In the middle of Japan

My family goes skiing every year, this was the second time in this season. I’ve been skiing many times,   but the snow astonished me this day. I saw snow crystals for the first time. We have a severe winter this year, one day 1 degree Celsius was the highest temperature in a day in our town (the average is 8 or 9 degrees.), it was the coldest day in a few decades as far as I remember, and the humidity’s been very low. And it snowed a lot in mountain areas, every flake of snow didn’t connect each other, we were able to see snow crystals. Snow crystals on my daughter's glove  Takasu snow park is located in Gifu Prefecture, 2-hour drive on the express way from our town and the top of the slope is at the 1,550-meter height above the sea level, it is one of the biggest ski resorts in Western Japan. It is adjacent to Dynaland ski resort, which is also one of the biggest ski resorts in Western Japan, you can ski down both ski resorts with a common ticket. My kids had a snowball fight, but

 I made English muffins for the first time in a while. They contain rye flour and yoghurt. I toast them and put butter or egg salad on them. A few days later, I found the discounted English muffins at a supermarket because of approaching the expiration date. As I wrote before, the English muffins at a supermarket triggered my bread making life, and they are the very English muffins! I bought one package. Both are good. Mine are chewy, and the readymade ones soft and fluffy.

 I couldn’t use all of Anko (sweet red bean paste) for Anpan (a bun filled with Anko), made black sesame muffins filled with Anko.  The recipe is on a Japanese famous recipe site, I’ve made it several times.  It’s my favorite.

 I made mini sweet red bean paste buns, which we call “Anpan”. The history of Anpan is old, it was first made 150 years ago in Japan. Sesame or poppy seed is put on the top typically. The sweet red bean paste, called “Anko” is used for almost every Japanese traditional confectionery. We can make Anko from dry red beans with sugar by ourselves, this time I bought ready-made Anko at a supermarket and made 6 cm diameter mini Anpan for my kids.

 I've baked bread for breakfast for 2 years. I bought English muffins at a supermarket and was impressed with their deliciousness 2 years ago. In Japan, bread baking companies mass-produce and ship various kinds of bread to supermarkets and convenience stores. Almost all of Japanese people buy bread there, because they are more reasonable than private bakeries. I didn't realize that they were so good before, now I want to eat them more often! Unfortunately, English muffins cost relatively more than other types of bread, can I make them at home? Nowadays many YouTubers show how to make bread, I got excited when I knew that it was possible. This year's the Chinese zodiac sign is the Rabbit (Mine is the Dragon.), and I made bunny buns. They have chocolate custard cream.

 Hello from Japan !   As my resolution of this year, I decided starting an English blog this year to improve my English skill. I want to share various things in a Japanese daily life such as dishes (Washoku!), sweets and sightseeing spots...and also my kids' school life. It's a little hard work for me, but I hope I can keep blogging long..!