bäckerei biobrot

My host-mom was kind enough to buy this kürbiskern brot (pumpkin seed bread) from Bäckerei Biobrot, a tiny German bakery in Ashiya, for us.

It was such a big loaf, and with the humidity in the air these days, I froze most of it.

This wheat bread is so good!

I love how many pumpkin seeds run through this loaf.

This was perfect toasted and then eaten with a little butter.

Thank you!

Bäckerei Biobrot
14-14-101 Miyazuka-cho
Ashiya, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.23.8923
Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays
Hours: 9:00-18:30

valentine's day

How was your Valentine's Day? Hope you had a nice day with your special someone.

Since the girls are supposed to give the guys chocolates in Japan, I did something simple and dipped some strawberries in milk chocolate (Satoshi's fave) then decorated them with some blingy sprinkles for Satoshi.

Satoshi received some giri-choco (obligation chocolates) from his female co-workers. Someone even gave him a heart shaped senbei (rice cracker).

Lunch was at Gasthaus 44. A German restaurant. I chose the housemade sausages. This came with spätzle, sauerkraut and a dollop of mashed potatoes.

I really enjoyed the sausages. The white one is eaten with a sweet mustard and you need to peel the casing off before eating it. The darker one is eaten with grainy mustard. (the darker one was juicy!)

Satoshi went with their housemade hamburger, which was a meatball that had lots of cumin in it. It smelled wonderful.

After lunch, Satoshi went to meet some of his German classmates for a study session, so I killed some time and headed to Takamura Wine.

They also do coffee, so I had a cup of Mandheling.

Then we met up at Utsubo Park, where we saw this huge black cat. Bigger than my niece, I swear that it was a baby puma!

The weather was sunny but the wind was really icy.

Dinner was an assortment of things from the department food floor with wine.

Hope you have a nice week!

Gasthaus 44 (UPDATE:2021 out of business)
1-12-8 Awaza
Nishi-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6533.3443
Closed Sundays
Hours: Lunch 11:30-15:00, Dinner: 17:00-23:00

german yogurt

Have you ever tried German Yogurt?

I hadn't until recently.

Apparently it has a little higher fat content then most plain yogurts, making it a bit creamier.

It was our first time trying this but I liked it.

chocolate finds

February in Japan means there are lots of chocolates to be found.

I picked up these three recently.

Charbonnel et Walker's truffles.

You can really taste the alcohol in these champagne truffles, too bad they don't use dark chocolate in any of them.

Peters bon-bons are thin and delicious.

From top to bottom: Prosecco-Raspberry, Orange and Latte Macchiato. My fave was the orange.

The container makes a nice pen case, though it isn't too "thick", so you can't put a lot in there.

Dufflett's Nutt-e Dark chocolate with maple coated cashews.

This was more like a brittle coated with chocolate.

Everything was good, hope to find more chocolates in the coming weeks.

chocolate finds

After seeing this bar on Cybele's blog, I had been on the lookout for it.

Well, it finally turned up at Sony Plaza.

30% cacao with a mix of macadamia, cashew and almonds.

They also had some of the new Winter creations...like Coconut Macaroon (milk chocolate coconut cream and rice flakes)

and Caramelized Almonds.

Though all were milk chocolate, I enjoyed the creaminess and the generous amount of nuts.

The coconut macaroon was also nicely flavored.

It's Friday here, hope you have a nice weekend.

einfacher stollen

It's been awhile since I made my own stollen for Christmas, I think my archives says 2007?!

Anyway, I just bought a new Japanese book and inside they had a recipe for "Einfacher stollen" (Einfacher means easier in German).

I looked over the recipe and indeed it looked easy. I think the "real deal" stollen is bread-like, so they use yeast, but this one was more cookie/cake-like, so no yeast was involved.

Truthfully, during this time of year, using yeast is difficult especially if we don't have some sun to warm some rooms up in our apartment for the proofing.

So, I gathered all the ingredients needed and tried it out, here's the recipe if you'd like to try.

Einfacher Stollen translated from "Tabi suru Okashi-Europe edition" : makes 1
40 grams raisins
40 grams orange peel (chopped)
20 grams drain cherry (translated to candied cherry)
25 grams whole almonds
25 grams walnuts
50 cc rum (about 1/4 cup)
50 grams unsalted butter
50 grams kyorikiko (translated to bread flour)
50 grams hakurikiko (translated to cake flour)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50 grams almond powder
40 grams sugar
1 egg
some powdered sugar

1. The night before, soak the dried fruits and nuts in the rum
2. The next day, cut the butter into the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and almond powder)
3. Drain the liqueur from the fruits and nuts and add them to the dry mixture.
4. Add the egg and mix with a rubber spatula until the dry ingredients become moist.
5. Spread out onto parchment in the shape of a circle then fold it in half.
6. Chill for 20 minutes in the refridge.
7. In a 160C(325F) oven bake for 40 minutes or until light brown.
8. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar

NOTES: I didn't have bread flour, the flour I buy is apparently cake flour (didn't know until I looked it up), so I used all cake flour. My dough was quite sticky and hard to work with.

Also, I didn't have rum and used Grand Marnier.

Instead of going out to buy raisins, I used a mix that had raisins, dried cranberry and other dried fruits in it.

I would chop the nuts the next time, it was hard to cut through and added to the stollen falling apart.

While baking, this really spread out, the thin areas were crisp like a cookie, while the thicker areas were cake-like.

Taste wise though I liked this, especially the addition of the orange peel. The overall flavor wasn't overly boozy which was also nice. I'd make this again.

It's the night before Christmas, I hope Santa brings everything you wish for...have a Merry Christmas!

things I'm liking

Well, there was no snow this weekend, not even a flurry, but the wind was fahreezing cutting through everything and anything you were wearing...still hoping for a white Christmas, though I know Satoshi is not.

So many things to post, so little time, so I'm putting them all in a "things I'm liking" post...starting off with the 400 grams of La Mere Poulard's chocolate chip cookies. Not liking that it is 100 grams less than her buttery sables, those are 500 grams.

Kinda liking Italy's Crik Crok chips...while I liked the flavor, the texture reminded me of crunchy Pringles and there was just way too much salt.

The kinoko tartine from Anri...a fourth of a baguette slathered with white sauce, lots of mushrooms and cheese.

Earlier this year, I tried the chocolate kakinotane which Kameda and Meiji collaborated on, this time they added almonds.

I would have enjoyed this more had the almonds been covered with chocolate too, seemed out of place.

Maisen's tamatoro menchikatsu pocket sandwich...whew, a mouthful to say.

Tamatoro is a shortening and fusing of two words: tamago (egg) torori (oozy)

Menchikatsu is a hamburger deep fried

Even though this sandwich was sitting out, the egg was still oozy.

This sandwich was huge, delicious and only 399 yen. (I would've liked a little veg in there but it probably would have made things a bit soggy)

Love socks with toes (not exactly sure what they call them in English).

I heard that they keep your feet warmer than regular socks because each toe is covered, kind of like gloves for your hands.

Oh and if you happen to have athlete's foot (I don't) it is perfect for keeping each toe from touching each other and spreading germs...

MUJI sells these socks that are made in Japan.

Another company, Tabio sells socks with toes that are made in Japan too.

I didn't know this but sock making is a large industry in Nara prefecture, Tabio and MUJI's socks are made there.

The pink socks are a perfect style for wearing ballet type flats.

Keith's chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies. We received these from my parents and have been enjoying them with coffee. (thank you!)

It looks like there are quite a bit of crumbs at the bottom of the bag, which I'm looking forward to sprinkling on ice cream.

Kinder's Happy Hippo Cacao...a wafer filled with milk creme and hazelnut creme.

Delicious and cute.

Gingerbread crunch by The Cookie Kitchen, we also received these from my parents.

Be careful, don't break a tooth, these are kinda on the hard side, the spices are so festive. (thank you!)

La Mere Poulard's crepes dentelles...thin thin wafers rolled into a little stick of sorts then covered with milk chocolate.

These stay very crisp because of the chocolate...yum!

And lastly, Antenor's black sesame pudding.

Not very aesthetic but very delicious, nutty from the sesame.

Bummed that they used a plastic bowl though.

What have you been enjoying?!

'tis the season

Christmas is coming, what a great way to celebrate with all sorts of sweet treats from around the globe.

First off though is not a sweet treat... A french classmate went to Belgium recently and brought back this cute sachet filled with lavender, perfect for Christmas (merci!)

Mini pandoro from MUJI. I had read about pandoro on Rowena's blog, but had not tried it myself.

Have you seen how big Pandoro or Panettone are?! Lucky for me, MUJI had these mini-sized (like the size of a big muffin), perfect for a taste.

This Italian eggy bread/cake reminds me of what we have in Japan called castella.

And if you try pandoro, then you have to try the Italian panettone too.

Another mini-size made by MUJI.

This one was more bread-like filled with raisins and citrus peels.

I preferred the pandoro while Satoshi preferred the panettone.

A small box of La Mere Poulard's Les cookies du Mont Saint Michel (France).

These cookies are packed with chocolate chips...yum!

Weiss Contrella Classic Lebkuchen (Germany)...I had envisioned something more like gingerbread, maybe a little more crisp, but these were soft, a little spicy, very sweet and dipped in chocolate.

With a cup of tea though, they were perfect.

Rounding out our Christmas treats, shortbread from Scotland.

Walker's buttery shortbread are delicious.

What are you enjoying these days?

condi

The other week I re-visited Condi. You may or may not remember that they make great soft pretzels.

On my re-visit, I picked up a Laugenstangerl, and this fig walnut bread.

At 360 yen (about US$3.60), it was a small loaf, kinda pricey.

I was worried that the figs inside would be sparse, like most breads are.

But upon cutting it for breakfast...the whole bread was filled with whole figs and walnuts! In some areas, more fig than bread.

We loved this as is, no need for butter or jam.

I think I have found another favorite at this bakery.

(UPDATE: 11/2015 they no longer sell bread items but do still have food gift items)

condi

My student told me about a shop in the Westin Osaka called Condi. She said that they had the best soft pretzels.

This hotel/shop is out of the way, but last Saturday, Satoshi had his annual physical which was held next door to the Westin, so I went to check it out while I waited for him.

They had one called pretzel (180 yen about US$1.80) and one with another German name (phonetically it was lau-gen-schu-tan-gal; the long bread, if you know what it means or if you know the correct spelling, please let me know, 250 yen (about US$2.50)), so I bought both to try.

I put it into the toaster to warm it up. I also actually wanted some spicy mustard, you know the kind you can get at the baseball fields in the U.S.? Of course that is non-existent here (to my knowledge), so I mixed some dijon and some whole seed mustard....definitely not the same. In the end, I ate them just plain.

Overall, both the pretzel and long bread, after putting them into the toaster, were crisp on the outside and really chewy on the inside....heavenly.

Next time I'm in this area, I'm picking up more.

Condi (UPDATE: 11/2015, they no longer sell bread items here, but do sell food gift items)
inside of the Westin Osaka
1-1-20 Oyodonaka
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6440.1111

odds & ends

Last night, I decided to roast some veggies for dinner. I just drizzled olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. After the veggies came out of the oven, I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar on top.

For the main dish, I baked some salmon and topped it with an idea I got from the Honolulu Advertiser. The recipe was for a lavender-thyme butter, but I didn't follow it because it was a bit too late to take some butter out to soften it (plus it is too cold to soften butter...), so I just took all the ingredients and placed them on top of the salmon. It made the house smell wonderful and it tasted great!

Well, today is a dreary Saturday, it is very overcast and very cold! Satoshi's German language class has moved from its previous location, so they had an open house. One of the presentations was by a local confectioner, Masashi Taniwaki, who makes German sweets. He lived in Germany for about 14 years before coming back to Japan. His shop is located in Ashiya, a high-end neighborhood, just outside of Osaka.

He talked about making different types of German sweets and of course, there was taste testing too. The first one we got to try was baum kuchen and is supposed to look like the rings of a tree when cut. This cake was a bit dense and has many layers and I was surprised at how this one wasn't too sweet. This cake is usually found at special occasions such as weddings or birthdays. You need a special baum kuchen oven to make this, so I can see why it might be found only at special occasions.

The next one was called land kuchen--which means country cake. This cake is usually found out in the country side and quite eaten regularly. This cake was also quite dense but had a fruit and nut topping. It was really good and also not too sweet.

The last one that we tried was called mohn kuchen. Mohn is poppy seeds. This cake was quite light and had a layer of poppy seeds, raisins and nuts. As you ate it, you could feel the little poppy seeds popping in your mouth.

I also want to share with you a new chocolate. This is called salt chocolate made by one of my favorite local chocolatiers, Ekchuah. It was sold last year at their shop, but I hadn't gotten around to getting some until now.

The back-side of the chocolate has the store's name in gold on it. This dark chocolate is laced with a natural salt that complements the chocolate, it is perfect while sipping a glass of red wine.

Lastly, this time of year bring sakura (cherry blossom) flavored treats. It is hard to describe the flavor because it doesn't not taste like cherries that we're used to in America. The flavor is delicate like the cherry blossoms themselves. This treat was made by a Kyoto shop called Kogetsu and we got them from a friend, Kathy. (Thanks Kathy!)

After opening the wrapper, you find this pink, gelatinous ball, which is flavored with sakura.

Then cutting into it, you find the sweet bean paste inside...delicious!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

lebkuchen

With Christmas only 19 days away(gulp...19!), I was flipping through one of my baking cookbooks to figure out what to make. I also wanted to try the recipe at least once before actually making a lot of them. I came across a cookie called Lebkuchen. Looking at the ingredients, it seemed like a type of gingerbread. After reading Wikipedia's definition, I found out that it is a type of gingerbread.

Here is the recipe from "the Essential Baking Cookbook": makes 35 cookies

2 1/3 cups (290g/10oz) plain flour
1/2 cup (60g/2 oz) corn flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
100g (3 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup (260g/8 oz) golden syrup
2 tablespoons milk
150g (5 oz) white chocolate melts
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice, extra

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C(350F/Gas4). Line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Sift the flours, cocoa, and spices into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

3. Place the butter, golden syrup and milk in a small saucepan, and stir over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Removed from the heat and add to the dry ingredients. Using a knife, mix with a cutting motion until the mixture comes together in small beads. Gather together with your hands and turn out onto a sheet of baking paper.

4. Roll the dough out to 7mm (3/8 inch) thick. Cut into heart shapes using a 6 cm (2 1/2 inch) biscuit cutter. Place on the trays and bake for 25 minutes of until lightly browned. Leave on the trays to cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, then removed from the heat. Sit the bowl over the pan, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted.

6. Dip one half of each biscuit into the chocolate and place on a sheet of baking paper until the chocolate has set. Sprinkle with mixed spice. These biscuits can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days.

NOTES: I forgot to add the cocoa and need to get the thickness right--I think some were too thick. Since I couldn't find golden syrup, I used molasses, which I found out is called kuromitsu in Japanese. Also, I didn't dip them in white chocolate because if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know that I'm not a fan of it. Still, they were surprisingly easy to make and the smell of these cookies baking were very Christmas-y and tasted really good!