in Japan, sticks in a thin box, and pill-shaped gum in a plastic container. The nice thing about a lot of the stick gums is that they're designed to have the end exposed when you pull it out of the box. That is, you don't need to fumble with the wrapper; you can just bite the exposed gum and pull the wrapper off.

The gum that comes in a plastic container also has a nifty feature: something that appears to be a small post-it note pad included inside with the gum. At first it's confusing, but when you need to discard your gum, the purpose becomes clear. It's meant to wrap your chewed gum up in when you want to throw it away. No more tearing corners off of your napkins! Dude, how smart is that?

An example of the latter is this little doodad:

It may be hard to tell what it is at a glance. It's a donut mold. Meant for making (healthier) donuts in the microwave. The desire for such a thing is due to a unique feature (or lack thereof) of your typical Japanese kitchen: no oven. While many microwaves have oven-esque functions, they're neither that reliable, customizable, or accommodating for larger recipes. This mold allows you to make a single portion of a baked good (it includes a recipe), using the equipment you have (not the oven functions, the normal microwave settings). As icing on the cake (donut?), it's INCREDIBLY easy to clean, and can double as storage if you want to stick your creation in the fridge for later. I have two, which came in a pair, and I use them all the time. Love 'em.

One more example of this. Another deficiency of most Japanese kitchens is a lack of counter space, which makes housing many of the appliances we like to have at home a bit of a challenge. Including a coffee machine. At school we have coffee machines, but they are a workhorse of a machine that could probably seat six. You can see the not-miniscule water heater next to one in this picture.

And sometimes you don't want instant coffee, so what do you do? You buy handy-dandy single cup drip coffee filters. I was gifted some, and the engineering that went into them just astounds me. Basically, the filter with the coffee is hung hammock-style inside a stiff cardboard stand, sort of like one of those coffee cup things around your drink at Starbucks meant to keep you from burning your hand. This stand has little dents in the bottom meant to sit on the rim of your coffee cup, so the filter with the coffee grounds in suspended above. Then, you simply pour hot water into the filter, wait for some to strain through, and keep adding water until you have the amount of coffee you want. 

There are many, many examples of this kind of thing. You may see me posting on this topic again if I find a particularly note-worthy one. In the meantime, I feel like having a donut.

Ja, mata!

Kind of Tasty Japanese Bread: Choux Rolls

Time for another edition of Kind of Tasty Japanese Bread. This time, there are choux rolls on the menu!

また、Kind of Tasty Japanese Breadの時間が来ました！今度は、シューロールについての説明！

So a common Japanese snack bread are "koppe pan," which are sub roll-like sweet rolls with some kind of filling. Often margarine and jam, cream and custard, chocolate, or some other combination. A sub-category of koppe pan, however, are choux rolls. Here's an example, a marron (chestnut) puree and whipped cream roll.

すごく一般的な菓子パンの一つは、フィリングが挟んでいるフランスパンみたいな甘いパンの「コッペパン」っていう菓子パンです。よく使われているフィリングは、マーガリンとジャム、ホイップとカスタード、チョコクリームなど。コッペパンっていう種類の中で、またの部門があるんです。それがシューロールです。例えば、このマロンとホイップのシューロール。

   These follow the same bread-with-filling formula. However, instead of being a plain sweet roll, they take a cue from melon pan, and top the normal bread with a different kind of dough. As the name suggests, they have choux pastry dough on top.

    As far as the effect of the choux pastry dough, it doesn't so much add flavor as texture variation. It has a slightly crunchy, crackly, fatty texture, much like a croissant. It's a nice textural contrast, if you're partial to such things (I am).

これがコッペパンと同じようなフィリングの菓子パンなんだ。しかし、ただのパンの代わりに、メロンパンみたいに、別の生地が乗っている。名前通り、シュー生地が含まれています。

シュー生地の印象としては、味を変えることではなくて、食感を変えると思います。クロワッサンのようなサクとしていて濃い食感があります。そんな食感の対比が気に入ったら、おいしく味わえると思います。（私は、気に入る）

   This is just another example of a choux roll. This one is whipped caramel cream with a thick caramel sauce. For the record, caramel-flavored things in Japan tend to lean towards the "burnt sugar" end of the caramel flavor spectrum. More bitter and smoky, like what salted caramel tastes like. I like it well enough, but it really needs a balancing element like the cream in this roll to make it work for me. Then again, I can't drink black coffee either, so I think I'm a lightweight when it comes to bitterness. Except for matcha.

これは、またのシューロールの例だけです。これは、キャラメル味のホイップと、キャラメルクリームが入っています。ところで、日本でのキャラメル味の物は、「焦げた砂糖」のようなキャラメルだと思います。塩キャラメルみたいに、苦くて、香ばしいキャラメルなんです。私は、かなり美味しいと思うが、ホイップとかのバランスを与える味が肝要です。ないながら、ちゃんと楽しむことが出来ないんです。でもね、ブラックコーヒーも飲めなくて、苦い味となるとま、私だけが苦手なのかもしれませんね。ま、抹茶以外には。

Anyway, mata kondo!
さて、またこんど！

Kind of Tasty Japanese Bread: Koppe Pan

   Today we look at koppe pan. Koppe pan are long, sweet bread rolls shaped like torpedo rolls. They're almost always split in half, with a filling inside. They come in too many varieties to really count, so here are just a couple that I, personally, have partaken of.

今日は、コッペパンを紹介します。コッペパンっていうのは、トーピードロールみたいな長い形の甘いパンです。半分に切っていて、フィリングが入っている菓子パンなんです。数え切れないほどの種類があって、私がいただいたコッペパンをちょっと説明しますね。

 A black sugar bread with whipped cream sandwiched inside.

これは、黒糖の生地にホイップが挟んでいるコッペパンです。

 A white bread roll with chocolate sauce and whipped cream inside.

これは、普通なホワイトブレッドにチョコクリームとホイップがあるコッペぱんです。

This one is another chocolate-and-cream concoction, but the bread is of a more baguette-type variety. These kinds of bread are also called "furansu," because they resemble french bread.

これも、チョコレートとホイップですが、パンはフランスパンみたいなロールです。「フランス」って言う言い方は、フランスからのパンと似ているなんです。

  Long story short, these are a wonderful and delicious snack bread. And they're appropriate this time of year, as foods with a long shape are considered to bring good luck around the new year. The long shape represents long life and fortune. Traditionally it was uncut sushi rolls and noodles that were the go-to "long food," but in the modern era roll cakes, bread rolls, or anything long will do!

簡単に言えば、美味しくてとてもいい菓子パンだと思います。しかも、長い形の食べ物は、長生きの意味があると思われていて、このお正月の季節にばっちり！伝統的には、切ってない巻き寿司やそばがこんな季節で食べられることになっている長い形の食べ物だったが、現代では、ロールケーキも、コッペパンも、長いながら何でもいいよ！

Ja, mata ne!

じゃ、またね！