Back!

Lost track of my camera for a few days there, though it's found and some posts will be going up soon!

In the meantime, a quick shot of the lovely chawan I got from tjkoko of TeaChat. While it's average-sized, it has a big feel to it. So, when using it, I'll double the amount of maccha I normally use(so, 2/3 c. water and four scoops). Doesn't foam as well, though still tasty(pictured is Matsu no Midori from Maiko, for the record).

Breakfast Miso

I've been busier than expected, one thing keeping me on my toes is my trying to change a few things with how I eat(mainly to account for the extra exercise I put in with the weather growing warmer). One of these things is making sure I eat something for breakfast, a meal I'm sorry to admit I tend to skip.

That said, I've adopted a matcha, miso, and fruit(and if I'm still hungry some rice from the steamer) breakfast habit.

I've already covered matcha and I'm pretty sure fruit is self-explanatory, so that leaves the miso.

Miso is both pretty simple and offers a wide variety of options to taste. Personally, I'm a fan of shiro(white). It tends to be sweet and light. Others prefer aka(red) which is a little heavier and salty. Others still will swap or mix the two according to taste or prefer any other number of varieties miso comes in.

Miso paste, like anything really, can be made at home, though I just buy mine in a small resealable carton(it's also, more often, sold in pouches. Either way, between use store sealed and refrigerated) from the local shop. Also, while more known for it's use as a soup base, it can be used as a seasoning for any number of dishes. Explore with it.

That said, for soup, boil about one and a half to two cups of water with your choice of ingredients for the day* for about five minutes. After that remove it from the heat and allow it to cool, once the water is low enough it doesn't scold without being too chilly, mix 1 Tbsp miso paste per cup of water.

*Some ingredient suggestions(mix and match according to your tastes, I tend to go for around three for morning soup): Dried wakame, cubed tofu, diced scallions, chopped carrots, cubed potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, garlic, ginger, bok choy, grilled onions, grated daikon

Pour into a bowl, grab a spoon(or chopsticks, drink the soup right out of the bowl and use the chopsticks for the solid ingredients) and enjoy!

Mini Matcha Bunny Cakes

Easy as pie(which isn't actually that easy to make, so... easier than pie?), tasty, and cute.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In a large bowl mix 1c. flour, 1/3c. sugar, 3/4 Tbsp. industrial/cooking grade matcha, 1 tsp. soy butter, and 1c. hot water together into a green and slightly runny batter.

Spray the cooking pan or mold(s) of your choice(I obviously went with bunnies) with non-stick spray, then pour the batter in, distributing evenly if using more than one pan/mold. I used three at a time.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, give or take for your oven, do the 'fork test'(stick it in to see if it comes out clean) to test if they're finished.

When done, remove from the oven and let cool before removing them from the pan/mold.

Enjoy plain, or with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar, and a cup of hot sencha!

The Green Stuff

I said before I would post a picture of the new chawan with matcha in it, so here it is with some of Den's Tea's Matcha Kaze. Not the best matcha on the market, but for usucha(thin matcha) I can't complain.

I considered making this out into a post about how to prepare matcha, but then I noticed that Tales of Japanese Tea, Kohei, had posted a rather lovely video that covers pretty much everything you'd want to know about matcha preparation*, so I'll just link to him instead. ;p

*Well, for usucha. This is roughly how I prepare it, two scoops with 60ml of water. For koicha(thick matcha) you need both more scoops/less water as well as a higher quality matcha.