Fall Baking... and other events!

"There will be a day..." is playing on KLOVE-online, the breeze is blowing my curtains hay-wire, and brown-sugar-cinnamon scent hangs in the air. It's fall, it's Sunday, and that means it's time to bake!

Last week I made Starbucks recipe for pumpkin spice scones. Twice! Yea, they were that good. And of course I shared the goodness, because that is the joy of this craft- giving it away. But baking takes a few unexpected twists and turns here in Japan. The mass plethra of ingredients found in American super-markets are not so readily available here. So I emprovise, and usually end up making something comletely from scratch. The taste is always worth it! Here we have step-by-step (minus a few steps cuz I forgot to take pics!) pumpkin and scones:

So, for starters, to make pumpkin scones, I first must purchase a pumpkin and cook it down to mashing consistency...

The Japanese style of cooking pumpkin, and other veggies, is to mix some sugar, soy sauce, and dashi (fish flakes) with the water, bring to a boil, then simmer. The result is a wonderful taste, sweet, but not too sweet. Hmm... delectable would be the word.

Cook pumpkin until you can stick it with a chopstick and it does not crack or break apart.

Then it becomes usable for pumpkin pie, scones, cheesecake, or just eating it plain. Delish!

Scones in the making...

Look at that beautiful color of pumpkin, cream, and egg whisked together. (I may have even licked this spoon too. lol)
Voila! The finished product. hungry?? (I'm so mean!)

Among the missing items in my "super-market" in Japan, is granola bars. So what do I do? I make them myself!! This isn't necessarily cheap, as a small box of oats is almost $4. However, from my experience this afternoon, homemade granola bars are well worth the extra effort, extra nutrition, and extra cost. (I licked my spoons clean, and can't wait to dig into the bars!). *That's just another perk of making and baking your own goods- you get to lick everything (but don't tell your friends you did!) Dad, you'd be proud. This recipe contains NO high-fructose corn syrup, rather brown sugar, honey, and butter. I dare you to try this one! ;) I can't take all the credit for this either. I found the recipe online (see below) and adjusted it to my tastes and ingredients. I used flax seed instead of wheat germ, and dried bananas instead of sunflower seeds.

I tend to be a distastrous in the kitchen, although my end products always turn out great. For example, today I made granola bars, which required wax paper in the dish, so the bars don't stick. I openen my wax paper, and to my horror, I had about 5 inches left! EEK! I ran to my [2] neighbors, but neither were home. Hmm... would aluminum foil work? Yep! I'll make it work! Haha. One time I completely burnt the crust of a cheesecake, in my lovely little convection oven. I was mad and poured it into the trash bag. It was still really hot so it burnt through the trash bag and got all over the floor!! (the bag was hanging on the door handle.... yea my flat is teeny.) I've done all sorts of ridiculous things like that. You'll be happy to know, though, that the cheesecake story ended happily with a perfect pumpkin swirl cheesecake, enjoyed after a huge bowl of chili (this party is in my first or second blog, last year). So I like baking. As far as cooking... I'm a little terrified. I would love to learn to make these amazing chinese dumplings that Adeng's mom made for us. Chinese food is a future goal to accomplish.

Speaking of Chinese, Adeng, his sister, some friends, and I went to YOKOHAMA and China Town this week, as it was a week long holiday! They found this store where I could try on a Chinese dress and take pictures, and they insisted that I do it! I was so embarrassed... at first. Then I just decided that they wanted to do something nice and fun; make a memory, of sorts. So I went along with it, and it was actually pretty fun. I like hamming it up for pictures, but amongst hundreds of tourists, it was awkward. We got some good shots though! ;) Adeng's sister is adament that when we go to China I can get fitted and have the perfect sized dress. cool!

Recipe sources:

Starbucks pumpkin spice scones: http://www.recipezaar.com/Starbucks-Pumpkin-Scones-214051

Granola bars: http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/04/11/homemade-granola-bar-recipe-no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-in-these-bars/