workshop

Wagashi Workshop in London

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

Dear Wagashi lovers,

The wonderful season has arrived for making Japanese sweets. There are so many beautiful colours in nature that we can use as motifs for Wagashi designs. So I made a plan for the Wagashi Making Workshop in Autumn this month.

Wagashi Making Workshop in Autumn

In this workshop we are going to learn how to use a traditional tool and the technique to create these three sweets.

  • Rabbit
  • ‘Kikyo’ Balloon flower
  • ‘Temari’ Hand-ball in Autumn colour

*They are all vegan and free from gluten & major allergy sources.

Every sweet has a different centre filling so you can enjoy the unique flavour in each sweet as well as the pretty creations.

No experience is necessary as our expert instructor will guide you through the process, sharing tips and tricks along the way. Whether you’re a beginner or familiar in Japanese culture, this workshop is a fun and exciting way to spend your afternoon. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the art of Japanese confectionery!

Bring your friends and family along for a fun and memorable afternoon.

You can take home and consume all your creations.

[Details/Tickets] Please click here

Register on Eventbrite

Japanese Sweets Making Workshop in London

/ Mutsumi / Leave a comment

Come join us for an afternoon of creating delicious Japanese sweets at our in-person event. Get into the Christmas spirit and learn how to make traditional Wagashi treats with a festive twist.

Wagashi is the general term for Japanese sweets and there are many types. In this workshop we will make three designs of the fresh type of Japanese sweet called ‘Nerikiri’. These are often accompanied with a bowl of Matcha tea in a tea ceremony. Although it is traditionally Japanese, the design can be contemporary and this time we are going to make three designs in the Christmas theme. They are all vegan and gluten free.

No experience is necessary, as our expert instructor will guide you through the process step by step. Bring your friends and family along for a fun and memorable experience. (*Suitable for ages 12+ yr, but we advise children are accompanied by an adult on a separate ticket.) Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to learn a new skill and enjoy some tasty treats! You can take home and consume all your creations.

[Link to the Details & Tickets below]

Look forward to seeing you there!

Register on Eventbrite

Wagashi Workshop in January

/ Mutsumi / 7 Comments

It was more than a month ago but the first Japanese sweet making workshop of this year ended wonderfully. It became the workshop with the biggest attendees of mine. Everybody was very enthusiastic and the class went very smoothly.

Wagashi Making Workshop in January

Jan p1-2The class didn’t have just many participants, it had several different nationalities of people with four male. It was very balanced class. I mentioned that the last class in December we had a group of friends using the class as the occasion to celebrate a birthday girl. In this January class we had not one, but two birthday girls so it had a very happy atmosphere for all of us. I was pleased that my workshop has been chosen for a celebration event and hope it will continue having more birthday girls/boys in the future.

Jan3

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The 1st Workshop of the Year 2020

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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/New Year Holiday. After a long great rest I am sure people are ready for the new challenge in this brand new year 2020. I have prepared the Wagashi Making Workshop in the early spring theme for you.

 

Wagashi Making Workshop in January

This will be the first Wagashi Workshop this year so the theme is early spring. I thought several ideas and chose these three designs for this workshop which include a Snow Rabbit and ‘Ume’ plum flower in two ways.

Jan p1-2

on: the 26th / January (Sunday), 13:00 – 15:00 
at: The Havan Store (262 Kensington High Street, London W8 6ND)

As the name says a Snow Rabbit is supposed to be snow made into a rabbit shape. It is a traditional children’s custom in a snowy area in Japan. The ears are normally made with two long leaves so that the snow rabbit we are going to make is also having green ears.

The Plum flower is a symbol of New Year. It is almost the first flower to appear in a garden when the weather is still severe so it’s thought to be something delightful and brings happiness.

One of the plum designs we will create is a flower by using a traditional technique. You will learn how to use the wooden tool and your hand to make the sweet into a lovely flower shape. In the second plum flower design I want to show the image of plum blossoms opening on branches in early spring. I am planning to set this one as the free designing sweet and hope I will see lots of different looking sweets designed by creative participants.

The sweets we will make are all Vegan and Gluten free.

[The tickets] for this workshop are available now from here (←click here to the Link). The class is limited to 9 people only so don’t miss out on this great opportunity!

Wagashi Workshop in December

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Since December has begun it seems like my time has been passing so quickly. We had Christmas already and now we have only one day left before New Year’s Eve. I had a Wagashi Making Workshop in December and that was already about a month ago.

On one Sunday afternoon people gathered in the cosy basement space of the Havan Store for making the Christmas themed Wagashi together. The participants were consisted of four groups which were two friends groups, two sisters and one individual person. The youngest attendee this time was one of the sisters who was 12 years old girl and who’d wanted to join us in our previous Halloween themed workshop but couldn’t. So it was my great pleasure that we had her for this session as one of attendees.

One of the friends groups of three girls came to our event as the birthday celebration of one of the girls’. The birthday girl seemed to be a big Japanese culture lover and it was a brilliant way to spend a day together with her and I felt privileged that they chose my workshop for this memorable occasion.

Wagashi Making Workshop in the Christmas Theme

Chris adI chose three designs for this workshop. They were a Snowman, a Christmas Pudding and a Christmas Tree. I always enjoy seeing that participans get creative and make the sweets in their own way so I normally keep my examples quite simple and leave some space that attendees can develop by themselves. After deciding these three sweets there was a litle doubt in my mind that there might not be enough room to show their creativity, however, I was very wrong. All of the participants used all the materials cleverly and created something remarkable in the end.

Chri w2 Continue reading →

Japanese Sweet Making Workshop in London in December

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How time flies! Right after posting the report of the Halloween themed Workshop it is already time to announce the workshop for December. Since it will be in December the theme of the workshop is Christmas, I’ve been considering what kind of Japanese sweets I should make with the participants?

I always take a lot of time to decide the sweet designs to make with workshop attendees. I consider many elements such as if the design is seasonal, and if is too simple or too difficult for first time attendees.

Wagashi Making Workshop in December

Before finalising the three sweets, I tried several designs. I wanted to make a Christmas Tree. I have made several types of Tree in the past but never made one in the workshop yet. When I was thinking about the possibilities, I suddenly got a brilliant idea. I was very excited and was confident that it would go well, but when I tried making it, it was far too difficult to create the shape.

Chris ad

on: the 1st / December (Sunday), 13:00 – 15:00 
at: The Havan (262 Kensington High Street, London W8 6ND)

So we will make these three sweets. If the attendees would want to go more creative they can decorate the tree with any shapes such as an angel, Christmas sock, candle or present boxes.

The sweets we will make are all Vegan and Gluten free.

We continue having the Havan Store as the venue since it is a very beautiful and comfortable space with very hospitable owners who are interested in Japanese culture. I was pleased to see that all the participants in the previous workshop loved the shop and their thick and creamy special Matcha green tea.

[The tickets] for this workshop are available now from here (←click here to the Link). The class is limited to 10 people only so don’t miss out on this great opportunity!

I have mentioned about the 13 years old girl who wanted to join us for the Halloween workshop. I am very happy to tell you that she is joining us with her mother for this Christmas one. It is going to be another great one! If you would like to join us, small number of seats still available.

Wagashi Workshop in London for Halloween

/ Mutsumi / 4 Comments

October poster2It was already two weeks ago. Just before the Halloween night came I had hosted my Japanese Sweet Making Workshop in the Halloween theme. As you can probably imagine it was such a fun class with all the fun loving participants. We gathered in a newly open shop in Kensington High Street on Saturday morning. I planned to make three sweets for this day. Although one of them was originally the purple flower in the photo on the right side, I got the better idea in the last minute and three designs we created were Jack-O’-Lantern, Ghost and Frankenstein’s Monster.

 

Wagashi Making Workshop in the Halloween Theme

So all of us sat comfortably at the table at my new workshop venue that is a lovely shop with lots of Halloween related decoration. The owners of the shop love Halloween and also Japanese culture so it was the perfect venue and they were very enthusiastic about this event.

Hallo 12

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Frankenstein’s Monster Appears in the Workshop!

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NNNGWAAAAAASHI!

I am the Frankenstein’s Monster. Please come to Make and Eeeet Meeee!

oct Poster5

I am going to have WAGASHI Japanese Sweet Making Workshop this Saturday. The original sweet selection I was planning to make at the workshop is these three in the following photo. I chose the purple flower because it is a traditional Japanese sweet shape and you can learn how to use the Wagashi tool and your fingers well. However, the theme of this event is Halloween. It’s the only occasion that you can make anything crazy. So I was searching for some design which is easy to make and attractive, as well as looks very Halloween!

October poster2

on: the 19th / October (Saturday), 11:30 – 13:30 
at: The Havan (262 Kensington High Street, London W8 6ND)

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Incy Wincy Spider …

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

🎶♬ Incy Wincy Spider went up the water spout … 🎶

It’s nearly Holloween time! Great thing about this season for sweet makers is that we are allowed to create any spooky wooky designs.

🕸️Incy Wincy Spider🕷️

I have never tried making a spider sweet before and this is my first attempt. Its thin long legs were quite tricky to make but it turned out to be so realistic.😅 I just hope you don’t have arachnophobia.

Spider1

Although there is a spider on this sweet, “No Animals were harmed in the making of this sweet” so that this sweet is totally Vegan!🤣

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Grape Mochi

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

This is one of the Mochi sweets I recently made. I used fresh red grapes as well as some sweet white bean paste as the centre filling. The size of the grapes was a little smaller side for using for this type of sweet but it was very juicy and tasty. In order to make biting easier the skin of the grape was removed before wrapped up in the Mochi layer.  So it got three thing – looks pretty, tasty and easy to eat.

Grape Mochi

This sweet is Vegan and Gluten free.

I would also like to announce to all Wagashi lovers in London. I am going to have a WAGASHI Making Workshop in the Halloween Theme soon.

October poster2

on: the 19th / October (Saturday), 11:30 – 13:30
at: The Havan (262 Kensington High Street, London W8 6ND)

This time the venue is in a wonderful shop in High Street Kensington which serves a bowl of beautifully thick and creamy Matcha tea and lovely vegan sweets.  They are also a kind of concept shop and have a lot of lovely things. They are offering 10% discount of any purchase on the day for all the participants. Isn’t that Great?

[The tickets] If you are interested in participation, please visit the detail page (←click here to the Link). The class is limited to a small group of people so book now not to be disappointed! Cheers!