Serves 2

1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

Maple Syrup or powdered sugar

If you tilt the pan while the batter is runny, you can achieve a

nice round galette shape.

Preparation:

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well. Allow to stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.

Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.  Lower heat to a medium.

Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a gallete, about 5-6 inches in diameter.

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the galette over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges. Unlike pancakes, galettes will not rise and will remain thin.

Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Serve like you would pancakes, with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

Breton Galettes

I can eat soba everyday, but there are other ways to enjoy buckwheat flour.  The French make a delicious buckwheat pancake called galettes.  A few years ago, I spent the whole summer at my friend Caroline Forbes' farm in Becavin, which is a small village in Brittany not far from the walled city of St. Malo.  This region is known for their galettes.  Galettes are much larger in size than crepes, and usually served with some type of filling, such as ham, cheese, onions, mushrooms or a sweet filling like honey, chocolate, etc.  Caroline made me this dish on the day I arrived to Becavin; we also tasted gallettes in the nearby villages.  I got hooked. Galletes are delicious with a cold glass of cidre, a sparkling apple cider; it's a typical Breton beverage.  

My galette in this picture is made with stone milled Japanese soba flour. I made them for my friend Mimi who was visiting from Kansas city. I served these galettes like pancakes, with hot maple syrup. They are also nice with powdered sugar. Mimi also wanted to try my soba noodles, so I cooked those, too.  Our breakfast turned into a brunch.

Recipe:

Serves 3

1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

Preparation

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well.  Allow to stand in the fridge for 1 hour.

Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.

Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.

Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a crepe, about 5-6 inches in diameter.   

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the crepe over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges.  Unlike pancakes, buckwheat crepes will not rise and will remain thin.

Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

To serve:

Serve like you would serve pancakes.  I had butter and maple syrup on the table.  Also, some mixed fruit and yogurt. 

A homemade birthday cake.

This month, my  father celebrated the year of Beiju 米寿, his 88th birthday. He is actually turning 87 years old but if you practice the traditional Chinese way, an extra year is added to your age for the time you spent in your mother's womb. So if you ask him his age, he will always say, it depends.  Beiju is a particularly festive occasion in a person's life cycle. Beiju is written with the Chinese character "rice", which symbolizes nutrition, wealth and other wholesome things.  My father asked to keep the celebration small and simple. We did what we usually do on weekends, gather as many children and grandchildren as possible, and have lunch together.

When it comes to birthday cakes, we always baked them ourselves.  My sister Fuyuko, the pastry chef, has been in charge for quite some time. Who else can make it better? This year, her nine year old son, Hayato, was in the kitchen helping his mother clean the strawberries.  Like his parents, Hayato has all the qualities to make a chef: good focus, coordination, patience and an excellent appetite. The shortcake recipe comes from our grandmother, Hatsuko Ishikawa.  She passed away at the age of 102.  She was baking birthday cakes for her family until she was into her mid-nineties.  If strawberries were out of season, she used canned peaches. She always let Fuyuko and I help her decorate the cake. What's great about this cake is its lightness. For 100 grams each of sugar and flour, the recipe calls for 5 eggs.  The egg whites are beaten to a peak and folded into the batter at the very end.  I can make it with almost my eyes closed.  It is airy like angel food cake, only it's  more yellow.  We made 2 cakes to serve 10 people. 

My birthday was just a few days ago, so we decided to celebrate mine, too. One cake for my father and another one for me. But when it came to blowing the candles, my father didn't wait for me. He blew out all the candles at once, including those on my cake. Oh well, at least we know his lungs are working very well and I still got to squeeze in a quick wish.

Hayato helps his mother clean the strawberries.

Fuyuko puts the gold leaf on top of the cake.

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

1 round cake (8 inches)

2 pints fresh strawberries

100 grams all-purpose flour

100 grams white sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

5 eggs, separated.  Egg whites whipped.

2 cups whipped heavy cream (with 4-5 tablespoons of sugar)

Directions

Slice the strawberries.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake pan.

In a medium bowl combine the cake flour and the sugar.  With an electric beater, mix the ingredients. Add one egg yolk at a time. Stir until just combined.  Add the melted butter.

Whip the egg whites until peak forms. Combine the whipped egg whites with the batter. Do not mash the egg whites.  Leave the batter fluffy as possible.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially in pan on wire rack.

Slice partially cooled cake in half, making two layers. Place half of the strawberries on one layer and top with the other layer. Top with remaining strawberries and cover with the whipped cream.

During this time of year, almost every body in Japan will make time to view the cherry blossoms. The weather in Tokyo has been particularly kind to the cherries. The necessary cold spell came a few days before the cherries bloomed and once that spell passed, we've moved right into good spring weather. Not too windy. Not wet. Warm enough to allow the blooms to open slowly and surely. In Japan, cherry blossoms are known for their fragility and transient nature. The blooms last for about a week.  Some of us think that life is like that: ephermeral. We might as well enjoy it while they last.

  Spectacular blooms

  The cherry blossoms blanket the sky

  People have picnics under the cherry trees.  

I was in Myogadani with my sister Fuyuko. We went to Ikoan, an artisinal pastry shop that I blogged about last year. They make a pastry called "Mitarashi dango" during the flower viewing season. The tiny shop was crowded with people who came to buy the dango and Sakura Mochi (Pastries wrapped in pickled cherry leaves). The Sakura mochi was sold out.

  Fuyuko takes a bite of the mitarashi dango

  Mitarashi dango is made with rice flour. It is

served with a sweet soy sauce.

The shape of Mitarashi dango was inspired by droplets of water. These little balls are soft and chewy like mochi. What makes them special is the soy based sauce. It is traditional these rice balls during the flower viewing season.

I have to say, this was one of the best spring I have ever experienced.

Simmer the beans  gently

ZENSAI 

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

300 grams azuki beans  

300 grams white granulated sugar  or more

1 Tbs soy sauce  

4 pieces of Mochi, cut in half

Rinse the beans in cold water several times. Soak overnight in plenty of cold water to soften.  If the beans are very fresh, no soaking is necessary.

Discard soaking water, rinse and cover beans with fresh cold water.  In a heavy saucepan, bring the beans and water to a boil.  Drain.  Start again with fresh water and bring to a boil and then turn heat to a gentle simmer until the beans are cooked throughly, being careful not to overcook or burn them. The beans should be submerged in the cooking liquid and never exposed. It will take about 90 minutes to two hours to cook the beans. Test one bean and squash it with your finger.  If it squashes easily, it is ready.

When the beans are cooked, pour off the excess cooking water leaving just enough to cover the beans. Add 1/2 the white sugar and the soy sauce. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add the remaining sugar and cook for another 15 minutes. Taste and make adjustments.  If more sugar is needed it can be added at this point.  Simmer for a few more minutes and turn heat off.  The azuki beans are ready to be served but it's best if you let them rest in the saucepan overnight. 

When ready to serve, cut the mochi pieces in half and grill under a broiler or a toaster oven until they pop. Heat the zenzai until very hot. Place a piece of grilled mochi in individual serving bowls. Ladle the hot zenzai on top. Serve immediately.

This recipe makes about 8-12  servings.   

Note: If the soup is too thick, you can dilute it with a  little water.  If it is too thin, you can

cook it and thicken the soup. This is a matter of preference.  It should have the consistency of a thick soup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Chef

A calm moment

One thing I can say about baking pies is that I have taken it for granted all my life.  My mother was an excellent baker.  Her pie crusts were consistently flakey and her apples perfectly sweet.  She didn't follow a recipe but measured with her eyes. When she made plans to bake pies, she did most of the work in the middle of the night. A half a dozen pies would be cooling on the pie racks at dawn, filling the house with their sweet aroma.  Then there is my sister Fuyuko Kondo who is a French trained pastry chef. Quite an accomplished one if you don't mind my bragging. She was one of the first female chefs to be invited on the Iron Chef show in Japan to challenge the French Master Chef Sakai (no relation to me). Even though I spend an awful lot of time in Tokyo, I have never taken a pie baking lesson from her. I just eat her pies, tarts, cakes, cookies... everything she bakes.  Her pastries are all so good. I always put on a couple pounds when I go back to Tokyo. I do have some specialities of my own though- tart tatin, butter cookies and creme caramel.  I usually bake a tart tartin for Thanksgiving but this year we were invited to our friends for the festive dinner so I didn't think tart tatin would work as a Thanksgiving dessert.  

I used Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Pink Gala apples.

I found a Rum Raisan Apple Pie recipe on line from Gourmet, so I made it as part of a refreshment course in baking apple pies. The recipe uses three varieties of baking apples of your choice and rum soaked raisans.  I was multi-tasking on the day I was making the pie crust, which is a no-no. I forgot to put salt in the dough.  Fuyuko tried to help me fix it but it was too late.  I had to start all over again. Of the two pies I finally baked, the one I sprinkled granulated sugar on the crust surface, as the recipe instructed, turned out like the surface of the moon. That pie didn't make it to Russ and Kathy's house.  The other pie was based with egg yolk and milk.  It was baking beautifully but after I stuck it in the oven, I realized that I had forgotten to top the apples with butter.  So half way into the baking, I put the butter through the ventilation slits, which made the slits grow larger. The pie in the picture below is the very pie but seen from a good angle.  From the other angle, it looks like a howling face.  But I didn't let it bother me. I took the little flower cookies from the reject pie and covered the big slits.  People said my pie was yummy, and even enjoyed it for breakfast the next day. I have friends with high tolerance levels. The reject by the way, is being consumed by me.  I am halfway through it.  As for the apple pie recipe, I would cut back a little on the sugar and flour in the apples, and perhaps pre- cook the apples before putting them into the pie crust, as my mother did. The pie crust, I need a lot more practice. I will try again at Christmas time. 

Recipe:   Gourmet - Rum Raisan Apple Pie (here is the link for the recipe).

Fresh out of the oven.

 The beautiful box of Higashi from Ikkoan.

My pastry chef sister Fuyuko e mailed me just before leaving Paris that I should check out Jacques Genin's new salon de the if I could get myself over to the Marais district.  Jacques Genin's  salon is breathtakingly beautiful. It is a bit daunting at first but the lovely marshmallows and caramels in the display case will lure you in.   What's was most impressive were Genin's chocolates. Creamy and dense in flavors of caramel, vanilla, chinammon, mint, etc.  The chocolates are packaged in a silver metal box.  I am telling you, he treats these little chocolates as if they were jewels.  I learned that in the old days, chocolates used to be sold in metal boxes because they stayed freshers.  Genin is bringing back the good old ways. I bought the smaller box of nine chocolates.  It was 10 euros for 9 tiny pieces but well worth it.  I was instructed not to put the chocolate in my suitcase while travelling because the temperature of the plane's cargo section was too cold.  So the silver box travelled with me in my backpack and stayed close to me during the 12 hour flight back to Tokyo.  

While you are at the shop, do have a cup of tea, sit here and enjoy the tranquil space. I loved it.  The teas are all Chinese green tea blended with herbs and flowers.  It was very relaxing.  You get two pieces of chocolate with the tea.  Also, when you buy the chocolate, they will let you try a free sample.  I ate so many chocolates that day, I felt full and happy.  I skipped dinner.

I was surrounded by delicious temptations growing up in Tokyo. Nishimura Fruit Parlor  in Dogenzaka, Shibuya was one of them. We could get suspended from school if you got caught eating at these parlors and cafes in school uniform.  But we did it anyway, a gang of girl deliquents that we were.  Dongenzaka is still where the young and restless rendevous, looking for the same kind of thrill.   Most of the other older style Japanese cafes where you could get agar agar fruit (Mitsumame), sweet azuki bean soup (oshiruko)  and grilled mochi wrapped in nori seaweeed have sadly disappeared and replaced or being replaced by ramen noodle places, 99 Yen stores, massage parlors, H&M, Starbucks, etc. But this old fruit parlor still stands.  Maybe so because the parfaits (that's what they call the ice cream sundaes in Japan)  have kept their fantastic overkill look.  Except in my days,  we didn't get exotic toppings like star fruit, papayas and kiwi on our parfaits.  We didn't even know such fruit existed on the planet.   Strawberries, bananas and pineapple were about as exotic as you could get in Japan back then.  I remember saving the slice of banana in my parfait  till the very end because it was so precious.  Here I was with my gang of girlfriends spending our entire month's allowance at the fruit parlor after school.  What a thrill we had deconstructing this towering work of art. I still talk about the parfaits with my old girlfriends.  The parfaits came with a long skinny spoon so you can use it to scoop out the ice cream in the middle and poke at the fruit on the bottom. My petite Taiwanese girlfriend Peichun was always the one who went for the biggest parfait and tackled it with no sweat.  Somehow, when I got home, I had plenty of appetite left for dinner. My mother had no way of tracing my crime.  These days if you go to Nishimura Fruit Parlor, you will often find blonde Japanese youngsters in weird customes, wearing horrible eye make up and hair dos. They usually change into these customes and dab the stuff on their face at the train stations.  They don't look anything like the teenager I was but  I know we share the same feeling about the parfaits.