Wagashi Magic Part 1

There are 3 things that you should know about me. I love to cook, I love sweets, I love learning. What better way to combine all the wonderful-ness than in a Wagashi workshop.

On Saturday I went to Japanese Cultural and Community Centre (JCCNC) for a wagashi workshop. The class is taught by Kimika Takechi and Larry Tiscornia who have both teach about Chanoyu (the Japanese tea ceremony) They have many decades of experience and study. The class was medium size about 16 people and was 25 USD (members get 5USD off, Thanks Mrs. H ^-^).

For the uninitiated, wagashi in the American sense is similar to Tea snacks (crumpets, biscuits, etc.) but in another respect it's so much more. It's sacred and beautiful part of the chanoyu and many learn and practise years the old tradition. Most Japanese order wagashi these days from Wagashi-ya. It is important to note that Wagashi-ya and Pan-ya are two different things.

We learned how to make 2 wagashi from start to finish. Uguisumochi and hichigiri. Uguisumochi means nightingale rice cakes, it is designed to remind you of the nightingale which begins singing as spring approaches. Hichigiri literally means pull and cut and is often served in Kyoto during the Hinamatsuri (Girl's day). The class was part demonstration and part hands-on, which I loved. We learned how to make An (shiro an and regular an) and the mochi that is used in many types of wagashi, including daifuku.

It can be intimidating to try to make wagashi but it's not really so hard for the basic mochi based. Kanten (agar agar/gelatinous) may be different. It many ways there are advantages over wagashi making to baking. I kept trying to use as little shiratamako (a type of sweet rice flour) as possible during forming the uguisumochi, afraid it would make it tough as flour will do with pastry. But this is not the case, you can always dust it off at the end. Also the mochi that we made in the microwave, the first time Takechi-san forgot to add sugar and it got lumpy. That can be fixed by heating it over the stove. If An is to thick you can add mitsu (simple syrup) if it's sticky you can let it cook longer. As long as you know what to do, it can be pretty foolproof.

Next time, I'll talk more about the specific type of wagashi I made, including recipes.

Moving again: things learned

Well things have come to an impasse with me and my live in landlord, so I'm looking for another place to stay.

I don't believe in the "cuss you out on the internet" theory, let me just say that double standards and control-ism is not my thing. Neither is age-ism for that matter. He has a way of making everything somebody else's fault, not accepting responsibility. But I've never had a roomie leave me, and I've only mutually(i.e no fighting or police involvement) decided to move twice for the better part of 8 years of living with roommates. About 80% of the people I've lived with I'm still in contact with (albeit this is thanks to facebook), basically people like me and I'm a good roommate. My landlord has had 3 roommates leave in 12 month period. Let the facts stand for themselves.

I know that everything happens for a reason, there was some reason the Lord wanted me to live there for the time I did. It was close enough for me to bike or walk to work, it was near a major street and lots of public transportation so I got to get the hang of BART and AC transit. It also allowed to be able to maneuver my way around here. So now that I'm moving again I kinda have an idea of what I'm looking for and what I want. Some of things I learned were:

1. When a person says they don't like having room-mates, they've never had room-mates until now. Especially when they're more established, red flag.

2. When somebody gives 30 days notice the day you move in, definite red flag.

3. When somebody shows you who they are (yelling, slamming, calling cops) and say I'd never do that to you. Don't believe that.

4. At my age, I'm looking for people who've been in school, military, corps, etc. Basically people who've lived with room-mates in the recent past.

5. With that said, I think I've been scarred out of renting a room in somebody's house. Looking for a more roommate situation.

6. There's nothing wrong with having house rules, it doesn't make you uptight and especially if I do rent a room in somebody's house that's got to be there. It sounds silly but to me my biggest pet peeve was him leaving his dishes for days, piling up and then him fussing because I'd come home at nite wash his dishes, cook something and then didn't have the energy to wash my own pan.

7. This is the biggie: just go by the lease. If you're lease says rent plus utilities, pay the utilities. Even if they say "I didn't know you're a student whatever, don't worry about it", pay the utilities. Though if you're in an all inclusive situation and you can spare it, it is nice to offer to contribute during the winter months or if you've had a guest stay for more than a weekend.



I've learned so much in the past few months. Living with room-mates before gave me insight but this experience has been majorly eye-opening.

till next time,

DK