Baking 2015: Orange cake

 

Orange cake!

This week's baking project was a seasonal Orange Cake. The cake itself was fantastic- fluffy and moist with a lovely citrus flavor. The glaze and candied fruit topping, however, didn't work out as well. The recipe called for making candied orange peels, which were too sticky for my taste. They looked neat as a topping, but the texture didn't please the palette. The glazed topping was similarly too sticky, to the point where it was hard to slice. So, I peeled off the topping and candies and we ate the cake with a bit of whipped cream instead- this was actually quite tasty. I tried this cake because I wanted to make something seasonal for January, and I would try a different recipe next time. Part of the baking challenge is to try new things, and this type of cake was new to me. I learned that candied fruits aren't my thing (though I might try them in making a panettone next holiday season), that glazes are finicky, and that orange cake is delicious.

 

 

Making candied fruit- pretty and a lovely flavor, but not so great in the texture department.

 

 

Cake in the oven.

 

 

The altered, improved orange cake. 

Baking 2015: Oatmeal Rasin Cookies

 

Baking challenge 2015 continues- this time with Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. They were chewy and hearty, and as per usual, I cut the sugar down from what was called for. I liked that the recipe didn't call for refined sugar (just brown sugar), but I still think most American recipes are too sweet. These cookies were also quite heavy on oats and raisins, really being barely held together by the other ingredients, making them feel less indulgent than other desserts.

A day in green

 

Waiting for the train. Green boots, green jacket, lime green umbrella.

 

Wednesday here was one of those days of heavy rains that happens only when living close to the ocean. Hard, driving, downpour rain for hours on end. I love rainy days, as they are the perfect excuse to stay in with a good book, or drink a warm beverage, and I always get the best sleep during a rainstorm. Throughout the day green was a reoccurring theme, appropriate for these early summer days.

 

 

The floor at Uguisudani Station- nightengales, which the station is named after.

  

 

The view from my office window, particularly verdant on a rainy day.

  

 

Green tea and green tea coated chocolates for an afternoon snack.

  

 

The green stripe of the Yamanotesen on my way home. 

Kawagoe 川越

Beep, beep! Funky bus!

As I'm still a bit behind on posting photos, these pics are from a day trip we took to Kawagoe in late March, before the majority of sakura were in bloom. In any case, while Joe was here we took a day trip to Kawagoe. Getting to Kawagoe means a solid hour train ride to the north, but it is nice to escape the city, to see the rice fields, and to see Mt. Fuji off in the distance. I first learned of the city last fall from a co-worker, and visited there with some friends at that time (see here), but this was my first trip with my family, and we all really enjoyed the day.

We started out on the funky little tourist bus that makes a loop around the city from the JR station, and headed for Kitain, a Buddhist temple dating back over 1,200 years. The temple is best known for the rakan statues that can be found there, 540 of them in total with no two alike, all carved within four decades around the year 1800. Rakan are disciples of the Buddha, and these statues are located in a small grove of trees with a large Buddha sculpture at the center. The sculptures really were whimsical and entrancing, and definitely worth the trip to see. Warning: I am posting a lot of rakan pics here. I have more if you want to see more, because, well, there are more.

 The gate of Kitain.

 Kitain pagoda.

 Kitain main hall.

 Rakan!

 One of my favorites. I had so many favorites.

 Rakan secrets.

After the temple and a quick lunch nearby, we were back on the bus headed for the central part of Kawagoe. Upon arriving near Kurazukuri Street, we proceeded to have purple sweet potato ice cream and some local beer, the perfect pick-up for the afternoon.

 Codeo beer. I'm drinking one as I write this blog entry.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the central section of the historic district, viewing the 17th century Toki no Kane (bell tower), and the historic merchant houses that Kawagoe is famous for.

 Toki no Kane.

Merchant houses. So impressively thick and stoic.

 

A small temple near the Kurazukuri Street.

 Beautiful early sakura!

 Sakura!

We also made Kashiya Yokocho (Penny Candy Lane) one of our destinations. The street was once home to a huge number of candy producers, some of which still make small sugary treats today. There are plenty of candies and suckers to be found here, which of course our little dude partook in.

The adults in our group opted for taiyaki instead- fresh custard filled cakes shaped like fish. 

After much touring, photographing, eating, and shopping, we were ready to head back to Tokyo at the end of a long day.

 Gazing at more merchant houses while waiting for the bus.

Kawagoe at the end of the day.

桜ケーキ Sakura Cake

 

Waiting for sakura (cherry blossoms) is a national obsession in Japan. And this week, the suspense is building. As of today (3/18), the blossoms have not officially opened anywhere, but it should be only a few days before they begin the march north (click here for a prediction map). Meanwhile, today was the last day for sakura cake and lattes at Starbucks. I enjoyed my share of these sweets, including a slice yesterday overlooking the streetcar at Otsuka Station. While I'm sad to see them go, other seasonal treats will arrive in the coming weeks. 

Hina Matsuri 雛祭り

Hina dolls on the stage.

This week marks Hina Matsuri here in Japan, also known as Girls Day, or the Doll Festival. The festival celebrates young girls, and is often marked with doll sets that include the Emperor and Empress at the top, together with members of the court in Heian period (794-1185) dress.

Like all good holidays, it is celebrated with song and food.  Little man had a pageant at his school- his first! The chaos was amazing, as was to be expected with a school full of kiddos under age six all performing for the masses of excited parents and grandparents. All of the classes did great; his class performed twice, once with songs and a second time with a musical drama about the sea, earth, and sun, complete with costumes. The teachers really worked hard to set everything up, and to have the kids practice for so many weeks leading up to the big day.

 I'm not sure what is more amusing in this photo- the cuties on stage or the multiple video cameras rolling in the audience.

 CUTENESS.

After the pageant, the kids all took home bento boxes with special food, as well as sweets related to the holiday. The bento was quite delicious, and included chirashizushi, sushi rolls, and an adorable egg-rice roll complete with imprinted hina dolls. They were also provided with sakura mochi, a traditional Hina Matsuri sweet made of red bean paste, mochi, or glutenous rice cake, and the leaf of a cherry tree. They also received a sucker and a bag of hina arare, an airy, fuffy popped rice snack coated (and I mean *coated*) in sugar. The arare, like the sakura mochi, consisted of three colors- pink for the blossoms of the peach tree (not seasonal now, but it was when the festival was on the lunar calendar), white for the still remaining snow, and green for the new growth, and also symbolizing the growth of the girl children that the holiday celebrates.

 Hina Matsuri foods.

 Hina arare.

Although Boy's Day will arrive in May, we took the occasion of the Hina Matsuri pageant to celebrate the boy in our house, and purchased little cupcakes with the boy and girl that top the hina doll set- representative of the Emperor and Empress, and something that seems more treat-like to our little dude's American palette than traditional Japanese mochi sweets.

Hina Matsuri cupcakes!

Happy Up!

 

Ok, people. It's time we all happy up.

I had a bottle of peach water from the vending machine at work last week, and it included the great bottle cap caption you see above. Happy Up! Of course the peach water helped to elevate my mood, but I think we can all use to try sending some positive vibes into the world. Go do something nice for someone today. Send someone chocolates. Buy someone a drink. Give a gift to somebody. Give a hug. Smile at a stranger. Skype a friend. I received a tiny box of Christopher Elbow chocolates in the mail over the weekend, and it really did make my day. I know everyone is tired of winter (I see all those whiny Facebook posts), and I get that February is the lamest of months, but embrace the cold (I'll be seeing whiny Facebook posts about the heat all too soon), curl up with a blanket, drink some hot chocolate, and love that you are alive today. 

Happy Up!

Christmas Cake

Christmas came and went here in Tokyo, and we enjoyed the day to the fullest. Santa brought presents, we played around the house, took an afternoon walk to the park, Skyped with family in the U.S., and made a lovely dinner of smoked salmon pasta with cream sauce. We also partook in the Japanese Christmas tradition of Christmas cake. This is a fluffy white cake with a layer of cream and strawberries, and lots of whipped cream frosting on top, similar to a really airy, milky strawberry shortcake. It even came with four bubble wrapped (!) strawberries for the top, and three small candles. Merry Christmas!

荒川車庫 Arakawa Streetcar Yard

As we have a young train enthusiast in our midst, we took a trip down to the Arakawa Streetcar yard. This is a small but neat little attraction along the Toden Arakawa line. Bonus- it's free! The yard has it's own streetcar stop, which is near Kajiwara.

 

At the yard, one can check out all of the streetcar controls and board two cars from now defunct lines. Both of the cars had small exhibits on Tokyo streetcar history, as well as some books to peruse, and a stamp station to get a souvenir stamped paper.

 

 You can't enter the actual yard, but you can easily view it, and see how the workers do maintenance above and below the cars. At certain times during the day trains will pull in and out of the yard for regular checks. We saw the pink car being checked.

Our budding photographer documenting his adventures.

One of the exhibit cars.

 

Back by Kajiwara, one can visit the Meibi sweets shop and try a monaka shaped like a streetcar. Monaka is a sweet bean paste filled wafer. These come in a variety of boxes that are customized to look like the Toden Arakawasen.

The sweets shop also sells streetcar pins, and the local toy store sells old-school metal streetcar wind-up toys. A perfect retro afternoon excursion.