September sweets and Events

It's already September...

I really enjoyed a week of break in Japan. (I am still writing all about the trip. please bear with me.)
As soon as I came back, my usual commuting road is closed and I have to apology the opening hours of my cafe has been very limited.

From yesterday, the road is half opened and almost gone back to normal. I managed to deliver quite a bit to the cafe, business as usual, too!

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September is.... the month of Japanese Sweets' event on 19th.
I have decided to participate the large Japanese event, Japan Matsuri at Trafalgar Square in London!

Last year, it was soon after I opened my cafe, I turned down the invitation, but this year I am going there! It will be the last fight at London Japan Matsuri!!!

It's serious. I really want to look after my cafe, so I will work hard on my cafe only after this event. Anyway, I am not so young to do suicidal event.

However, there are so many new restrictions on this event, I won't be able to pay the stall fee only selling my sweets. so an-an will serve popular chicken katsu spicy Yakisoba.

You enjoy the atmosphere and dance on the stage. There are so many famous shops and restaurants take part in this event. It will be very busy, so please be careful not lose your children,...

Admission free.  It's start from 10 am and goods shops close at 6pm, food stalls close at 8pm. Normally, an-an's sweets sell out around 3pm, but this time, I will bring a lot of ingredients, so I can carry on making sweets till the end of the event. So you should be able to buy my sweets after your work and schools.

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Cafe is open as usual.

However, I don't think survive till the end of this month without break, I will take a day on the following week... Wednesday 23rd  is closed.

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Other Events

Tuesday, 8th September Second Hand Japanese Book sale
　　Time: 9:30 - 11:00 ＆ 19:00 - 22:00
The sales are held twice (in the morning and evening)
During the event, only drinks and snacks are sold.

There are so many books and magazines donated from Japanese toddler group, Ohisama-Ahaha, and an-an customers. 

As I have a bit of problem of storing, an-an will have a mini-book sale. There would be some book about Japan/Japanese in English, too. 

The sales will be all donated to a charity group... preferably, something children's and local... any suggestion? Other wise, I am going to send the donation to my hometown's charity, Takoyaki Camp, which is for Fukushima children to stay in Kobe & Akashi area for a month to enjoy their childhood. 

*Children in Fukushima are still suffered from the high level of radiation in some area. They are still not allowed to play outside...


Tuesday, 8th September  English/Japanese language exchanging session
　　Time: 20:00 - 21:00 (going to pub after the session?)

Let's talk about the books you find at the second-hand book sals. £3.00 per person with one soft drink and nibbles.

Saturday 19th SEptember (see above)

Tuesday 29th September Japanese/English language exchange.
　　Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Talk about jokes and illustrations.
£5.00 per person (with one soft drink and light meal)

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September sweets


Strawberry Mochi

Ohagi\


rabbit steamed cake

Tsukimi Dango
etc,


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Season changing period... my family have got a bit of cold.. 
Please take care of yourself
See you on  the one of the event.

Shoreham Air Show Crush エアーショウ 事故

Yesterday lunch time, a vintage aircraft crushed into a busy road. The aircraft was from Shoreham Air Show.

昨日昼ごろ、近くの小さな空港で毎年開催される航空機のお祭り、Shoreham Air Showにて、航空機がすぐ横を通る渋滞中の道に墜落するという事故がありました。

I passed the place just one and half before the crush to get to my cafe.

カフェを開けるためについ事故の1時間半前に通った場所。

I am still a bit shaky after I saw the pictures and videos.

映像を見て、震えが止まらなかった。


At that time, the road was very busy and slow due to people wants to get to the airport. I was there probably at least 15min to go through the traffic jam.

I keep thinking if ...

エアーショーの関係で、当所は結構な渋滞で、かなりのノロノロ運転。あの場所で15分ぐらいは止まってたんじゃないか。
もし…もう少し家を遅く出ていれば…

There is an announcement there are 7 people dead and more than 10 people insured.

I am so sorry who were involved in this incident.

現在7人の死者と十数名の重軽傷者が発表されています。
この事故に巻き込まれた人たち、本当にいたたまれない気持ちでいっぱいです。
亡くなった方たちのご冥福をお祈りいたします。

...July is gone... (Okonomi yaki night)

Here is a report about Okonomi yaki Night, which was held at my cafe in the evening of 28th July.
It started as a request from one of an-an cafe's followers on Facebook.


Here they are!

I really don't know how many of them I made.

It was a smaller size, but there were pork, beef, squid, octopus, prawns, cheese, modern, etc, etc.
And, some Yakisoba (fried noodle) and Kimchi fried rice!

Well, Okonomiyaki's looks are same with any toppings. So, the photo is the final stage of okonomiyaki night with Kimchi fried rice.

It was such a fun.
this night's members are people who  read my an-an page on Facebook. No connections among some of them. they would never meet unless they had interest in Okonomi yaki.

There were more people wanted join the night, but unfortunately my cafe limits to 12 people to sit. and two of them were in the kitchen most of time to help me! (Biiig thank you to Futoshi and Haruna!)

We talked about Japanese food so much! We will have more like this event in the future!!!
Food, especially Japanese food is connecting people!
Food is making people happy!
And that make me happy, too!

Probably, next event will be held in autumn with Japanese style afternoon tea.
I will make announcement on this page. so keep checking!

By the way, I have got a request of ice cream Mochi.
Is anybody interested in?

July is gone... (Japanese basil)

How shocking! July is gone!

I cannot catch up with the speed of days go by...

Thanks for those who came to see me in the event Summer Festival at Maeda Gakuen on 18th July.
It was lovely sunny day.

However, winds kept blowing through the school ground.

So we used Gazibo's wind shield (curtains on 3 directions), it was really hot inside. Of course, we needed to cook sweets using steamer and Taiyaki machine! Although we were in the shade, we almost dried out...

When I went to see my dear friends, Namino Kai, ...
                             



They gave me so many baby Japanese Basil.
They are growing well in my garden as well as my cafe. But, their pots are getting a bit tight...
If you want to be a mum or dad of these plants, please come to my cafe to pick up.

It's really easy to look after them. Once you change their pot with more soil, you really need is water and sun light. Don't give any plant food. when you are rinsing a bottle of milk, for example, you can give the gray water to them. don't over water them. that's all.

Use in salad, fry with chicken and soy sauce. If course, you can make Japanese style pasta sauce. eaten with sashimi (raw fish) is really nice, too!

I have given away/ sold some, but I still have around 15 of them.
If you want to enjoy Japanese summer flavor, come and take one... or two!

One night only izakaya (Japanese tapas bar)

It is the last day of an-an cafe 1st anniversary event. There were so many request opening in night time from customers in the last 6months. So I will do it!

さて、いよいよ、あん庵カフェオープン一周年記念企画、最終日に皆さんから過去6ヶ月で一番リクエストのあった、夜に居酒屋をします。

On Thursday 25th June, lunch service as usual till 3 pm.  Reopen at 5pm and Japanese tapas service starts. (last order at 9:00)

今週25日の木曜日に、お昼のサービスを3時で閉め、5時に居酒屋として再開します。(ラストオーダーは9時です)

an-an will serve something very common menu in izakaya tapas bar in Japan. 

日本の居酒屋で、定番のメニューを揃えてみました。

However, an-an does not have the license to sell alcholic drink, please bring your favorite bottles. You can also purchase some bottles at the near by off license. (No soft drink please)

ただし、あん庵はお酒を売る免許を持っていないので、お好きなアルコールのお飲物を持参ください。ソフトドリンクは持ち込まないでください。

Here are some of menus in the event

一部のメニューです。

Chicken gyoza dumplings 鶏肉の焼き餃子

Chicken karaage 鳥の唐揚げ

Kushikatsu (meat & vege) 串カツ

Corokke コロッケ

Nikujaga 肉じゃが

Fried bean cued stakes 厚揚げのステーキ

Japanese style salad (tofu, seaweeds or harusame noodle) 和風サラダ (豆腐、わかめ、そして春雨)

Onigiri (rice balls)おにぎり

... And more! 

Priced from £1.50-£3.00

お値段はわかりやすいお手頃価格です。

hope to see you on the day!

では、木曜日にお会いできることを楽しみにしています！

なお、混み合うことが予想されます。ご了承ください。

Japanese afternoon tea

As the first event of celebrate an-an cafe's first birthday, I would like to hold ...

Japanese afternoon high tea! 

It's start from 3 o'clock on Friday 19th. If you prefer in the morning, 10 o'clock slot is also available.

In Japan, there is a similar formal tea party called "Cha-kaiseki". However we are in Britten. I want to adopt Japanese sweets into British afternoon tea.

There are two reasons not to go traditional Cha-kaiseki.

One is plates and bowls... Cha-kaiseki needs so many various kind of small plates and bowls in different use. An-an only have dinner plates or side plates... And it's not easy to collect decent tableware for this event.

The other is in traditional Cha-kaiseki, you only can have one sweets at the end. But in British way, I can fill at least 2 plates with sweets.

However, still I want keep some aspects of Cha-kaiseki, it's vegan.

At first, please choose your favorite tea.

Sencha, roasted green tea (ho-ji cha), green tea with roasted brown rice (genmai cha), jasmin tea or other herbal teas...

The first plate is Vegan sushi... Equivalent to cucumber sandwich???

The second plate is for daifuku, manju and dango with various sauces.

The third plate will be the ornamental seasonal sweets for tea celemony (the photo is an example. They are hydrangeas.)

I won't spoil the fun to tell you in too much detail. 

I hope you will enjoy sweets with Japanese seasons.

£12 per person with Japanese Matcha green tea. If you don't want to have matcha green tea, it's only £10 per person. It's £17 worth of sushi and sweets ! If you like Japanese sweets, you cannot miss it!

If you cannot finish all, you sill can take away all on your plates. 

If it gets busy, I will ask share tables with other customers.

I only have 8 seats on each session, please make booking as soon as possible. Please don't forget to tell me which slot you want to come (10am, 3:30pm, 5pm or 6:30pm)

Please ring 07791137409 or order@an-an.co.uk for booking.

the second selebration of an-an cafe first birthday is on Thusday 25th. I open Japanese tapas bar for one might only! The detail is on the next blog!

Have a good day... Be happy, my friends!

June sweets and events

It's already weeks ago! 

Thanks for those who came to Sussex and The Big World Market.

The first day was really lovely weather and enjoyed the view to big open sea.

Then the blustery storm washed away the good feeling in the next morning... Needed a good few hours to lift myself... Well, all the people, customers and stuffs and friends, helped me to go on. 

Specially, I cannot thank enough to friends who came all the way from Eastbourne and even farther! 

Today I felt the beginning of summer! Sun and blue sky! 

But apparently, it will be cooler after rain tomorrow evening...

So, we have to take full use of this bright sun shine!!!

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Do you know an-an serve smoothies and milkshakes?

An-an have smoothies in 4 colors. See the past blog.

Iced coffee is also very popular! Don't forget to ask for iced Matcha milk tea . Both are very popular drinks back in Japan.

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Here are sweets from June.

Of course, the most popular one is the strawberry daifuku (Mochi).

This year's strawberries are really sweet and tasteful. The best ever!!!

Next line-up is kuzumochi.

Please use plenty of homemade organic roasted soy flour and homemade black syrup.

Kuzu flour is also organic. 

Dorayaki ( smooth azuki, chunky azuki or matcha green tea) and waka-ayu (a sweet fish) are also available. 

If you like to buy sanshoku dango ( 3 color dango on skewer), please ask at least 15 mins in advance. I will steam it on request. You can ring the cafe before come around.

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June's Events

Sunday 7th June the event finished. Japanese sweet making workshop. If you are interesting having the workshop, please contact. You need to gather at least 6 friends. A meal included.

Sunday 21st The Big Tea Party is going to be held at Brighton Dome studio theatre. It's a part of multi-cultural study and took such a huge subject... Tea! About 10 countries were appointed to present their culture and food related to "teas". Along with Japan, China, Iran, Asia and African countries are preparing exhibitions with serving teas and treats.

Tickets are still available from Brihgton Dome Studio Theatre (http://brightondome.org/event/7542/crossing_the_teas_the_big_tea_party/) £7.00/person.

Saturday 27th Huruhon ichi (second hand book market) at croydon Japanese school. 10:00~12:00. 

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AAAAAnd!

It's been one year since I opened this cafe.

It was amazing year! So I would like to hold some events to say thank you and reply to some of requests customers made in the past year.

"I want to try as much Japanese sweets as possible!"

Friday 19th - an-an will have Japanese afternoon tea party in Japanese style!

Have you had "high tea" in Japanese way? Probably not. So an-an will make it!

More detail comes in the next blog. Watch this space! (Booking necessary)

"Don't you open the cafe/take away in the evening?"

Thursday 25th - an-an izakaya (Japanese tapas bar) opens one night only!

Maid cafe style pancake in the morning. Lunch service is as usual.

.... 5pm Japanese tapas bar!

Howeve, an-an don't have license to sell alcoholic drink, so bring your favorite bottles

You can also take away lunch menu through the night. But if you want to sit and enjoy Japanese izakaya atmospher, please book a seat or two.

I will list up what will be available on the day.

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So, have wagashi and lovely month, my friends!