Fruit Jellies

About once or twice a year I want eat these small square fruit jellies. When you eat these jellies, you will notice that it's not gummy because the main ingredient is agar not gelatin. I guess it is not super popular but you can always find it in stores.
Today, I tried to make this type of jelly at home. I cooked lots of agar powder, mango puree and sugar. After it cooled down, I cut it with a cookie cutter. Even though the mango jelly was a little harder than my regular jelly, It still didn't taste like the jelly I wanted.
I tried to make it once again. I cooked lemon juice, lemon peel, sugar and much more agar powder than last time. It took a long time to dissolve all of the agar powder in a small amount of water. The texture was closer to the jelly but still not quite there. Andrew liked it though and ate them all.
I learned that this jelly is difficult to make at home. I am happy to continue trying to make the jelly until I am fully satisfied.

Sweet Potato Snacks

I made two sweet potato snacks last week. This picture below is called "imo kenpi". I cut some sweet potatoes into long, thin strips, fried them with oil and cooked them with brown sugar and ginger. The potato snack was supposed to be crunchy but mine was not.
Another day, I made "daigaku imo". This is similar to the previous snack. I cut some sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces, fried them with oil and mixed them in syrup from sugar and water. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. I don't feel so guilty when I make snacks from some vegetables even though I use oil and sugar.

Hummus

I like hummus. My recipe uses chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and ground pepper. I put everything in a food processor until it is smooth. It always amazes me that hummus is not so tasty just after combining all of the ingredients but it is really good after leaving it for one hour. Today, we dipped raw carrots, celery, and cauliflower into it.

Hot Cross Buns

It is the second time for me to bake hot cross buns. The buns were very hard when I baked them last year.
I got some help from my bread machine. The machine helped me knead the dough. The bread was great! It was soft, spicy and sweet. I can count on the bread machine everytime.

Princess Parade

On Saturday, we went to our local spring festival in town. I expected to see one nice group of people who we don't know well but we have seen at the festival for the past 3 years.
There were many people and food vendors.
It was a perfect day for a picnic. We sat down under some cherry blossom trees and had lunch while we waited for the highlight of the festival to come, the princess parade.
The parade re-enacts the traveling of the nobles and ladies of the Imperial Court during the Edo Period (1603-1868). First, the female servants came by ahead of the princess.
The picture below is of the princess this year.
Unfortunately we couldn't see the group of friends this year. I hope I will see them next year.

Rum Raisin Muffins

I have kept some raisins in some rum for about 6 months. Today, I used some of them for making muffins.
The rum taste wasn't so strong, but I tasted the flavor of the rum raisins the next day.

Strawberry Vending Machine

The picture below is of a fruit vending machine near my house. The vending machine is on the road next to a fruit farm. You can buy different fruits depending on the season such as oranges, pears, peaches and strawberries.
The fruits are in a coin locker. You chose one room, put coins in a slot and then you can open the locker to get your fruit. There is a change machine next the fruit vending machine so you don't have to worry if you only have bills. Today, I stopped my car and checked which types of fruit were inside. There were only strawberries.
I don't think it is common to see food being sold outside in Japan but you can see it sometimes when you go to the countryside.