November...

Unbelievably warm days... How are you doing?
It was very stormy outside today, but winds are not cold at all!
I could go out without a winter coat.
Very strange.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Apology for taking random closing of an-an cafe in the past few weeks. It's been over 4 months since I started this cafe, I needed time to resolve a pressure of running this business by myself.
The trigger was ... maybe the accident happened at the beginning of  October.
I was very down and could not settle down at all. There were so many things need to be done, but I even could not know where to start with. I was also very anxious if I could carry on this business like this.

But I am fine now. I had some time to think about it. The answer was "No going back. No looking back.".
Sometimes, I will need to have some time off from this cafe to keep myself on the track. I will come back, so don't give up on me!!! Anyway, I will let you know when I will need time well in advance.
Now I should be ok at least for a few month, though.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

So, I already finished the first sales in November. It was at Croydon Japanese School HuruhonIchi.
Thank you for people and friends who bought my sweets. I am so sorry I could not make enough.
Actually, There are some sweets could not make the sales...

I am thinking about sales at some places in Brighton again... a little by little...。

November, 3rd（Monday・・・well, tomorrow？）Japanese toddler group (Cornerstones Church, Hove)
from around 10am. If the weather is bad, it will be postponed to 17th. Sorry for the short notice.

November, 8th (Saturday）Brighton & Hove Japanese Club
2:00 - 4:00 pm. If it is dry, I will be in the parking area. If it is wet, I will be in the main Hall.

November 18th (Tuesday）Japanese Cafe an-an
7pm -9pm  Japanese and English language exchange session. If you want to talk in Japanese, please join us. Maximum number of people is 8. Fee- £5.00 (One drink and nibbles)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

November's sweets・・・


Kintsuba.
You can chose Pumpkin or chunky adzuki beans.
Dorayaki (Pancake sandwich) 3 filling to chose.
Satsuma Daifuku (Mochi) is a Limited edition till Christmas.
Chestnuts cake is out of stock. But I will make it very soon.

If you want to buy more than 10 sweets, please make an order in advance.
Sweet are not delivered now. Only delivered by a courier, using next day guaranteed. Therefore, please mind the Courier delivery charge will be added separately.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

November seems to be another unstable months.. I mean weather.
Please take care of yourselves. We need to get ready for Christmas soon. ww

Cafe is closed today.

Due to hospital appointment, cafe is closed for today.

It will open at 10am as usual.

Sorry for inconvenience.

When I realized... It's already in October!

Seriously, I just did not know how fast time goes after I opened my Cafe.

It's a really problem.
I have so many things to do and plan, only time goes by.

・・・Anyway, I managed to bake 60 Chestnuts cakes last night.

These are some I made last year... this year, 
they are not as pretty as these... why?


Tomorrow, I have planned to steam Kimi-Shigure. Well, my to-do list carries on and on...

I don't want to believe, it's already in October.

This year the weather is too mild... yes, it's still just like summer during midday. Nice and sunny... not a lot of rain nor wind.
This should be a season for strong rain and gust... right?

This month's sweet "Kimi-Shigure".
"Shigure" represents the surface of soil after large rain falls and dry period. You will see a lot of cracking on the soil.
This year, no rain before dry period, so not a lot of "Shigure" can be seen....

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Here is an announcement.

Next weekend, 11th and 12th of October, I will have a stall in a large event of traditional Japaneses Flower Arrangement Group, Ikenobo. There are a large number of exhibition as well as demonstrations by the future successor.

There was a request from them.

To make and serve some Traditonal Japanese sweets based on flowers and plants.

So I thought and thought.

There would be chestnuts, lespedeza, chrysanthemu, Japanese anemone, acer, ginkgo, rose and lavender, etc, etc... I am in the way of planning, so I still don't know what kind of sweets I can make.

If I have a chance, I would like to show some of photos here.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

The hall is just 5 min on foot from East Croydon station. Could not be any more convenient.

To be honest, I really don't know about flower arrangement.
However, beautiful flowers lift me up whenever I am down. Maybe it's same that tasty sweets lifts me up... ? This could be a good chance to get know about traditional flower arrangements.

So I hope you enjoy "not-so-traditional" an-an's sweets in the event of "inventing-traditional" Ikenobo Flower Arrangements.

I strongly advice to book the ticket on line, 

but there also tickets available at the door on those days.

My new project

There are so many people suffered from food allergy and food intolerance.

My friend unfortunately developed a very difficult condition and she seems to loose any interest in eating food. Which is really sad for me. Especially, she was one of my favorite customers.

Currently, I have quite a lot of people who needs to be careful for what they put in their mouth around of me. My son is one of them. He has nuts and sesame seeds allergy, and I need to be careful for sesame seeds oil sneaking into any foods.

Therefore, I cannot help thinking about her case as well.

As well as my son's allergic reaction, there are quite similar foods triggers reactions. It could be something oily, or it could be foods with protein (such as gluten), or some kind of food with sugar (lactose etc).

So, I started to think about sweets doesn't contain any of above for my customers.

My friend, mentioned above, cannot eat wheat or sugar for her life. On top of that, she is advised by doctor to avoid any carbohydrate, oil apart from coconut oil, daily, some fiber rich veges, egg white and chili.

It means, "OK foods" can be counted no more than 20.

I checked Wiki and it recommends high protein + low fat diet. But, if I remove the foods above, I cannot cook anything in my cafe. Well, I cannot find any of my menu not using rice, soy sauce nor wheat flour.  

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Now I am looking for an answer for her, who once enjoyed my sweets.

If I can find any hints to reach the answer, I will write another blog about this project.

For now, I am gazing at the book of  Standard Tables of Food Composition, which I have given at elementary school. I really like just looking at this text book and spend ages. Because of that, I can tell most of foods' composition even now. 

I really like using my brain to think about food.
However, it make me hungry after my brain consuming a lot of energy.

I should take bath and go to bed, before my brain started craving foods in the kitchen.

Good night. xx

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊


This is my new sign.
I need to talk about this girl as well.
So many things to write on my blog!!! Hopefully soon....

Holiday eve

2:30 am now.

I am in this situation.

When I made Gyoza skin dough and prepared for the filling, I realized there is no potato  starch left in the cupboard. 

I cannot process any more than this... I cannot roll the skin.

Moreover, this is Sunday early morning, so no shop is open (I really wished if I were in Japan. at least , Convenience stores are open through the night even during weekends.)

If I go to my cafe, I have some... but is it worth driving in the dark for 15 min one way?

Or, maybe I should go to the nearest corner shop to buy cornstarch first in the morning?

Anyway, I still need to prepare for Beef & Potato Korroke and Chicken Katsu...

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

... and, an-an will set off for holiday in 5 hours time. 

you may think what I am doing just before the holiday? 
There is nothing in the cafe to open on my return from the holiday. 
I cannot enjoy my holiday just like this. 

So, an-an will re-open on 1st September. 

Please don't forget an-an till then...

Pink, Yellow, Green and Purple...

It's been very hot and humid... It's a bit like Japanese wet season just before summer. 
How are you? I hope you can get good sleep at night. 

I just hope this is not THE British Summer...
Hopefully, dry and sunny days to be followed.

So, I would like to introduce some cool stuff before Summer finishes.

It's Frozen Smoothy!

I actually want to do flavored shaved ice, but I don't have right machine to make, so given up. 

Instead, I started making smoothies with frozen fruits, so it must be better than flavored shaved ice.

Drinking Shaved Ice！

Here is the list.

Pink！
Strawberries and Bananas, Milk or Soy milk. If you want to make it sweeter, you can have it with a touch of honey. If you feel a bit tired, Strawberries' Vitamin C and Banana's Potassium will treat you right.

Yellow!
Mango & Peach, Apple juice
Mango's Vitamin A and Carotene will treat your tired eyes and protect them from strong sun shine. Folic Acid will prevent to damage brain cells... so, good for preventing dementia...Is it true?



Green!
Kiwi, Cucumber and Mint, Apple juice. Honey can be added as an option. 
Unexpectedly tasty. Very refreshing. 
It's full of Vitamin C! Mint will bring you apatite you lost because of this heat...


Purple!
Blueberries & Blackberries, Milk or Soy milk. You can add Honey optionally. 
Blueberries and Blackberries have plenty of "anti-aging" chemicals. Zinc from Blueberries and manganese from Blackberries encourage your own immune system. Hair growth and reproduction system will have some effect. they will help metabolism if you take with good quality proteins, such as milk or soy milk. 

It's hard to take a good amount of nutrients in this hot weather, so you should try these smoothies! 
however, please note there are some allergen in the ingredients. Please tell me if you want to opt out any ingredients you may have reactions. We cannot be responsible towards any allergic reactions causing out products.

Get a 50p off voucher when you order lunch over £5.00 per person!

If you fancy Iced Coffee, You can try ours!

It has already been two weeks... but still two weeks.

Only 10 days... only 4 hours on each day...

It's nothing if I put in numbers...

But I feel it had been much longer than two weeks.
I really underestimated what involves to run a cafe.

Thankfully, I already got some hard-core repeat costumers, who buy Ichigo Daifuku and Chicken Katsu Sando almost every day , and supported by the people who works in shops on the same street.

I was a bit worried that I only serve Filtered Coffee, instead of Italian style Cappuccino or Latte. But whoever tried the coffee, they said it's really good. Of course! I chose a good Colombian coffee for filter coffee as Japanese Cafes do. I am not a keen coffee drinker, but this coffee does not need any sugar nor milk to enjoy. It has just right bitterness and sourness.

Why don't you try Iced coffee???

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

This Saturday, 12th July, an-an will join the Summer Festival 2014 at Maeda Gakuen in Acton. This will be the 4th year to be there. It's so much fun.

I am not sure how many sweets I can make now, but I will do my best that many, many children can taste my handmade sweets.

The event is fab every year. There are so many things for children to do!!!
Games and tasty Japanese foods!!! It's just so much fun to just look around.

I wonder if Nagashi Somen (thin noodle coming down a cold stream. catch and dip in sauce to enjoy.)
will be there this year, too! Never forget Bon Odori (Japanese Dance)! All remind me of Japanese Summer Festival.

an-an also bring a lot of Summer Sweets!

Anmitsu (Agar Jelly with fruits and sweet Azuki paste)
Kuzu Mochi (Jelly eaten with black syrup and roasted soy flour)
Mizu Yokan (Agar Jelly with sweet Azuki paste or Green tea flavour)
Ichigo Daifuku (.... well, you know by now?)

I have a support member this year.
He cooks Taiyaki at the festival. He uses an-an's Azuki paste.
Let's see how hot the weather is going to be...

Anyway, I really hope to see you on the ground of Acton Maeda Gakuen on Saturday!

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Place　  Acton Nursery Play ground　 　　　     Queens Drive Playing Field,  　　　     Queens Drive, Acton　 　　     　W3　OHT Time　Saturday, 12th July 2014　　 　　　  11:30 Gate open 　　　  12:00 program starts 　　　　　16:00 program finish 　　　　　17:00 Closing gate                 Admission 　adult￡3.00                   children free