imbibing

At the Foodie Staff Party, we always have lots and LOTS of alcohol.

Every year depending on who comes, depends on what will be consumed. Most times it is hard to predict.

One year it was lots and LOTS of beer.

This year it was wine.

We had bought a case of beer and some chu-hai (which is actually short for shochu highball, a drink made with juice and shochu (like vodka except it is made with sweet potatoes or barley) and Satoshi's co-workers brought many bottles of wine. (Thank you!)

First off, we started the party toasting with Santero's Pinot Rose, which I've tried in the past and written about here.

You should know that in Japan, maybe this is just in Osaka, but before any party ever starts, they toast and toast with beer.

Even if you don't want to drink beer, you have to toast with beer.

Anyway, I don't believe in this "ritual" and told Satoshi we are toasting with this sparkling wine instead and so that is what we did.

After drinking this sparkling wine, we opened Caliterra's Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon. I don't know much about wine, but this was nice and full-bodied.

So were the others that we tried...Chakalaka Spice Route, a South African wine. The wine was good and I like saying "Chakalaka".

Badet & Clement's Cuvee Prestige Blanc was a type of chardonnay (I think) it was nice chilled, light and easy to drink.

Hardy's Shiraz was kind of spicy.

Some people were drinking high-balls which they mixed Chivas and soda water.

I stuck to only wine, though most people went back and forth and mixed their drinks.

Major hangover today but I am pretty sure everyone had a nice time.

I found out from Satoshi at the last minute that there were not enough people for the party next week, so those who could come came this week, luckily for me I only had to cook for this one party!

Ooh, and the cilantro I got from Nate is growing! Will keep you posted on this.

Today is a National holiday, it is Keiro no hi (Grandparents Day), I wish I was able to spend the day with my Grandma, but am glad I was able to spend two months visiting with her while I was in Hawaii.

foodie staff party

Satoshi's staff party entailed 7 co-workers, some new some not. Apparently we won't have to do this again next week.

We got together a little after noon and had...

Layered Taco Dip made with Ellie Krieger's Black Bean Dip

Ellie Kriger's Grilled Thai Beef Salad

Kim Chee Potato Salad

Spicy Poke

Shrimp Chips

And for dessert Cocoa Berry Mochi...which was inspired by something I had while in Hawaii at the Peace Cafe, only thing is that this version isn't vegan.

The recipe I got from my mom is made in a 9"x13" pan, which will NOT fit in my teeny oven, so I cut this recipe in half.

For this mochi recipe I needed 1/2 a can of evaporated milk and 1/2 a can of coconut milk...and when I went to Seijo Ishii, I was pleasantly pleased to find 1/2 sized cans.

In Japanese evaporated milk is called "eba milk" which is a shortened term. They don't have a "v" pronounciation so it pronounced with a "b".

Anyway, here is the recipe if you'd like to try it.

Cocoa Berry Mochi adapted from Koganji "Simply Delicious"
2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 can (12 ounce) coconut milk
1 cup total of dried fruits, walnuts & chocolate chips

Mix everything well. In a greased 9"x13" pan, bake at 350F (180C) for 45 minutes.
Cool completely then cut into desired serving size.

It seems that everyone enjoyed themselves and ate everything.

I hope everyone had a nice time...I enjoyed having everyone over, now to clean up.

baking for white day

Yesterday after lunch, I spent some time baking some mini muffins for Satoshi to give his co-workers for White Day.

White Day is on the 14th of March and is the day when the males "give back" to the females after receiving something for Valentine's Day.

Since Satoshi has 30 co-workers in his department (mostly females), I decided to bake instead of buy something.

When I went to MUJI, they had these box mixes. I figured by buying 4 boxes (1 box making 10 muffins) to make 40 muffins was cheaper than buying something pre-made.

The picture on the box was a bit deceiving, they looked like big muffins. Upon opening the box, I realized they were "cute" mini muffins.

The neat thing about these mixes was that it came with the muffin cups, muffin mix, chocolate pens to decorate the muffin, freeze dried strawberry "dust" and cellophane bags with twisties to wrap up the muffins. All I needed to do was add an egg, some oil and some milk and bake!

Since the muffin cups were tiny, I figured out that I could bake 2 boxes (20 muffins) at once on my turntable.

The batter was easy to put together and was rather easy to divide amongst the cups. The baking time was a bit longer than the suggested, but it was noted on the box that it would depend on your oven.

After baking all 4 boxes in 2 batches, which took about a half hour, I took a nap while I let them cool.

To decorate them, I heated up the chocolate pens in hot water as the box instructed. I had never worked with these pens and realized there wasn't much control when using them.

There were splats of chocolate here and there, but I think the decorations were quite "contemporary" looking, don't you? (I was going for 2 hearts, one white and one dark)

Since it was a cool day, the chocolate hardened quite quickly and I didn't have to put them into the freezer as the box instructed.

I put each muffin into a cellophane bag and tied them with a twistie.

Of course, I couldn't send these off without tasting one (or two)...they were very moist and delicious.

I hope they enjoy them...Happy White Day!