Matcha recipes

Today, I mean yesterday was the last day that my friends, Hiroko and Shigeru came to my house for our once a week meet up.

They have been to my house every week once for the past 3 years or so? haha! I can't really remember.

So, now that we need to depart and having them no longer coming to my house every week once is something that I am going to miss from now on. Sigh~

The reason being is, they are moving to another "state" and their new place will be far from my place. T_T

So, yesterday I have baked them a farewell gift, which the main ingredient is none other than matcha (Japanese green tea powder). Here is a little information that you need to know about matcha.

All Japanese green tea comes from the camellia sinensis tea plant. 30% of the nutrition of green tea leaves is water soluble (this means the nutrients emerge when steeped in water) - catechin, theanine, caffeine, vitamin C, and more. 70% of the nutrients of green tea leaves is non-water soluble - vitamin E, beta carotene, dietary fiber, and more.

Known for its use in Tea Ceremony, Matcha is quickly becoming a very useful and tasty way to health. After harvest, tea leaves for Matcha go through (1) steaming, (2) drying, and (3) grinding with a stonemill. The highest grade Matcha is the brightest green and has the most sweet and mellow flavor, without any hint of bitterness, such as our Matcha Pinnacle and Matcha Super Premium. Lower quality Matcha is less green and more yellow and the flavor is less mellow. Matcha is special because since it is ground into a powder and completely dissolved in water when brewed, you drink the whole constituents of the tea leaves and ingest all of the healthful nutrients without throwing away the leaves as one does with other teas: Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha, and Houjicha. Besides, by drinking Matcha you can also ingest oil soluble constituents (Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Beta-carotene, etc.), which are not extracted into water when brewed.

Catechin is an element of green tea's refreshing aroma and astringency, and is extracted well in water with a temperature of over 167 - 176F (75 - 80C). Catechin is also well known for the beneficial effects of removing free radicals, reducing cholesterol and fat, as well as antibacterial and sterilizing. Theanine is an element of green tea's sweet taste and mellow aroma, and is equally extracted both in low and high temperatures. Theanine is also well known for the effects of relaxing the mind and restoring mental balance. Much Theanine is found in tea leaves of Ichibancha (the first pick of the year). Gyokuro and Matcha are especially rich in Theanine because the tea leaves are grown in diffused sunlight before harvest.

For more information, please visit hibiki-an ^_^

Alright, here are the pictures of matcha soy milk, matcha cookies and matcha cup cakes that I made yesterday's morning for their farewell.

I don't really like baking because the oven I have is really really old and it didn't do good job in baking. Temperatures and all can't really be adjusted. haha! I guess I need to invest into a baking microwave soon? hehe! I don't bake that much anyway.

Enjoy the pictures~ The subtle green color that matcha gave is really beautiful.

I add in a teaspoon of matcha into 1/2 cup of soy milk and whisk it little for the powder to melt and add it into with other half of soy milk.

If soy milk with matcha has been sitting for a while, matcha tend to stay at the bottom separating from soy milk. So, before drinking, just stir it well to drink.

Due to my antique oven's temperature can't be adjusted that much, I always ended up burning the bottom of whatever that I bake before the entire thing cooked. haha!

But this wasn't that bad.. not too burn this time. LOL!

Honestly, I am really not that good in baking. haha! I don't really that into baking. I love cooking more ^_^;

I like how subtle the green color is from matcha.

Yeah shapeless cookies because time was limited. I have to get everything prepare in the morning and get it done before my friends came over in the afternoon. Gee, these look like scones? hahaha! I think I shall blame it on my antique oven? It caught up all the moisture. Yeah! Blame on...

It tastes great! I reduced the measurement of the sugar and added a little more of matcha. The chocolate chips that I used is semi-sweet too. It brings a hint of bitter-sweetness.

The final packing of both cupcakes and cookies~

The card I made for them too. haha!

Alright peeps, that's all for today. It's all about Matcha. ^_^v hehe! I will work on my September tutorial video soon. Been busy with work nowadays. Remember, from my September cooking video onwards, it will be uploaded at my new cooking channel call KantanRyouri.

Those who visited my blog today, thank you. 

またね～ ^_^/～～

以上！

西村のエイセイボーロ

Today, I would like to share with all of you on my favorite snack.

I love to snack.. which I am not sure if it's a good thing. haha! Definitely not if I snack on the wrong thing. hehe!

One of my favorite snacks is none other than this Eisei Boro!!

Founded and established by Mr. Nishimura Motoyoshi since Meiji 26 era (1893), which is more than 100 years ago in Kyoto.

Made from simple ingredients yet the traditional taste of the BORO doesn't change as era changes.

What I like most about this snack is, once you put it in your mouth, your saliva will melt off the BORO instantly like a snowflake melt on our skin. My way of eating is to roll the BORO around with my tongue for it to melt off instead of chewing it. I find that it tastes better this way. haha!

Eisei BORO is loved by everyone from kids to adults like me. LOL!!

Now they even have wasabi flavor BORO. haha! I still prefer the original ones ^_^ Nishimura's Eisei Boro comes in various sweet and cute packaging and it's suitable for gifts on various occasions.

Boro and green tea are perfect combination!

Here are the listed ingredients.

Ingredients: Potato starch, sugar, syrup, egg, wheat flour.

Try it and you'll love it~ ^_^v Apart from Japan, this product is exported to America, Southeast Asia, Europe and etc.

That's all for today. Stay tune for my next snack recommendation in the future~

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

New cooking channel announcement!

Finally, I have decided to separate my cooking videos from w-inds. related videos at purensacred

Reason being is, purensacred already had 1 strike >_<

So, to prevent me from losing all my subscribers one day as well as my vids, I decided to separate it.

KantanRyouri is my new cooking channel. It means "Easy cooking" in japanese. ^_^

For those who have been following my cooking vids all these while, I am sure you do know that my cooking is super duper easy.. probably one of the easiest you could find out there. haha! It's because I am not an expert cooker.. so, I make everything as easy as possible. haha!

To my existing subscribers, please subscribe to my new channel ne.

Cooking vids from September onwards will be uploaded to my new channel. However old cooking vids will still be available on my purensacred channel.

Thank you for your support.

Those who are visiting my blog today, thank you~

Curry rice bento for September tutorial

As I have blogged yesterday that my September tutorial will be Japanese curry rice and finally I have finished filming the video today. hehe!

The video will be up on youtube in the month of September; however you guys can take a peep at it through pictures. haha!

Alright, the concept of this bento is having fun in water.. but of course the water means the curry. haha! Inu-chan (the dog) probably had too much fun that it got itself so messy with water.. I mean curry. ^_^

Inu-chan said "Not forgetting my umbrella to block out the UV rays from my body.. applied sunblock too. LOL!"

Final product of the entire bento. Stay tune for the video on September yeah ^_^v

Those who visited my blog today, thank you~

Things from Daiso

I went to Daiso today to look around and see what I can pick up for my next tutorial.

These are what I found and bought.

Since my next tutorial (September tutorial) is Curry rice with the theme of summer beach, I think these cocktail picks are perfect for the bento ^_^

Last but not least, I have picked up more varieties of foods/ cookies cutter again. haha! I think it's really important to have a wide range of different foods cutter for bento especially character bento. Well, for an amateur like myself, I truly find these tools a great help. haha! ( ＾ε＾)

Hope you have enjoyed this.

For those who are reading my blog today, thank you~

パンダオムライス (Panda Omurice)

This is going to be my upcoming character bento for the month of August.

Ingredients being used are Chikuwa with cheese, ham roll with tomato, snow peas, sweet potato korokke and omelet rice.

Panda was made of cheese, ham and seaweed. v(^-^)v

Flower is made of takuan (pickled radish), snow peas and carrot.

Accessories being used in this tutorial are as follow.

Fancy food's picks.

Various foods cutters

Bear's rice mold. I used this to cut Panda. (≧▽≦)

Fancy paper food cups, punch holder and food's divider.

So, everyone, do wait for the video yeah. o(^▽^)o

Introduction

始めまして、YoutubeのPurensacredです。
Hello, this is Purensacred from Youtube

新しい料理ブログは始まりました～ ヾ(＠°▽°＠)ﾉ
My new cooking blog has started～

チャンネル登録者の皆さんは日本語が分かりませんので英語で書きます。
Due to my subscribers can't understand Japanese (as they are non-Japanese speaker), I will write in English

これから宜しくお願いします～ :*:・(￣∀￣)・:*:

Note: I have an account at Hatena earlier on but I find blogspot has more international users use instead.  So, I am still thinking shall I just delete my Hatena's account (・ω・)/

However, if anyone of you do have blogspot, do follow me yeah.  v(^-^)v