Month: July 2015

Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award

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wpid-tumblr_nndz4jmkxt1tegftro1_1280

Wow, wow wow! Can you believe it? My Blog was nominated for “Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award“. I was reading a post of Japan Can(ada) Mix by Hilary about her nomination. I was enjoying reading her answers to the questions from the previous nominee, Carissa at Everyday Asia until when I reached to the section about the people she was going to nominate. There were three blog names and one of them was … Mine! I was not expecting this at all.

So thank you Hilary, I am very honored and overwhelmed. I started my blog just four months ago without knowing what I had to do as a blogger. I like food. I love particularly making Japanese sweets so I knew I wanted to go into that direction. But it is people who give me warm words and comments that encourage me what I do now. Hilary is one of them. She takes great photos with challenges and her reports in Japanese culture from a foreign point of view are very fresh and amusing to me. I really appreciate Hilary’s praise & encouragement to my blog and hope I can come up to her expectation in a long run.

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Chilled Salad Ramen / 冷やし中華

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chilled ramen 2

When the temperature starts rising and Summertime is coming closer, you see these kind of poster or flag at the entrance of restaurant in Japan.

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It says ‘We have started serving Chilled Ramen’. Oh yes, Chilled Ramen! We like Ramen very much and we eat it cold too. It is our Summer Tradition. Summer in Japan is very hot and humid. We cannot survive without eating Chilled Ramen!

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The Visit to Moreton-in-Marsh

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St.David Church

St. David’s Church

I visited Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire. It is part of the Cotswolds in England. It was not a planned day trip. On the contrary it was a very sad occasion … unexpected funeral. But it was a lovely town in the lovely weather as if everything was celebrating my friend’s great talented life. I could not resist taking photos after everything was finished.

Lavender

Traditional Sandstone building contrasting well with Lavender

house with weathercook

What is this, underneath the Weathercock?

hunger games

Is this the Headquarter of the Hunger Games?

white lion

Very British

station sign

The sign is written in English and Japanese. Thank you! Very kind

It was a memorable moving service in a memorable pretty town. Please Rest in Peace, my Dear Friend. Love you forever xxx

Mango Yogurt Ice Cream

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Mango Yogurt Ice Cream

I like fruits. I love Mango. I normally eat it fresh with some yogurt or ice cream. But I wanted to make something a little bit more dessert-ish. So I combined everything Mango, Yogurt and Ice Cream.

I don’t have an Ice-cream machine and I don’t like any complicated process. I like simple food and this is very quick and easy recipe to have something very pleasant.

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Matcha Soy Latte (Chilled)

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Matcha Soy Milk

It is mid summer now. Even here in London it is very hot. I always have afternoon tea with a piece of cake and a cup of Earl Grey Tea or Coffee, but sometimes I rather want to have something cold instead of a hot drink during summertime.

This chilled Matcha Latte is used with Soy milk so if you are allergic to dairy or just don’t wat to have any milk products this is just the drink for you.

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What is Kinako (きな粉) ?

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Kinako

Have you heard of ‘Kinako’? If you like Japanese sweets, Kinako is one of the ingredients you come across occasionally. It is a yellowy powder substance that is made of Soybeans. You can make it at home but I recommend to get it from a shop because it is very hard work and also it is probably much nicer, from my experience anyway.

When I was a high school student our domestic science teacher made us study about certain Japanese food ingredients. My group chose ‘Dried Shiitake Mushroom’ and some other group chose ‘Kinako’. They made home-made Kinako and we tried tasting it during the class. I remember that it tasted quite the same as the one from the shop but the texture was far too dry and we felt almost like choking. So, you don’t have to try making it by yourself. Get it from a Japanese Food shop.

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Anko-ruffles

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Anko-ruffle

Although I haven’t manage to post ‘How to Make An/Anko’ yet (‘Tsubu-An’ Making has been posted now), I decided to go ahead with this post by thinking that presumably some readers know what ‘An/Anko‘ is and where to get it. But if you don’t know I will post how to make it shortly.

So have you heard of ‘Anko-ruffles’ before? No? You might have guessed it. Yes, it’s a made-up name from ‘Anko’ + ‘Truffle’ by me. These are Japanese Sweets I created but just look like Chocolate Truffle, don’t they? The taste and texture are completely different. This is one of the easiest Japanese Sweets to make. If you can gain some ‘An/Anko’ by either making it yourself or buying it.

 <Anko-ruffles> (Gluten/Dairy/Oil, Fat Free)

Anko-ruffle with Tea‘An/Anko’ is the most essential ingredient in Japanese Sweets ‘Wagashi’. It is sweet bean paste. The one I used for this sweet is ‘Tsubu-An’ which is made from Azuki beans. If you have a little amount of ‘An’ (An is sometime called ‘Anko’. They are exactly same things) and some powder ingredients, you can make Anko-ruffles!

As the dry powder ingredients I used ‘Matcha’ Green Tea, another Japanese substance ‘Kinako’ and Chocolate Powder for this time. I will talk about ‘Matcha’ Green Tea and ‘Kinako’ in separate posts.

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Water over the Edge

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Edge

Water Feature at Kojimachi Kaikan Hotel, Tokyo

‘Photo101’ – Edge & Alignment

This is one of the Japanese gardens made by the famous buddhism monk designer Shunmyo Masuno. This is built along a Hotel facing to the lobby. There is not much gap between the water feature and the building and water falls down from quite a height. It has a huge impact as water power.