Turning in to.... older lady... - Hiro

GoooooD Moning Everyone!

All right... l had my birthday few weeks ago and I turned .. years old!!!
Wow... time goes by pretty fast.... I don't want to get any older:(

So... today, I will give you a recipe for Strawberry Shortcake.
As I mentioned before, Japanese people often make or buy this cake to celebrate a birthday.
AND plus, there were many people who sent me e-mails and ask for the recipe!

Are you ready~~~??

Ingredients: for 18 cm cake mould
Large eggs ......................(3)
Sugar ...............................(2.8 oz / 80g)
Flour..................................(2.8 oz / 80g)
Cornstarch .......................(0.3 oz / 10g)
Milk ....................................(2 table spoon)
Butter .................................(1 oz / 30g)

Preparation:
- Make the eggs in the room temperature (important to make moist and sponge!!!)
- Spread butter inside of the mould and lightly sprinkle the flours.
(butter and flours are not included in the ingredients above)
- Put sugar and cornstarch together and sieve them to get the limps out.
- Melt the butter by putting in a microwave.

Step 1.
Put sugar and eggs into a large bowl and mix/whip them with hand mixer.

Step 2.
Keep whipping the eggs and sugar until the color become white and the texture become very smooth.
(the amount of the eggs and sugar should be three or four times bigger as you keep whipping them.)

Step 3.
Raise your hand mixer and if the eggs and sugar drop slowly (looks like a ribbons) and the shape stays for while, you are done!

Step 4.
Set the hand mixer in low speed. Pour milk and mix them.

Step 5.
Set the hand mixer to the side and use a rubber spatula from here.
Add flour and cornstarch in to the bowl little by little (divide to 3 times)

When you mix them, be careful not to mix it hard.
You should raise your spatular from the bottom of the bowl and flip it to the edge and mix them together.

Step 6.
After you mix all the flour, add a melted butter to the bowl and mix them carefully.

Step 7.
Poor all of them into the cake mould. (Drop the mould from 5 inch high. This will take out extra airs from the sponge)

Step 8.
Pre-heat the oven to 356F. Bake the sponge cake for 28 min. Check the sponge and if the color became golden, drop the oven temperature to 338F.


OK, that's it!!!
Now you have made a sponge cake:)
And you can decorate it as you'd like with whip cream....flutes...etc.

If you made one, send me a pic cause I would love to see your work:)
Enjoy!

Hugs,
Hiro

O Hanami in Japan! - Nao

Oh, it has been quite a long time… I meant to update sooner, but I had to go back to Japan for a while. It was such a crazy trip! I went to my friend’s wedding, and I had to give a speech. I’ve known this girl since I was in 4th grade. I was so happy that she could find the man of her life. It was a very touching wedding. I gave a talk in front of 120+ people and talked about our friendship. As soon as I started talking I began to feel tears filling up my eyes. I tried to hold them back, but of course I couldn’t do it. So, I was crying and talking at the same time in front of everyone… haha What I like about Japanese weddings is that they show pictures of the bride and the groom during their childhood, and this helps to describe to everyone what kind of people they are. They also tell you how the couple met, and how they became engaged and so on. If you are a friend of the bride or groom, you most likely already know how they met, but others in attendance may not. I’m telling you, Japanese weddings are very touching and emotional. At the end of the ceremony, the bride reads a letter to her parents. Oh my goodness, this it the most beautiful thing. My friend thanked her parents for her birth and she thanked her parents for their support throughout her life. Japanese really don’t express their feelings or say “thank you” to their parents, so it is very touching to hear somebody expresses respect and gratitude like that.

After the wedding party, Japanese usually have an “after-wedding” party at a local bar or restaurant. The newlyweds invite some more friends who were not invited to the wedding ceremony. My friend had her after-wedding party at a bar, and it was awesome. I saw all of my friends from Junior High school. I haven’t seen most of them for a long time, so it was great to see old friends.

I had a wonderful time in Japan. What made the trip even better was the “Cherry blossoms” (Sakura)! They were blooming like crazy and were so beautiful. In Japan, we often go to a park to enjoy cherry blossoms, and this is called “O Hanami.” We usually bring a lunch box and drinks to O Hanami. So, if you go to Japan during the cherry blossom season, you should visit a park. You will get to see how the Japanese enjoy O Hanami. If you are lucky, you’ll get to see the famous “Dojou sukui” dance. Dojou is a loach. The “Dojou sukui” dance is a dance that mimics scooping loaches, by a man that is usually drunk while doing this dance! Look at the wallpaper. Hiro’s pet, Gigi, is dancing the Dojou Sukui dance. Not that she is drunk all the time though! Haha. I took a picture of some cherry blossoms while I was in Japan, so check it out!



Have a great day, everyone!

Hug hug,
Nao