"The Plan" this weekend... :P
So, I finally rediscovered a mitarashi dango recipe I've been wanting to make for a while. One of the things the male parental and I did while in Japan this year was to do a bit of food shopping; part of my purchases included 2 types of rice flour (not mochiko, but similar), and a small bag of sugar. Yes, sugar. No, I can't buy that sugar here (it's not regular granulated sugar)... or maybe I could if I went to a professional supply store? ^^; Of course, reading the recipe now, I notice that yes, I did need to buy the mizu ame (the male parental thought I was nuts for wanting to buy it. Like he's one to talk since we hit four or five shops looking for some soy sauce for him). ^^; I'm not sure what I'll do about the mizu ame (maybe I can buy it at the oriental foodstore. It's "clear, glutinous malt sugar" according to the dictionary.) but will figure something out. ^^;
So this weekend, on top of the usual fansub project stuffs, I think I'm going to take some time and start in on "the baking". It's December now, so it's time to start thinking cookies, cakes, squares, desserts... and I now have a proper Japanese dessert cookbook so I'll be looking at making some mochi, dango, or maybe o-shiruko. ^___^ I need to get something out of carrying back ~1kg of flour and sugar. :P
Those who have been on my journal since this time last year might remember this post and all the replies. I'm going to be going through some of those recipes again this year I think. ^___^ One of the things that has shown up on the shelves here is vanilla sugar, which will make ichi_san's friend's vanillekipferln recipe a bit easier. I wonder if Murchie's has vanilla sugar...? Shall look.
But yes, it's *that* time of year again, so it's time to start creating "the list"--the baking list that is. Have you started in on your list yet? ^___^
You can buy vanilla sugar, for German recipes, at Cost Plus World Market. :-)
I haven't started on my Xmas baking yet, but I'll be home from my extended trip to the East Coast tomorrow, and so plan to start baking on Sunday or Monday. So far:
- Stollen (German Christmas bread)
- hazelnut-poppyseed cookies
- pecan-coffee crescents
- Lebkuchen (German gingerbread)
- Florentines
- Jam-filled sandwich cookies
For Christmas presents and hostess gifts, I'll be making up little boxes filled with an assortment of cookies and the miniature jars of apricot jam I canned earlier this year. (I retired from my high-tech job in June, so I'm all about the inexpensive gifts this year, and I love baking.)