Missing baking..

Have been missing baking the past few days. =( Haven't really been game enough to try baking a cake in our microwave. Been feeling like eating carrot cake/ cheesecake. Carrot cake seems to be a strange concept here in Japan. I admit the first time I heard of carrot cake it didn't sound very good. The idea of a vegetable being in a cake did NOT appeal to me. Was thinking it would taste like carrot too. Not sure if I should purchase a cake tin or not.. Hmmm... Below are some things I baked before I came to Japan.

Coffee and chocolate eclairs

Hummingbird cake

Sam's homemade bbq chicken pizza

Sam had his school's culture day today. He took some pictures of what some of the students had done. Some of it is very impressive!

This one is really cool. It's made out of lots of little painted triangles. Watch the video!

I thought these were really cool and impressive too! They're made from little dots!

There was ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement).

 There were clothes/ kimonos that students had made.

There were items made out of felt. Pretty amazing in my opinion.

Am looking forward to Sunday ramen after church tomorrow! Felt like I haven't had it for ages!! It's the best weather for ramen too! It's been cold and I'm definitely feeling it! Need to get some thermal shirts and socks (they'd be amazing if they work!!). And... the picture below.. Whahaha... I saw someone do this on a show where they were saying what the most popular snacks were.

Pringle mouth!

Kudzu mochi

Made some kudzu mochi today!

Kudzu mochi with kinako

Added kuromitsu

Will try making it with matcha and redbeans next time.

Udon with fish balls from Akashi

Sam made super tasty udon on Sunday night! Egg was perfectly cooked with all the white cooked and the yolk still runny. =)

Trip to Akashi

Sam and I went to Akashi today to try some akashiyaki. Akashiyaki is what takoyaki is based on. It has more egg and less doughy. It is also served with dashi broth, which you dip the balls in. They were really good! I don't like takoyaki so was I bit worried about not liking it. Reminded me of a Japanese steamed egg dish called chawanmushi.

Akashiyaki with dashi on the right

 Grabbed some goodies to take home whilst we were there.

Mini tako (octopus)-shaped castella - had a caramel taste to them.
Would have been awesome if they had a little bit of caramel sauce in the middle!

Peanut cracker

Assorted pack of crackers

Some tasty snacks from the local bakery. 

Custard filled cake thing with a crunchy toffee almond top

Custard filled doughnut with a crispy cornflake covered outside

Sam's bento on Wednesday
Had some tuna pasta salad Sam made and some slow cooked soy pork belly

Missing aussie chocolate..

Getting lazy with posting.. =P Made a bento with some extra chicken katsu for Sam last week. Been making some tuna-mayo onigiri recently. I actually really like them! Easy to make, taste good, not too much seaweed and very filling! =) They're a lot better than the sushi rolls you get in Sydney. Made a fried noodle bento on Monday. Wasn't as good as the first time we did stir-fry noodles and I went a little overboard with the salt. Here are some pics:

Katsu bento

Tuna onigiri

Stir-fry noodle bento

I have really been missing blocks of normal chocolate/chocolate in Australia for the past couple of weeks! Most of the chocolate here has a unique taste to it.. I don't know how to describe it though. I have tried a few different brands and varieties since we've been here with no luck. Did find a nice one today called Meltykiss made by Meiji. It's a new variety that I saw in the supermarket today. It reminds me of a truffle. And of course, they are all individually wrapped as are most things you buy here.

Disappointment in a packet

Inside view

I bought the snack above thinking it would have a soft mousse like texture. It was the complete opposite. It was hard and tasted bad.

It has started to get darker earlier. I wonder how early it will get dark in winter. When we visitied mum in London around Dec-Jan it seemed to get dark at around 3-4pm (according to my memories.. =P). It's nice walking around and seeing trees with some of their leaves having turned red. Can't wait to visit Kyoto with Lucinda (Sam's sister) when she comes in November! I have heard they have really pretty autumn leaf viewing spots. =D

Katsu

Sam made chicken katsu for dinner tonight. Was SOOO good! Was crispy top and bottom. =)

Sam's bento last Thursday

Trip to Nara

We went to Nara on Monday. Lots of tourist and school groups there. The deer are so used to people it's kind of strange. You can freely pat and touch them too. You can buy some deer food (they just look like rice crackers) and feed them. Some of them get fed too much that they won't eat it if you give it to them. Others will come up and nuzzle you if you have food. I wouldn't like to have come when there weren't lots of people as you'd have heaps of deer trying to get food from you. Some deer are pretty smart and stand near where people buy food and they come at you once you get it. Some children got really scared with the deer coming at them for food. One little girl started to get surrounded by 5 or 6 adult sized deer. She was crying and screaming for her parents. =( Her dad ended up grabbing the bag of food from her, ripping it and the deer just went for it. Tried to feed some smaller deer, but if there are bigger ones near buy they just bump the small ones out of the way. =( Deer make some very funny but weird noises. Went to see some temple but it's being rebuilt and won't be done for another couple of years, which is kind of sad.

We also got to see some guys hitting some mochi. That was entertaining to watch. They get soo much business after they do it too! The mochi was really yummy too!

Katsudon and soba

Chicken Tempura and Udon

Kit kat ball/squares

Pigeon hanging out amongst the turtles

Hehe..

Sam was actually trying to feed the little deer but this one wouldn't let him. =P

This deer on the ground gave same Sam some good nuzzling

There are several of these warning signs around

Sleepy fawn

The Giant Buddha is inside

Stairs or a ladder?

Big Buddha

Big butterfly

Crazy roots

Where to go?

Old school lanterns

The fawn started crossing at the crossing whilst calling for it's mum.

It then started to walk down the road.