The Anime Blog – We Go Beyond Anime!

I’m such a sucker for pretty packaging when it comes to Japanese treats. I don’t read the Japanese language above junior-junior remedial, so having smart, attractive packaging is important in conveying to me that I MUST buy a J-snack.

This tart/ cookie, Choco & Coffee, has a nice fusion of East meets West (and then [...]

In Dango Digest, Part One, we got acquainted with the vast world of dango. In the second part of Dango Digest, let’s take a peek at how to actually make the dango. Part Two has two basic recipes for dango, some sauces, plus two “rare” dango recipes: Hanami Dango and Botchan Dango.
This recipe is the [...]

When you’re having fun on the go and you’re looking for snackage, food which is as mobile as you is always a good thing. In Japan, country of a thousand festivals, food mobility is an important factor to enjoying the celebrations. Many festival snacks come in ball form (takoyaki), on a stick (yakitori) or both, [...]

It’s coming soon! White Day is this Friday! It’s our day ladies! Our day to rake in the goodies after we forked ‘em over on Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day in Japan, to those who are unfamiliar, is a day when women give men chocolate (choco) and don’t get diddly in return. That’s right, nadda. Women even [...]

Last year, I posted a brief write-up of Valentine’s Day in Japan. To refresh our memories:

On Valentine’s Day in Japan, the women give all the men in their lives chocolate (choco- チョコ). If the recipient is a co-worker, or someone the woman sees casually, she gives him giri choco (obligation chocolate). [...]

Fall is that time of year when the weather cools down, the leaves turn vibrant colors, and stores try to come up with inventive ways to market pumpkin in all its glory.
So far this year I’ve only seen pumpkin cappuccino, pumpkin coffee creamer (this stuff is not good), pumpkin bark, the obligatory pumpkin pie and [...]

Kinako doesn’t sound good as a dessert ingredient; when translated, kinako means “toasted soy bean flour” and the kanji are written as “yellow flour” (is that like yellow snow?) To some people, the thought of soy= tofu= *blech* and the thought of beans used similarly= WTF?!
However, kinako is absolutely delish and I add it [...]

I realized something the other day in my kitchen. I realized that I was out of amanatto and that in order to get more bean goodness, I would have to either drive 5 hours to the Chicago Mitsuwa or try and find it online to order it. Nooooooo! I can’t be that [...]