November Newsletter

After ”Trick or Treat”-ing in Witch's costume, it's already November...
October was really warm and we could go around pumpkin lit houses confortably without thick underwear. 

If you didn't see cafe an-an witches in action, here are some photos.
Thanks BOO for those lovely photos.
Pumpkin Tarts and spooky cupcakes were popular. Eye ball Yokan (white bean jelly in Green tea or Chocolate flavor) was also well received.

Unfortunately, this year's Halloween was on Saturday, so I could not open the cafe, but Next Halloween will be on Monday... I cannot help thinking about what to do next year!

This warm autumn brought tasty British Strawberries till quite late, but it has run out now.
...so, here comes chestnuts season!!!

I was going to put the photo of Chestnuts cake at the top of this  blogg, but I coudnot find the photo. ...I haven't taken photo of my sweets properly for long time. 
I need to make time for that very soon. I need to make some more effort to advertise an-an's sweets!!!

well, my customers know I don't want to make my cafe so busy. so, I shall do when I can do. So, please be patient. I am still making some autumn sweets!

Now, here is the list of this month's sweets.
(Sorry, some of them are available from 5th November.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

kinntuba (scares)　
Chunky Adzuki Bean paste or Pumpkin paste were boxed in pan-fried square butter. It contains wheatflower (gruten).

kuri-manju (Chestnuts cake)
Sweet pastry was baked with chestnuts and white bean filling. It contains wheat flour, eggs and milk.

Dorayaki Chestnuts
chestnuts pieces in chunky adzuki bean filling. it contains wheat flour and eggs. 

Kuri Daifuku (chestnuts)
chestnuts pieces in chunky adzuki bean filling. can be roasted and eaten hot on cold winter day. 

If you like to purchase more than 6 sweets, please make an order at least two day's in advanc.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Events in November

Thursday 5th & Friday 6th November 
Before taking to Croydon Japanese School Book sale, I would like to put out some second hand Japanese books and comics on sale!
Comics and small novels are £1.00 each, hardback and larger books are £2.00 each.
If you are interested in, please come in. 

Saturday 7th November 
Croydon Japanese School will hold Second hand book sales. I have a stall to sell autumn sweets there.
its open to public only between 10:30 to 11:00. If you live close, please pop in.F

Friday 20th November 
Thanks for all the enquire. Here is the dates for Japanese Afternoon tea, finally!
I am so sorry for the delay, but it will be held on this day!!!

This time, I would like to use the most of autumn harvest, so I would like to serve Tenpra (veges in light batter) with rice or brown soba noodle.

I hope you can taste the best of autumn, such as chestnuts, pumpkin and sweet potatoes!

There are time you can chose as followes;
10:00-11:30
15:30-17:00
17:30-19:00

Each groups have 6-8 rooms to be booked. Please book as soon as possible, as places are filled quickly.

Please apply by mail, info@an-an.co.uk.

£10.00 per person with a choice of Organic Japanese Tea, English Tea or Coffee.
£12.00 per person with a choice of drink and Japanese Maccha (Fine Green Tea) will be served.

*between 11:30 to 15:00, Lunch service as usual. No afternoon service during the lunch time.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Counting down to Christmas???

Never mind! an-an enjoys autumn first!

 I need to enjoy Bungger and Mash with Bonfire! 

announcement! Halloween at cafe an-an?!

Oh, I know it's not traditional Japanese thing. 
But, an-an is just likes festivals. 
So why not?

an-an will turn into a "Witch Cafe" only for the two days before Halloween.
How about a huge spider of Chicken Katsu Curry?
What's in Witches' lunch boxes?
The favorite desserts are Eye ball jelly with Strawberry sauce.

Never mind a bit too early....
If you are zombies, witches, mammy or ghost, please say "Trick or Treat?".
a free Halloween cupcake for our friends.
(when any meal is purchased.)

You will also find some pumpkin sweets.
Come and enjoy Japanese Halloween❤

Cafe is closed on Wednesday 28th October... due to School holiday.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

October newsletter!

Aww...I am so sorry for this late October newsletter!!!

As I mentioned the detail of Autumn Japanese Afternoon Tea and New Years meal box booking will be announced, some of you are waiting so much...

m(_ _)m

Please don't give up on waiting for meeee...

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

These are the Sweets of October.

Usagi Manju

25th October is the second Moon festival (the 13th night moon).

Some people call this chestnuts moon festival.

I shall make Usagi (rabbit) sweets and Kuri (chestnuts) cake for this day.

Strawberry Mochi


This year is really good year of British Strawberries.

As long as I can get British strawberries, I carry on making strawberry Mochi... maybe.

Kimi shigure

This steamed cake has smooth adzuki bean paste inside. The outer is made of white bean paste and egg yoke. Please enjoy the rich but crumbling texture in your mouth. 

"Shigure" is the surface of dry cracked ground after a heavy rainfall.

The last week of October is Half Term!!! So I will prepare some cakes with pumpkins!!!

pumpkin croquettes and pumpkin soup.... Please come to find what you can eat!

On Wednesday 28th October, cafe an-an will be closed. 

Sorry for the inconvenience. 

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Japanese afternoon tea is postponed to the second week of November. 

Please watch here for more detail.

The price will be the same. 

£10/pp or £12/pp with matcha green tea.

Blunch session 10.00~

Afternoon session 16:00~

High Tea session 18:00~

*max number of each session is 8 people. 

*please book in advance by phone.

*The date will be announced on this blog.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

This is the photo I took on the other day from the top of my street. 

Fish scale shaped clouds are symbol of autumn. I am so happy to see this in such a magnificent view.

It's taken by my mobile with very poor photographic skill.

But I just want to share this photo with you.

Enjoy lovely autumn colours!!!

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!

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

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.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

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.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

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)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

September sweets


Strawberry Mochi

Ohagi\


rabbit steamed cake

Tsukimi Dango
etc,


＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

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!