As I promised, I’m packing my lunch

Now that I have the few things I need to make the most basic lunch, I have started preparing bento lunches.  I made my first California roll the other night, which turned out fantastic.

California roll for Eric’s lunch (And I added a pear in his lunch bag)

My lunch, cheese and cracker snack, and California roll (soy sauce on top tier)

We went to the Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday, and went to their first annual “sushi experience” by Ms. Saito, who teaches sushi classes at Temple University.  Her claim to fame is naming the Philadelphia Roll: Smoked salmon and Philadelphia cream cheese.

It was a good time, a decent little bento for the sushi event, and some live performances and shopping =D  Pictures to come!

Mochi and sushi…

We have been eating sushi quite a bit lately, and recently when going to Z.Wei, we have been treated to mochi ice cream!  It has been a fantastic treat for us, and I set out to make my own…

Easier said, than done.

I found a few recipes that state the same process:

scoop the ice cream into balls and refreeze, make the dough, cool the dough, flatten the dough and cover the frozen ice cream, and freeze again.

Simple, right?

Well, first attempt to make the dough was unsuccessful and very, very messy.  Too sticky and elastic; it was hard to wrap anything in it.  I made a smaller batch, following the directions to a ‘T’ this time (I added the flour too quickly before) and it made the perfect dough.  The most difficult problem was that the ice cream melted so quickly, it was hard to get the mochi ‘wrap’ to seal around the ball without slipping because the ice cream was melting so fast.

Finally, success!  At the end of the night, I made sushi, which was a very minor success (burned the rice because I was distracted) but I made California rolls… Lunch to come!  If only the mochi ice cream would travel for an hour via train without hassle!

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Cupcakes! Ah finally…

I finally set out to make the “carbomb cupcakes” with Guiness cake, Jameson whiskey ganache, and Bailey’s icing!

They turned out fantastic, and have been a hit so far!  I highly recommend them for anyone that loves a chocolaty treat, even if you’re not that into beer, and the alcohol can be substituted ^_^

Enjoy!

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