Little dessert cakes from Japanese department stores

A lovely little Chocolate Glazed Pistachio mouse cake with some real Gold flake on top

In Japan, every large department store has a basement with food for sale. Usually it's rows and rows of deli-style counters, a bakery, fresh fish and meats, small (and horrifically expensive) groceries (mostly produce) and sometimes wines and cheeses from around the world. A very interesting part (for me) is the sweets, especially the little Japanese cakes. Not necessarily "Japanese" by ingredients but more like the Japanese version of something from Europe or elsewhere in the world. They are really small but cost around $4.00 to $10.00 USD for just one! They are not something I buy often, but once in a while it's nice for a little indulgence.

These cakes are like most Japanese foods, meticulously made and presented. The packing for taking them home is also quite interesting too. Of course, they are super delicious!

Recently I got these two while at the Takashimaya in Nihombashi. Their basement has alot of French and Italian foods sellers. I also (besides these cakes) enjoyed getting some great, fresh baked (hard to find in Japan) authentic French breads and some Italian bologna and pate` (from Milan).

Chocolate Mousse cake and a Strawberry Cream cake packed in the take home box.

The salesgirl used these little pre-cut cardboard corners to secure each cake from moving in the box (using the ever adored, in Japan, scotch tape)

I don't know how they get the Strawberries so glossy in Japan, looks good doesn't it?

The inside of the Strawberry Cream cake

The inside of our chocolate cake, layers of Chocolate and Pistachio Mousse with a bottom layer of Chocolate cake

This is what the box it all came in looks like.

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter & Chocolate Pudding Cake - Low Calories

Looks good doesn't it?

Ok, I am REALLY getting into my old crock pot (and I mean old, I have had it since 1983!). It's just too easy to make things in, especially these days when I have about zero energy for meals that take lots of prep work and cooking.

Now I have discovered that I can make some low-calorie desserts for my husband and I in the crock pot. We are, as most always, trying to lose weight but still crave some sweet goodie after dinner, so I am working on new creations in the crock pot.

Here is one I came up with this week. Can be enjoyed hot from the crock pot with some low-calorie ice cream, ice milk or Rice Dream non-dairy frozen dessert etc if you want, or you can pour some fudge sauce on top, sugar free if you are trying to cut out the sugar and some calories.

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pudding Cake- low calories

For the Peanut Butter Cake portion:

3/4 c. Cake Flour
3 teaspoons Somersweet
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 c. non-fat milk
1 tablespoon plain, natural unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 c. Peanut Butter (natural, unsweetened, creamy or chunky as desired)

For the Chocolate topping "pudding":

3 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Dutch processed)
5 teaspoons Somersweet
1 c. boiling water

Butter/grease the bottom, corners and up the sides about 1 inch of the crock pot before turning it on or placing any ingredients into it.

Combine the flour, 3 tsp. Somersweet and baking powder. Add milk, applesauce and vanilla. Stir with whisk until smooth. Add peanut butter and stir with spoon until mixed completely. Put into the crock pot and level out evenly if necessary.

How it looks with the Peanut Butter batter leveled out.

In a small/medium bowl, stir together the Cocoa, 5 teaspoons Somersweet and the boiling water. Whisk till completely blended. Gently pour over the peanut butter cake batter in the cooker. DO NOT STIR IT. Just let the cocoa mixture rest on top.

How it looks once you have placed the Cocoa mixture on top of the Peanut Butter batter.

Cover the cooker and cook on HIGH for about 2 hours. Be careful any time you remove the cover (which you should not do while it's cooking) that you do not let any water collecting on the lid run down into your dessert.

How it looks in the crock pot when it is done (in this photo, I had already removed one serving).

Crock Pot Kalua Pork with Cabbage

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork with Cabbage, with some cracked pepper on top

One thing I really miss when I'm away from Hawaii is Kalua Pork. You may have eaten it if you have ever been to a Luau dinner. That is the 'real' thing where the pig is slow cooked in an "Imu" or earthen oven. The word 'kalua' in Hawaiian comes from 'ka', meaning 'the' and 'lua' meaning 'hole'. The Hawaiians used the Imu which was a pit in the ground, to steam whole pigs, breadfruit, bananas, sweet potatoes, taro, chicken, and fish.

The Imu acts like an underground pressure cooker. It takes alot of time and labor to prepare an Imu, so it was (and still is) mostly used for group meals, festivities, or religious ceremonies.

An Imu, a lua or round pit, is about 2 feet to 4 feet deep with sloping sides. The diameter and depth matches the amount of food to be cooked. The pit also contains not only the food, but rocks and vegetation. The excavated dirt or sand is kept next to the pit so that it can be used to cover the Imu later. Kindling material and wood is put in the bottom center of the pit, then stones, about the size of a closed fist, are then positioned on top of the wood. The kindling wood is lighted and the fire heats the pit and the stones. As the wood turns to charcoal, the Imu stones drop inward on the hot coals. After a few hours the stones are at their maximum heat and are then leveled out.

To steam the food in the Imu, green plant materials are needed. The Hawaiians used some of the traditional plants such as banana stumps, ti leaves, honohono grass, banana leaves, and coconut palm leaf.

The wood used usually is 'Kiawe' which is a cousin of Mesquite. This gives the pork the awesome smoked flavor. You can duplicate this at home in your slow cooker (crock pot) by using liquid smoke. I use Wright's Mesquite Liquid Smoke as it is easiest to find in most supermarkets. The Hickory type is also good.

A picture of the liquid smoke I usually use, from B&G Foods' website.

Here is my recipe...me ke aloha....

Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Kalua Pork

Pork Shoulder Roast or alittle fatty Loin Roast cuts, 1 lb or amount as desired
Water (to cover meat, one cup at a time)
Liquid Smoke (1 tablespoon to each 1 cup of water used)
Hawaiian Salt (about 2 tablespoons for each 1 cup of water used)

Place raw pork into the slow cooker pot. Cover with water (about 2 cups for each 1 lb. of meat). Add liquid smoke. Add Hawaiian salt. Cook on low for 5 hours.

This photo is just after adding everything to the slow cooker pot. See how the water is covering the pork quite a bit.

After 5 hours has past and around 2 hours before you want to serve, add roughly chopped cabbage as much as you like. I add alot (about 1/2 to 3/4 of a head of cabbage) and then mix around until it is almost covered by the water/juice. It will steam a bit as it is cooking so there is no need to cover the cabbage entirely by the water as you have done with the pork. Cover the crock pot with the lid.

I usually then turn the cooker up to high until serving (about 2 hours after having added the cabbage).

Enjoy hot from the crock pot with side of corn on the cob, potato or macaroni salad and/or steamed white sticky rice. The Kalua Pork can stay warmed and served for several hours (say at a party for example) by keeping the crock pot on low.

Here is some of the Hawaiian Salts I use. It comes in ground or course. Click here to read about Hawaiian Salt.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Chiba, Japan

Well now they've gone and done it. There is a new Krispy Kreme Doughnuts located about 10 minutes away from our home in Japan, at the Minami Funabashi La La Port shopping mall. Krispy Kreme has several locations in Tokyo proper, but now they are spreading out from there. We have never gone to any of the shops in Tokyo since the waiting time in line is usually 1 hour if you are lucky, it can easily be 2-3 hours. I have also heard of people waiting even 4 hours! We decided to check out the La La Port location and there was only about 15 minute (or less) wait time. We got there before I snapped this photo, there was no one outside waiting at the time.

Click here if you would like to read a fairly detailed article about Krispy Kreme in Japan (by Japan Inc).

So this location at La La Port, looks mostly like any US version of Krispy Kreme, except not as big inside and not as much merchandise for sale. The order board is in Japanese and English, helpful for folks like me! Not that I NEED to be making use of it very often (trying as usual to lose some weight!). You can see the doughnuts going thru the process of being made as with most of KK's shops. Boy does it smell GOOD in there! PLUS they were handing out free just made (still hot!) glazed doughnuts to all of us waiting in line. That was nice, but Ken and I joked that we should leave after that as that was all we wanted was one doughnut.

We ended up getting a dozen for our neighbor (as a peace offering since Daisy had chewed the wallpaper in their entry off a bit) and about 4 doughnuts for Ken and I to share with each other. The next day when we got on the scale, we had LOST weight so the big joke now is 'we need to go on Krispy Kreme diets to lose weight'....if only huh?

The left row of people waiting is for those who want to select various types and amounts of doughnuts, the open row (at the time of this photo it was clear) is an "express"  for those who want to purchase boxed dozen (for take out) of the glazed doughnut only. It's very popular in Japan (the regular glazed doughnut) and many people buy 2-3 dozen (or more!) to bring home, take to the office, or give to friends or neighbors (whom are usually thankful to have the doughnuts without having had to wait in line for them).

The wonderful, and always fun to watch, doughnut making machine.

Orange Chicken, Panda Express style

I have been trying to make Orange Chicken like the kind at Panda Express. My husband LOVES their Orange Chicken and will eat it every day when we are near Panda Express locations (because there are no chances for him to eat it in Japan). So I tried to make it at home. It is not easy but after the 5th try, I think I have got it as close to the real thing as can be done at home, and without a big Wok. I don't own a Wok...no space!

Anyway, we tried it tonight and it was delicious! I also have a recipe for Orange Lilikoi Guava chicken in a crock pot that I will post soon. It's similar to this Orange Chicken except it's all done in a crock pot. You lose alittle of the crunch of the fried chicken pieces but also it's healthier since there is nothing fried!

And now.......

Terri's Homemade Orange Chicken, Panda Style

For the sauce, mix together in a bowl:

1 cup Orange Marmalade (for lower calories use a sugarless variety)
4 tablespoons Shoyu/Soy Sauce (low sodium Shoyu is ok too)
1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce (any type you like, I used a Honey Mustard type)
dash of salt (about 1/4 tsp.)
1 teaspoon of thin sliced red chili peppers, fresh or dried
2 teaspoons of Organic Turbanado Sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon Lilikoi Juice concentrate (optional, I used Aunty Lilikoi's)

After thoroughly mixing these ingredients together, place them all in a crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. You may check on it and stir once or twice.

For the Chicken:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs Chicken, thighs or breast as desired (I used both in equal amounts)
1 Egg beaten
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp ground White Pepper
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

After the 5-6 hours are past, cut into large bite sized pieces the chicken meat. Beat egg in a medium/large sized bowl. Add chicken, salt and white pepper. Mix together thoroughly and set aside.

Put oil in a pan or deep fryer and heat to frying temperature.

In another bowl, mix the cornstarch and flour. Add the chicken mixture, and mix until well and evenly coated. Add the chicken pieces in small batches. Removed from oil when browned on both sides (if using a pan to fry, you may need to manually turn over the pieces one by one to assure even cooking.

Place on paper or rack to drain.

After all the chicken is fried, put into a large bowl, or a smaller bowl in batches, and pour some of the Orange sauce from the crock pot over the fried chicken. Mix around until the chicken pieces are coated with the Orange sauce and serve.

**note, next time I am going to try adding some sauteed/stir fried crushed garlic to the Orange Sauce to see if that will spiff up the flavor a bit. Also my husband said he would prefer it alittle spicier so I will add more red chilies next time too.

ENJOY....

Avocado Mashed Potatoes

Looks like Guacamole doesn't it?

Here is a recipe I just came up with today. Turned out pretty good! You just have to get over the mental block of green potatoes!

I think I will use the left overs to make Japanese style Croquettes tomorrow and will post that later.

Give it a try if you have some potatoes and an avocado needing to be eaten! It really is quite tasty!

Avocado Mashed Potatoes

About ¾ lb Potatoes
1 avocado
lemon juice
¼ cup soy or cow’s milk (I used soymilk, plain/unsweetened)
1 tablespoon butter
salt, white pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste, if desired

Peel and cut potatoes into large chunks. Cover in cool salted water in sauce pan and boil until pieces can be pierced with a fork (not too soft where they break when the fork goes in).

While the potatoes are cooking, peel and mash one avocado. Sprinkle with dash of fresh lemon juice (about 1 tsp is good). Sprinkle with some salt (about ½ teaspoon or as desired) and mix all well. Set aside.

Place the butter into the milk and melt in the microwave. Sprinkle the salt and pepper in and set aside.

When the potatoes are done, remove them from the water with a slotted spoon. Mash roughly in a bowl. Add the milk/butter mixture in about 3 portions to the potatoes, mixing thoroughly after each addition (use a hand beater or stand up mixer). Continue to mix to desired consistency (we like our mashed potatoes alittle lumpy in our home).

Lastly, add the avocado, folding in or mixing gently on low speed until evenly distributed into the potatoes.

Serve warm.

Mango, Coconut, Macadamia Nut Bread or Muffins - Sucanat

Finished muffins, with one split open so you can see what it looks like done. YUMMY!

Today I was going to make some Mango Bread, which has coconut and mac nuts in it, but ended up putting the batter into muffin papers. As usual, I am trying to make my recipe healthier, using whole wheat flour (partially), Sucanat sugar (no white sugar) and some applesauce to replace some of the oil.

You can use fresh mangoes or frozen. I prefer frozen because besides the fact it can be quite an ordeal to peel and then cut up a mango (for me anyway), they are really expensive here in Japan, when you can find them and it's hard to find them not over ripened in what I consider, a usable condition. I'm serious about them being expensive! I saw a mango at the supermarket here 2 days ago that was 980 yen, which is about $10.00 USD currently! There was also some cheaper mangoes (smaller and probably from the Philippines) that were about half that price, still pricey if you ask me. A bag of frozen and already nice chopped mango is only about $3.50 USD and there is nearly 2 cups in the bag! However, again, it's not easy to find it. I usually have to go to more than one supermarket before I am successful, so when I see them, I often buy some to keep in the freezer for later.

This recipe could be used in a bread pan as a loaf of fruit bread, but you would need to bake it longer, around 45-50 minutes or more, depending on your oven.

When making muffins, you can also use reusable Sili-cups (silicon muffin baking cups) instead of the muffin tin and papers, which is what I usually do, but since I was giving a good amount of these away to friends, I decided it'd be better to use papers this time, giving them a bit more stability in transit perhaps.

Enjoy!

Mango Bread or Muffins

1 cup cake flour (or pastry flour)
1 cup all purpose whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs well beaten
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavor/extract (optional)
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened, plain
1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil, sunflower oil, etc.
1 1/4 cup Sucanat (cane sugar)
2 cups diced (peeled first) mango (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup grated coconut (unsweetened, if you are forced to use sweetened, cut down the sugar)
1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates (optional, this will make the muffins much sweeter, I did not use any in this batch)

Batter mixed and ready to add the coconut, mac nuts and mango.

Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C) or a bit higher depending on your oven (I baked these at 160C).

For bread, grease and flour two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add the oil, applesauce, Sucanat and coconut extract/flavor.
Mix thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients and blend well but don't over mix.

Fold in the mango, coconut, nuts and raisins.

Pour batter into loaf pans or spoon into muffin tin/papers or Sili-cups. Do not fill muffin papers or cups all the way , but rather just below the edge (see photo below).

Bake bread for 45-60 minutes (depending on your oven) and muffins for approximately 30 minutes, until golden brown. Test for doneness by inserting a clean knife or a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean it's done.

Let loaves cool for 10-15 minutes before taking them out of the pan. Do not slice until completely cooled.

Muffins can be removed carefully and set out to cool.

This recipe makes 2 loaves or approximately 18 muffins.

This is about the level you should fill the papers or Sili-cups with batter.

BullFrogs and Japanese Toads in the garden

Well today, as Daisy sat on her new little summer cot enjoying the fresh air in her garden, a huge BullFrog (called Ushi Gaeru in Japanese) jumped into the Dichondra lawn directly in front of her. Although this picture was taken before that 'event' this is exactly where it was (where she is looking towards in this photo above). At first I didn't know what it was in the lawn, then when I opened the door and stepped onto the lanai, that thing JUMPED! He lept at least 3 feet (about a meter) in one hop! He hit a potted plant and knocked it over and then hid in some dried leaves alongside the edge of the garden. Well this was quite interesting! I wanted to get a picture of him so I approached and then he took off. That thing can RUN and I also discovered it could climb a small fence! Finally he hid under a shed I have. I could barely get a look at him.

Daisy was so excited to try and chase him. I had to spend time taking her mind off of it with some juicy bones and treats for a while.

Here is a picture of what we saw and about the same size. This photo comes courtesy of a website on how to control Bullfrogs, I was unable to get a photo of 'our' visitor today. It was much too fast!

An American Bullfrog, they are not native to Japan but were introduced in the 1920's, originally to help farmers earn extra income by exporting frog legs. But they are great jumpers and runners, as we discovered today, and as some would escape the farms, they became established in the wild. Now they can be found all over Japan in the countryside as well as city parks, substantial ponds, rivers and larger irrigation ditches, and our humble urban garden!

click here to listen to a Bullfrog's call

UPDATE-Sept 1
We found the Bullfrog today hiding in the darkest wettest corner of the garden. After carefully holding back some leaves of the large plant he was sitting under, I was able to get this picture without upsetting him.

Funny thing is, it must have disturbed our regular Japanese Toads that live in our garden, under the sheds. They are called Azuma Hiki Gaeru in Japanese. Less than 10 minutes later, I saw one of our usual toads walking towards a shed we have on the opposite side of the garden looking dejected, like he just got kicked out of his house. He is lucky that BullFrog didn't eat him! Here is a picture of our regular Japanese Toad in the lawn. He doesn't move as fast as the BullFrog. The toads tend to freeze when you get too close, as if that would make you no longer interested in them. Silly toads, however the 'freeze' technique does make them very photogenic!

Japanese Toad as he is walking thru the Dichondra lawn. They seem to prefer walking like this and jump as a last resort. It looks funny as they walk across the lawn.

Azuma Hiki Gaeru, Japanese Toad acting like he isn't there, in a frozen position.

Hopefully our BullFrog will hang around, though he might have been traumatized by my trying to take his picture. I'm sure he is awesome pest control. He was so big and looked very well fed. I think he may have come from a nearby taro patch that someone is filling in partially to build some houses on. I used to hear the BullFrogs singing from there (at first I thought someone had cows or oxen!) but it's been pretty quiet over there now. I did however think I heard something outside along the dark damp side of our apartment for the last week or so. Guess it wasn't my imagination!

The next night, Daisy found this Japanese Toad in the garden. His markings are a little more pronounced than the one we saw during the day, maybe not the same toad. The poor thing was 'frozen' stiff in terror. Daisy was really not so interested in him after he stopped moving (she is actually quite gentle with things usually). I brought him in the apartment for a photo shoot, then put him back out in a bushy area so Daisy would give him some peace. Here are a couple really good close up photos for those of you that are interested and not squeamish about froggies.

Lemon Beagles can jump!

Running in the clover with the little soccer ball

Today we took Daisy to the dog park. The dog park provides a little box with some used balls for the dogs to play with there. Daisy likes to root around and select one from the box when we go there. Today she chose a small rubber 'soccer' ball. Ken was with us today and he was letting her jump for the soccer ball while I got some action shots with my new camera. She looks funny when she is jumping. She jumps on command (mostly).

Enjoy the pics!




All that jumping makes a Beagle tired! Here are a few pictures of some of the breaks she would take around the water bowl (she likes to put the ball in the water bowl sometimes!).

Golf with Daisy in Ibaraki, Kashimanomori C.C.

Daisy on the cart, ready to start!

This week, we found a place to golf in nearby Ibaraki that is dog friendly. This place was more welcoming to dogs than anywhere we've ever been before. Daisy was allowed to walk with us into the lobby and also during the lunch break, she was allowed to be in the room with us while we ate, though not in the main dining room. They even had a little bowl of water waiting for her!

We all had a great time. The place was called Kashimanomori Country Club and it only takes about an hour or so from our place, that is CLOSE for Tokyo area! It had very nice greens, not too fast and not too bumpy, so we had some very nice putts. There were however tons of bunkers and quite a bit of water. I managed to get myself in the bunkers pretty often on this day! But one needs to practice getting out of them once in a while and I managed to do so fairly well. Lunch was included and the locker rooms and hot spring bath was very nice. We already have reserved our next game there in a few weeks!

One view of the golf course, a kind of cloudy part of the day.

Here I am working my way out of one of the many bunkers!

Daisy was so funny! She really watched us as we would get ready to swing our club, then just like a human spectator, she'd watch the direction that the ball sailed off to. It was a little hot this day once the sun came out, so we got her T-shirt wet and put it on her to keep her cool. It worked really good, she wasn't even panting. We thought about getting ourselves wet too!

Here is a kind of photo log of how the day went. Video a the end of the post is cute of her running on the fairway. It was so cool that this place allows the dogs off the cart (just had to keep her off the greens and out of the bunkers).

In the car on the way to the Country Club, Daisy didn't mind getting up early to go "bye bye" in the car!

Enjoying a break in the grass with Ken.

After 17 holes and nearly 5 hours, I'm feeling alittle sleepy!

Just a few minutes later, after we started the 18th hole,
she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore!

Wow, it's amazing how cozy this cart is!

When we got home, she had dinner and then headed directly for her crate and passed out. Doesn't she look like a fat Caterpillar here? She was snoring like a freight train but slightly opened her eyes when she heard the camera switch on for this photo.

Video of Daisy and Ken running down the fairway as I drive by on the golf cart.