Ubatama (via Gourmande in Osaka)

Photo and shape could be better. It's an experiment + we have totally awful dark days of typhon. Not enough light for photos. I'll do some again, nicer. It's a wagashi (Japanese sweet), great for Summer. it looks like a truffle caught in ice. They are very refreshing. Ubatama is the name of the peyote cactus. So maybe the shape comes from that… or the cactus was named after the sweet. Tama is ball. Uba may mean "bird wing", like black crow wing … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Sestubun : Oni hunt is opened. Don’t count your daizu before they are hatched. (via Gourmande in Osaka)

These ugly oni invaded this blog (and all Japan). Today is called Setsubun. If you succeed in chasing the bad and mean oni out of the house, happiness and Spring will come. Weapon to kill them. On the left dried daizu (soy beans) that can kill your teeth. On the right, iri daizu (roast soy bean) that you throw around at the oni. Let's go ! I got those fancy masks at local shops. They give them when you buy daizu. Of course, the roast ones are a g … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

Modern mochi, the moffle way (via Gourmande in Osaka)

No Japanese new year without mochi (blocks of pounded cooked sticky rice)… There are classics way to serve them, yaki-mochi (grilled chewy), boiled in soup, okaki (grilled crispy). This is the lazy way mochi… To have the authentic ones, certified by the Moffle Academy, you absolutely need to buy a moffle maker of the authentic moffle brand : As you see, it's a robot piglet from Star Trek. It's not cheap, but if it comes from another era, plan … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka