The Christmas Cake...

In Japan they have a unique tradition of having a cake on Christmas day. This is also something that is done in Europe and it is likely that the missionaries in the 1600's brought the idea of Christmas as they were teaching about Christ in Japan (this was before Japan closed it boarders to all foreigners or gaijin). Now a days, it is strange that they would do this as they are primarily a Buddhist country. However the history is quite interesting and a nice way to get friends together. You can link into a brief history about the Christmas cake here. So now it is the Christmas season. For our ward Christmas party they asked those who had lived abroad to help out and bring a treat and a tradition to the party. So I made two Japanese Christmas cakes. They turned out well so I though that I would post the recipe.

Ingredients:

• For sponge cake:
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• For topping:
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 4 tbsps sugar
• Various fruits (strawberries, peaches, cherries, and so on)

Preparation:

Whisk eggs in a bowl (for a long time) you want them to at least double in size. The more you whip the fluffier your cake will be. Place the bowl over warm water in another large bowl and whisk further. Add sugar little by little. When the egg mixture becomes light yellow, sift flour and add to the bowl. Mix the flour lightly in the egg mixture. Mix butter in warm milk. Add mixture of melted butter and milk in the batter and stir gently. Preheat the oven in 350-degree. Place baking wax papers inside of a round cake pan (18cm) or use a fat (i.e. butter or crisco) to line the pan. Split the batter between two 9 inch round pans and in the preheated oven for 20-25 min or until a knife can be placed and removed with out any batter sticking. Remove the cake from oven. I let the cake cool in the pan and then remove it to further cool on the rack. Mix heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Whip the cream well. Take the half of the whipped cream and mix with chopped fruits. Place the cream on top of a round cake slice. Place another cake slice on top of the cream. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top and around the cake. Decorate the cake with colorful fruits and Christmas decorations. Enjoy.

Celery...

So I have found a new favorite ingredient. Celery. I have long underestimated how great a cooking flavor this is. For years I have known this stick of food as something you eat when you are dieting. A food that uses more calories to digest than you get from eating from it. If you have a wild hair, you can put peanut butter on it and call it a snack. Or if you are my wife you can have "ants of a log" (peanut butter and raisins). On a whim I decided to buy a bunch of celery ($1.25) for a vegetable curry that I was making. The curry turned out super great. As I was preparing it, Bryn told me something that I didn't know (which happens often). Naturally, celery has a high salt content. To put this it into perspective a bottle of Gatorade has the same amount of salt as one stick of celery. So I have been snacking on it all this week, especially when I'm fighting the munchies.

Today, this being fall, I made an acorn squash soup. And, of course, I used celery. Bryn didn't like the fibers in the soup that is normally smooth, but the taste was leaps and bounds above any other acorn squash soup that I have made previously. I even garnished it with lemon thyme. Yes, I took the picture above before we ate. It was a nice, yummy fall time dinner. I put the recipe below, just in case you want to give it a try.

Acorn Squash Soup

• 3 acorn squash, take out the seeds and cook for 55min at 325 so you can gut it
• 5 carrots, scraped and sliced
• 3-4 sticks of celery
  
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 3-1/2 cups canned chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 tablespoons margarine or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup half-and-half or sour cream
  
• Fresh thyme for garnish

Cook in a crock pot for 3 hours and then blend until smooth. Enjoy.