Last year, I returned from living in Japan for three years. While in Japan, I learned a lot about the beauty of presentation and the difference it makes on the appeal of food. I enjoyed all the different produce available in Japan that I had never seen before. Vegetables were smaller and mushrooms were available in abundance. I be came attuned with the seasons and the different flowers and vegetables that each season brought. For example, springtime meant sakura sweets. Summer meant lots of melons. Autumn was surely the most bountiful with varieties of mushrooms, sanma (mackerel), pumpkins, and chestnuts. Winter provided mikan oranges and strawberries (why? greenhouses?).
Despite the abundance of variety, food was expensive and I didn't have an oven. I yearned for lasagnas, cookies, pot pies and cakes. I craved the wafting scent of my signature oatmeal raisin cookies during the Christmas season. Most homes in Japan do not have central heating so I dearly missed the heat an oven would have provided too.
When I came back to Vancouver it seemed like I was catching up on three years without an oven. I baked and baked and baked! For the past year I have been enjoying my baking and cooking. It's so therapeutic.
Join me on my food adventures!
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