Be my バレンタイン!

So as most of you might know, Valentines Day in Japan is totally the opposite of Valentines Day in America. Girls give the chocolate and guys get the chocolate. But worry not girls! Your day will come. Only it is a month later.

This year I decided to outdo myself from previous years (hah! past-me has got nothing on me!), and I gave all my teachers little gift bags of American candies. Starburst, Jolly Ranchers, Lollipops, Twizzlers and some Gummi Bears. Yeah not all totally American, but who cares, candy is candy. So I have bought their love for a day. This practice is common with their little omiyage gift giving every time they go somewhere, I always get little rice cracker presents from whatever prefecture it was influenced by whatever the city specialty is, and trust me, every city has a specialty. Perhaps next year I will make myself even more loved and give everyone some hand made chocolates...but that gets expensive...

Speaking of handmade chocolates, it is totally the norm for girls to stay up all hours the night before Valentines making chocolates for the boys whom they wish to woo. So like any other girl, I got all my preparations and got down to it. Something you may or may not know about me, is that I actually really like baking and dessert making. I also really enjoy making chocolates. I am always looking for new recipes to try.
Now as far as your preparations can go, the local dollar store can take you a long way. I am talking about some serious Daiso action (Flet's didn't really have what I wanted/needed). There you can get decorative pens, loads of decorative boxes for putting your chocolate in, foils, mould, the chocolate itself, confectioneries for topping, and a load of assortments for making your Valentines day treats the best. And then, where to go next? I just hit up the local grocery store. I got a few bags of 120g chocolate in some different flavors: strawberry, white and milk, they have dark, but I am not fond. I don't care how healthy you say it is. So here is what I ended up with:

• 2 silicon moulds for making a chocolate shell (makes 2 chocolates each) I would also like to add that I went back and bought 4 more later!
• 1 silicon mould of small girly shapes (for decorative toppings)
• 2 bags of white chocolate
• 3 bags of milk chocolate
• 1 bag of strawberry chocolate
• 2 small bags of small strawberry chocolate pearls
• 1 edible shiny decorating balls
• 2 white chocolate decorating pens
• 1 decorative tin (to hide in his lunch box) 
• 1 decorative box (for everything else)

aforementioned mould

Yeah it is a lot. And that isn't even all of it. I actually went on a crazy run last night looking for more of the silicon moulds. Those things are awesome, they save me so much mess and trouble. So I went to 3 Daiso's and was bolting in as the 'goodbye song' was playing scanning for the moulds. I finally found them and I recall them locking the doors on me as I was in the store. I think they were pretty tired from all the days business and had that look to them as they rang me up. You know which one. So I bought 4 more and now I could make 12 chocolates at a time.
It was really a perfect system, the moulds with their chocolate would be cooling in the fridge and as each finished I would fill it, seal it, put more chocolate in the mould and then the next would be ready to fill. Not a moments rest.

So the recipes...
I made cinnamin, raspberry, and peanut butter, and the day is not quite over so I am toying with making either a pink grapefruit with strawberry coating or an apple, or maybe even a cinnamin apple!


Cinnamon White Chocolate Truffle
So first, my pride and joy of the experiment, is the cinnamon. This is an original recipe I made up through the combined powers of my love for white chocolate and its dirty affair with cinnamon. Here are the ingredients

• white chocolate 240g
• cinnamon 1tbsp
• butter 2tbsp
• whipping cream 100ml

So first I divided the chocolate in 2 and  broke 120 grams of it up in a bowl. I am not sure if this matters, but I used a plastic bowl from Ikea which I would normally say is a bad idea (at least for melting chocolate). 

Next I set to pouring the cream into a saucepan and slowly heating it while adding the cinnamon to it. As for the cinnamon, I literally used a table spoon. Like one you eat your peas with. They do measurements differently here in Japan and I had to improvise a bit, after all that has to be the reason it is called a tablespoon...right??

Once the concoction is simmering and the cinnamon is well ingrained in the mixture, I poured it over the chopped chocolate. 

I had thought that this would settle it and the chocolate would melt. Not so. So I took the bowl and set it over a vat of boiling water to melt it. 

Slowly stirring it, I added the butter and continued to stir until everything was consistent. I then covered it directly (as in right on top of the ganache layer) in cling wrap and let it set at room temp for 4 hours. 

Meanwhile, I took those little moulds I told you about and filled them with the remaining white chocolate 120g (heated in a metal bowl over the large vat of boiling water) and pressed down their insert in so that they formed a nice shell and set them in the fridge. Now those only take about 20-30 to solidify. 

Warning and advice:

1. 120g of chocolate will only make about a dozen truffle shells, but you will still have a bunch of left over ganache for more. 

2. When warming the chocolate, it is really important to pay attention to the texture of the chocolate. If it starts to get oddly lump or hardening a bit, it means it is burning, and will not taste as good. Trust me on the taste. And once you burn it a bit, you tend to burn it a lot. I don't know how chocolate does it, but once you mix in a little burnt chocolate, it all seems to want to burn and go bad. And yes, I did burn a little bit last night, but no where near the amount as before, so what I did to salvage it, was to press the chocolate into the small decorative mould for mini chocolate toppings. 

So after you are entirely ready with your moulds and the ganache you made earlier (the cinnamon stuff), you can hand rolls the ganache into little balls and place it in the mould and stick the two shells together to make a nice neat little truffle. I really cant express how much I like these moulds. They make filled truffles so easy and really more importantly so pretty. 

And then when you are all done. Decorate.

Raspberry Truffles

I think I make this one almost all the time. It is pretty much a signature now haha!

• 1 jar of raspberry preserves
• 500g chocolate
• 100ml whipping cream
• Butter (if desired)

Heat the whipping cream (Japan does not have easily accessible heavy cream, so I make do) and add half (or one forth if the jar is really big. Everything in Japan is small) the jar of preserves to it stir until emulsified. 

Pour over 200g of chopped chocolate.

Heat if necessary until chocolate is melted. Heat it in a bowl held over a pot of boiling water. 

If you wish to add butter now, please do so and stir until melted.

I put this one in the fridge to set for a few hours until hardish. Disclaimer: mine never hardened all too well, so I moved it to the freezer and decided to screw it because the mixture was delicious and I wanted it in truffles.

I made the chocolate shells with the rest of the chocolate, heated in a similar fashion, and let those in the fridge for a good half hour. 

When I, and the 'ganache' (let's face it, it wasn't, but what it was, was delicious so it wasn't going to waste), were ready, I used a spoon to scoop some out filling and would lightly with the tips of my finger tips, try to ball it a little and push it gently into the shells. If you handle it too much with your hands it goes everywhere, you hands are messy, and the chocolate is too warmed. And it makes handling the rest of the filling and chocolate just too difficult. So this part is done with minimal touching. I cap the half shell and make it a whole, seal it and set it in the fridge. 

I say seal it, meaning you can use some molten chocolate, or really, nothing. The shell will stay in place either way. If you seal it with molten chocolate, it ensure none of your filling will leak out and it will look more professional, but if you get lazy, you can just push the two together and be done. Also another really good way, which is probably the cleanest and neatest and looks the best, is by using the decorating pen. Just heat the chocolate decorating pen until the chocolate inside is liquid and then cut the tip and squeeze some out around the edges of your shell halves.

Set the finished product in the fridge until you declare it decorating time. 

Peanut butter
The lazy man's (woman's) recipe. I did these last at night. I was extremely tired. And I decided that Reeses, they have been doing this for years. They know their stuff. So I pretty much only made shells and put some of JIFs crunchy peanut butter inside. in any case.

• ~120g milk chocolate
• a tub of JIF

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (metal bowl over pot of boiling water)
Pour the molten chocolate in the moulds
Cool
Add peanut butter and close the shell
...its real difficult. I know

Christmas Cake

Ahhh Christmas cakes.

So tomorrow, it just so happens is my cakeday. That's right! So make sure you wish me a good one!

As it also happens, tomorrow is my cake day in more than one meaning. In Japan, Christmas cake has two meanings: one being that exactly what it says and what you might think it means, a cake, indigenous to Japan, that one eats on Christmas day, the other is in reference to a girl. A particular girl who just so happens to be 25. After that, she is said to have the Christmas cake effect.
Don't know what this means? This saying is in reference to the actual cake and how they are good up until Christmas day, the 25th. But after that no one really wants to eat it anymore. Or well they want to eat it less and less. The Christmas spirit is gone, the silly songs and the glad tidings, the presents and the mistletoe all start to get packed away. And Christmas cakes. What isn't eaten is thrown out and the cakes that went unpurchased will go on sale for cheaper and cheaper discounts.
This is also a euphemism for girls. In Japanese culture, they are used to getting married young and popping out babies early on. More or less soon after college. Why they go, do ask me, because soon after they just decide to be a housewife after they get married. Well, topics for another time.
Girls are said they are prettiest, or best by, the age of 25. The same day as Christmas. This is likely because there are no significant events with romantic allusions that land on the 26th, 27th, or 28th which lead to the endearing term of 'Christmas cakes'. So the saying goes that girls and cakes taste the most delicious (or are prettiest) by or before the age of 25 and after she becomes more and more desperate and the price of her goods begins to go on discount, just like the cakes. In progression, she is said to becomes less and less desirable by the year (or for the actual cakes, by the day). And so, she settles for whatever she can get as to a relationship, because the mentality is that she will be expiring soon(or at least her assets.
So for all those single women over the age of 25, I would say fear not. Because rotting fruit actually tastes the sweetest (it's true too!)...ok perhaps it is not the best to insinuate that you are rotting. You aren't. You are beautiful. I didn't mean it. Don't...don't cry...Cakes have preservatives. They don't rot...

Ah well. Tomorrow I start my days as a Christmas cake! Shall I be the best tasting one!

Moe Moe Maid Cafe

Why I haven't done this before I could not even tell you...

So anyways back when I stilled lived in Korea and was in Japan on vacation, I visited Tokyo. And I did the thing that all people who come to Japan always talk about, especially where Akihabara is concerned, and I went to a maid cafe. It was called At Home Cafe, At Home Maid Cafe, @ Cafe or something along those lines. I remember they made a big-ish deal about using an at-mark, @. Possibly there was another similarly named one, or they thought themselves extra hip for doing that.

ahhh that's the one.

Anyway, it was nice and fun and a good time. I went with a Japanese person who was also visiting Tokyo for a job interview, but had never been to one of these places before because they are seen as only places that otakus, perverted businessmen with too much time and money, and also gaijins would ever go to. And so, with myself as his loop hole to the otaku rule, he was able to allow himself to go in as he was accompanied by a gaijin.
The place had possibly like 4 floors, each with a different theme, and I suspect a staff that rotated between them frequently (like every 2 hours). The reason for that is you don't want a creeper to get too attached to you, and therefore they is like a kind of safeguard against that. Of course, they can follow you to another floor, but then they would have to pay for everything all over again.
We chose a floor with their maids dressed as maids with added ears and tails for animal effects. Our server was a squirrel, but I kept calling her a fox. You had your dogs, cats, bunnies, tigers, and I remember there being a turtle too (sexy maid turtle...weird I know), I am sure there may have been others, just none that really stuck out. The place was pretty dimly light with a pretty modern design and use of colors. It was also very girly. In the front and center was a stage.
At first they explained to us that there was an entrance fee that would be added to our bill for going there. Like a club or a pet cafe or such. Our fee was 500 yen. Not too bad. They also explained that it was a timed affair. I am pretty sure we only had an hour for everything, but I would tend to think that it might also be standard to have 90 minute affairs as well (I say this because nearly everything here in Osaka has a 90 minute timer on things - buffets, all you can eat Brazilian BBQ, all you can drink things etc). After an hour is up, I expect you are expected to pay up or to likely pay again for another hour. So first they sat us down and then they came and gave me a welcome to Japan party baggie (it had a few stickers, a piece of candy and disposable chopsticks in it...). That was weird. They actually did have an English menu, which is proving his theory of gaijins frequenting maid cafes to be pretty accurate. We both ordered a parfait, which in Japan is a bowl of artful ice cream and fruit madness. They were huge. There were other things on the menu like coffee and om-rice and a few more pretty standard easy to make, no-effort kind of things as well (sandwiches and the like). And they do expect you to order something. You can't just go there and creepily stare at the girls for an hour. At least drink some coffee with that creepiness, man.

I am not really sure how often they do this, it could be every hour, or we could have just been lucky, but the stage got put to goo use. We had a Janken tournament (rock-paper-scissors). Sounds weird because it is. Basically, one of the ladies gets up on stage and does rock paper scissors with everyone. If you beat her, you can stay standing. If you lose, you sit yourself back down and enjoy that parfait. So as it happens, I was among the top 3 people. I also had no idea what I was doing, and my companion thought it was more amusing to watch me flounder a bit. So the maid gals came and got me and ushered me on stage and set me up with some tiger ears. The other two contestants were also there in some bunny and cat ears. They were male. And businessmen. Theory more and more correct. We three janken with the hostess and then I try to walk away. But no, apparently I won that round as well. I can't remember if I did or did, but I think they almost kept me up there for laugh value. Also for people to stare at something besides the men up there doing 'kawaii-kawaii-janken'. Oh and also worth a mention there was a chant and accompanying...motions... for this that they made me do as well. Faces can not turn redder.
I lost in the final round. The prize was to pick two girls to be taken in a Polaroid picture together with you. Actually, when we ordered, we ordered a set which was the parfait, possibly a drink?, and also a picture with a hostess. I think we could even pick which one if we wanted to because I remember them asking. I think the whole set cost perhaps 1500 yen? maybe it was 900? Either way, I remember it being more expensive then a cafe, but not super ridiculously priced. But apparently, you need to be careful with some places and over charging, and their sketchiness factor. 


Right...the chant.... the chant went a little like this:

At home (but they are japanese and have to end  things in vowels so it sounded more like ato homu)
*make right hand into a fist/circular fingers and the left hand just barely cover it...like an at-mark @*
Nya Nya
*a cat sound and you ball up your fists and hold them near your cheeks and rock them back and forward slightly when you say nya nya*
Joki Joki 
*Joki is...I am not sure...but it symbolizes scissors, and you move your hands up to your ears and the same motions but with your fore and middle fingers make peace like scissors signs*
Wan Wan
* I am actually not 100% this is what they said, but it sounded like it and it was also what I chose to say(>.>). It would also make sense, seeing as if the first was a cat, the second is kind of similar to a rabbit, and this one would be a dog, as wan wan is the sound a dog makes in Japan. It was after all an animal themed maid cafe. So anyways, Wan Wan is for paper and you keep your hands by your ears and open your hands with fingers together and do the little up-down motion with them as you say it*

It all happens pretty quickly. So practice it so you are not unprepared.

flyer girl advertising maid cafes on the street.

Also worth a mention. You are not really allowed to take photos once inside the place. You might not even be allowed to take their photos on the street, but it is harder to stop you. The only picture I have of it, is the polaroid of the maid and myself. Also they take the time to draw all over the picture for you (hearts and things like 'love', 'kiss' and moe moe...whatever they things might be cute and pleasing to their customers). I will try to find and post the picture.

Lucky 7

There are many occasions for celebrations through out Japan, like Hina Matsuri, or Girls Day which occurs on March 3rd, or Boys Day which occurs on May 5th, and also Tanabata, which occurs on
July 7th.
Seeing a pattern? 3/3, 5/5, 7/7 (and of course 1/1 is new years). So upon finding this out, I immediately as if there was a 9/9 or an 11/11 event. And my students pondered really hard for a moment, seeing as it almost made sense for there to be such events. But no such luck, or not that they could come up with.

July 7th, Tanabata, was originally one of those customs that pertained to the Chinese calender and would occur on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. Due to the predominance of the Georgian calender in Japan, the holiday would follow the natural course of its brothers and sisters and would take the same literal meaning and apply it to the Georgian calender, and take the date of July 7th.

And as all things go in Japan, there is, of course, an old story that goes with it. It is a story of falling in love between the daughter of the Universe, Orihime, and a lowly cow herder, Hikoboshi. Let me preface this story by saying that these two are constellations and live in the sky above. The daughter of the universe was clearly a princess who was gifted at weaving, and would often do so for her father, who was pleased. The daughter wanted more than anything to fall in love. She eventually came to meet this cow herder upon the banks of the river (the Milky Way) where she would weave. The two fell in love at first sight and were wed. And as with all couples, that is where the trouble began. The two became so involved with one another, that they took leave of their duties. Cows wandered the heavens and the Universe no longer received gifts of the bolts of weaved fabric from his daughter. Seeing their negligence, the Universe took away his daughter to maintain order in the heavens, and moved her across the Milky Way forever separating them. But all fathers bend at their tears of their daughters and agreed to allow them to meet once a year, on Tanabata. To allow her to cross the Milky Way river, a flock of magpies ( a black bird) formed a bridge so that she could meet her beloved on the other side. But if the day is rainy, it is said to be her tears at the inability to see through the clouds and make it to the other side to her Hikoboshi. Therefore they can only meet on clear evening when the sky is starry.
Outside of the legend, two stars, Altair and Vega, are separated by the Milky Way and on this day (in the lunar calendar) they can meet. Of course you can't see it if it is cloudy.

To celebrate this day, modern Japanese people will write wishes and poetry upon colorful origami paper, called tanzaku, and attach it to a bamboo limb. These colorful decorations are either burned (the ashes ascending to the heavens) or floated down a river (symbolic of the Milky Way river in the story) so that their prayers and wishes will reach the heavens and come true.
Additionally there will be more festivals held in August when the stars are in accordance with the lunar calendar. In Kyoto, there will be more tanzuka bamboo structures, lanterns floating down river (Horikawa), and bamboo artworked exhibitions, as well as an illuminated walkway representing the Milky Way. Basically a nice little romantic evening for couples.

Girls and Dolls

Sister to the amazing musical number of Guys and Dolls, Girls and Dolls has a more simple title in Japanese: Hinamatsuri.

The third of march has two meanings for most Japanese people: Girls' Day and Doll Festival.
Both of these celebrations are held simultaneously.

Dolls are thought to be a sort of container for bad spirits. And as such would be collected on this day and sent down the river into the sea in a ceremony called 'doll floating', or hina-nagashi. This tradition comes from the creation of straw hina dolls upon which Japanese people would transfer their illness, bad luck, or curses and would send down a river out to sea. Essentially sending all their troubles away. As the onset of spring and a season for new beginnings, it has developed into customary practice partaken by many. This custom may seem a little reminiscent of a few Vondun rituals no? Actually there is a separate custom entirely where if one wishes ill-will upon an individual, the creation of a hina doll bearing the name of the individual is undergone and then nailed to a tree.
On the other hand, these same hina dolls are often presented to young girls and used as ornamentation during this festival. It is a way of bringing good luck and future happiness to their daughters. Highly decorative and fashioned in a traditional ancient style of clothing, these dolls typically extremely expensive and are often passed down from generation to generation. These dolls will often set a buyer back one million or more yen; therefore it is not uncommon to only purchase the emperor and empress to start the collection and slowly, with one doll a year, expand the collection until completion. The emperor and empress tend to be the most expensive of the set donning the most elaborate dress made of the finest materials.
A full set of these dolls would consist of at least 15 dolls arranged on a 5 or 7 tiered (remember, lucky numners), red-carpeted platform which is usually placed in the best room of the house when they are on display. Interestingly the placement of the dolls differs slightly from the Kansai to Kanto regions ( as many things tend to), however the tiered arrangement is still that same.

• Top tier: Emperor and Empress Odairi-sama and Ohime-sama respectively ((御内裏様, 御雛様)
• Second tier: 3 court ladies, san-nin kanjo (三人官女)
• Third Tier: 5 musicians, gonin bayashi (五人囃子)
• Fourth Tier: 2 ministers: Minister of the Right, udaijin (右大臣) and Minister of the Left, sadaijin (左大臣)
• Fifth Tier: 3 servants
• Sixth and Seventh Tiers: miniature furnishings

In addition to the ornamentation, young girls will often throw a type of tea party, inviting people over and presenting the dolls, and of course themselves with sweets and tea and other assortments. 

It is a cute superstition, and a good way to make your offspring clean up, that if the dolls are not put away quickly after Hinamatsuri, then she is not to be wed for a long time.

Traditional meals on this day would often include shirosake (a sweet white sake), as well as hina-arare ( a type of popped rice snack that is often offered to the dolls), konpeitou ( a sweet snack), hishi-mochi ( pink, white, and green mochi which is also a frequent offering to the dolls), chirashi-sushi ( a type ofsushi), and perhaps most importantly, a clam soup called, hamaguri ushio-jiru. Clams are really important on this day and are given to girls, as clams symbolize chastity. The coloring of the mochi, where quite common, also has its own meanings: pink for the peach flowers ( which are not yet in bloom), white for the snow, and green for new growth.

Here is a really well done video showing some of he customs mentioned here as well as the traditional song that is sung on this day.

Little miniatures singing the Hina Matsuri song at the Shimogamo Shrine:



The Hina Matsuri River float of ohime and odairi sama at the Shimogamo Shrine: