Silky

Asakusa Silk Pudding 浅草シルクプリン

Because of time restrictions, I was not able to cross off all of my to-do list in Japan. I wanted to see Tokyo Skytree, the new radio tower which is 634 meters high. Honey, what is that in feet? He is not listening, he’s occupied with the NBA Playoffs which began last Sunday. Anyway, Skytree is almost twice the height of Tokyo Tower’s 333 meters. The Asakusa Silk Pudding Shop, which is also on my list to visit, is near the Kaminarimon (雷門) which is famous for big red lantern. It’s a poplar tourist stop and within walking distance from the Skytree. I wish I had one more day in Tokyo.

This Asakusa Silk Pudding sells about 1,000 puddings a day. Although the shop started out to cater puddings to some hotel restaurant as a dessert, as the pudding ‘s popularity grew, also perfecting the taste and texture, they eventually became firmly entrenched in  the business and added more shops in metro area.

My quest of deliciousness has no end. I created the silk pudding despite not knowing the original, using the pudding bottles (puddings we had at other stores) I brought home and reference I got from ‘Delicious Pudding’ cook book.

Ingredients for 5 jars of silk puddings

Equipment: 5- 4ounce glass jars, food scale, strainer, deep pan with lid, thermometer, 2-3 paper towels

First make Caramel sauce

• Granulated sugar 100g
• Water 30ml
• Hot water 1 Tablespoon

Pour sugar and water into a small sauce pan. Cook until dark brown at medium heat without stirring. Add hot water then stir with wooden spoon. Pour in the 5 jars equally. Set aside. Warning: caramel sauce is verrry hot.

Pudding

• Milk 300ml
• Heavy cream 200ml
• Granulated sugar 65g
• Egg yolk 100g - about 5 eggs
• Vanilla essence 1/2 teaspoon
• Rum flavoring 1/2 teaspoon

1. Pour milk and heavy cream in a medium pan and heat up to 50C. Set aside.
2. Put sugar and egg yolk in a large bowl, mix well with hand held mixer about 1 minute. Do not make a large circle motion, try not to create air bubbles.
3. Add vanilla and rum to the bowl and mix for an additional 30 seconds.
4. Pour about 1/3 of the warmed milk mixture from step #1 into the bowl and mix well. Gradually add rest of the milk mixture.
5. Strain the mixture twice and lay a piece of paper towel on the surface to remove foamy bubbles (you may use spoon for this task if you’d rather). Repeat as necessary. For bigger bubble, prick with toothpick.
   
6. Pour into jars. Cover each jar with foil.
   
7. Lay a sheet of paper towel on the bottom of a deep pan. You need enough boiling water to cover half way up to the jar height. Turn the heat off while putting the jars at least inch apart from each other. Put the lid on and steam for 15 to 20 minutes at low heat.
    
8. Place in the freezer immediately for 30 minutes then transfer to refrigerator to chill. Warning: the jars are very very hot. Ummmm silky! I need to work on caramel sauce though.

After the wedding, my husband, my daughter and I headed for Yamanashi prefecture to see Mt. Fuji up close. View from our hotel room was amazing!

Five short minutes ride on hotel’s shuttle bus took us to Fujikyu Highland (富士急ハイランド) the next day. I didn’t have the stomach to ride this ‘spectacularly crazy’ I was told, jet coaster.

Day 3rd. We rode the Kachi Kachi ropeway up to Mt. Tenjyo for an another look of Mt. Fuji. My camera battery is dead at this point so we paid to take our photo for 1000 yen, about 10 bucks.

We shopped at HARD OFF, a huge second hand store just a half block away from the hotel. They have Louis Vuitton bags to washing machine to bicycle to clothing item to just about everything. I needed a battery charger for my camera and they had it!  I also bought brand new Arita ceramic (有田焼き) bowls for 60 yen (about 70 cent) each –cheap right? A small plate from Tachikichi (たち吉) is an another good brand ceramic maker, there is no name on the black blown bowl but I adore for $2 to $3 range. I could have bought more if we had space in our suitcases…wait a sec, if I bought one of  large Louis Vuitton bag ($500 - $1000) then the problem could have been solved? My husband was relieved – DANGER AVOIDED! I didn’t take any pictures of store because I was dealing with battery issue still. My daughter and I loved the store! My husband, not so much. 

Neighbor’s double cherry (八重さくら) was in full swing when we got home. Ahhh…it was a nice trip but it’s good to be home! That’s what I’m saying to myself because I have vacation withdraw symptoms. The only cure I think is to take an another vacation. Right? Honey? He is not responding, I should discuss this during half time.

Sweet Story

Tokyo Cake shops

Although there seems to be a good cake shop on every corner in Japan, the basement floor of department stores often have different cake shops competing with each other side by side. The city of Jiyugaoka (自由が丘) in Tokyo has a whole department store called Sweet Forest dedicated to sweet shops. We would have gone there if we would have had  time. Note: a picture above and next five were taken at Takashimaya department. I almost bought the Lady bug cake.

For those of us who have a hard time deciding, the option of Winner takes it all ABBA approach was available. Oh! Mama Mia! Here we go again. My, my. How can I resist…

We had an accidental encounter with Dominique Saibron in Shinjyuku  (新宿), it was an exceptional cake shop in my opinion. Because of cherry blossom season, almost all the cake shops we visited had a cherry blossom theme. Delicate pink color and design, it tugged at my heart. The taste was divine!

My husband and I headed to Kagurazaka (神楽坂) one day in search of incredible cake. We quickly lost our way and called the store for directions twice then asked a passerby twice more. Tucked in the corner of the Agnes Hotel property, Le Coin Vert was there. Ever since I watched the movie “Patisserie Coin de rue” (洋菓子店コアンドル), it was put on my ‘must go’ list. The charming and often funny story of young female patisserie apprentice with cooperation of the store making the film and a cake (Renard) below actually appeared in the movie too. I detected nuts, chocolate mousse, orange compote and coated with caramel gurasaju? Woooow!An another customer parked red electric bicycle on front and apologized me for distracting the picture taking. No, no that bike makes this picture I assured her. Actor Yosuke Eguchi on the left, I had a crush on him for a while. Cute ya? Hypnos is my husband ‘s choice. Honey, turn the cake around, I think it’s the back side. Taste the same you said? Absolutely but think about the blog.Cream cheese mousse with strawberry filling. Heavenly!

Time was really short on this trip. I had my favorite marron cake only one time at Harajuku’s Sembikiya. It was almost as good as mine, perhaps bit too sweet. See, looks like soba noodle on top, right?We sometimes took cakes home (to the hotel) and ate them. Sugar overloaded for sure, not so good for our health? Certainly! But we don’t know when we come this way (store) again and we don’t want that chance. So so baaaad.I lost 2 pounds before the trip and came home 4 pounds heavier so I gained only 2 pounds. Is this the way math works?

 

Anyway, my son married a cute Japanese girl. Now that’s a sweet story!

 

 

Goodies

Meatball  Miso soup

We are having warm days lately – last Saturday it reached 80 degrees – and not a good time to find out the air-conditioning in your car is not working properly. I was on a last minute shopping spree before going to Japan. Frantic and rushed, I don’t think I was enjoying the sunshine as much as I should be grateful to feel. 

I must use up all the left over goodies like drying up burdock roots, green onion that was wilting, limp carrots, new-shooting potatoes before the trip and it had to be quick to prepare. Warm soup on a hot day is not ideal but this gives me some breather. Goody! I can cross out something from my travel check list…only 8 more to go.

The recipe I loosely followed was found in a old Japanese magazine and I like the ginger flavor in meatball and no need for dashi stock. The butter is optional yet adds depth and fat of course to it.

Ingredients and instruction Serves 4

• Ground beef 1/2 pound
• Ground pork 1/2 pound
• Grated ginger 1-1/2 Tablespoon
• Green onion 2 stalks finely chopped
• Potato starch or corn starch 2 Tablespoons
• Sake 2 Tablespoons
• Soy sauce or Tamari sauce 1 Tablespoon
• Burdock about 6 inches length peeled and thinly sliced diagonally. Soak in cold water for 5-8 minutes.
  
• 1 small carrot slice into half rounds
• 2 small potato peeled and chopped then soak in cold water for 3-4 minutes.
  
• Miso paste 4-6 Tablespoons
• Broccoli 1 adult-sized fist worth; divide into individual florets 
• Butter 1 teaspoon

1. Put meats, ginger, green onion, starch, sake and soy sauce in large bowl and knead well then make1-1/2 inch balls. Set aside .
2. Boil 5 cups of water in pan. Gently slide the meat balls in and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
   
3. Put burdock, carrots and potatoes into the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes at medium heat. Scoop off white scum that appears on top.
4. Dissolve miso paste in the ladle with little bit of cooking liquid from #3 before adding to the pan. Do the taste test. Add more miso paste if necessary. If it’s too salty, pour some water in.
5. Add broccoli florets and cook for about 1 minute.
6. Add butter (optional) and serve hot.
   

We must consume cucumber also. Made quick pickled cucumber.Cut cucumber in chunks and put in the Ziploc bag. Add vinegar, salt and chili pepper to taste. Push air out, close tight and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 

We had a wonderful Easter service at our church. What a blessing!The Easter basket/nest plus blue chocolate eggs are from William Sonoma. Very pretty but the chocolate is overly sweet. I hope I could re-use next year, not the eggs.A friend brought me this candle holder filled with Easter candies. So nice of her!Easter dinner made easy by purchasing the honey baked ham.

My son’s friends were here for last games over pizza. My son is concentrating on his own game. Do-over birthday cake- Strawberry short cake for real.I started to make some kind of design yet I couldn’t finish it. I figured that those guys don’t care how the cake looks so I stopped caring like whatever.’Thumbs-up’ taste for sure!And we had some left over for Easter. Spring came in full force.The weeping cherry tree. We didn’t know it’s pink when we planted it.Asian pear tree

Neighbor's cherry blossom. Can you say gorgeous?Hey, you on the right, your days are Round-Up!

Neighbor’s lawn ornament – This is so cute, right?

I’m  hoping to see cherry blossoms in Japan too. My blog will resume sometime in April. Y’all comeback and see me now, ya hear?