okara scones

I want to share with you an okara recipe and will continue with more of our travels next week...

Back in 2008, I had a baking session with my Mom and she made her okara scones.

She didn't want me to post her recipe, so I'm not.

I've adapted it and that is what I am posting.

Please note that these do not come out flaky like scones, but more dense like oatcakes.

Okara Scones : adapted from Mom's recipe : makes 10 (more or less depending on how you scoop your dough out)

1 cup okara (soy lees)
1.5 cups flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
2 large dried figs, cut into fourths
1 handful of walnuts
1 handful of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 handful of dried blueberries

Put the first 9 ingredients into a food processor and pulse
Add the wet ingredients and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball
In a bowl fold the blueberries into the dough
Scoop out with a spoon (or ice cream scoop for more accuracy), and flatten a little with your hands
Bake at 400F (200 C) for about 16 minutes

NOTES: I usually bake on parchment (because I am lazy and it is so easy to clean up afterwards), but think that it might be okay to bake these on a greased cookie sheet.

I used the dry okara, but my mom used the wet type. Even though she used the wet type her scones did come out more like oatcakes too.

You can use your favorite dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

Enjoy!

mount osore-ooma-sai

The next morning at 6:00 we were all awaken for "o-tsutome" (literally work), and had to report to the large temple for prayers.

We then went to a smaller temple for more prayers.

At 7:30 it was time for breakfast.

More shojin ryori, I was just glad that natto wasn't on the menu.

Even though we went to bed early (well I did anyway), I had a hard time sleeping.

The fumes of sulfur would come directly through the walls with the strong winds blowing outside...*gasp*

Satoshi said that I forgot to mention that alcohol consumption is not allowed here.

Also, do not wear silver!

The sulfur fumes turned my silver ring and earrings black!

Luckily with some polishing, they returned to their shiny selves...whew!

There aren't many buses running from Mount Osore, so we caught the first one out and headed to Mutsu (about 30 minutes).

Once there, we had about an hour to wait for our next bus connection.

TIP: The thing with getting around in places where trains don't run is that you need to go by bus or taxi or drive yourself.

Bus rides in Japan can get pretty expensive as they calculate how much you owe by how far you ride.

Also, most fares need to paid in cash, if you plan to ride the bus/trains in Japan, try to have coins (not 5 yen or 1 yen, they are not accepted!) or small bills on hand.

We were feeling a little hungry and went looking for something to snack on.

There weren't many shops open around the bus terminal, but luckily we found a tiny department store called Matsukiya.

I got some pickled anzu (apricots) made by Delica Mutsu which tasted like prune mui.

There was also a tiny bakery (Tanabu Shokuryokako) across the street and I got a seafood sandwich, which turned out to be satsuma age (fishcake), mayo and bread...something my mom used to make for lunch sometimes.

Satoshi got a cream croquette sandwich.

Both sandwiches were tiny, so it was the perfect snack.

We were also happy to find a coffee machine.

From Mutsu it is about a one and a half hour ride by bus to Oomazaki.

Ooma is known for maguro (tuna), so we had maguro for lunch at Oomanzoku.

Here's Satoshi's...3 types, o-toro (very fatty tuna), chu-toro (medium fatty tuna) & akami (literally red flesh, regular sashimi grade).

He said he enjoyed this.

My 2 type (chu-toro & akami)...would have been better had the fish been thawed out a bit...

After lunch, we had some (read "lots of") time before the bus would take us to Sai.

There weren't any sights in the area, nor cafes to hang out at.

We did spend some time chatting with the Tsugaru shamisen lady, even took a short video of her playing.

An "angel" and her two children overheard us talking with the girl at the information counter and asked if she could take us to Sai.

She said it would be better than us waiting a couple hours for the bus.

If she didn't mind, we didn't mind and were grateful.

Once in Sai, we said our goodbyes and set off to find the Kawabata Ryokan.

The owner is a tiny lady who is quite hard of hearing.

After setting our things down, we went to explore the tiny town.

Dinner was a huge assortment of seafood.

I ate as much as I could and ended up giving Satoshi some too.

Another long day, with no cell service, at least we had some tv, but still turned in at about 21:00.

Tanabu Shokuryokako
1-2-22 Yanagimachi
Mutsu, Aomori
Phone: 0175.22.1480
Hours: 8:30-18:00
Closed Sundays

Delica Mutsu inside Matsukiya
1-8-8 Yanagimachi
Mutsu, Aomori
Phone: 0175.22.3126

Oomanzoku
17-377 Ooma-cho
Ooma, Shimokita-gun, Aomori
Phone: 0175.37.5633
Hours: 8:30-18:00

Kawabata Ryokan
67 O-sai
Sai, Shimokita-gun, Aomori
Phone: 0175.38.2201

osaka-aomori-mount osore

The backstory: Apparently, JAL changed the rules for their mileage rewards (unbeknownst to me).

They used to let you keep miles for 3 years before they start taking away mileage.

Well, even though I just travelled with them over the summer, they said I would lose 3000 something miles if I didn't use them by the end of October.

Satoshi, who doesn't always travel with JAL when he goes to Hawaii, was apparently going to lose 1000 something miles by the end of October too.

JAL...WT?!

So, we decided if we could get flights with mileage, we would go to wherever our miles would take us...

After different combinations we got a flight from ITM (Osaka)-AOJ (Aomori) and SDJ (Sendai)-ITM (Osaka) for our flight coming back.

Last Thursday, our adventure began...

From Osaka (ITM) it is about an hour and a half flight to Aomori (AOJ).

It is another 30 minutes by bus to Aomori's JR Station.

The rain was coming down in a steady drizzle so we ducked into Wa-rasse (photo taken after the rain stopped) to check out the Nebuta Museum.

Nebuta means "float" and this festival runs for 4 days during August.

Each float is covered with washi (Japanese paper) and the size of each float is huge!

A staff member mentioned that if rain was forecast during the festival, they would cover the whole float with a clear plastic sheet to prevent the rain from ruining the float!

Amazing.

I shot a short video of the nebuta hayashi (the festival music) as it was being performed for a group of visiting pre-schoolers.

We had some time before our next train connection, so we went to check out the Gyosai Center to try their Nokke-don.

For 1080 yen, you can purchase 10 tickets. (There is also a 5 ticket version for 540 yen, but the guy selling the tickets said you wouldn't end up with an impressive looking nokke-don (good salesman, yeah?!)

1 ticket is taken for your rice and the remaining 9 can be used at various vendors within the market to purchase toppings for your rice with.

TIP: Walk around the whole market first to check out the toppings you are interested in. Some vendors give more for less tickets, some give less for more tickets...

Look at the size of this slice of chu-toro! (medium fatty tuna) I think this was 2 tickets...

We then caught the Aoimori train from Aomori to Noheji, then transferred to the JR line to Shimokita.

This took about 2 hours total.

From Shimokita, we then took a bus to Mount Osore (about 45 minutes).

The backstory: About 1200 years ago, En'nin, a Japanese Buddhist priest had a strange dream.

In the dream, a voice told him that he would find a sacred mountain that is a 30 days walk from Kyoto.

That he would carve a wooden figure of Jizo Boddhisattva and practice Buddhism there.

After many trials and hardships, he finally came upon a mountainous area which met all the conditions of his dream, this was Mount Osore (oh-so-ray).

At the central area, is Lake Usori, which is surrounded by 8 peaks, Mountains Kamafuse, Ozukushi, Kozukushi, Hokkoku, Byobu, Tsurugi, Jizo & Keito.

This landscape with the 8 peaks surrounding Mount Osore is said to represent the eight petals of a lotus flower, which is the symbol of Buddha's land.

There are 108 bubbling sulfur mud ponds, which corresponds with the 108 sins and the hells that are linked to them.

The white sand beach is also said to represent Paradise.

The compassion of Jizo is paralleled to motherly love, through which Jizo shares in the suffering of those in pain.

Jizo vows to suffer in order to alleviate the pain of those who are condemned to hell, to free those from the illusions of life and death, and lead virtuous people to even purer lands.

This sulfurous valley also teaches us that any place can be Paradise as long as Jizo is in your thoughts and heart.

It is believed that anyone who passes will go to Mount Osore.

For this reason, many people visit Mount Osore to be reunited with deceased loved ones, to pray for their peace.

Kisshokaku is the shukubo (pilgrim lodge) at Mount Osore and this was where we would spend the night.

There were so many rules, I had a hard time remembering all of them.

Dinner was shojin-ryori (vegetarian monk's meal) style.

There were 7 others staying at the lodge and before eating we were taught to recite the "Gokan no ge" (5 phrases before a meal).

1. Think about the meal in front of you, the people it took to make the meal. Thank them.
2. Reflect on your actions, are you worthy of the meal in front of you.
3. In order to have a pure heart, steer clear of the 3 greatest evils (greed, anger, ignorance)
4. Food is medicine, it feeds the body, achieves good health.
5. Enlightenment can be achieved by giving gratitude and receiving this meal.
"Itadakimasu" (I receive this food)

Apparently, no eggs, onion or meats/fish are used in this type of cooking.

At the end of the meal, we also gave thanks (gochisoosama).

Since there was no television or cell service there was a lot of time for reflection and just being quiet.

It was only the start of our adventure but it was a long day...I think we turned in before 21:00!

Wa-rasse
1-1-1 Yasukata
Aomori City, Aomori
Phone: 017.752.1311
Closed December 31, January 1 & August 9 & 10

Gyosai Center
1-11-16 Furukawa
Aomori City, Aomori
Phone: 017.777.1367
Closed Tuesdays, January 1 & 2
Hours: 7:00-16:00

Kisshokaku
3-2 Usoriyama Tanabu
Mutsu, Aomori
Phone: 017.522.3825

tohoku

We're back from a trip to the Tohoku area.

In 6 days, I'd say we did quite a bit.

Will try to gather my thoughts and post something as soon as possible.

Be well everyone.

p.s. I think Autumn is finally coming!

kanso okara

Remember when I made the okara granola and re-did it?

Saying that the picture I saw of the okara granola looked dry like panko (bread crumbs)?

Well, while I was at the library with Satoshi, I came across a book about okara (soy lees).

In it, they showed different kinds of okara...

"Nama okara" is 80% water, texture like wet sand, what we see in the refrigerated area near the tofu.

"Kanso okara" is a rough texture like panko (bread crumbs).

"Okara powder" is a smooth texture like flour.

I had an "a-ha" moment...there is panko-like okara!

I tried looking for it here and there, but to no avail.

Asking at the market, the clerks looked at me like I was from another planet, no one knew what I was talking about.

Then I met up with my friend, Mayumi the other day.

I told her my dilemma and she made a phone call to a friend working at a market for businesses...

A few minutes later, we walked over and I bought 1 kilo of kanso okara!

The nice part is that it was less that 300 yen (tax included).

So many recipes I want to try with this.

Stay tuned...

kurokawa dahlia park

Since we loved our visit last year, we went to check them out again this year.

I didn't have much food in my refrig to make a decent bento, so we just made do with what we had.

Tamagoyaki (rolled omelette), some cabbage and onion sauteed with olive oil & pepper, half a fig and 3 kinds of musubi.

We received another packet of seeds, I hope this year we'll be able to grow some dahlias that will flower.

It was super humid and the temps went back to August temps...so miserably hot.

Still, with all the rain, typhoons and such, it was nice to bond with nature for a little while.

cafe muni

If you blinked, you'd totally walk past Cafe Muni, we almost did.

A tiny cafe tucked away from the roadway, seats only 12-ish.

We loved the cozy space and laid back feel.

Satoshi had their tiramisu while I had their spice cake.

I also had their iced ginger chai while Satoshi had some hot coffee.

We'll be back!

Cafe Muni
4-1-14 Nakazaki-nishi
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6371.7368
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 12:00-21:00