on the subject of cupcakes

...oh, uh...

hey...guys...no, it uh, hasn't been about 6 months since my last update...

nope, no siree...

heh.

yeah.

um.

so.

right, okay, so it HAS been like 6 months since my last update. i've had lots of stuff i wanted to write about, just -- didn't have time to do it, since the things i wanted to write about are the things that've been keeping me busy. 

but i digress.

anyway today i'm here to talk about cupcakes.

oh cupcakes,  you say, why not just write about apple pie and baseball and the american dream while you're at it.

no need to be snarky, i have a perfectly good reason to write about cupcakes.

so i was scrolling through facebook, like you do, when i happened upon a picture of some cupcakes, perfectly baked by my dear friend michelle. and then it hits me, man, i could go for some cupcakes. i already had the perfect icing recipe (better than the stuff in a can, not to say that the stuff in a can isn't great, because it is, no doubt--but my swiss meringue buttercream recipe is out of this world), all that was left was the cupcake.

so i hop on my trusty japanese recipe search engine and pick out the most popular cupcake recipe to make. visions of fluffy and moist cupcakes are dancing through my head as i make my first batch of cupcakes in god knows how long. but the results were far from stellar. they ended up more like brownies -- and not like good brownies, i mean like on the dry side brownies. this is definitely NOT what i remembered cupcakes tasting like.

so once again, consulted my go-to recipe engine and decided on another recipe to try. the results were fluffier, but terribly dry. this isn't a cupcake at all. what's wrong with japanese cupcake recipes?? why are they all NOT cupcakes?

this was serious.

i decided it was time to take my plea to facebook, because good lord there's gotta be SOMEONE out there who knows a good cupcake recipe. and lo and behold, a voice.

okay, not a voice, but a post!

gwyn so graciously introduced me to the cupcake project blog -- not only do the recipes look promising, but they also look delicious. the only catch is converting stuff to grams, which i've already touched upon (not fun). when i think about it, i've only really made cupcakes from a mix before -- but as i'm mixing the batter, i start to realize that the batter smells EXACTLY like i remember cupcake batter is supposed to smell like. i've got a good feeling about this.

and after about 14 minutes, the cupcakes are done. the difference is clear before i even take a bite -- they feel lighter and smell richer than the previous cupcakes. taking a bite only confirms it -- yes, THESE are the cupcakes i remember! rich! light! moist! CUPCAKES! this is amazing! honest to god cupcakes HERE! in hiroshima!

okay, so? you say. what's the big deal? they're cupcakes, not a cure for the common cold.

no see, it's super hard to find a taste of home here. i mean, it's not like i go out of my way to look for stuff that tastes like home -- it's hard to do in general because ingredients and stuff are different here, i can respect that. i'm fine with that. but sometimes, you just want a bowl of mac and cheese. or cupcakes. and they just don't have that readily available here. not that that's a bad thing, it's just the truth. so finding something that tastes so much like home is a huge discovery. it's like finding atlantis. you've never seen anyone so excited about cupcakes -- i could have danced out into the streets broadway musical-style, belting out songs about cupcakes to the masses. this should also illustrate to you just HOW BAD the japanese recipes for cupcakes were. those cupcakes sucked all the moisture out of your mouth the instant you took a bite. they were like...the anti-cupcake. evil cupcakes. 

but now i have two foolproof cupcake recipes to make whenever i'm in the mood for some sweet cuppin' cakes. 

next year'll mark 10 years in japan for me. 10 years. ten. that alone is pretty mindblowing, but it's taken me that long to really start to miss things about home (does that make sense?) cupcakes are something you grow up with as a kid -- and to find something from your childhood on the other side of the world? that's pretty awesome. and cause to write a blog, i'd say.

akemashite-omedetou!

【明けましておめでとう】 
akemashite-omedetou, happy new year

happy 2015 everyone! today is january 1st or gan-tan. being the first day of the new year, it's traditional to go visit your local shrine (hatsumoude), say a little prayer for the new year, and get yourself an omikuji which is a small strip of paper with your luck on a scale of super lucky, lucky, sorta lucky, maybe lucky, and unlucky. it also has advice about whether it's a good idea to travel, how business will go, etc, etc. while omikuji aren't just for the new year, most everyone who goes to hatsumoude gets one.

this was the scene at my local shrine, the sumiyoshi shrine, this afternoon. everyone's lining up to offer their prayers. when my turn came, two miko (shrine maidens) were standing behind the offering boxes (where you throw in some coins or, if you're feeling really generous, some bills). the rule of thumb is first, ring the large bells near the top of the shrine, then bow twice, clap twice, and pray. while you're praying, the shrine maidens swish really large paper shide which look like paper strips of lightning, over your head. once you're done praying, you bow once more and you're done. after that, i went to pick my omikuji. they're all scattered inside a box and you pick out one at random. so here's what i got:

chuu-kichi! sorta lucky! which is a vast improvement over last year's maybe lucky, hehe. the rest of the fortune was...just as you can imagine for being sorta lucky, heh, but it's not bad per se. and so with that, my new year's excursion came to an end. tomorrow i'll be headed to the cafe to pick up the nengajou or new year's cards that should have arrived. which means i'll be writing more on those tomorrow!

have a great 2015 everyone!!