For years I was fascinated by Swedish pastries containing cardamom. When a year-abroad student joined my seminar one year, I finally gave the recipe below a try. While this passed muster as very like the real stuff, it’s quite sweet and not part of my regular rotation.
After months of waffling (according to friends observing my social media posts), on Christmas Eve 2024 I rode to Sakushima, an island in Nagoya Bay. It was a wonderful trip in more ways than one, and I look forward to visiting the island again.
Another exploratory day-trip excursion to a possible route into Kani, linking to the northern route to Gero hot springs. At about 100 kilometers for the round trip it’s a long one, but this one avoids the punishing climbs normally involved in getting out of the city.
2-4 December 2024: A town so nice I went there twice. A second journey to Gero hot springs, this time with no stopover on the way up. A full day of rest before the return offered a chance to explore the town just a little, and failure of my camping stove added to the adventure.
15 October 2024: The town of Kani is the constant waypoint for rides to Gero Onsen from Nagoya. After the western route past Kasugai Country Club proved to include something close to a mountain hiking trail, and the eastern route via Seto and Tajimi proved to parallel speedy traffic over a nerve-rattling distance, this jaunt explores a middle route that merges with the Toki River. A fun ride, but without happy news on that front.
A simple recipe Mieko used early in our marriage, as rescued from a note wedged in one of her cookbooks. The bran readily available in Japan is rice bran, which is bland and dry in baked goods, so this version is jazzed up a little with with sultanas and brandy.
One of the cooking adventures from my side that met with Mieko’s approval … apart from the number of pots it leaves in its wake.
20-21 September 2024: Wherein I explore an alternative north-bound route to that used in the July excursion to Gero, and face a trade-off between convenience and solitude.
A thin pancake batter.
A recipe from Mieko’s kitchen (dated 1999), with modifications.